Camping with 13 kids!

We had the good fortune to have friends who made camping reservations at Yellowstone National Park.  They got four spots together and invited four families with a total of 13 kids for six nights of camping.  I was a little nervous, it was the biggest camping venture our little family had taken on.  But again, thanks to prepared friends, we had a great time of it.  I love that our family lived outside for six days!  There were some complaining kids at times, but they all did wonderfully, exploring together, and just being kids outside. 

 Our baby was not quite one and spent a lot of time in the campground hanging out in her stroller.  And below, our little baby corner at the camp.  I picked up that little go-pod, which I have loved.  It folds up like a camp chair, but it is a clever little seat that babies love.  I wish I had had it several kids ago. 

 We loved the thermal features, and learning about the thermal features! 

 And lots of American Bison, very close to our car!!  They are huge.  The first night in camp, we were woken up in the middle of the night by a pack of wolves, which was a little freaky.  You need to be very careful with camp clean up of food so as not to attract bears. 

 

The best we could do for a family photo.  Isn't it fun trying to take photos with your kids?  

And below, I loved the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone! 

We hope to camp more as a family, does your family camp?  Where will summer plans take you? 

Zoo and museum reciprocity!

With summer travel coming up for those phil&teds users in the USA, here is something I wish I had used more in our travels.  In our recent trip to Arizona (my husband played Romeo with Arizona Opera in the late Fall)  I got very excited to use our reciprocal museum benefits through the Association of Science and Technology Centers.  I LOVE going to museums with my kids.   I knew some museums had reciprocal benefits before, but I became fairly obsessed going everywhere we could on this trip. 

In Tucson, Arizona, we spent a fun day at the International Wildlife Museum. I like the photo in the top left where our phil&teds is protecting my baby from the bear!   

We also enjoyed both the Tucson Mineral Museum and the Arizona Science Center (of Phoenix).  We liked both places so much, we went to each place two days in a row. 

The Arizona Science Center has a fun exhibit on the body.  The exhibit includes a huge model of a human stomach that kids can climb up and slide down.  There are very loud digestive noises, including lots of flatulence as kids move around.  As we seem to be in a potty humor phase, my kids were delighted.  My four year old Jane explained, "I like it because it farts and it is a slide."  Oh my.

On our drive back from Arizona, we spent the night in Las Vegas.  We used our reciprocal benefits to go to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum.  To continue our potty humor, I thought the photo of our kids watching their Dad going through the colon crawl was hilarious.  This was an special exhibit about parasites, that I chose to not explain very well to my kids.  I do not need kids having parasite nightmares.

Not on our pass, but we spent a late night on the Strip with our kids.  I kept thinking, "who are those irresponsible parents with their three kids walking all over Las Vegas so late at night?"  Oh, it was us.  We love the Bellagio fountain shows.  We also found the new pirate show at Treasure Island is made for 12-15 year old boys (it was so stupid, not made for little kids!)  

Below, although technically too big, our older kids both fell asleep in our explorer after walking over four miles of the Las Vegas strip. 

SO, if you have a membership to your local children's museum, science center, or zoo and are planning a trip soon, see where your benefits can take you!  Here is the link for the Association of Science and Technology Centers programs, and here is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.  I LOVE it!!!

And back in the car. . . .

 Do other countries have reciprocal benefits like this? 

Life just got SMARTER!

I have spent the last few days experimenting with the new phil&teds smart stroller!  To summarize briefly, it is a compact stroller that feels like a full sized stroller.  In typical phil&teds style, it is very versatile from birth, super easy to push even with one hand, very stable, and has good big wheels to get you where you need to go!  And the colors are wonderful.  I chose tangerine and hot pink as we are coming out of a long cold winter.  Have you played with the color combinations on philandteds.com?  It's very clever and fun for the stroller obsessed and future smart owners.  

Set-up
 
If you have had another phil&teds stroller, a lot of the set up will come naturally.  Lots of things simply click into place.  The instructions come in five different languages, with the main stroller instructions a series of pictures.   

The sun visor set up took me much more time than getting the stroller together.  Both my 7 year old and then my 4 year old tried to take the supports that you need to thread through before you zip it on the stroller.  I learned that while trying to figure out where the guides fit in the sun visor, it would have been easier to not have my 18 month old outside with me (she was EVERYWHERE as most 18 months olds are). I also first zipped the shade on backwards.  Mind that the taller of the two guides where you zip on the shade is closest to the handle bar.  It's a very clever shade as it works for a rear facing child and a forward facing child.  I also appreciate the price point of the shades and seats (for me in the USA, only $20 for the shade, $25 for a new seat).  My husband has already wondered how many colors combos I will eventually own.  

 

Size and fold: 

The one of the biggest deals to me in a compact stroller is the ability to fit well in a car truck.  I have had a great umbrella-like stroller that I love, but it is very awkward in a trunk. With the Smart, pop off the seat and pop off the back wheels, and the frame is practically flat. We then just store the seat and wheels separately as space allows.   If packing a car for a long trip, it is very handy to not have your whole trunk filled with just a stroller.  The stroller does seem small and light compared to my phil&teds explorer.  It is easy to carry with just one hand.

And it is easy to unfold the stroller with one hand.  I tested holding my wiggly and busy 18 month old and while holding her, I could get the smart out of my trunk and unfold the stroller.  Just undo the locks and listen for the click (or check the side red button,  this is a new feature from the first smart.  The side red button allows you to fold or unfold the stroller and clicks when it is ready for baby). 

Storage for all the baby things:

The under carriage storage when using the parent facing verso, is quite ample, allowing a large diaper bag.  I was slightly concerned as the user manual states that no more than 7lbs/3kg is to go in the storage basket.  I know especially when I have a young baby,  I have a massive diaper bag.  Once I count all the extra clothes and baby food and bottles and water, etc, etc, it very much weighs more than 7 pounds.  The manual also states to not hang parcels from the frame.  I know that is stated for safety, but it feels to be a super stable stroller with not much worry for tipping.  Knowing how things go when I am out with my kids, at times, we need a lot of extra of everything.  There will probably be some parcels hung from the frame. 

The new smart seat:

From looking at photos of the first generation smart, the seat always looked small to me.  I have tall kids and I wondered if it would be comfortable for them.  The new seat has been made longer and looks like it provides kids with a better ride.  My 18 month old is almost tall enough to use the bottom foot rest, but she has found another way to rest her legs.   Since the seat is long, she bends her legs a bit and puts them on the bottom.  The seat is very roomy for tall kids too.  The sun hood also accommodates my very tall 4 year old (she is over 46 inches tall).  She has outsized the stroller by a few pounds, but she would still fit. 

There is not a huge recline when the seat is forward facing, but my daughter would be able to take a quick stroller nap. I realized my daughter sleeps in her car seat, and recline is better than where she is in her car seat.    The recline with the verso is brilliant and looks very comfy for the smaller traveler.  And your baby can be rear facing until the generous weight limit of 33lbs/15kg.

mokopuna link

The seat also has a tail-free harness, that keeps everything together and tidy.  It's easy to adjust.  Just if people are curious, I put my explorer doubles kit liner in the seat and it also works well.  I have not tried to hand wash the cushy seat liner of the smart yet (but the time will come!).  I love that my explorer liners can go in the washing machine and hung out to dry.  And having a seat that can be wiped down is a parental dream.  I should give my baby an ice cream cone to then see how well things clean up.  For now it would make me too sad to see the smart dirty.

For those parents going into the Fall, I popped my snuggle and snooze on and it fit perfectly. 

Terrain:  

With the larger wheels than many compact strollers, the smart will take you places others could not.  It handles great on gravel (not easy for wimpy wheels!) and grass, pops up curbs, and covers cobble stones with ease.  Although I love the air filled tires of my explorer, the large wheels are great, and nice to not worry about flats.  

The smart is a very clever, lovely to look at and extremely functional piece of baby gear.  If you are hesitating about getting it, don't.  You won't regret it.    

Fun places to explore with kids-Israel

We spent April-June in Tel Aviv, Israel a few years back and loved it! My husband was working with the New Israeli Opera and had a few concerts with the Jerusalem Symphony.   We had an apartment about two blocks from this beach, which we did not mind at all.  We were delighted by many, many things in Israel.  

My stroller obsession really started in Israel. This is the stroller we brought, which we realized was a bit of a joke. In Tel Aviv we were walking 1-3 hours a day. Our son did not seem comfortable for sleep, and this stroller was very much made shorter people than my husband and me. A few months earlier, my husband was working in Detroit where my college friend who taught me to fire breath lived. She introduced me to phil&teds by giving me a stroller demo in her living room. I emailed her to find out more as I needed a better stroller. I started doing my research on-line and found an e3 on ebay. I made a bid, assuming I would not win, but the next morning I woke up as the owner of a new phil&teds!! Sadly since we were in Israel (and then traveling to England and Mexico), I could not have it shipped to me. I would have to wait  few months to use my new toy. In the mean time, we upgraded to a great Spanish made stroller in Israel. We liked it for the full recline and the fat wheels.  Below, we are outside the walls of Jerusalem with a stroller we could comfortably push for hours a day while waiting for our phil&teds.   
A few Tel Aviv favorites:  Carmel Market!!

This place is amazing, and as you can tell, we were very excited by the gummy candy.  The produce was spectacular, so fresh and flavorful.  On the weekends, there frequently would be craft and artisan  fairs at the market. We bought my son a little pop up toy there that is still a favorite almost 6 years later.       

An easy Tel Aviv favorite, the gorgeous BEACH!! 

 

And although it was about an hour walk from our apartment, if you follow the beach you can walk to Jaffa.  Jaffa feels much older and we loved the contrast to modern Tel Aviv.  I would LOVE an hour to walk along that beach right now.   

 

In Jaffa, we were wandering around some alleys with lots of artist galleries and came upon this hanging tree.  This is one of my most favorite photos of my little boy.  

Below, yet another Tel Aviv favorite, walking on Dizengoff.  

We had heard that Dizengoff used to be the main thoroughfare in Tel Aviv, before the shopping malls.  There is still excellent window shopping, like the crazy dress below.    

 

And, it is very worth it to go out of your way to visit this juice bar called Tamara.  It is where Ben Gurion boulevard crosses Dizengoff.  One of my favorites was to get the watermelon and fresh mint smoothie, which just tastes like summer to me.  This place was always busy and for good reason.  

We spent a few days in Jerusalem, which was an amazing maze and extremely beautiful city.  It is impressive that tourists have been coming here for thousands of years.  

We also spent a day at the Dead Sea.  We learned they do not allow little kids in the water as if they swallow too much, it can be fatal.  And I learned that if I cover myself in mud, my child may be a bit alarmed by muddy mommy.   

On a bit of a tangent, we have a running little joke with this Skipper shirt.  I got the shirt from my brother years ago.  Since it photographs so well, I started taking it on trips to see how far Skipper could go.  Once I started nursing, Brian took over on Skipper duty as the effects of nursing were a bit intense on Skipper.  He wore Skipper to a rehearsal when a photographer was taking candid photos for the program.  Much to our delight, Skipper made it into the Israeli opera program.  We have Skipper photos from around the world, and it makes me giggle.