There we were, there we were... in South Florida

On Valentines Day we went to Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Fla. There is something very hokey about going on an African safari in Florida.  It is like doing a zoo from the comfort of your car, or going to New York, New York in Las Vegas (do you really need to go to Manhattan).... but honestly the boys, my mother-in-law, Jonathan and I had a blast. Lion Country Safari is done very well.

The first thing to know is that there are always discounts and promotions for Lion Country Safari. My father-in-law cut a coupon that gave us $10 off per person. That took the whole experience from Aquarium expensive ($75 for a family of four) to a much more affordable $35. In advance of any trip look around for promotions -- it is well worth it.

February in Florida is off season, but it still took us almost two hours to drive through the park. The boys got bored, but the adults were enthralled the entire time. The things that blew us away, we're the herd of zebras, getting up close with a rhinoceros, and the ostridge's walking right up to your car. The only disappointment was the lions. They were behind electric fences in the middle of the compound ... but after the kid was attacked on Christmas at the San Francisco Zoo by a tiger, I think I'm okay with it.

Once you complete the drive through the park you end up at an amusement park. Most of the activities are covered with your ticket,  including riding a carousel, and a small train. The activities are very preschooler friendly. A favorite was feeding the giraffes.

It was a wonderful day. I would like to take the boys back as they get older. I wonder how the experience will change. Who knew ... a safari in South Florida was fun.

Flashback: Red-Eyes and Long Haul Flights with Preschoolers

How apropos that I'd be writing about red-eyes and long haul flights with preschoolers. This was meant to be a blog from the past, revisiting our trip to get Caleb ... but with the Presidents day weekend trip to Florida I'm starting to see how thin the silver lining is in my red-eye cloud.

The advantages of red-eyes and preschoolers is pretty straight forward. Flying is boring, you aren't allowed to move around, spread out, and you are limited with the number of toys you can bring on board the airplane. The red-eye guarantees that at least part of the five to twelve hour flight will involve sleeping.  Ah the sweet angelic look of a preschooler asleep.

But there is a trade-off. On our trip to Florida we took Jet Blue and flew from SFO to Long Beach. Our flight to Fort Lauderdale was at 10 pm PST, arriving in Florida at 5:00 am EST. The problem with the flight was that it was too short. The boys fell asleep around 11 pm PST and woke up when we landed 3 hours later. When we got to my inlaws house the boys were too excited to sleep. This meant that we spent Friday with a three and four year old who had only three hours sleep.

Sleep deprivation and ADHD-like symptoms are linked. This is so true with our little Xander. Normally he is a sweet, empathetic sensitive little guy -- a total charmer, outgoing and sweet. Xander on three hours sleep is a crazy little nightmare. He cannot be reasoned or bargained with. He doesn't understand consequences. I cannot find a discipline technique that works when Xander is operating with no sleep. So is a smooth flight worth a day of a crazy preschooler?

So, what I've figured out. I think seven is the magic number. On flights seven hours or longer, the red-eye is a perfect choice when traveling with preschoolers. If the flight is shorter then seven hours then you have to understand the trade-off that your making. Especially on four day mini-vacations.

South Florida in February with Preschoolers

Presidents Day weekend we took the boys to visit their grandparents in South Florida. Jonathan's parent bought a condo last year in Hollywood, Fla. on the beach, and wanted the grandchildren to visit. With the El Nino rains we were getting in California, the family looked forward to a milder weather break.

We got milder weather, but it was Spring like in the 40s and 50s at night, and in the 60s and 70s during the day. I packed for Spring, although the temperatures were similar in the Bay Area, we were decidedly more bundled at home.  The one thing I didn't anticipate was the wind. It did feel slightly warmer, and I only regretted my packing decision on the first full day when we explored Fort Lauderdale.

We arrived early in the morning off the red-eye. The boys were so excited to see their grandparents, they couldn't go to sleep. So they played and watched the sunrise, while Jonathan and I crashed. Then we took them to the beach. The temperatures were warm, but the wind got to Caleb who had a bright red wind rash from the sand on his legs. The boys loved the beach, and collected coral and shells.  They napped in the late afternoon, and were in bed early. A totally mellow and relaxing day.

The next day we took the water taxi in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. We bought day passes, and the family package made it affordable for the five of us (Jonathan, the boys, my mother-in-law and me). The boys loved the boat ride. We stopped off on Las Olas Blvd., a major shopping thoroughfare.  On Las Olas we bought sandwiches, bread and a wonderful dessert for later at Gran Forno Italian Bakery. Everything was divine.

One very bizarre thing we encountered on Las Olas Blvd. were the ducks. In South Florida they have big flocks of Muscovy ducks. These ducks have turkey faces, rough bubbly red skin. Caleb was enthralled. I wondered if this is where turducken comes from.

I've written before that we love the mini-vacation. This was only a four day trip, but we had a great time, and it was a nice break in February. Next week I'll write about the flights, and the trip to Lion Country Safari.

Flashback: Planning a European Itinerary

The process for adopting a child from Russia involves a 10 day waiting period, which occurs immediately after the Court approves the adoption. The waiting period is in place so that the adopting family can have one last chance to change their minds before traveling home with their newly adopted child. Of course, considering that the entire adoption process itself can take up to two years, and involves two trips to Russia, by that point the waiting period seems a little bit silly.

That said, I am probably one of the few people in this position who think “Woo-hoo, I love the waiting period...a 10 day vacation! Where should we go?”. When we adopted our first boy, Xander, this vacation was truly our last hurrah. One more time to play on our own before we begin the lifelong journey of raising a child. On that trip, we chose to go to St. Petersburg and Prague. It was an absolutely phenomenal trip. Thank goodness for those waiting periods.

This time around, when we were adopting Caleb, we had Xander with us. This meant that I had to think about how to plan the 10 day vacation with a 3 year old in tow. There were definitely some immediate considerations: Whereas with the St. Petersburg and Prague trip, where we decided on an itinerary with multiple destinations for flying, we wanted to keep the travel itinerary very simple this time around. We also thought about eliminating air travel altogether and traveling to Solchi. Solchi is three hours away from Stavropol, home to the 2014 Winter Olympics, and a beautiful destination along the Black Sea. We were implored not to do this however, particularly while traveling on our own with a 3 old boy. We were told it wasn’t safe, and we listened. In fact, not long after we left, Russia had invaded Georgia not too far from there.

With that, my criteria points were:

• A location where we could feel very safe
• A location that was very kid-friendly, with lots of parks
• A location that was a short distance by plane from Moscow.
• A location that could be traveled nonstop from Russia
• A location that was inexpensive
  

The field was very quickly narrowed down to two viable options: We could either fly to Vienna to tour around Austria, or we could head to Finland. The trip to Finland may have included a day trip to Estonia, and then certainly would have involved another visit to St. Petersburg.

In the end, the logistics of a trip to Vienna, especially when coming in to Moscow from Stavropol, proved to be far more convenient. I also had remembered from previous visits to Austria that it was extremely kid-friendly. After all, Salzburg and the Lakes District are Sound of Music country.

The next step was to plan the detailed itinerary. I am perfectly ok with winging it, when traveling on my own, but when traveling with a family, we wanted to have all of the specifics in place. The entire family loves trains (in case you couldn’t tell), and so I had no qualms with setting up plenty of train travel. But here’s where I had to edit: I had wanted to visit Slovenia for a long time, and felt it wouldn’t be too far out of the way to add Ljubljana and possibly Bled to the itinerary. Again, traveling with just Kate and me, it would have been fine, but with the three of us, trying to fit in Slovenia along with Austrian destinations would have been too much.

So, we settled on an itinerary that involved flying into Vienna, taking the train to Salzburg, heading south to the Lakes District, and then back to Vienna. This meant spending a couple of extra days in Vienna to simplify the itinerary, but this turned out to be a great choice. When it was time to head back to Russia and complete the adoption of Caleb, we were all rested and relaxed.

Roadtrip to Snow Redux

It took a month, but we finally revisited our trip to the Sierras to go sledding. We caravaned with our friends and their preschoolers to the Sierras. We found a lovely slope East of Mi-Wuk Village on Highway 108. Everyone had a wonderful time ... the big difference between this time and last time was preparation.

This time we shopped the winter clothing sales and got the boys mittens and snow pants. I got their snow pants a little on the big side, so that the boys can wear them next year too. We bought sleds from Mel Cotton's for $15. We also got an early start.

At first we were a little concerned that we wouldn't get great weather. The forecast called for scattered snow/rain showers until noon. When we arrived at the sledding hill at 10:45 am it was sunny and warm. There was so much more snow then last month too. Enough to build big snowmen, snow forts and lovely snow angels.

It turns out that Caleb doesn't really love sledding. He went twice, but found it a little scary. Xander loved it, but he was a little under the weather, and was a bit spacey. It made it a little more challenging. He had Jonathan worried a couple of times when he played kamakaze down the hill.

We packed lunches, and at 1 pm the kids were ready to head home. We even managed to swing by the Railtown 1897 State Park before heading home to watch the Super Bowl. Overall we had a wonderful time. We're off to Florida next weekend, but I think we'll be back soon before the snow season ends.

The Booster Seat Dilemma

I weighed both the boys tonight. Caleb is now 41 lbs, and Xander is 43 lbs. This means that Caleb has outgrown his car seat (the weight limit is 40 lbs). Xander also appears to be too tall for his car seat (even though the weight limit is 60 lbs). 

With both boys over 40 lbs, we also can no longer use the latch systems in our cars. Most latch systems aren't recommended for children over 40 lbs to 47 lbs depending on the car seat.

My babies are growing up!

So... the booster seat dilemma. It is time to move the boys to booster seats, but I like millions of other parents watched the tragic YouTube video "The Importance of Five-Point Harnesses" I was convinced, so over the last couple of weeks I now have to negotiate the confusing and expensive land of booster seats, and find one with a five point harness.

But honestly, the price point on five point harness booster seats is unbelievable. The Britax Frontier is $270. We need to eventually buy four ($1,040 plus tax).

Thankfully, Target is having a sale, and I got 25% off. Online the reviews were mixed, but it got higher rankings than comparable car seats (and honestly, none of the others specifications met our requirements).

I ordered two to start. Caleb will be moving to Xander's car seat for awhile. Tonight the first of our Britax Frontiers arrived. The things is heavy, much heavier than I expected. With Xander's help I was able to configure it. Tomorrow I'm going to install it in Jonathan's car.

If all goes well, and the weather cooperates, we'll take our first roadtrip with the new booster seat. Hopefully everything goes well.

Take a hike: Sanborn Park

When I was eight years old my sister and I led a hike in upstate New York. It the first the time I remember hiking, although we spent plenty of time playing in the woods behind our house. We ended up in the dump. Despite the smell, I love hiking.

So, last year my husband and I started to take our preschoolers on hikes. On our first trip we decided on San Antonio Park in Mountain View, Calif. It is a very accessible park with tennis courts, and a hillside where people fly kites. It is also so popular that parking is scarce. After our first well intentioned visit, we left without a parking space, we discovered almost by accident Sanborn County Park in Saratoga, Calif.

Sanborn is a very special park. First it includes 3,688 acres of wooded land and trails in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It reminds me a little of Big Basin State Park, but without the crowds. Second it has a fabulous nature trail that is perfect for preschoolers. It is short, but not paved. There are large tree caves, and magical bridges to cross. The boys love hiking there.

We don't go as much as I'd like, but every two months or so we go for a hike at Sanborn Park. The boys run ahead of us on the trail squealing. We stop and listen to the wind rustling in the trees. We take a look in the pond, and we try to find fish in the creek. We play in an old hallowed out tree. In short we have a relaxing adventure, and commune with nature.