by Kristen Bagwell
My husband left this afternoon for a long weekend in London. Doesn't that sound extravagant?! Before you get the wrong idea, let me be clear: we are SO not those people. Here's how it all went down: Read More
by Kristen Bagwell
At the end of a charitable work-week in a foreign country, what are you left with? We first mentioned a friend of mine who is currently on a mission last week, and today is a follow-up to that blog post. It's been so interesting to follow her online updates, and to try and imagine all of the experiences, emotions, and fulfillment that comes with a trip like this. I'm so happy and proud of my girlfriend for heading out on this challenge, and hope to do the same someday.
Below are some excerpts from her daily notes - these paint a picture of what the week was like, in her own words. Read More
by Kristen Bagwell
Have you ever considered going on a mission trip, or traveling to a community less fortunate? I have several friends who have done this in the past two years: one to Africa, one to Jamaica, one to Haiti, and one to Belize. Most recently - in fact, right this minute - one of my long-time friends is in Nepal working with Habitat for Humanity to build sustainable housing from bamboo.
Although it can be difficult to find "the right time" for a trip like this, it's absolutely amazing to consider, much less go and do. I am fascinated by the stories that my traveling friends have shared, and so I wanted to show a bit of what Amber is experiencing while she is away. After more than 24 hours of travel, her first experience was actually a 6.9-magnitude earthquake, which thankfully did not injure any of their traveling group. A rocky start seems to have led to smooth sailing, though. Here's a bit of background on how she came to choose Habitat and Nepal, and we'll follow up next week with some of her tales from the trip. Read More
By Rachel Hoeing
We took our first family trip to Disney World last October and I can honestly say it was the best week of 2009! My mom was recovering from chemotherapy, and this was exactly the “magical” experience she needed in her life. My children were six and four, which were great ages for our first trip. My father and sister also joined us. So, we had seven people on this vacation. My goal in today’s blog is to share with you what worked for us. Every family has different priorities when going on vacation, so some of you may have had a totally different experience. I can say that we did not encounter any problems on the trip and it was relaxed and enjoyable for everyone, so use what you can below and add thoughts of your own. Read More
By Rachel Hoeing
Last week I wrote a blog of general tips that worked for my family when we took a recent trip to Walt Disney World. Today I wanted to focus more on individual theme parks and rides. Truth be told, we did not do any planning in advance as far as a daily schedule. What worked for us, was to all get together the night before we visited each park, and look over the park maps and discussed which rides we really wanted to hit and which ones were OK to skip if we ran out of time. Read More
By Rachel Hoeing
I have personally never been one to care about cars. Sad, but true. I have no idea what types of cars my friends drive, only the color. Seriously, I know my mom has a red car, but that’s it. Maybe it’s a Saturn, no a Camry. Who cares? Maybe I inherited this gene from my Nana Hess. She never even had a driver’s license in her 88 years of life. Read More
By Katie Moosbrugger
After holiday shopping in short-sleeved shirts, we are now getting ready to fly north – and right into a snowstorm - for Christmas. As we prepare for a white Christmas, we are also trying to ready ourselves for the long flight ahead of us. Flying with children is never easy – especially toddlers and babies – and so I did a little research on some travel tips and found a great article from One Step Ahead’s web site. Below are suggestions straight from the article.
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