The weekend before our school started here in Georgia, we squeezed in a last hurray before we all back to the routine of life. We packed up the car and drove to our neighboring state in Alabama for a fun weekend of family friendly activities in Huntsville. Here are the sneak peek of what we did in Huntsville during this weekend trip.

The Wonder of Nature at Cathedral Caverns

Our first stop while we were en route to Hunstville was Cathedral Caverns. This was our first visit to any caves with kids. A cave helmet was a great souvenir to get them excited about the journey lied ahead.

I will have to write a more detail post on our journey deep into the caverns. It was such a cool and great experience. The Cathedral Caverns State park is well maintained so it was very easy for family to enjoy. The path along the caverns is paved and you can easily navigate with your stroller.

Sharpen Young Mind with Science

Sci-Quest was our next stop in Huntsville. This small, yet fun science center provided us with many hand-on exhibits that we spent the rest of the day there.

Blast Off Their Imagination with Space Center

Our last stop was the main attraction that we came here for. The US Space & Rocket Center was hosting the special Star Wars exhibit. And the kids were truly excited as we pulled into the parking lot greeting by the huge space rocket.

Needless to say, Mr. Z couldn’t stop talking since. He even asked if we can move there permanently. Only if he will realize that the Star Wars exhibit is only temporary and they have already moved on to the unknown destination.

Visit back soon as we dive into the detail of our fun visit in this small town.

Also check out other traveler tales at Photo Friday and Spotlight Thursday.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Huntsville, AL With Kids: Caverns, Science and Rocket is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

When talking about a visit to Orlando and more specifically Walt Disney World, most people will probably think about the big 4 – Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studio. But for us, summer family trip to Orlando only means a water park. Our last trip we enjoyed our visit to Disney’s Blizzard Beach. 

This time around we went to another Disney Water park at Typhoon Lagoon. I always recommend my friends who visit Walt Disney World in summer or even spring to at least plan a day to the water park. Not only, it’s a great way to break out park routine but it’s a wonderful way to beat the heat in Florida. 

What I Like About Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon

Easy on the Wallet (sort of) 

The Typhoon Lagoon is part of Walt Disney World theme parks but the price is very comparable to local theme parks in Orlando. I mean we are still talking about a big chunck of cash for a family of 4 but at least it’s much cheaper than the main Disney Theme parks. 

Plus you don’t have to pay for parking like other parks so it’s a perfect place to enjoy even half a day or a whole day. 

Fun For the Whole Family

Having little kids always create a challenge in finding a fun ride that will satisfy the whole family. At Typhoon Lagoon, there is something for everyone. We especially love the Castaway Creek where we could float along the gently steam as it’s winding along the park. 

And for the dare devil of the family, there is no dispute that the Surf Pool is one of the kids’ favorite. They braved the chest-high water and patiently waited along with hundred of kids and adult in the blue pool. As thundering sound roared from the distant, the crowd started to prepare themselves. Parents held on tight to their children’s little hand. School-age kids pushed down their goggle and breathed in the last big breath.

The wave as high as two story house crushing down to anticipating kids. Some rode with the wave and got pushed all the way in land to the white sandy beach. Some ducked down under the water as the tide passed. Some swam up and found the strength to ride on it. In the end, you heard the cheer and the laugh all around.

Fun For the Littlest of the Family 

Ketchakiddee Creek is a perfect safe haven for babies and toddlers to enjoy the cool water slide, fun fountains, waterfalls or the mini ripply-rapids ride. At first, Miss J and Mr. Z anxiously waited in line to ride on the mini ripply-rapids raide. But soon discovered that the ride was too timid for their liking.

Fun For Big Kids and the rest of us

Miss J and Mr. Z are bordering big kids size so we were able to have fun in most of the 9 waterslides attractions available in the park.

We enjoyed the Strom Slide, the fast moving body slide that twists and turns through waterfalls, caves, and geysers then drops into an exhilarating pool at the bottom, so much that we slid down the 3 different slides twice so that’s a total of 6 slides in one day! Luckily, the line was not long at all.

Our second favorite ride was the Gang Plank Falls, a 4-person family inner tube. The walk up was a bit of a work out for the daddy but it was all worth it as we descended down the 300-foot long waterslide.

Family Tips:

• Bring water shoes for everyone. You will be walking a lot between ride. And on a hot day, it wasn’t fun to walk bare foot.
• You can bring cooler to the park. So to help save money, you can bring water, sandwich and snacks for the mid-day break.
• Rent a locker to put valuable items and your clothes because you won’t spend much time at your spot.
• Don’t forget to reapply your sunscreen regularly and make sure to dry yourself before doing so. Trust me, apply sunscreen to the wet body doesn’t help.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Orlando With Kids: The Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

During summer, we took Miss J and Mr. Z to Six Flags Over Georgia using their free tickets from their school reading reward program and with the current promotion of adult pays child ticket, we were able to save quite a bit in tickets admission.

Our First Time Experience was 2 Years Ago

We haven’t been to Six Flags in a couple years. Our first visit to Six Flags Over Georgia was when they were still pre-school and I found that it wasn’t much they could enjoy. It was more of a hassle to have to explain to them why they couldn’t get on the ride because they were too short or too young.

Now that they were older and hopefully more reasonable, we took a chance.

A Different Game Plan and Approach

After talking to a friend of us who recommended us to go to the park in the afternoon and stay late instead of going early in the morning to escape the heat, we decided to head there after lunch.

It might seem weird to go there late but it worked out pretty well. The park during the summer time close at 10PM so even when we arrived at 2PM we still had a full 8 hours in the park. This approach however might not work with a family with younger children who have early bed time. For our kids, they could easily stay up until midnight if we let them.

When It Rained, It Poured

Well, we thought that would give us plenty of time to explore the whole park. Unfortunately, the mother nature didn’t agree. It was raining for a good hour while we were there. So after the rain, a lot of rides were close and we spent time walking around trying to find a ride. Mr. Z was pleased to hop on the Railroad and enjoyed the preview of many rides in the park that he hoped he could conquer.

Small People Area: Spanish/Bugs Bunny World

For us, even though they are now in school, their sizes are still small comparing to their peers. So there were still many disappointment when they couldn’t get on several rides they hoped for.

We decided to head to Spanish/Bugs Bunny World – the area mainly for younger kids. This area provided us with an insurance that they would be able to enjoy every single ride and with less wait time as well.

By now, we were all hot and sweaty. It was time to head to the back of the park for some water fun.

Water Fun in the Park

When we visited Six Flags Over Georgia last time, the Skull Island was already closed. So this time, we were looking forward to it.

I think we could have just come to the Skull Island and they would be VERY happy about it.

But as a parent, it was very stressful to have to keep an eye on your kids running around in the slippery and wet area. No matter how many times you tell them not to run, they just couldn’t easily contain their excitement.

We spent the rest of our time in the Skull Island. In hindsight, I think we should have come to this area sooner. They had so much fun that I think we might have to visit Six Flags again before they close for the season.

So if you have the little dare devil in your household, I think this is a park that they will absolutely enjoy. Mr. Z is working hard to grow himself a few more inches so he can enjoy most of the roller coaster rides. Check out Six Flags Over Georgia tickets page for various deal and ticket combination.

Family Tips:

• Bring extra change of clothes and towel for Skull Island water fun.
• Check out the ride restriction so you can plan your visit accordingly.
• We purchased bottomless refill drink to enjoy cold drink throughout the day. Yes, it’s soda but it’s only for a day. :)
• Purchase ticket online to avoid the line at the entrance.

Check out other travelers stories with Photo Friday from Delicious Baby and Spotlight Thursday from Trekaroo

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Atlanta With Kids: Six Flags Over Georgia is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Riding the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System) is one of the activity that we did in Bangkok that Mr. Z is still talking about and asking about till now. I think we could do that all month long and he would think that it was the best day of his life.

Purchase A Day Pass

The cost to ride the BTS for adult and kids (taller than 100 cm) can range from 15 Baht to 40 Baht. We decided to purchase a day pass for 120 Baht (it costs around $3.75) and made it a BTS day. A day pass allows us to be able to hop on and hop off in any stop or ride the BTS as many times as we want in one day. It’s a perfect choice for us.

Here are family friendly things to do near BTS stops in Bangkok.

The Sukhumvit Line

Ekkamai Station (E7)

The planetarium and Science Museum: It’s only a few steps away from the Ekkamai station. The Science Museum has various hand-on and interactive exhibits for kids in this multi-levels building. Unfortunately, when we visited, they worked on updating several exhibits. I hope our next visit, there would be more exhibits that work!

Another worthy note here is that a lot of displays are in Thai so it might be more difficult to read and understand. But our kids were bouncing between exhibits they hardly paid attention to the words or descriptions.

Phrom Pong Station (E5)

The Emporium Jamboree Land: The Emporium shopping mall is one of the high end shopping mall in Bangkok. If you plan to travel on the budget then don’t even bother shop in there. You won’t find anything worth purchasing.

However, it’s a great stop to escape the heat with a little break for kids. The Jamboree land is very small comparing to other kid indoor play area in other malls but there are enough rides and activities for kids to last a couple hours. We enjoyed making craft and played in the bounce house.

You can stay at nearby family friendly hotels*:

• Emporium Suites Bangkok – Near BTS Phrom Pong Station
• The Davis Bangkok – Near BTS Phrom Pong Station
• Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Bangkok – Near BTS Asok Station
• Rembrandt Hotel & Towers Bangkok – Near BTS Asok Station
• The Westin Grande Sukhumvit Bangkok – Near Asok Station

Siam Center Station (CEN)

Siam Ocean World: The Paragon – Siam Ocean world is one of the top destination for family in Bangkok. This underground aquarium is surprisingly fun and has a lot to offer as a day trip in Bangkok. The price is not cheap by Thai standard but comparable to other tourist attractions around the world. We have visited the Siam Ocean World in the past and I have to say I was surprised that I still enjoyed it as much.

You can stay at nearby family friendly hotels*:

• Novotel on Siam Square – Near BTS Siam Station
• Pratumwan Princess Hotel – Near BTS Siam Station
• Centara Grand at Central World – Near BTS Siam Station
• Grande Centre Point Hotel & Residence Ratchadamri – Between BTS Chit Lom Station & BTS Siam Station
• InterContinental Bangkok – Near BTS Chit Lom Station
• Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok – Near BTS Chit Lom Station

Mo Chit Station (N8)

Bangkok Butterfly and Insectarium: Located next to the famous Chatuchak Weekend market, this insects’ natural habitat provide a sanctuary for over 500 butterflies.

Silom Line

National Stadium Station (W1)

Bangkok Art and Cultural Center: As we have reveals the little hideaway on the basement level of BACC, this place is a great stop for a nice quiet break in the crazy day. The Kids library has a great selection of books with both English and Thai.

Sala Daeng Station (S2)

Lumphini park: A popular green space in the middle of the city. Lumphini park has many things to offer for families. You can enjoy a leisure walk in the morning and observe the locals work on their Tai Chi or enjoy a peddle boat in the lake.

You can stay at nearby family friendly hotels*:

• The Dusit Thani Bangkok – Near BTS Sala Daeng Station
• Montien Hotel – Near BTS Sala Daeng Station

*Note on hotel recommendation: I have never had to stay in the hotels so the list is based on the rating I found and the location that I think it’s convenient to the BTS station.

Have you done BTS day during your visit to Bangkok? Is there any fun stops I missed?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bangkok With Kids: Family Friendly Stops along BTS Skytrain is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

There was no doubt in my mind that our trip to Thailand would be hot. It’s just inevitable.

During our day trip to Wat Pho was no different. The best thing we could do just prepare ourselves physically (hat – checked, fan – checked, breathable clothes – checked) and mentally.

Get Ready to Explore Wat Pho

So we marched into Wat Pho late morning with a game plan to beat the Bangkok heat. First we would replenish ourselves with cold water and yummy popsicles as often as we could. Forget about checking out the site and walking the whole temple. We would just have to pick and stick only to the main area.

The Reclining Budha (Phra Buddhasaiyas)

Our first stop after an ice cream break was to visit the Reclining Budha. With the measurement of 46 meters long and 15 meters high, the Golden Reclining Budha is one of the most visit sacred destination in Thailand.

Built during Rama III’s restoration of Wat Pho, the Reclining Budha is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet and the eyes are engraved with mother-of-pearl decoration, and the feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha.

Calm, Cool and Coins

As we walked around to the other side of the Budha, the 108 bronze prayer bowls are lined along the wall as visitors put a coin to each one as they give merit and wish for good luck.

Don’t worry if you don’t have 108 coins handy in your pocket, there is a donation table that already setup a bowl of coins for you.

As we dropped one coin at a time to the bowl, I could feel the stillness and calm inside the building.

Thai Massage at the Original Thai Massage School

Along with being one of the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok, Wat Pho is also known for Thai traditional massage school. And that was my game plan number two. As much as I would love to walk around the grounds, I knew that my family was melting rather quickly. So we played a game of “Get in the Shade” as we made our way to the back of the temple for the Thai Traditional Massage area.

To my surprise, the upgrade from fan to A/C definitely provided us with much comfort and relief we looked for. The Wat Pho massage that I have seen in the past was done in the open area where fan was the only source of air flow. Now that they had upgraded to A/C, we couldn’t sign up fast enough for massage sessions for the whole family.

Yes, I mean the whole family as in Miss J and Mr. Z as well. I guess we could say their first Thai massage experience were truly from the origin.

Family Tips:

• Dress in appropriate clothes as a temple is a place of worship.
• To avoid the heat, the morning hours will provide some relief from hot Sun in mid-day.
• To cover the grounds with kids might be too much in the heat. So plan to break it up to small area.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bangkok With Kids: Escape the Heat in Wat Pho (The Temple of The Reclining Budha) is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

During our recent visit to Orlando, after so many trips to Disney World Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studio and Island of Adventure, it’s time that we switch it up and do a non-theme park day for a change.

The Non-Theme Park Attraction in Downtown Orlando

So we decided to take a day to explore Orlando downtown. With our family membership to our local Science Museum, thanks to the deal from Groupon Atlanta!, we received reciprocal admissions to Orlando Science Center. There is nothing better than free admission to local attractions.

The Orlando Science Center looks rather small from the outside but it impressed our kids as soon as we parked. The walk way from the parking garage to the entrance provided them the unique view to see the cars driving by underneath. Yes, for many part of the world or even in a big city, it’s normal.. But for these kids, it’s something they thought was so cool!

KidsTown and NatureWorks

We started off from the first floor to check out Kids Town and Nature Work.

From adult’s perspective, the Kids Town is small and decent exhibit, not as big as the one we have seen in EdVenture Children’s Museum. But for kids, I think they can spend hours in there if we didn’t persuade them that there were more to see.

The walk through Nature Work was fun and provided a good hand-on and learning experience. The staff was friendly and we also got a chance to touch and feel both snake and baby alligator.

Explore the Science Park

Next stop was probably where we spent most of our time. The Science Work is a really great place with hand-on and interactive exhibits that allow kids to touch, push and play for all their heart content.

Mr. Z’s favorites were probably between the Hurricane chamber and the race car platform. How cool was it to be in a chamber with 70 MPH wind!

Another neat and very education exhibit within the Science Park is the H2NOW city. Kids learned about the use of Hydrogen energy from earning the Hydro Cell to power the miniature city. It was a great way to help their little brain to focus on learning. Even if it’s just a bit!

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out various exhibits like the DinoDigs, Frog (the traveling exhibit), Diabetes: A Deeper Look and SimMan. It was rather quiet on the weekdays. It was so quiet to the point that we thought we were the only ones in the whole place.

Before we knew it, it was the closing time. So we didn’t have a chance to check out the Crosby Observatory.

Overall, it was a fun day away from the buzz and busy of the theme parks that kids can truly enjoy.

Family Tips:

• If you have family membership to your local Science Museums, check if they have a reciprocal membership with the Orlando Science Center. You will save your admission fee. The parking is $5.
• I don’t know about weekend, but weekday is very quiet so it’s a good day to visit. This will allow kids to be able to enjoy interactive exhibits with more time to explore.
• You can explore the whole center in about 2-3 hours. This can be a half day trip.

This post is part of Trekaroo Spotlight Thursday. Check out other family travel posts.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Orlando With Kids: The Orlando Science Center is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Ok.. It’s a confession time. I feel a bit unmotivated to update the blog lately. Guess you guys know from the infrequent update recently. We did have a great summer with so many trips far beyond my expectation. But all the traveling seems to wear me out. I even swore of traveling for a while.

However, I guess travel soul die hard. We are at it again but this time it will be just for a quick weekend trip to Huntsville, Alabama.

Why Huntsville?

Huntsville has a nickname as ‘The Rocket City’ because it has the U.S. Space and Rocket Center there and that’s where we want to go for this trip. It’s not just the Space Center though because right now they have the traveling ‘Star Wars’ exhibits.

And needless to say, we HAVE to go there. Mr. Rojo is a HUGE fan of Star Wars and he proudly raises Mr. Z to be another little Jedi in a making. The kid can name all the ships from the Star Wars collection so I know he will be so ecstatic once we get there. We will keep that a secret about the exhibit and can’t wait to see his face.

I can’t just go to Huntsville without checking out other fun things to do with kids. So here are family friendly things you can do in Huntsville for a quick weekend getaway.

1. U.S. Space and Rocket Center – The main attraction for the Huntsville especially for school aged kids. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center also provides space camp for kids and parents. It’s something I might consider when they are a bit older. For now, they have one of the coolest exhibit (at least for a big Star Wars fans)

2. Sci-Quest – A hand-on science center with more than 100 permanent, interactive exhibits in seven different subject areas. Unlike a typical “museum,” Sci-Quest‘s exhibits are designed to engage, educate and entertain.

3. Huntsville Botanical Garden – The Huntsville Botanical Garden has the largest seasonal butterfly house with over 2,000 butterflies, tadpoles, frogs and other critters. The Children Garden and the Tremendous Treehouses are sure going to be a big hit for the kids.

4. Cathedral Cave – Not exactly in Huntsville downtown but only a short drive and we will be able to explore one of the wonder in nature. The Cathedral Cave is part of Alabama State Park and is located about 40 minutes East of Huntsville. We have never been to a big cave before so I’m looking forward to taking the kids and let them experience the beautiful formation that Mother Nature has created.

5. Earlyworks Museums Complex – With the options of Constitution Village for history buff kids, Children’s History Museum for the hand-on, interactive kids, or Huntsville Depot & Museum for all-things-move kids, it’s sure a good pick for the whole family. And if you have your local family membership to your Children Museum and they participate in the reciprocal program with ACM then you are in luck because you can get in for free.

6. Unclaimed Baggage Center – Now, that we spend most of our itinerary for kids entertainment, I have to put in a stop for moms. Since the Unclaimed Baggage Center will be on our way without any detour, it’s only appropriate that we stop by and *check* them out. It’s the Lost Treasures of Travelers around the world – sounds like a great bargain hunting place for me.

That’s probably will pack our weekend to the brim. But please feel free to leave a comment if you know of other fun things to do with kids that are not on this list.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Fun Things to Do with Kids in Huntsville, Alabama is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Bangkok is a city of crowd street and chaos and there is no way to sugar it up. Where ever you go, you will surely see a sea of people on the buses, in the mega malls or along the sidewalks.

So where could you find a quiet place to escape those craziness for a few hours?

Hidden on the ground floor of the fairly new Bangkok Art and Cultural Center right in the middle of the city is the Art Library with special children room – Kid’s Corner.

Central Location

The Bangkok Art and Cultural Center (BACC) is located just off the last station (National Stadium) on BTS Silom line across from both MBK and Siam Discovery Center, the famous shopping area in the heart of Bangkok.

The Bangkok Art and Cultural Center was opened in 2008 as the city center contemporary art center to connect artists and create new cultural resources for both public and private sectors.

When we first walked in, we were greeted by two giant astronaut-looking model with the height at at least 2 stories tall. Definitely a fun way to start our tour of this center with kids.

The center seemed to be very much ignored by most of the people in Bangkok because even on the busy day where we could see thousand of people walked by, the area was largely quiet and empty!

The Hidden Gem on the Lower Ground Floor

Walking around in the BACC didn’t take long if kids were young and didn’t fully appreciate the different types of art. BUT, heading down to the lower ground floor and kids will enjoy the Kid’s Corners in the Art Library.

Visitors could use the library free of charge. They just asked that you sign in at the guest book.

The Kid’s Corner was clean and spacious with bright color suitable for little ones. There are books lining along all 4 walls with several simple toys for the little ones.

The book selections are surprisingly good. I found several bilingual books with both Thai and English languages.

So if you are in the Siam Center shopping area and look for a place for a downtime, check out BACC library. Best of all, it’s free!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bangkok With Kids: A Quiet Escape In the Midst of Chaos is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Visiting Bangkok with kids for many families mostly involve a stop at one of the mega mall in Siam Square like the Paragon, MBK or Siam Discovery and a tour of the temples and palace. But for us, we started our visit in Bangkok with shopping and then more shopping.

So after a few days it was about time my kids started to ask about temples, more specifically the Golden Temple (as they called). They had seen the Golden Mount (which is part of Wat Saket) from the distance when we went shopping at Bo Bae Plaza a few days earlier and it had been on their mind since.

The Golden Mount at Wat Saket Rajavaramahavihara

The Golden Mount was built in the 19th century during King Rama III and finished in the reign of King Rama IV. In Thailand, we called ‘The Golden Mountain’ but the Golden Mount is not a real hill but the result of soft ground that needed support structure.

The Unusual Place for Graveyard

What unusual about the Golden Mount is not only the history but also the graveyard that is part of the structure. Around the base of the Golden Mount along with trees and vines, there are various shines ranging in size from small with a picture to elaborate one with Budha statue. It was creepy and peaceful at the same time to walk up the 318 steps and looked at the resting place of many departed soul.

Based on the history, Wat Saket was used as a burial and cremation site which was not permitted inside the city wall during the 18th century. During the plague in the reign of King Rama II over 30,000 bodies were brought here.

The Journey to the Top

As much as I wanted to claim an expert badge in traveling, sometimes I went on and did some foolish thing that will disqualify me from such claim. One of those things was visiting and climbing the Golden Mount during mid-day in one of the hottest month in Thailand. That’s NOT advisable.

But sometimes, kids’ enthusiastic blinds your reasons. We took a Tuk Tuk from Wat Pho to Wat Saket. A ride that my kids will forever talk about. Arriving at the quiet temple in the afternoon, we found our way to the base of the stairway.

Without any hesitation, Miss J and Mr. Z climbed up the steps one by one as we ascend to the top of the Chedi. Luckily for me and Mr. Rojo, there are a few break in between for us to catch our breath. Even better, when there are a few distractions to slow Mr. Z down from running all the way to the top while we slowly making our way up. Ringing the bells along the wall of the Golden Mount was one of such distraction.

I would love the say the walk up is easy BUT it was hot and we were tired. So I would say prepare yourself for quite a work out as you walked those steps. The cool thing was that as we went up higher in elevation the view of Bangkok revealed. The steps are wrapped around the Golden Mount so we had a complete 360 degree view.

Once we were at the top, we rewarded ourselves with ice-cold popsicle. There is nothing better than an ice pop on top of the Golden Mount. By this time, Mr. Rojo almost passed out with heat exhaustion and questioned ourselves why did we let the kids talk us into going up in the first place. Well, all things considered it was a really great experience for them.

Family Tips:

• Try to plan your visit in the evening or early morning to avoid the heat
• There is a small shop at the top that sell drinks and ice pops. But the best thing to buy is chilled facial wipe. It will help cool you down and sure will help you beat the heat in Bangkok.
• Wear comfortable shoes.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bangkok with Kids: Climbing the Golden Mount at Wat Saket is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Whenever we go back to Thailand for a visit, we plan a vacation trip (within our vacation trip) with the whole families. These include all my siblings and their children and my cousins. We don’t have a large extended family so it was not anything in the size of a family reunion in America. Basically, it was a size of about 15 adults and 7 kids.

Choosing a place to go depends on where we want to go. Last visit, we all went to Hong Kong and Macau. It might seem like a big deal but when you booked everything through the travel agency, it made it all possible. As much as I cringed for using a guided tour, I was thankful for that trip. With the age ranges from 60 years old to 6 months old, we could use some luxury like our own bus to take us everywhere.

The Photo Story: 5 Things We Love About Ko Samet

This time around we chose a quick weekend getaway from Bangkok to Ko Samet. Check out why we loved our time on Ko Samet!

1. Great Destination for a Quick Trip from Bangkok

This trip was a bit easier because Ko Samet is a great weekend destination from Bangkok. With less than 3 hours drive from Bangkok and another 45 minutes boat ride, we were transported to our homeaway from home for the weekend.

Ko Samet might not be as well-known as Phuket or Phi Phi island but it’s a very popular destination for Thais due to the affordable cost and short distance.

2. Family-Friendly Accommodation

We stayed at Sai Kaew Beach Resort on Sai Kaew beach, the most developed beach on the island. It was a PERFECT place for family.

Our room was literally stone thrown away from the pool and that was where we spent most of our time there. You can see the room from this picture right behind Miss J.

The resort is beautifully decorated with all the detail that incorporate nature to the design.

3. Pool Time is the Best with Family

Even though, our resort is just a quick walk to the beach, we ended up spending most of our time in the pool.

Due to the rainy season, the water wasn’t nearly as nice. Also the rain on the next day didn’t help with our plan to spend the day soaking up the Sun on the beach either. But it was no big deal for kids because the pool was as good or even better than the beach in their mind.

4. Relax Yet Many Options for Fun and Food

Koh Samet is small for a relaxing getaway for the whole family yet still has enough fun activities and great food for us to keep us entertained and fed.

One of the great way to enjoy a good meal is right on the ocean at Ploy Samed Restaurant where you will have to take a free boat ride to their restaurant. The atmosphere was relaxing yet a bit nerve racking for family with small children. I will be writing in more detail about our fun experience here.

5. Time to Reconnect and Relax with Families

This might have been true no matter where we decided to vacation. But Ko Samet provided a perfect location and accommodation for kids to enjoy spending time with each other. At the beginning of the trip, each of them (mostly Miss J and Mr. Z) just met their cousins. But at the end of the trip, they can’t wait to have a sleepover and spend more time together. It made all the plan, the many connecting flights and the cost worth it!

Also, for many of you who are still afraid to come to Thailand, I have been to Thailand for over 2 weeks right after the curfew and the protest, I have never seen any problems. I feel safe here! So please come! Thai people need your help in getting back on their feet. Plus you will be getting a deep discount on everything where ever you go!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Thailand With Kids: 5 Things We Love About Ko Samet is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

There is no doubt that one of the favorite past time for families in Bangkok is going to the mega mall. There are more malls than I could care to remember. One of our mall tour during our Thailand trip was at the Fashion Island shopping center at outskirt of Bangkok in Kan Na Yao district on Ramindra road.

The top floor of Fashion Island is the Kid’s Island where kids could play to their hearts content.

The most unique play area has to be the Jellyfish where kids can step into a huge bubble and float above the water.

Just think of a bubble boy on the water! It was very simple but provided great fun for a whole 3 minutes. It might seem like 3 minutes was a really short time but I could tell that toward the end they were exhausted.

Kids would wait in line to step in the bubble ball while the attendant inflated the ball.

After the balls were fully inflated, they were gently loaded in the water. And off they go trying to run, jump or simple pretend they were walking on the water.

OH.. If only they have an adult version for us to try!

Check out other travelers Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bangkok With Kids: Bubble Madness is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

This Monday I have so many dreams. Most of them involve traveling to many places with my family.

The most vivid one for me today however is the dream of going back on the big ship and cruising again to fun places in different port of call. I wouldn’t call us an expert in cruising by any means. We have only been to Disney Cruise and Carnival Cruise with our kids. But I can say that cruising with kids is one of our favorite non-stress vacation we have had.

It also helps to have been following Randy from The Lollipop Road as he is live-blogging and tweeting from the sea.

Check out a month long event from his blog as he talks about his experience on board 3 of the most popular cruise lines – Carnival, Disney and Norwegian.

So far, I have enjoyed reading about the shore excursions which Randy provided insightful information on DIY vs Cruise Line tour, the review of kid’s programs from both Camp Carnival and Disney’s Oceaneer Club, and the tips & tricks for family cruising.

Now, there is more to this month-long program than just information to help family understand and gain more information on cruising with kids, they will also give out the prizes at the end of this event. All you have to do is check out their event page to see how you can enter for a chance to win a prize.

Check out other travelers’ dream at Mondays are for dreaming at Mother of All Trips.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Dreaming of: Cruising with Kids (Again and again and again) is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Three years ago when we went back to Thailand for a family vacation, we met up with my brother’s family for a fun family-friendly day at Siam Ocean World.

Siam Ocean World is one of the main attraction for family with children in Bangkok. It is one of the biggest aquarium in Bangkok and South East Asia. Plus it is located at the heart of Bangkok in Siam Paragon.

However, with the unsettling situation in Bangkok near Ratchaprasong business area, we will probably skip our return visit if the situation is not resolved by then. I do sincerely hope that it will be resolved though.

We went there during the weekend so that my brother’s family could meet us. It was a great family outing even though it was a bit crowd. But that’s something you just have to learn to deal with when visiting Bangkok. We have a lot of people live there.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well kept the exhibits were. We also purchased the tickets to Glass Bottom Boat. The tour was fun. It was quite nerve racking at the same time when we had 4 kids all under the age of 5 in the group. I think if we go back now my kids will enjoy it even more because they will be able to feed the fish.

There were also many other interactive activities for children and family to enjoy throughout the aquarium. We witnessed the diver feeding at the huge wall-to-wall glass tank. We enjoyed seeing the sense of humor they put in from car fish tank or refrigerator fish tank. Basically, virtually anything can become a fish tank!

It wasn’t long before all the kids were restless. So we headed out and played with Thai mermaids. I guess you can see from Mr. Z’s face how exhausted he was by then.

The benefit of having the Aquarium right underneath the shopping mall was it was easy for dinner or lunch. Bangkok is famous for food. And Siam Paragon food court wasn’t disappointed. If you are a tourist, I think it’s a safe bet to eat at the food court. You will be able to try out different types of food and the price is very affordable as well.

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bangkok With Kids: Thinking of Siam Ocean World is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

As you might remember from my Mondays are for Dreaming post about our dilemma for this Spring break, we finally came up with the decision and decided to go to Columbia, SC for a weekend.

I have to admit that at first I have no idea where Columbia, SC is. The only Columbia I know is in South America. Silly me! After a quick search from Columbia Visitor Center website, which I have to say very informative, I have found that there are many things to do and it looks like our Spring break is shaping to be a fun one after all!

Columbia is about over 3 hours drive from Atlanta so it’s a perfect location for a great weekend escape. Here are my Best 5 fun things to do with kids in Columbia, SC.

1. Riverbanks Zoo and Garden

The Riverbanks Zoo and Garden is a must-see in every list I have searched online. It’s a great place for a visit for kids of any ages. Plus I love the fact that it’s a 2-in-1 place. You get the Zoo and the Botanical Garden in one visit. What a value! The ticket price is very reasonable for less than $10 for adult and just over $7 for kid.

I check out their website and found that there are many animal presentation throughout the day. So I might need to spend some times to map out and consult with my little travelers to see what they would like to see on this trip.

Apart from the animals, there are also many fun rides and attractions that I know my kids will love especially the train ride! Check out the Attraction Wristband for $20 that will allow for unlimited ride. I don’t think we will have enough time to do that. We still have to visit the Botanical Garden part.

It’s a bummer that we will miss the Springtime at the Garden Festival that happened this past weekend. But I know I will enjoy taking pictures and hopefully get a few great ones to show you when we come back.

2. EdVenture Children’s Museum

Ok.. This is probably one of the coolest museum I have seen online because of Mr. Eddie – The World Largest Child. The reason I think it’s cool because it’s not just typical statue that you can just look at and be in awe but you can actually climb inside him! I wonder if they will allow adult to climb as well. We will know about that soon.

Visiting the EdVenture Children’s museum is a great way to spend a day for kids to explore, learn and interact. I especially love special exhibitions that the EdVenture currently has on displayed. From Here to Timbuktu is a journey through West Africa and Monkey King: A Story from China will introduce kids to China beyond Chinese restaurant.

3. Congaree National Park

With the Spring is in full swing, a visit to Congaree National Park will give us a great day of outdoor activities that we need. It has been a long Winter and my kids energy level is through the roof. So I’m looking forward to a day to reconnect with the outdoor adventures that we started last year.

I would love to do the Guided Canoe Tour now that Mr. Z is finally old enough for the minimum age. However, I might need to see if he will be able to do it. It’s a 3 hours canoe tour after all. My other option is a guided walk – Nature Discovery.

4. South Carolina State Museum

Another museum? Yup, how can I pass up a museum featuring Pirates, Privateers and Buccaneers? The South Carolina State Museum has 4 large floors devoted to the disciplines of art, history, natural history and science/technology. At first I wasn’t so sure about putting this on my to-see list. But after checking out their website and read about various exhibits from Art, History, Natural Historay and Science/Technology, I’m convinced that Miss J and Mr. Z will have a blast here.

The museum itself has a cool factor because it’s housed in its largest artifact, the former Columbia Mill. This former textile mill also is a world-first totally-electric textile mill.

5. Frankie’s Fun Park

I have to admit that this one will probably top my kids’ list of thing they must do. We don’t have a lot of chance to ride go-cart. So whenever we travel and they spot any go-cart place, we will here a non-stop begging and pleading for a quick round.

The Frankie’s Fun Park has many fun attractions that will make the whole family happy – at least my family! Mr. Rojo will probably spend a good chunk of tokens at the arcade and if I can drag my kids away from the Rookie track, I will probably have to chase after them in the Fun House.

There are still many more activities that I would love to do in Columbia, SC. But I think with these 5 on my list, I’m already pushing it. I won’t sweat it though. It’s just a quick drive from Atlanta so we can always go back there again if we miss out on any fun things to do.

So have you ever been to Columbia, SC? Do you have any additional recommendation for things to do with kids? Don’t be shy! Leave me a comment..

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Best 5 Fun Things to Do with Kids in Columbia, SC is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

As we are fast approaching Spring break in Atlanta, I can’t help but day-dream about our upcoming Spring break. This year is very different from last year.

The Fun Spring Break of Last Year

Last year, I started planning 3 months in advance for our Washington DC trip during Spring break. I had everything all planed out. We had a great week in DC hopping from one museum to the next and learned a lot about our country history. We enjoyed awesome times navigate the city using the public transportation. Mr. Z had become an expert in the metro and could recognize our stop. Best of all, we did all that on a budget.

Spring Break on a Budget and Time Constraints

This year? Well, knowing that we have limited time and fund I don’t have a big plan to take any trip. We don’t even have a week to spare for Spring break because I will use up all my vacation time in Thailand this Summer. So I have to be creative and try to find a way for us to still enjoy Spring break with this limited options.

Luckily, I was invited to a reception to South Carolina tourism event. I learned about various destinations within a driving distance from Atlanta that are also very affordable and fit into our time frame.

I learned that Greenville is only 2 hours North of Atlanta and I could relatively visit over the weekend. This small town of South Carolina has more fun things to do than I expected. There are Children’s Museum of the Upstate, the BMW Zentrum for automobile fanatic-son, the Greenville Drive – The Red Sox affiliate team for my baseball fan-husband and the Liberty Bridge at Fall Park for my photo adventure.

I also learned about Columbia. Another great option for family weekend getaway from Atlanta. The Columbia CVB website shows various options that will be perfect for my kids like the Riverbank Zoo or the EdVenture Children’s Museum.

Now I just have to try to find out how to pull this off in the next couple weeks.

It looks like I might be able to make my dream Spring break comes true after all. Who knows my neighboring state will have so much to offer.

Check out other travelers’ dreams at Mother of All Trips: Mondays Are for Dreaming.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Dreaming of: Spring Break is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Our visit to Los Angeles was short but fully packed with fun things we did with our kids ranging from a fun visit at the Le Brea Tar Pit, an amazing theatre experience at El Capitan or a beautiful view of Los Angeles Sunset.

Another memorable visit on this trip was our quick stop at Santa Monica beach. It was such a short visit that I will have to go back one day to take advantage of many fun family-friendly activities available at this popular destination.

Our first stop as soon as we found the parking spot was the playground. The sandy playground is nothing fancy but it’s something that I absolutely love. Most of the structure in this playground encourages kids to be active.

Miss J couldn’t run fast enough to climb up this bar. And she was quite successful in go up there. We all know who is the Monkey in this household.

Mr. Z didn’t want to be outdone. He tried his hand on the monkey bar as well.

And after all these exercises, they still had more energy. I guess it was from a lovely and yummy lunch we had at Cha Cha Chicken. Thanks to the recommendation from Delicious Baby’s City Guide.

We decided to try out the biking along the Santa Monica beach bike path. I think it’s one of the best feature at this beach. The bike path runs along from Santa Monica beach all the way to Venice beach and beyond. The bike path was very popular with both tourists and local. So make sure to stay alert and don’t ride too fast. It can get pretty crowd and some turn can be a bit tricky.

We rented a family bike with kid seat attached at the back. It was a perfect way for kids to also enjoy the beach. After riding from Santa Monica beach to Venice beach, we took a quick break at the Venice Beach Skate Park. It was very entertaining watching many moves they could do. Amazing! Then it was time to head back to check out the Santa Monica Pier. Stay tune for more fun in Santa Monica.

Check out other travelers story at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Los Angeles with Kids: An active day at Santa Monica Beach is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Taking kids to a museum in Los Angeles can be hit or miss, depending on what kind of museums you visit and what mood your kids are in. Los Angeles might be known for glitz, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that the city is superficial. Your vacation in L.A. can be as educational as you make it. If your kids are in a good mood for adventure and learning, check out these museums:

Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits (5801 Wilshire Boulevard): Where else can you find the piece of history in the middle of the city? The Page Museum hosts one of the largest collection of Ice Age fossils, and that collection is still growing. Kids will love to walk in the park to check out the many tar pit displays. Stop by Pit 91 and you can see what the archeologist have to do to in order to get all of those fossils. Nearby, you can stay in Le Parc Suites hotel in Hollywood.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (5905 Wilshire Boulevard): This art museum knows how to take care of family with kids — it was even voted one of the ”10 Best Art Museums for Kids” by Parents magazine. There are various programs available throughout the year and kids can bring adults in to visit for free. Plus, it’s located right next door to the Page Museum. Another option for a place to stay while visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art is the Petit Ermitage in Hollywood.

Griffith Park Observatory (2800 East Observatory Avenue): Part museum, part observatory, part planetarium – The Griffith Park Observatory will satisfy everyone in the family. Kids seem to be especially mesmerized by the Foucault pendulum at its entrance. As the saying goes, “the best things in life are free.”  You got it.  The best thing about the Griffith Park Observatory is that the admission is free for all.  Though, you will have to pay to watch the planetarium show. It’s just a quick car ride from the kid-friendly Magic Castle Hotel.

See my full ariticle at Oyster Locals.

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A visit to Los Angeles with kids will not be complete if we didn’t visit the Page Museum – La Brea Tar Pits. It’s one of the best things to do with kids in Los Angeles. I have read about this museum from other travel blogger and put it on our to-do list for our quick jaunt to Los Angeles. After a fun day at the El Capitan theatre, it’s time for a bit of educational trip for the kids.

The Page Museum AKA the Ice Age Museum

The Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits is a research and educational facility and one of the best museum with the most extensive collection of extinct Ice Age fossils.

It helps that our kids have watched the Ice Age movies countless times. So it’s nice to be able to point out the extinct animals and they were able to make a connection. It took quite sometimes for them to grab the concept of ‘extinction’ because they still can see it on TV.

Perfect Size Museum for Kids

We went there during the weekday so it was very easy to find parking along the street. There is also parking inside the park and you can get the discount when you purchased museum admission tickets.

The museum itself is only one story. But the display and exhibition is very adequate to give you the knowledge about the ice age creatures.

With small size, it allows kids to remain engage without getting bored with the display.

The Coolest Things to See at The Page Museum

One of the coolest part of the Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits has to be the Fish Bowl. The Fish Bowl is the area where researchers are working on the on-going project at the tar pits mostly cleaning and cataloging the fossils.

Kids (and adults) were mesmerized by the whole thing. (I don’t think I can work in that fish bowl. Too much pressure with people watching.) They were able to see how scientists and volunteers are working and cleaning those fossils. We also stopped by the theatre room to watch the short movie about the history of the Page Museum. It’s very fun and engaging and I highly recommend it. It will provide you with the background and history of the museum in a quick and fun way.

The Active Tar Pits in the City

After we walked around the Page Museum, we headed out to the most popular spot in the whole park – Tar Pits in Hancock Park. The Tar Pit give us a glimpse to the real Indiana Jones wanna-be like myself. We visited in Fall so there was no working excavation going on at that moment.

Kids get a chance to see how the real tar pits look like as there are many fenced-off tar pits all around the Hancock Park. However, the most well-known one is Pit 91. Pit 91 is tar pit that has been reopened in 1969 and the excavation work continues until today. We saw the area where the volunteers carefully excavated specimen inch by inch during the Summer.

New Discovery at Rancho La Brea- Project 23

However, the work in Pit 91 is temporarily suspended. In 2006, there was a new discovery of new fossils during the parking garage construction. Twenty three boxes of asphaltic deposits were moved to the Page Museum for further work. Hence, Project 23 is born. The name of Project 23 came from the 23 extract crates.

So far, they have discovered over 700 measured specimens including a large pre-historic American Lion skull, lion bones, dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, juvenile horse and bison, teratorn, coyotes, lynx, and ground sloths. For the current news and update, check out the Excavatrix blog.

It was a great fun day with our kids. They really enjoyed the visit. I think the Page Museum La Brea Tar Pit is one of the coolest place to visit in Los Angeles with kids.

Disclaimer: We paid for our own admission tickets. I will always let you know if I receive the complimentary tickets. And there will never be any outside influence on how I write my post.

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Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Los Angeles With Kids: Page Museum La Brea Tar Pits is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Visiting Los Angeles with kids  was one of the last minute add-on itinerary to our week long visit to the West Coast. We didn’t plan to spend a lot of time in Los Angeles because we had so many things to do in San Diego from theme parks, zoo, museum and beach. But one of the plan that I added to our things to do in Los Angeles and looked forward to doing was watching a show in the El Capitan theatre.

The El Capitan theatre is one of the fully restored movie palaces in Hollywood. It was one of the original 3 theatres envisioned by Charles E. Toberman and Sid Grauman to create Hollywood theatre district in the early 1920s.  After the years of ups and downs, it’s currently operated by the Walt Disney company. Did I just say DISNEY? Yes, it’s the venue for many of Walt Disney Pictures‘ movie premiere. It’s a perfect place for kids to experience different kind of movie going.

The theatre itself is nicely decorated with all the detail. It makes you feel like you step back in time to the old glory day of Hollywood. The staffs were attentive and very helpful.

One of the thing I always love about watching a movie at this kind of movie palace is the pre-show. Kids enjoy listening to the live music which I think much better than just watching the advertising on the screen.

We went there during Thanksgiving and we were able to enjoy Holiday Spectacular pre-show. I think I was enjoying the show more than the movie itself.

After the show, we also walked around and checked out the display of the behind-the-scene information about the movie. We even saw some of the costumes used in the movie. Yes, it’s the 3-D movie but I guess they will need the real costumes to make it more realistic.

The ticket cost might seem to be steeper than your typical movie ticket but I think it’s well worth the experience for a visit on special occasion.

After you exit and still want more Disney experience, you can stop by Disney’s Soda Fountain and Studio Store for some quick snack and shopping.

Disclaimer: We paid for our tickets ourselves but we were very lucky to receive 2 free tickets from a complete stranger while we were waiting in line at the box office to a VIP section. So we only bought 2 extra tickets for our family.

Check out other travelers Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Los Angeles With Kids: The El Capitan Theatre Experience is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

On the last day in San Diego, after we made a quick stop at Cabrillo National Monument we made the trek up the highway to San Diego’s Zoo Wild Animal Park.

We should have arrived much earlier than we did. But after a grueling itinerary with non-stop visits to Legoland, San Diego zoo, Science museum and Sea World. I think it took a little toll on us. So we took it easy that day.

The Wild Animal Park is part of San Diego Zoo but is located in Escondido about 45 minutes from San Diego. So plan your trip accordingly. We chose to visit Wild Animal Park on the last day in San Diego so that we could continue our trip to Los Angeles from there.

The Kilimanjaro Safari Walk

When we first arrived at the park, I thought we were in Disney Animal Kingdom park. The park looks really clean with shaded path. After picked up the map, Miss J went into guide mode and studied the map.

Our first stop was the gift shop! Yeah.. Not such a good beginning but we forgot a hat for everyone. And we knew we would be doing a lot of walking in the Sun. So shopping it was.

With the size of the park and knowing my kids’ energy level, I knew we had to lower our expectation. We wouldn’t be able to explore the whole park so we settled to only a few spots. First of, I saw the schedule for Cheetah feeding so we marched down the path heading to Cheetah’s area by following the Kilimanjaro Safari Walk. But it was almost at the totally opposite side of the park. But that didn’t mean that we didn’t stop to enjoy feeding ducks near the Congo Fishing Village.

I have read many reviews about the walking concerns for family and I agree. Know thy children! For younger kids, I would suggest a jogging or umbrella stroller. It will be much more pleasant for the whole family. I saw several moms pushing strollers along the path. Looked like a great place for a workout.

So did we make it for the feeding? NO!

In light of trying to get it there, I actually missed the Cheetah area and kept on walking. By the time, I turned around the feeding was done.

Now, on to plan B.. A quick ice cream stop was in order. We stopped by in front of the entrance to Journey Into Africa and sat down to enjoy our ice cream before got in line for a ride.

Journey Into Africa

If you have limited time and can only do a couple things, THIS is the one I would highly recommend. It’s a no gimmick safari ride that takes you to habitats where animals live together just like in the wild. There is no fancy story of chasing a poacher.

The ride was really educational and informative. I really love our driver who gave us great information. Now I know what make Wild Animal Park different from other typical zoos. The park is big on animal conservation and strives to provide a safe habitat for wild animals.

We rode on a tram along the fence-in area. It’s not really safari experience but hey.. we are in California so what do you expect. Even so, I still think it’s one of the closest experience we can get here and provide us with more understanding on what they are doing in the park.

Little Break for Little Ones

By the time, we were done with the ride, it was late in the afternoon. We decided to hike back to the entrance. It was quite a walk. Then we stumbled upon a staff who provided a much-needed distraction for kids of all ages with the bubble station. He was creating a huge bubble using special solution and allowed kids to forget about that long walk. This shows how family-friendly this park is. I love all this little details that they think of for family with kids.

Not Your Typical Petting Zoo – Petting Kraal

We have been to many petting zoos in the past but definitely not this type of petting zoo. Most petting zoo you will meet goat, chicken, rabbit and other smaller creatures. But here you meet Kraal. Kids were nervous at first to get up-close and personal with big deers. But they were all very tame. Plus we read them the rules before we got in. Definitely, one of unique experience we had!

Our last stop of the day was the Conservation Carousel. This African theme carousel was a great fun to end our day!

So I have been wondering before visiting the Wild Animal Park as to what is the different between the Wild Animal Park and San Diego Zoo and whether it’s worth a trip.

My verdict

For family with younger kids, they might enjoy San Diego Zoo more. But for family with older kids, it’s SO WORTH it!! My kids absolutely loved the safari ride experience. They also begged us to get on the balloon ride but we stood ground on that request. :)

I just wish we had more time to spend and explore. It’s definitely worth extra money to buy the Journey Into Africa ride. There are so many other parts of the park that I wish we had time to explore.

Family Tips:

• Arrive early because this park is huge. You will be able to explore more.
• Bring stroller for younger kids.
• Stop for frequent break with bigger kids. This will allow them to enjoy walking a bit more. There are many interesting things to see and check out along the path so the walk wasn’t that bad.
• Go on Journey Into Africa!

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) San Diego With Kids: Wild Animal Park is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

It’s always hard to plan a visit to a city and try to fit everything you want to do and visit during a short vacation time we typically have. Our San Diego trip is one of those trips.

It was probably partly my fault that I split our trip to San Diego and Los Angeles. I couldn’t resist it. I would die if I didn’t get to eat Thai food in Los Angeles when I was that close to it. Anyway, with that plan our original 7 days in San Diego was cut down to only 5 days.

It’s definitely NOT enough to enjoy San Diego in a slow family style pace but we took what we can get.

The Fun Science Center

During our day to visit San Diego Zoo, I was able to squeeze in another fun visit to Reuben H. Fleet Science center. It’s paid to plan ahead and check out the museum hour so we knew that we could spend a whole day in the Zoo and still have plenty of time to check out the Fleet Science center.

This fun science museum in the heart of the Balcoa Park might seem small when you first got in but don’t let the size fool you.

We received complimentary IMAX movie tickets so we had a couple hours before the show started to check out the whole center.

The first floor has the open floor plan where there are various hand-on exhibits for kids to touch, feel and play with. Mr. Z and Miss J hopped from one to another like a kid in candy store. I didn’t even think they like science that much. Guess I was wrong.

After checking out most exhibits at least twice, we headed upstairs for more fun stuff.

Fun for Little Ones Too

Mr. Z headed to the Kid City. It’s a great room for younger kids to enjoy a kid-size city ranging from grocery store, library, phone booth or the factory.

Kids can enjoy a quiet time (ok.. not so quiet when other kids are enjoying their fun nearby) at the reading nook, play with the magnetic board, build a huge lego set or climb up the factory. I literally  had to drag Mr. Z out from that room to check out what Miss J and Mr. Rojo were up to.

Let’s Build It

We headed to Block Buster! room… Man oh man.. What a fun room. It’s basically a room full of KEVA planks that you can build on several tables provided. I mean the imagination is your possibilities. There are a sheet with example of what you can build and let me tell you.. This room is as much for adults as for children. I saw several couples enjoying building the KEVA planks themselves with no kids in sight.

The KEVA planks are surprisingly easy to use to build amazing structure. Each KEVA plank is uniform in size and shape, made from maple wood and measures 1/4 inch thick, 3/4 inch wide and 4 1/2 inches long. Structures are built by stacking the planks in an infinite number of ways, no glue or connectors necessary.

If I didn’t keep track of time, I bet we could have gotten lost in this room and miss our IMAX show.

Experience Under the Sea

I am typically not a big fan of IMAX theatre just because I can easily get motion sickness. The thought of sitting there with things moving already gives me nausea. But I’m also not one to refuse free tickets. :)

I’m glad we picked the Under the Sea movie. The show takes you to the journey under the sea with a great narrator with some humor comments.

I was concerned about how long Mr. Z would be able to sit still for the whole show. To my surprise, he was so mesmerized by the whole show.

In the end, we all had a great time at the Reuben H. Fleet Science center. It’s a perfect place for the whole family even for the littlest ones. Thank you for inviting us to visit.

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from Reuben H. Fleet Science center. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Check out other fun Photo Friday from other travel bloggers at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) San Diego With Kids: Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

On the last day of our San Deigo trip as we packed our car and ready to head North to visit Wild Animal Park, we made a quick detour to visit Cabrillo National Monument.

Mr. Rojo’s friend highly recommended us to visit the Point Loma Lighthouse. Since we started out the day early, we figured why not.

I’m glad we did

The Cabrillo National Monument is located at the tip of Point Loma Pennisula. It provides us with a great view for the San Diego skyline even though that day it was a bit foggy (probably from dust and pollution).

Locals said it’s a perfect place to watch the ships as they arrive back at the port. We didn’t have time to do that but we did enjoy the view.

We stopped by the Visitor Center and got the pennies pressed to add to our collection.

We checked out Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo Statue and took a few pictures. We even spotted a couple hikers walking along the trail.

But we didn’t walk up to the Lighthouse. Let’s just say whining ruin it all. Maybe next time!

So we got in the car and ready to head to our original destination, but I saw the sign for the Tidepool access and overlook. Another detour was called for.

We parked and got out to enjoy the early day at the coast. We saw several surfers braved the cold water in the early morning for the ride. Ah!! What a beauty.

I think we could probably spend a lot more times there if we didn’t have places to go.

Kids would love to stop by the Lighthouse, walk along the bayside trail, check out tidepool and enjoy the San Diego view.

Even with so little time there, I still think it’s a great place to visit.

Family Tips:

• Arrive early in the morning so it won’t be too hot if you plan to hike along the trail
• Stop by the Visitor Center to get a brochure and learn the history of the park
• Check out the lookout points and see if they can spot any surfers
• Wear comfortable shoes and outfit for the trail hike

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As we say good bye to 2009 and give a warm welcome to 2010, I can’t help but look back at our family adventures that we have done through out the year.

I have to warn you that it will be a long post so why don’t you go grab a cup of coffee, get yourself comfortable and come back to join me as we walk down the memory lane together.

March – Gatlinburg, TN

We start the first quarter with our last minute trip that we planned with a group of friends. That was the first time we ever vacationed together but it won’t be the last for sure. 5 Families, 10 adults and 11 kids in one house for 2 days was a great fun. The only thing I wished we could change is to stay a bit longer. Kids had fun Snow Tubing down the Ober Gatlinburg and we had a nice and a bit scary scenic drive along the Great Smoky Mountains.

April – Washington DC

During Spring break, we went on a road trip to Washington DC. A full week in our capital city allowed us to enjoy introducing the kids to great history. We hit the ground running the first night checking out the Cherry Blossom along the Tidal Basin at night. The next day, we covered 2 museums in one day!!! The Natural Museum of American History was a big hit even though we only spent a couple of hours in there.

Yes, there are more things to do and see in DC BUT I couldn’t help planning a day trip to Baltimore. The Port Discovery Children’s Museum was a perfect escape from all the museums. It let them loose and be kids once again.

Back to DC, we had a little mishap to visit Capitol Hill so we just took it in stride and enjoyed our DC by Foot tour. By far, it was one of the highlight for me. A visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Lincoln Memorial gave me the sense of  deep appreciation for this country.

Another break from our museum visit was called for the next day. So we hopped on the Metro and checked out many little (or not so little) furry friends at the National Zoo.

The last day was not at all the least memorable. We spent time checking out the Air and Space Museum.

May – Disney World, Orlando, FL

At the beginning of Summer, we headed down to the land of Mouse to celebrate Mr. Rojo’s Birthday. There was no other places he would rather be than Disney World.

We had a great time in Disney’s Animal Kingdom even with a rain storm at the end of the day. Our friends came up to celebrate with us and we enjoyed our hot Florida day at Disney’s Water Park.

Orlando is not all about theme parks so we spent a leisure day wandering and shopping at the Downtown Disney.

July – Outdoor Adventures

We stayed close to home in the midst of Summer. But we did challenge ourselves to new adventures. We started off slow by hiking closer to home.. really close to home. Then we took another step out of our comfort zone to plan a camping trip. Camping in the backyard was another baby step before the real off-site camping. We did it and it was a blast. We also learned a few tips for our first endeavor.

September – Camping by the Lake

We did our first off-site camping at the campground by the lake nearby our house. Kids were a trooper in helping out in the camp and they enjoyed fun activities. Mr. Rojo got over (just a tad) his camping phobia.

September – Asheville, NC

What a month of stepping out of my comfort zone! After a camping trip, we headed North to Asheville for me to attend my FIRST Blogging conference. I was nervous! Asheville was such a beautiful town to visit. Good food.. no.. GREAT food!!

We continued our outdoor adventure by hiking up the Chimney Rocks. Then a quick visit to Biltmore Estate confirmed that I want to go back there again.

I enjoyed learning from and meeting new bloggers. And oh.. yeah.. we took the kids with us. So I learned a few things along the way to have a great business/family trip combo.

November – San Diego and Los Angeles, CA

We ended our 2009 adventures with the most memorable trip for the whole family to the West Coast. It was our first flying trip in a couple years. With all the changes in TSA that going on daily, I was very nervous.. Alas, we made it without lost child.

Mr. Z couldn’t stop talking about his visit to Legoland. I still have several posts I will do for our visit.. We didn’t even scratch the surface yet.

Whew, still with me? What a year we had!!!

As I look forward to the New Year, I don’t know if we will be blessed to be able to afford that many trips again. We already know we will go back to Thailand next year. I still would love to add a couple trips within the US if we could manage. Who know?

Hope you guys will stick around to see what adventures we will get ourselves into. :)

Happy New Year 2010! Have A Great Year Ahead!!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Our Family Travel in 2009 is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

During our visit to San Diego Zoo we had so much fun especially interacted with the animals at the zoo. They were the most active animals we have seen at any zoos. Maybe we were lucky or maybe they are just that way.

But instead of wasting your time writing and describing our experience. How about meeting one of them?

The Gorilla duo – mommy and baby – were a hoot. The mom was very playful and funny. One minute she was hugging her baby and the next she pushed the baby away. Guess it’s the PMS. :) Kids were all giggling and had a blast from this show.

This is my first time trying the video. So please let me know if you have any feedback. Would love to hear from you guys!

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from San Diego Zoo. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) San Diego With Kids: Meet San Diego Zoo Star, The Gorilla is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Me: Guess where we are going in San Diego?

Mr. Z: Where?

Me: Legoland

Mr. Z: Squeak… Squeal… Jump… and start it all over again

That’s the reaction I got when we first told him we will be visiting Legoland in San Diego.

I have to admit that I was a bit skeptical about Legoland at first. I have read mixed reviews from parents that the park might be more for younger kids. But boy!! were they wrong!

Legoland by far is one of our kids’ favorite theme park.

The Little Park That Could

One of the thing that I was hugely mistaken was how much time we will spend at the park. See! We have done Disney countless times so I thought we could probably enjoy Legoland in half a day and have enough time to visit their new Aquarium next door.

Big mistake! We arrive a little bit after 11 am so that should give us plenty of time, right? Wrong! There are just so many fun rides and attractions for kids (umm.. and adults) to do. I mean just walking around and admiring the amazing lego creation will take us hours.

Plus there are more rides that my kids can enjoy even with height requirement.

They must be parents with kids

I love little things that make our visit enjoyable like the waiting area for kid while parents wait in line.

Basically, during a long line Legoland has a special section that looks like a play area equips with what else but Lego tables with lots of legos for kids to play while the parents stand in line. Then when the parents get closer to the on the ride they can meet their kids.

No fuzzy and whinnying kids in a long line. Genius!!

Why didn’t I see more of that from other parks.

Big Kids, Little Kids

I should have studies the map more thoroughly so we would start of in the right direction. Miss J tried to tell me but I was too busy taking picture. :)

For younger kids in their toddler years, I would suggest to turn right and start counter clockwise once you get in the park. There are more rides for their age range

For older kids, the left turn is the way to go. The Castle Hills and the Adventure Land are full of fun roller coaster rides and excitement for them.

Prepare for Some Sweat

Yes, we went there during November. But there are few attractions that you will have to work out that muscles. I’m not complaining because it was a great way for family to work together as a team.

The highlight of attractions with some fitness built-in has to be the Fun Town Fire Academy. Get ready for some bicep workout.

The Low Point

The low point of the day was that we didn’t have enough time to enjoy Legoland as much as we like. So I’m pretty sure that we will come back to visit them in the future. Maybe Spring or Summer time might be better bet so we could take advantage of many water funs around the park.

We basically skipped the whole Pirate section because there are too many water attractions.

Stay tune for our kids’ pick on their favorite rides and attractions from Legoland.

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from Legoland California. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) San Diego With Kids: Legoland California is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

During our SeaWorld San Diego visit, we had such a great time enjoying watching the Animal shows and interacting with Animal encounters throughout the park. We tried to pack in as many attractions as our kids’ little legs could handle. But there are still a few other shows and animal encounters that we missed. But here are our favorite ‘Best Animal Shows and Encounters in SeaWorld San Diego’

1. Sea Lions LIVE

The Sea Lion Live show is a fun show and very entertaining. It’s not one of those boring show that you see the sea lion jumping up and down without any story. They have create a great scripts that both funny and witty. The show incorporated current TV shows and musics into their shows making it entertaining without bored parents or bigger kids.

2. Dolphin Experience Presentation

As SeaWorld getting ready to open the new Dolphin Show – Blue Horizon at their new stadium in May 29th, 2010, we got to enjoy their dress rehearsal for their new show. The show took us to behind the scene on how the trainers work closely with the dolphins and what techniques they use to train them. Now there is one more reason to come back to visit San Diego and SeaWorld.

3. The Shamu Show Believe

The star of SeaWorld doesn’t disappoint any kids or adults. Who wouldn’t be in awe to see triple flips from a mammal that size! If that didn’t move you, the music and the story will probably have done it. I don’t think there is any more words I can use to describe our experience with the Shamu show except you have gotta see it for yourself!! It’s one of those things that you can’t really convey the experience unless you have witnessed it. Oh! And they are not kidding when they mark the soak zone

4. Forbidden Reef

It was supposed to be a quick stop while we wait for the Shamu show but it turned out to be one of our favorite stop. The Forbidden Reef provides kids the perfect opportunity to touch and feed bat rays. The lagoon is shallow enough that little kids can reach out and touch the rays. Mr. Z couldn’t get enough of it. It took quite a bribe to get them away from the lagoon.

5. Dolphin Encounter

Another wonderful show that we stumbled upon during our wandering in the park. The Dolphin Encounter allows kids and adults to feed these gentle animals and touch them. I love that the staffs were there ready to help you finding a spot to feed them.

Disclaimer: I received complimentary tickets from SeaWorld San Diego. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) San Diego With Kids: 5 Best Animal Shows and Encounters in SeaWorld San Diego is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Last week, I posted about our experience in Georgia Aquarium – The Planet Shark exhibit. So this week I will continue on our fun day in the Georgia Aquarium. After we were done with The Planet Shark exhibit, we headed down to the main area of the aquarium.

I wouldn’t want to bore every one to death of every single detail of our visit. It’s just better to experience it yourself.

But here are Our best family’s favorite moments.

Tropical Diver: Jelly Fish and Living Reef

In the Tropical Diver, we experienced the largest living reef exhibit with overhead crashing wave. This is probably one of the favorite in the Tropical Diver. I could imagine myself sitting there all day checking out thousand of colorful coral reef on display.

I was obsessing over trying to get that perfect blue of jelly fish. Well, you are the judge. How did I do?

Ocean Voyager: Underwater tunnel, Whale Sharks and Manta

When we were there, the movable walkway was disable. It maybe because it was already late in the day or it was broken. But either way, I like it. It allows us to spend more time to check out those thousand of fish swimming by overhead.

We pick up a fish guide at the beginning. It was a brilliant idea and perfect for kids to engage in the exhibit. Miss J and Mr. Z were busy looking for each fish and learned about each one of them.

Ocean Voyager: Diver Spectacular Show

Ok, it’s not really a show but we were there when there was the Diving program. It was a perfect timing. Kids enjoyed watching both fish and divers swimming around. It even made Mr. Rojo considered taking up diving… Maybe.. Maybe..

The viewing window is humongous. It’s the second largest viewing window in the world. There is space for everyone to enjoy thousand of fish, sharks, manta and other sea creatures. I think we could probably spend a whole day just sit there and watch the fish.

Georgia Explorer: Touch Pools and Big Whale Slide

Ok.. I’m kidding. I like various touch pools in the exhibit. The most prominent one is the touch pool for stingray and bonehead shark which is right in the entrance of the exhibit. Too bad Mr. Z and Miss J are a bit too small to reach the pool. Maybe the aquarium might consider a touch pool for children? Something a bit shallower that they can reach. Wonder if that’s even possible.

Then they turned around and headed inside the exhibit. A big whale slide was there to greet them and before I could say anything they were off. They ran up and down the slide a few times before we had to pull the plug and head out.

What a great day we had in Georgia Aquarium and thank you for providing us with complimentary passes.

Disclaimer: I received complimentatry tickets from Georgia Aquarium and The Planet Shark. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Best Family Favorite Moments at Georgia Aquarium is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Over the weekend we ventured out downtown to revisit the Georgia Aqueium after our first visit a few years ago.

The Aquarium is conveniently located in downtown right next to the World of Coca-Cola and Imagine It! Children’s Museum of Atlanta. It’s perfect for visitors who come to visit or family who wants to have a fun day out.

Parking Garage – Little thing that counts

We parked in the covered parking garage and walked along to new (for me anyway) covered walkway along to the entrance. This is a new improvemt from our first visit. We no longer have to worry about kids running out into the incoming traffic. It’s little thing that makes parent happy.

The Planet Shark

Once we got in, we headed to the Planet Shark: Predator or Prey exhibition. I was giving the complimentary tickets to check them out. First of we stopped by the information table to rent audio tour for each kid.

I think it’s a great and very inexpensive way to keep kids engaged and interested in exhibitions.

So how did we like it? I like it. It’s very informative and interesting. Kids loved listening to their audio tour and check out different shark jaws, teeth and fossil.

It’s good to have great info to teach them that sharks are not as scary as they might thought. The fact that majority of sharks kill less humans than other accident gives me some comfort.

However, I don’t think toddlers will really enjoy this exhibit as much. Even though there are a few interactive part in the exhibit, the majority of information is on display so they might not have the patience to wait for it. Kids in school-age will love it. They will enjoy learning about Shark history and seeing some of the full-size sharks displayed in the exhibit.

Beware for little kids

A word of caution though, you might want to consider your kids fear tolerance. For us, Mr. Z is a fearless child. He was so eager to see the video of the shark stories and movies that played throughout. Miss J on the other hand was afraid and I knew that I wouldn’t want her to develop fear of water so we kept our visit to just the history and fossil part.

We pretty much zipped through the latter part of the exhibit where they shows authentic artifacts from the movie “Jaws”, stories from survivors or the feature films.

Our Verdict

It was a very positive experience especially coming from a person who was traumatized by Jaws movie. I just wish that I can spend more times there without my kids. Ok.. It sounds a bit bad coming from a family travel blogger. But I just don’t want to pay the bill for the therapist later in life so we try to steer them away from the gruesome and hard-to-watch exhibit.

Also for the additional cost for less than $6 more than the general admission fee, it’s really worth seeing this exhibit.

Disclaimer: I received complimentatry tickets from Georgia Aquarium and The Planet Shark. However, this post is based solely on my experience and my opinion without any outside influence.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Shark Encounter in Georgia Aquarium is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

This past Summer, we took our quick vacation to one of our family favorite spots – Walt Disney World. We have been there countless times and yet still enjoy it every time we visit.

We have been there since before we have kids. I know.. It must be something they put in the water or in the air. Every time we step foot in this place, it just likes magic. You suddenly have this happy feeling.

However, there is certain park that we seems to have the worst of luck whenever we visited. The Disney’s Animal Kingdom park is the newest park (at 11 years of age). We have visited this park a few times and each time we just couldn’t get to explore it to the full extent.

Our first couple trips we were attacked with Florida heat. No surprise here that Florida can be hot. Add that to one of the largest park with a lot of walking, we just couldn’t take the heat.

Our recent trip, we had a high hope. We came prepare with all essentials to survive the heat in Disney’s Animal Kingdom with kids. We wanted to try out the new ride – Expedition Everest. But before heading for the thrill, we opted for a easy and fun ride first.

Wildlife Express Train & Conservation Station

We hopped on the Wildlife Express Train to the Conservation Station. Believe it or not, this was our first time doing this ride! What a gem!

I highly recommended this ride and station for family with small kids. The ride is fun and exciting for kids without too much hassle. After we got off at the station, we walked along a shade path to the conservation station. Along the way, there is Discovery Kid Club station with a ranger to help kids learn about nature. There are 6 Discovery Kid Club in the whole park. You can look at the map on where to find them. Kids will get their pin and a stamp on their Discovery Kid passport. It’s a great way to get kids engaged in exploring the park.

Another big plus is that the conservation station is indoor and cool. Anyone visiting Animal Kingdom will know how hot it can be even on a good day. So this station is a great escape for family with kids. There are also picnic tables all around for you to take a break and have snack.

Kilimanjaro Safari

After spent what feel like hours there, we hopped back on the train to Kilimanjaro Safari. It was probably as close as Africa we can get for our family at this moment seeing the cost of going to the real Africa is out of our budget. Kids enjoyed seeing animals and fun bumpy ride along the way.

I think this ride will be good for family with a bit older kids. School-age kids will throughly enjoy this ride as they can look at the chart provided in the bus to look out for the animal. Younger – preschoolers might enjoy the ride but it can be a bit scary for them if they are not used to bumpy ride.

After a hot and long-lined lunch (yes, I probably should read all the tips about lunch or food in Disney), we walked toward Asia for the Expedition Everest (or we thought we could).

Flight of Wonder

But the walk proved to be too difficult for them to handle. So we took a short break at Flight of Wonder show. It was a really really nice show. The birds were amazing and the casts were very entertaining.

And don’t forget to try out the pineapple ice cream in front of the entrance. It was a life-saver for me.. Cool and tasty!

That’s when it came to an end for us. The rain came and we got soaked. So we decided to abort all other plans and head back to our condo.

Even though it was a really quick visit for us and we only covered 3 rides/attractions, the kids truly enjoyed the experience and I won’t give up on Animal Kingdom anytime soon. :)

Family Tips:

• Prepare for a long walk by bringing stroller for younger kids (or even big kids)
• Bring essential stuffs to combat the heat – hats, fan, sunscreen, water and light clothing
• Pack a poncho or small umbrella because you never when it’s gonna rain in Florida
• Take frequent break. Look for indoor theatre or store for a quick cool down in between attractions

Do you have any other tips for family travel to Disney’s Animal Kingdom? 

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Orlando With Kids: Disney’s Animal Kingdom – The Condense Version is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

One of the fun thing we looked forward to on our Carnival Cruise was the towel animal that would be waiting for us on our bed or inside our room. We didn’t know what we will find so it was a big fun for the kids.

Here are animals we found in our cabin on our Carnival Cruise a couple years ago. Enjoy! :)

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Little Zoo Aboard Carnival Cruise is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

A couple weekends ago, we made a last minute trip to visit our local corn maze – Uncle Shuck’s Corn Maze in Dawsonville. Typically, we tend to visit corn maze earlier in the day. But this time, we planned for a sunset visit. We got there with about 20 minutes before the Sunset.

After purchased the tickets, we headed straight to the corn maze. There are other activities you can do around the corn maze but with limit sun light we just had to save that for future trip.

The corn plants are full and tall. I love the the corn field is so green. It’s much better than walking along the brown corn field like we did last year. You can’t really tip-toe or jump to see your way out so you really do need a map or good internal GPS system. Don’t worry they will give you a map with your ticket purchase.

Our first goal is to get to the bridge so that I can take some pictures of the corn maze before dark. Mr. Rojo was doing a great job leading us to the bridge. But I was a bit disappointed at my own skill. I didn’t get any good pictures. Guess we might have to head out there again.

Then, now the real work had just begun. There are 2 corn mazes and each has 6 check points that you have to complete. Each check point has a punch hole (with distinct shape). Once you complete all check points you can return the card to win a grand prize.

We could only complete 5 checkpoints. By that time, the creepy music started to play as they got ready for the Haunted Maze. Plus we were so under-dressed that everyone was freezing for the falling temperature. It was time to head out.

After we got out from the maze, we let the kids check out the kiddie version. I am not sure what kind of vegetable that is but my guess was it’s kudzu. They had fun running through the maze and played a bit before we headed back home.

Next time, I guess we have to plan to arrive a bit earlier to take advantage of other fun activities there. And for a more daring and adventurous family, you can wait till dark and go for the Haunted Maze. I for one, will NEVER do that.

Family Tips:

• Bring jacket or sweater for a drop in temperature during night time
• Bring your flashlight if you plan for a dusk corn maze
• Wear comfortable shoes. This can be a long walk if you don’t really know where you are going
• Bring camel pak or water bottle
• Haunted Maze is extra so if you don’t want to do it, make sure that you tell the cashier up front.

Check out my round up for fun corn mazes around Atlanta at Atlanta With Kid.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Fun Corn Maze at Dusk with Kids at Uncle Shuck’s is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

My long time friend who know me or Mr. Rojo well enough probably do the double take and wonder if this is really our blog. What with all the camping posts! Well, I can’t promise you that this will be my last post about camping because we are already cooking up our Fall camping trip. As I have said it before and will say it again that we are not outdoor type family.

We love going to Walt Disney World, shopping at the outlet mall and hanging out by the pool after a long day. So camping is probably one of the last thing they will think we will do as a family.

It’s not easy to step out of our comfort zone. It’s a work-in-progress. So if we can do it, I think you can do it too. Keep in mind that we are not talking about backpacking and trekking 5 miles to your camp site nor primitive camping. We are talking about camping in style. Hey! At least we are camping.

So how did we do it? Here are our 5 Baby Steps to Ease Your Camping Phobia

1) Take a baby step:

If you have never gone camping before in your life, don’t go out and book the next campsite at the Smoky Mountain Park that you will have to hike and camp out with no modern amenities like electricity or water.

Start out small like camping in your backyard. And even then, it might still seem scary at first. How about talk to a few friends to do backyard camping together? Camping with a group of friends is fun and their kids will be your kids instant play mates.

Or if you feel like you can step up a bit, you can find local nature center that provide overnight camping at their center. You will be in a good hand and still yet get to enjoy outdoor experience

2) Comfort is everything:

When camping with kids, you want everyone kids or adults to be comfortable. You don’t want to deal with cranky kids after a sleepless night.

The best advice I got from my friend was to get the biggest tent I can get. What a great advice! You want space that you can move around. Don’t just think of tent as a place to go to sleep.

A big enough tent can be a sanctuary for kids at night to play together without being eaten alive by bugs.

A big enough tent will allow you to have separate bed from your kids. I love my kids but I am done sleeping on the same bed. They can move like nobody else. At the end of the day, you want to be able to sleep. Sleeping outdoor out of your own home already hard enough for newbie like us. You don’t want to add the kick factor to the equation.

3) Bring YOUR comfort toys:

This advice is not only applied to kids. I’m sure each of us adult have something like book, laptop, ipod that keep us sane. Bring them! When things get tough, you can just spend some quiet time relaxing.

For me, I love the kindle application I download on my iphone. I don’t have to bring big, heavy books. Plus I can read them at night without having to use lantern or flashlight.

For Mr. Rojo, it’s a laptop. A few minutes playing computer game helps him to forget about that noise next to the tent.

4) Location, location, location:

Do a research and look for campground with all amenities that suite your need. Here are a few must-have for us on our first camping trip

• Within driving distance to our house. Just in case it doesn’t work out. We can just pack up and head home.
• Must be near the water. I think that campground nears water will give us better breeze at night.
• Must have restroom. We got it and more. The campground also has shower and laundry. Perfect. Next time, I can even pack less.
• Must have electric hook up. Yes! We need it. We want it and we are not shame of it.

5) Timing is everything

Even though the thought of setting up a campsite and then having to take it down a couple days later doesn’t seem worth while. You also don’t want to plan your first camping trip to be a week long.

Why not try it out for a weekend. If you like it, then next trip you can always extend your trip.

I think camping doesn’t have to fall into the typical stereotype of ‘roughing it’. I hope that these 5 simple steps will help get you outdoor and enjoy nature.

What other tips do you have to help making camping more fun or easier?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 5 Baby Steps to Ease Your Camping Phobia is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Kids love to help out. And here are a great example during our recent camping trip. They jumped right in to help out in putting up the tent. I think that what make camping fun for the whole family. The sense of togetherness and working together really bond them. Until 10 minutes later when they fight over the flashlights but that’s another story. :)

Putting up a family tent is not as hard as I thought it would be once we have some practicing. It’s a great idea to try it out at home in your backyard for first time camper. The first time I put my tent up at home it took me over an hour to figure things out. Ok.. Maybe because I’m a bit directional challenge when it comes to tent. But every newbie will probably face the same problem. The 2nd time we put up our tent on our first family backyard camping, I did it in under 20 minutes. And this time, it took us about 15 minutes. Once you figured how to do it, it’s that easy. Wonder how fast I can put it up next time? :) Yes.. there will be more camping from The Q Family for sure!

Here is my contribution for this Photo Friday. Head on over to Delicious Baby for more fun photos from travelers around the world.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) The Helping Hands is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Well, we did it. We went camping with our kids and our friends. An outdoor camping trip!

Ok. Even if the trip was literally 10 minutes from our house, I considered a big step up from the city gal like me. I will write more in detail on our experience later.

But today, I want to share our fun things we did during our camping trip with kids. I was so worried about things to do. But with great advices from my pals around the blogosphere, I took the deep breath, relaxed and let it go. Turned out it was the best advice.

Here are our 5 Fun Things to Do with Kids on Family Camping Trip

1. Walking, Jogging, Hiking – Whatever you want to call it, just put on the shoes and explore your area. Kids will be running up and down the trail and enjoy their freedom in the natural environment. They will discover the sun’s ray in the morning and turn that into a game of their own.

2. Campfire fun – Sitting around the camp fire at night is probably one of the best things to do on a camping trip. They will love BURNING their marshmallows more than making the S’mores. We ended up with a lot of leftover chocolate. Can you believe it!

3. Make sandcastle – Even if your campground is in the mountain, they still can make sandcastles. Give them a plastic cup and water and they will turn the dirt around the campground into a sand masterpiece.

4. Flashlight adventure – Give each kid a flashlight or lantern and they will make it fun. We don’t even have to do anything for them. They will make up their own games from hide and seek (might want to watch out for little ones not to wander too far from the campsite), shadow show, spot light tag and more.

5. Swimming – Our campground is situated by the lake so it’s a perfect activity during the day. Kids love to swim and play on the beach. An inflatable boat is a big hit for the whole gang. They love to just paddle the little boat out to the lake. But if you don’t have lake or pool nearby, just take the opportunity to explore the area. We also play ‘Mushroom Hunting’ game. There are so many types of mushrooms in the wood. We hunt for yellow, red, brown and white mushroom.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 5 Fun Things to Do with Kids on Family Camping Trip is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

How was everyone Labor Day weekend? I hope everyone had a great time. There were so many things to do in Atlanta over the weekend I had a hard time choosing. However, being a nerd and bookworm by heart, I couldn’t pass up a chance to check out Decatur Book Festival.

This was a 3 days event book festival at downtown Decatur. I was hoping I could go on Saturday as there were many authors that I would love to meet. But we had other commitments like lunch with Thai friends and neighbor’s birthday party. So I settled with Sunday outing.

We arrived in the afternoon and found plenty of public parking.

The book festival is a great fun outing to introduce young kids to the love of reading. It is very family-friendly and pet-friendly as well. We found so many four-legged friends roaming around. I wished we bring our Java with us.

We knew that this will involve a lot of walking. So I came prepare this time. Everyone wore their most comfortable shoes and the kids each had their own Hydration backpack from REI. It’s a backpack that has a pouch for water. So they can carry their own drink and sip on those water whenever they want. It was such a big hit and we got several compliments on them. :) One less thing for us to carry around. I need all hands on deck to carry all the books we will buy.

The weather was perfect. It was sunny but not too hot. We walked around enjoying different activities for kids like making your own book mark, listening to the story teller, watching the martial art performance and creating their own story book. After a while, even with such a nice weather the little legs needed a break. So I went to our favorite treat for the whole family… I scream, You scream, We scream for Ice Cream..

With more energy from a little red energy bar (popsicle), the kids were ready for more walking and checking out books. Another reason I love going to the local fair and festival is the chance to get to know about local groups or businesses like Cooking for Monkeys – this cool mommy blogger who makes the coolest lunch box or Sheltering Arm – a great nonprofit eduational organization that helps bringing books to all kids.

We also stopped by local independent children bookstore – Little Shop of Stories. A cute bookstore that is perfect for kids of all ages and adult too. Mr. Z was so into reading. We had a hard time getting him out of the store.

Ok.. I admitted there is another reason I love festival and it is FOOD. I love festival food especially the Funnel Cake. No matter how full I am, I can always find more space for Funnel Cake.

Thanks to Mr. Rojo who reminded me to take the picture of this yummy Funnel Cake. Otherwise, there won’t be any evident that we had one..

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Bookworms On the Loose @ Decatur Book Festival is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

We have been to various types of vacation with our kids ranging from visiting the happiest place on earth, floating on the big ship to the carribean, or playing in the sand by the beach. But one of the best place to vacation with kids is actually our capital city – Washington DC. There are endless possibilities for things to do with kids that our week long vacation couldn’t fit it all.

When I asked Mr. Z what was his favorite place during our visit to DC, his answer was ‘the train museum‘. He meant the National Museum of American History. I didn’t think he would remember because we only spent just over an hour there.

It was our third stop for that day. Yes, it was a lot when you traveling with kids. But with a short break for ice cream, the kids found their hidden energy to explore the museum after all.

I knew that we won’t have enough energy to explore the whole museum or even wait in line to check out the famous exhibits. So after a quick walk through Spark Lab. We headed straight to American On the Move exhibit.

This fun and interactive exhibit take us on the journey through American transportation history. Knowing Mr. Z’s love of all things trains, it’s a sure bet that this will keep him entertained.

We walked through the history of locomotives in America. Kids loved that they could touch, sit or push the button. They enjoyed the fact that they could ride the bus even though it wasn’t moving.Mr. Z spent quite some times studying the train models displaying through out the exhibit. I think he was planning his own train trip one day. Or maybe he was thinking about the sleeper car that we enjoyed in Chattanooga.Miss J and Mr. Rojo loved to pretend to be one of the passengers waiting to get on the cable car.

We ended our visit with a little shopping at the gift shop and then headed back to the hotel for a good R & R.

If you plan to visit this museum with your kids, don’t forget to download the family guide for this exhibit.

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Washington DC With Kids: National Museum of American History is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

It has been raining a lot in our area. I have no complains because we had been under the drought condition for the past few years and the rain is a welcome sight indeed. But with those rains, lighting and thunderstorms on the regular basis, I just start to yearn for the Sunshine on the beach with kids trying to catch the wave and building sand castles nearby.

Ah.. So here is my Monday Are For Dreamings post. I’m dreaming to get transported to any beach.. any beach at all but the one I long for is this one.

I’m dreaming about our first trip back to Thailand with Miss J when she was just under 2 years old. I didn’t know how we did it but we did survive 3 connection flights and 24 hours in total travel time from Florida to Bangkok. There is no question whether we should take a long trip with our kids back to Thailand but it’s just a matter of when and how often. Our trip there, I introduced Mr. Rojo and Miss J to Phuket. My sister did all the booking for the tour for us as we also traveled with Mr. Rojo’s parents as well. The trip went by so fast that if I didn’t have proof on pictures I wouldn’t believe that we were there. I’m dreaming of going back especially after the Tsunami. And this time, we would have to stick around a bit longer and take in a slower pace so we will have time to breath and relax a bit more.

A trip to Thailand will not be completed if I didn’t get to eat like there is no tomorrow. And that trip was no difference even though I was with my in-laws. They probably just realized how much I could eat from that trip. The food was great but the atmosphere was even better. Who could complain when you had this view when you eat!

We did a few activities.. as much as a first time parents of a toddler could handle. We did a long boat to the floating village. We visited the Kho Ta Poo (or more widely known as James Bond Island). We went to Kho Pi Pi. But the most memorable activity I found was the simple thing. During one of the boat tour, the boat stopped and we got to jump off from the boat into the cool, clear water. I never jumped off the boat before. So it took every single ounce of my gut to make that leap. Oh!! I was glad I did make that leap. I think in the sense, it almost likes whenever we decide to plan a trip and the rush feeling comes through me when I click that confirm button to purchase our tickets or make that hotel reservation. Life is full of surprises and we just have to make the leap to fully embrace it.

Thank you for dreaming along with me.. Check out other travelers’ dreams at Mother of All Trips.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Dreaming of: Sand, Sun and Surf is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

A few weeks ago right before the school started, we planned our outing to celebrate back-to-school. I gave Miss J and Mr. Z choices on their outing.

Miss J with her free spirit, creative imagination, and sensitive emotion chose Imagine It! Children Museum. It’s one of Atlanta family favorite children museum. We had our membership from Creative Discovery museum that allow us to get in for free. I think I might get our membership here next year.

Originally, we planned to hit 2 museums that day. One for Miss J and one for Mr. Z. But as usual, we were slow getting start. We didn’t get to the museum till after lunch. So we decided to just let them play and enjoy their time there and visit Mr. Z’s choice the next day.

Every time when we visited Imagine It!, the first stop had to be the Tool Solution section. It’s a big giant structure with balls moving along the tube, water wheel, and even crane. Kids ran around picking up balls and putting them into the tube to see them moving to the next stop. Mr. Z waited patiently for his turn to operate the crane and he couldn’t be happier to drop the ball right on target.

It took a while before they agreed to move on to other exhibits. And Miss J gravitated toward the wall art. It was such a cool idea. Color paint the wall and then wipe it out and start it all over again. The station is equipped with pint-size apron and water color ready for the little Picasso to express their idea.

Another one of her favorite has to be the sand table filled with moon sand. The sand has super soft quality that you can pretty much sculpt it into fun shape.

As for Mr. Z, his second favorite has to be the grocery and conveyor belt section. I didn’t know he loves shopping this much. Next time I go grocery shopping, he will be my little helper. There were more kids than the little shopping carts so Mr. Z waited patiently (again) for his turn. It took probably a good 40-45 minutes before one of the kids gave up on this fun cart. Mr. Z didn’t waste his time filling up his shopping cart full of healthy food (I hope!).

I couldn’t say enough good thing about Imagine It! At first glance, it doesn’t look like a great children museum. With only one story, I thought it was rather small. But each exhibit is created with such details that kids couldn’t stay away from them. Plus the size is actually what make this children museum perfect for family with kids especially small children. It’s easier to keep track of your kids when there aren’t that many places for them to hide. I admit that I love the Port Discover Children museum in Baltimore. But at time, I also was so nervous. With multi-stories playground, there were several times that I couldn’t keep an eye on them. So I have to say that Imagine It! has grown on me and slowly become one of my favorite children museum.

Stay tune for part 2 of our back-to-school weekend fun!

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Back-to-School Weekend Fun at Imagine It! Children Museum is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

So we are going.. If the weather permits that is..

Going where?

Going camping, silly..

This will be a conversation I will probably be having with my family soon. I really want to do on-site camping this year. Summer has come to an end in my view. I mark the end of Summer when school starts. But we still have a couple weeks of good fun that we can squeeze in.

So I checked out the campground that literally 5 minutes from our house and found that the last weekend before they close the park is only a few weeks away. I will book the site as soon as I can see the weather forecast! It has been raining crazy at nights for the past couple weeks. So I don’t want to really have our first ‘REAL’ camping experience to be any more roughing it than necessary.

Now, if the mother nature works with me on this, I still have a big question that I will need all my readers’ help (I do have a few readers, right? Right?).

What activities do you do with kids when the Sunset and the Moon comes out to play?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) What To Do With Kids After Sunset in Campground? is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

This post continues on my cruising saga in the past couple weeks starting from why we love cruising with our kids and showing how I save on planning our cruise vacation.

Once all the planning is done, you would think that you are done with spending. Not so fast! It’s true that cruising is All-Inclusive which mean everything is included in the cost except your own spending on the boat and off the boat.

So today I want to share 5 Expenses that you might not have thought or aware of when planning a cruise vacation and ways to keep the lid on those expenses so you won’t have to come home with a huge bill waiting after the fun vacation.

1. Watch Out those Fancy Drinks

We don’t drink period. Mr. Rojo has some scare about his liver enzyme a few years ago so we practically cut out all alcohol beverage from our house. So it does help us cut down dramatically on the spending in this category.

Some cruise line will provide free soda drink (like Disney) but some cruise line will only provide water and ice tea. So if you can’t live without soda, you can bring your own in your suitcase.

As for wine and other beverage, I’m not quite sure since I didn’t even bother to check. But I believe you can bring one bottle per person. Check with your cruise line on their rule.

Check on cruise boards like Cruise Critic or Cruise Mates on more tips to cut down on beverage cost.

2. Portrait Picture? What pictures?

Family portrait on the cruise is a big business and a money maker for cruise line. You can end up spending a fortune if you blindly pick every single pictures ever taken on the ship.

If you think you absolutely must have those portrais, check out a package and see if you can get discount.

I have seen the light and aren’t too crazy about those pictures so we came out pretty good at the end with a couple pictures of our whole family. That’s pretty much what we got.

3. The Shopping Spree

In each port of call, you will most likely have a flyer in your room the night before about the great discount if you shop at certain approved store. I rarely look at those. I LOVE to shop. Who doesn’t. But I also love to explore and spend my money on something else that I couldn’t have when we are back home. Buying a watch or jewelry isn’t high on my list.

But if it’s what you are looking for, then shop smart and watch out for your budget. This one is a big one that can blow a big hole in your wallet if you are not careful.

I don’t have much self-controlled myself when it comes to shopping. So I set a limit on 1 sourvenir per person per port. At least they will get to pick something from each place that we visit. For the kids, I told them $10 maximum and Miss J has learned that rule by heart. It’s all about training them young. :)

4. Tips

Alright, yes maybe they did tell you about tips. But most people forget or didn’t think about adding it up until the last day. The cruise line is pretty good at providing the information of suggested tip per person per night. The tip ranges from $10-$15 per person per day.

I have also heard that some cruise lines have moved to add service charges instead of tipping. So make sure to check your cruise cost before shelling out those cash at the end of your trip.

5. Expense on Port of Call Day

The port of call day is pretty much a free style day. You can do whatever you want. Majority of passengers choose to disembark and enjoy sightseeing or exploring the city for a day.

If you plan to explore, don’t forget the cost of food and transportation during the day as it does not include in your cruise cost. The ship still provided food on board but most countries have strict rule of bringing fresh food, fruit and vegetable to their countries. So you can either eat before you leave, plan and budget for local food (which I love to do. Otherwise why visit if you didn’t get to taste local food), or pack package food that allows through custom.

Another expense during the port of call day that can be a major budget buster is the excursion fee. Try to avoid the idea of doing it all. I try to limit to one excursion per port. You will have less than 5-8 hours at the port so make sure that you check all the excursion time and length before signing up. Remember that the excursions provided by local companies are for all cruise ships so they might not know about your ship time.

Is there other expenses that I might have missed from your past cruise experience?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 5 Expenses Not Include on Your Cruise is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Writing about cruising with kids gives me a chance to look back at our photo from our latest cruise 2 years ago to the Caribbean. After 2 years, Seven Mile beach is still Miss J’s favorite memory for the whole trip.

I had done a lot of planning on that trip and we booked an excursion for the swimming with sting ray later on that day in Grand Cayman.

However, we arrived early in the morning which gave us a couple hours before our meeting time. So we decided to take a taxi to the beach. At $4 per person, it wasn’t bad to get there. It was early in the morning so the beach was pretty empty.

We got dropped off at the Reef restaurant on the beach. We were so early that the restaurant was still closed. We walked along the beach to find a good spot. We found a shade spot and even before I could put everything down Miss J and Mr. Z were already running off to the wave.

The sand was so soft that I feel like I just walk on soft carpet. The wave was not big so it was perfect for them to play in. We picked a great spot with shade so I could imagine taking a nap while Mr. Rojo helped build sand castle with Mr. Z.

They simply just enjoyed jumping the wave, play with the sand and relax on the beach. I think we could have just stayed there the whole day and it would still be one of the best day of the trip.

When it was almost time to head back to our meeting spot for the excursion, we stopped by the restaurant to order a drink. The restaurant had shower so it was convenient for us. I couldn’t imagine riding a boat the whole day with sand inside and out our bathing suit. :)

I’m so in love with the beach there. I know we will have to come back and spend more quality time there.

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Seven Mile Beach: Grand Cayman is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

As most of you guys know we love to travel with our kids. I love to try different kinds of adventures for my kids whether it’s just a day trip or a weekend trip. But most of all, I always always dream up our vacation trips. I try not to stick to one type of vacation. I believe in exploring different kinds of traveling like cruising, city sightseeing or road trips and going out of our comfort zone like camping.

We have done various types of traveling but still have yet many more to explore. One of many memorable trips we had and have been on top of our list is Cruising.

Here are our 5 reasons why we love cruising with kids and I think if you haven’t done so at least you might want to consider it.

1. Great Kids Club

There are plenty of activities for them to do on the ship that are organized by staffs. It is a great way for them to have fun with kids of their own ages and a great escape for us to have some time alone.

Don’t like organized activities? Kids can also enjoy swimming in the pool, explore the ship, or playing putt-putt on the deck. And sometimes, just sitting at the back of the ship watching white foamy wave from the ship can take up the whole afternoon.

2. No more ‘What to eat’ question

Deciding what to eat each day is one of the most stressful for any family vacation. For cruising, this problem is solved and I don’t have to worry about planning. Food is easily accessible 24/7. There is something for everyone even the most picky eater of the family.

Our absolute favorite is unlimited soft serve ice cream. We could live on those!

3. Set Budget

We *try* to set our budget for every vacation trip. But most of the time, we ended up spending more than we plan. It’s just what it is. Cruising helps us sticking to our budget because everything is pre-paid. Food, accommodation, transportation and excursion can be paid in advance. So we know how much our vacation will cost. Plus most of the time, you will have to pay certain amount before cruise date. So it helps not having a big bill at the end.

4. Destinations Buffet

I consider our cruising to each port of call as ‘Destination Buffet’. We get to see what each city is like. Try it out and we can come back later for longer stay. It gives us a chance to visit several difference places without going bankrupt. It’s a great introduction to different cultures and experiences.

Also traveling with kids to various cities in one trip can be a hassle. Cruising helps eliminate that issue. You don’t have to check-in your luggage to the airport to fly to different cities. You don’t have to pack and unpack your luggage at each location once you arrive. If you are the only one who pack and unpack, you will really appreciate this benefit!

5. You can do Nothing or Everything

A lot of times, I have heard people who said they don’t think they will like cruising because they afraid they will get bored. Well, I can say that there are more activities than more days on the ship. So you will never get bored. And at each port of call, you have options to do NOTHING or do ANYTHING that you love. It’s for both adventurous and non-adventurous type.

For family with kids, just spending time at the beach at the port of call can be the most amazing time for them. The best part it’s free. And if your kids are older and want to do more then you can also plan excursion that suit them.

Just talking about it make me want to start planning our next cruise.

So have you cruised before? If so, tell us why your love cruising.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 5 Reasons We Love Cruising with Kids is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

As a newbie in the camping world, I have learned a lot during our first family backyard camping. The vast varieties of camping products are mind-boggling. Who knows, there are that many types of tents, sleeping bags and sleeping pads.

It was overwhelming in the beginning but we sorted it out with the help from our friends and online information. So I want to put this post out to help other families who are looking into venture out into the unknown of camping with kids for the first time.

- Practice make perfect
If you have never camped before in your life, it’s a good idea to try setting out a tent in a house or in a backyard first. With the improvement in tent these days, it doesn’t take long to put it up as long as you read the instruction carefully. Oh! And make sure to use the right pole. :)

- Buy the biggest tent you can afford
For a family of 4, a tent that sleeps 4 might be too small. Yeah.. You might say but my kids are small, they don’t need a lot of space. OH! They do. Kids love to jump and run around. So a tent with enough headroom for you to stand up and for them to jump will give you some peace. Otherwise, you will be yelling ‘No Jumping’ all day long.

-Rent equipment is good but buy cheap one is better
At first, I was considering renting camping equipment from REI. It’s a good option since we don’t even know if we will like it and return to the wilderness the next time. However, after looking at the price, you can get a cheaper tent from Walmart or Target. Plus even if you might end up using it only once, you can always sell it on Craig’s list or ebay. I mean if you have money to spend, then by all means get the Hobitat from REI. I would love to have one. But our Coleman 8 does the job and it has plenty of room

- Before bedtime, everyone MUST go potty
It’s not fun for a 3 AM bathroom trip even if it’s just walking upstairs to your own bathroom inside the house. Make sure all the kids and adults have done their business before light out.

- Don’t forget bug repellent even in your backyard
Bugs do live in your backyard as well. So even if you don’t have to get in a car and drive to  your campsite, you still need that bottle of bug repellent lotion to fight off little buggers at night. I am the lucky person though bugs never bother me. Maybe because they are too busy taking care of Mr. Rojo. We might need to look into some bug repellent candles or lantern. Any recommendation?

I’m sure I will have more tips once we go on our ‘offsite’ camping trip.

So is there any tips you have for first-timer in family camping?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 5 Tips for Family Backyard Camping from First Time Camper is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Last month, I wrote about 5 Fun Kids-friendly Scenic Train Rides around America. And I realize that 5 is hardly adequate. So today, I would like to share 5 more fun trips that will blow any train-loving kids mind. Well, maybe not but it might make you look cool as a parent.

6. Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad, Colorado – It’s not just a train depot but it’s a living museum. Cumbres & Toltec railroad is built in 1880 and little has changed. It offers spectacular scenic view of southern Rocky Mountain and an example of steam era mountain railroading in North America.

Departure City: Antonito or Chama, CO
Fee: Starting from $74 Adult, $37 Children
Contact: Cumbres & Toltec Scenic Railroad Tel: 888-CUMBRES

7. Cape Code Central Railroad, Massachusetts – Climb aboard Cape Code Central for a fun family ride and enjoy the view of beautiful cranberry bogs, natural woodlands and lush marshes.

Departure City: Hyannis and Cape Cod Canal, MA
Fee: Starting from $21 Adult, $17 Children
Contact: Cape Cod Central Railroad Tel: 508- 771-3800

8. Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad, Washington – Enjoy the scenic train ride to the Pacific Northwest and see the Mt. Rainier Valley on a steam train.

Departure City: Mineral, WA
Fee: Starting from $20 Adult, $15 Children
Contact: Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad Tel: 888-STEAM11

9. Cass Scenic Railroad, West Virginia – Take a journey back in time with Cass Scenic Railroad State Park. The town is nestled in the mountains of West Virginia where nothing much changes. Enjoy a fun adventure that is filled with rich histories of the past and unparalleled views of a vast wilderness area.

Departure City: Cass, VA
Fee: Starting from $17 Adult, $12 Children
Contact: Cass Scenic Railroad Tel: 800-CALL WVA

10. Verde Canyon Railroad, Arizona – Ride on one of the finest train ride in Arizona to the remote wilderness of the Verde Canyon. Enjoy the 4-hour picturesque ride with spectacular canyon scenery that perfect for all seasons.

Departure City: Clarkdale, AZ
Fee: Starting from $54.95 Adult, $34.95 Children
Contact: Verde Canyon Railroad Tel: 800-320-0718

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 5 More Fun Kids-Friendly Scenic Train Trips is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

We did it! We had our first family backyard camping this past weekend. Well, before any of the outdoor enthusiasts said anything, you have to know that we (especially Mr. Rojo) are not outdoor type family. We don’t like hot and humid weather. We don’t like bugs. We love technology and gadget. We don’t like roughing it. So for us, to step outside our own comfort zone and sleep outside in a tent is really big deal. So I just want to post about what are things we bought in order to make this camping more enjoyable.

This will be more so for families who are looking to try something new, who don’t have any experience like us. Also this is not a complete list to allow you to go camping just yet. Just think of this as a dress rehearsal for your camping. We ate at home, shower and play inside (since it was hot in the evening) before we headed down to our tent. This list will get you started on enjoying family time outdoor in your backyard.

- Family Tent: We have a great advice from several of our friends to buy the biggest tent you can afford. For a family of 4, we opt for Coleman Concept 8-Person 14′ x 9′ Tent. Another tip is to buy the cheapest we can find. So Coleman tent seems to be a good choice for us.

- Air Mattresses: Another great tip from our friend. Get the most comfortable mattress you can find. We are car camping so we don’t have to worry about getting the lightest sleeping pad. We already have one air mattress but we will need another one for the kids. We chose Coleman Queen Sized Air Bed because it was on sale and it’s just a few dollars more expensive than Full-size. It’s always good to have enough space at night.

- Sleeping Bags: We can’t sleep without sleeping bag. We are not sure which one to get since there are so many types for different climate. But I know that we are just starting out and we won’t be doing any extreme camping. So we opt for the middle of the range temperature (40 degree). I figure if we will camp in a colder weather, we might just pack more sweaters and blankets.

- Tarp: Why tarp? Well, I couldn’t even find a footprint for our tent and tarp is probably cheaper. We bought tarp that a bit bigger than our tent size which I think it’s a really good idea. It will allow you to get in and out of the tent without tracking the dirt inside.

- Air Pump: We picked up Coleman Rechargeable Air Pump for our air mattresses because it doesn’t come with it. We could have gotten the air mattress that has the built-in pump but it will cost more. Plus we can use this air pump with another air mattress that we already have.

- Lantern: Since we know that we will always camp where there is electrical outlet at the campsite, we chose Coleman Rugged Rechargeable Lantern so that we don’t have to worry about the fuel or battery. This lantern has pretty good lighting and also has nightlight feature.

- Kids’ flashlight: There must be some incentive for the kids to make camping fun. And I don’t think it can be any cheaper or easier toy than a flashlight. We picked Coleman Kid’s Companion Flashlight and Lantern from Walmart. It’s more than just a flashlight. They can pull it out to make it a lantern or use it as nightlight. Perfect for their midnight dance.

Stay tune for our post on tips we learn from our first sleeping in a tent experience!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Things to Pack for Family Backyard Camping with Kids is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

We’re planning our weekend trip to Asheville, NC in September. I have heard about Asheville before because it’s home to the Biltmore Estate – one of the largest home in the US. What I didn’t know was there are so many things to do in or around Asheville with kids. Who would have thought this little gem in the Blue Ridge Mountain can be a fun destination for a whole family. Check out my list of family-friendly things you can do with your kids in Asheville.

1. Western North Carolina Nature Center - Is it a Zoo? Is it a garden? It’s a living museum for plants and animals natives to the Appalachian region. This nature center has a lot of events planned throughout the year. Kids will get to learn and understand more about the nature environments through hand-on and sensory programs. The price is very affordable for the whole family (Adult -$8 , Kid (3-15) -$4 and discount for Asheville resident and senior).

2. The Health Adventure – A unique health and science museum for children. This museum explores the wonder of our human body and encourage curiosity in kids to learn and raise awareness about our health and science. There are different programs and also traveling program throughout the year. And the benefit of small town museum, the price is relatively affordable (Adult -$8.50 , Student (12&up) -$7.50 , Kid (2-11) -$6).

3. Chimney Rock Park – Enjoy NC’s newest State park at Chimney Rock Park. Go up to the top of the rock to enjoy the amazing, panoramic view. Family with small children don’t be afraid there is an elevator to take you up to the top within 30 seconds. For family with bigger kids and love the adventure, the Outcropping trail will take you there in about 20 minutes. There are several hiking trails for different preference. Great Woodland Adventure Trail and Hickory Nut Falls Trail are highly recommended for family hiking. A tip for family with small children, bring backpack carrier or rent it at the park for $8 as the trails are not suitable for stroller use.

4. Biltmore Estate – One of the most popular attraction in Asheville, at 175,000 square feet and 250 rooms, it’s the largest house in America. The Biltmore Estate consists of the Biltmore House, the winery and the manicure garden. It will be a great day trip for a family. Kids will enjoy roaming around the property with over 8,000 acres. There are plenty of activities provided throughout the year. The price tag might be steep but I think it’s well worth the visit. Check out their website for events and special discount.

5. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad – Having a train lover son, we always look out for fun activity wtih train. The Great Smoky Mountain Railroad is a perfect excursion for a visit to Asheville. Kids will enjoy scenic train journey through the Great Smoky Mountain. There are special train event throughout the year being the Thomas Train Ride, the Snoopy Easter ride or the Polar Express on Christmas. Check out their website for more details.

6. Asheville’s Fun Depot – A place for the arcade lover family. This family entertainment center has various indoor and outdoor fun attractions ranging from indoor/outdoor go-carts, laser tag, bounce house or bumper car. It might not be for everyone but if you are looking for something indoor and out of the heat, this might be a place. The pricing has different options based on your preference. Check out the website for more details.

7. Apple Picking – Apple picking is a fun and affordable activity to do with kids. Kids love to do thing by themselves and what a better way than picking your own apples. There are several apple orchards in the area. J.H. Stepp Farm Hillcrest Orchard has been in business for quite sometimes. From their website, it looks like a fun place to take the kids to enjoy a day out in the Fall.

8. Grove Arcade – Shopping and people watching at the historically renovated Grove Arcade. Enjoy boutique shopping, exceptional dinning and regional art and crafts. Then sit back and relax and let the kids run wild.

9. Asheville Outdoor Center – Enjoy a calm water float along the scenic French Board River through the Biltmore Estate property. This is a perfect outdoor activity for family with small children who can’t participate in the popular whitewater rafting yet. There are various types of activities offering from kayaking, rafting, tubing, or canoeing. The best part is AOC is located in Asheville so you don’t have to drive too far.

10. Biltmore Village – Visit the original Biltmore village originally built for housing the Vanderbilt’s employees. Stroll along the brick sidewalks with tree-lined street, check out unique shops and have lunch or dinner at one of many locally owned restaurant. This charming village will give you the victorian-era ambiance that you might think you have been transported back in time.

11. Blue Ridge Parkway - Drive along the famous Blue Ridge Parkway and stop along the lookout to witness the marvelous beauty of mother nature at best. You can start from Asheville and drive all the way to the entrance of the Great Smoky Mountain Park.

12. Botanial Garden of Asheville – Kids love to roam and where is a better place than in the botanical garden with all the beautiful flowers and plants. Best of all, there is no admission fee.

13. Pisgah National Forest – This national forest is home to Sliding Rock, the Natural Water Slide. It couldn’t have been better than sliding down the naturally worn slab of rock to the pool

As for the accommodation, here are a list of 5 family friendly hotels in Asheville downtown area.

• Holiday Inn & Suites Asheville Downtown
• Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Asheville I-240
• Renaissance Asheville Hotel
• Homewood Suites by Hilton Asheville
• Residence Inn Asheville Biltmore

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 13 Things to Do in Asheville with Kids is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

When you tell anyone you are going to Orlando, they automatically assume that you will spend your entire vacation in the Theme Parks. Who can blame them when there are more theme parks than you can visit in one week in Orlando. However, we have been to Orlando countless times and I start to feel Disney-burnout.. Surprise surprise!

Our recent trip down to Orlando for a 5 day vacation trip, we had decided to choose only 1 Disney park and 1 Disney’s Water park. The rest of the time there we enjoyed spending with our friend and another non-theme park favorite location – Downtown Disney.

Downtown Disney is a destination within itself that I think a family with kids will truly enjoy without breaking a bank. It’s very conveniently located right off from I-4. There are plenty of parking and the best of all it’s FREE.

It has various shops and restaurants situated around a lake in the outdoor setting. We loved to go there and enjoy a nice day out in Orlando. A few of our favorite spots are:

1. Once Upon A Toy – A fabulous and unique toy store that offers fun for the whole family for hours. We enjoyed our visit to this store and couldn’t get enough of them.

2. Lego Store – It might be not Lego Land but it is a perfect fun place for lego fan alike. There are plenty of stations that allow kids to explore and play with lego. The creations are also amazing to see.

3. Disney Store – It won’t be Downtown Disney Market without a Disney Store. A mega Disney Store has sections for the whole family from baby, girl, boy, man, woman, and home goods. I think the most popular one is the Disney Princess Salon. Girl will be transformed to a princess with all the pamper from Disney staff.

4. Waterfront Theater – This open-air waterfront theater has events throughout the year. Last year we caught the magic show. This year it was raining. It was right in front of the Ghirardelli Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop. Grab an ice cream for kids and a cup of coffee for yourself and enjoy people watching.

5. T-Rex Restaurant – Ok.. We didn’t get a chance to go but it looks so cool that we will have to try. It’s the concept restaurant that similar to Rain Forest Cafe. When we went there, the restaurant just recently opened so the line just to get your name on the waiting list was already longer than some of the ride in Blizzard Beach. So maybe next time…

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Family Favorites at Downtown Disney Market is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Since we are not an avid hiker but I want to do more outdoor adventures with my kids, I decided to start out with one baby step at a time.

We live in a small neighborhood – no fancy pool with slide, no 10 tennis courts, and not even a clubhouse, but we do have a nice nature trail wrap around our neighborhood. It’s a short trail but along the trail we can walk up to a creek.

So a couple weekend ago, I decided on a whim to take them out and check out the trail. We had walked this trail before when we first moved here but at that time we were under the drought condition. So no water for us. But this trip it wasn’t disappointed. We pack our little backpack with bottle of water and hat, then we headed down the street to the entrance of the trail.

The trail is fairly easy to walk. No climbing or difficult rock to climb over. We saw rabbits and birds. In the beginning, Mr. Z was so freak out. I guess too much of the city boy. He wanted to go home as soon as we started the trail because there are too many trees! Go figure! But once we climbed down to the creek, he was in his happy place.

We sat there and listened to the water flow. We took off our shoes and walked along the creek. We slid down the rock slide. We put our feet down and relaxed… Miss J even claimed that it’s the best day of her life! :) Kids! So easy to please.

When it’s time to head back, I promise them that we will try to do this more and next time we will bring our swimming suits so they can just let loose.

Adventure doesn’t have to mean you have to pack your backpack and travel 1000 miles away from home. Adventure is everywhere around you.

How about you? What other around-the-neck-of-the-wood adventure you do?

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Baby Step to Hiking – Backyard Hiking is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Looking for a fun sleepover for your family? Imagining sleeping under the sea and relaxing with the sound of the wave in the ocean? What could be better than sleep in the deep end with the shark in your favorite aquarium?

Most aquariums around the US offer group sleepover programs for field trips or church group. But there are several dates in the calendar that open to public so you can enjoy family sleepover under the sea. Or if you can’t make the date, why not make it a family mini vacation with your friends and family?

Here are the list of aquariums around the country that I would love to visit.

1. Georgia Aquarium, Atlanta GA – My hometown aquarium is not be missed. It’s one of the world largest aquarium. The aquarium offers different programs for different age group. Most of the dates are for Youth group. But look out for the date that allows family group to attend. The price is on the high range but it also includes aquarium admission, behind the scene tour, activities, 3-D show, dinner and breakfast

Price: $75 for member and $100 for non-member
Minimum Age: 7 years old

2. Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga TN – One of a great location aquarium sits along the Tennessee River with the best view in town. The Tennessee Aquarium Sleep in the Deep program available to group only but look out for special occasion family sleepover like July 4th. You will be able to celebrate America’s Birthday while you enjoy the Firework over the river. The price also includes admission to the aquarium, behind the scene tour, evening snack and breakfast. With the price half of the GA aquarium and only a couple hours away, this might be our destination next year when Mr. Z is old enough.

Price: $45 for member and $55 for non-member
Minimum Age: 6 years old

3. National Aquarium Baltimore, Baltimore MD - The Baltimore aquarium is one of my favorite aquarium. The Sleepover with the Sharks program will be a great overnight sleepover for the kids and the whole family. You will enjoy the guided tour to the behind the scene area, participate in hand-on activity, and dare to walk on the catwalk over the shark tank. Then you lay down your sleeping bag at the underwater viewing area where sharks are your sleepover buddy.

Price: $84.95 for member and $94.95 for non-member
Minimum Age: 8 years old

4. Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey CA – The Monterey Bay aquarium offers Family Seashore Sleepover program. It’s available once a month from June to September. So if you live in the Monterey area, you might want to check out availability and register as soon as you know your plan. The price includes aquarium admission, behind the scene tour, light evening snack and breakfast.

Price: $50 for member and $75 for non-member
Minimum Age: 6 years old

5. The Florida Aquarium, Tampa Bay FL – The Tampa Bay Aquarium offers only group sleepover. But if you can get together with your friends and family to have a group of 15 participants then you will enjoy your own private sleepover in the clear tunnels surrounded by sharks, rays and thousands of fascinating inhabitants. The price bases on the number of participants in your group.

Price: $42 per person (group of 15-19)
Minimum Age: 6 years old

6. Atlantis Marine World Long Island’s Aquarium, Long Island NY – The Long Island’s aquarium is one of the top 10  best aquarium for kids voted by Parent magazine. The sleepover program is offered only one time as a special event and this year is on July 7th. So mark your calendar and book your reservation for the unforgettable night filled with activities, movie and adventure

Price: Check with the aquarium
Minimum Age: Check with the aquarium

7. Oregon Coast Aquarium, New Port OR – The Newport aquarium offers both group sleepover and public family sleepover for Sleep with the Sharks program. The program includes hand-on activities, scavenger hunt, early morning behind the scene, pizza and light breakfast.

Price: $50 for member and $55 for non-member
Minimum Age: 4 years old

8. New England Aquarium, Boston MA – The Boston area aquarium offers once a year Family Overnights program so check out the date and make a reservation soon. This year there are 2 dates available for Family Overnights for Nov 7 and 21. There are plenty of activities to keep the little ones busy all night long.

Price: $45 for member and $50 for non-member
Minimum Age: 6 years old

9. Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach CA – The Long Beach aquarium offers fun family sleepover once a year and this year the date is set for July 24. So hurry and check if there is still any availability. This overnight program includes hands-on activities, a craft, pizza dinner, snack, cereal breakfast, and overnight T-shirt

Price: $45 for member and $50 for non-member
Minimum Age: 6 years old

10. North Carolina Aquariums – Both Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Fisher offer group sleepover with small size minimum so it’s possible to get together with a few families to meet the minimum

Pine Knoll Shores: Group minimum – 12
Price: $35 per person
Minimum Age: check with the aquarium

Fort Fisher: Group minimum – 10
Price: $45 per person
Minimum Age: check with the aquarium

There you have it.. Now let’s get packing for a fun family sleepover!

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This is the picture from our first cruise experience with Disney Cruise. It was one of the most memorable vacation with our kids. At first we didn’t know what to expect and weren’t sure if we would enjoy stuck in a ship for the full 4 days. I guess if we had to be stuck anywhere, Disney was a good bet to be stuck with.

The Disney ship is not as big as other more popular cruise lines like Carnival or Royal Carribean.  But what lack in size, they made up in design, deco and services. As soon as we stepped on the ship, we almost forgot that we were on a cruise ship instead on another one of Disney Theme park except it was floating! There were plenty of activities everyday that we lost count and couldn’t possibly do everything. One of the fun activity that kids of all ages would enjoy was meeting the characters. It was like our little treasure hunt game.

When we went on the cruise, Mr. Z just turned 2. People might not feel like it’s worth the money to do the cruise when he was that young. But with Disney Cruise, it was well worth it. we didn’t have to pay for the kid price so we only had to pay for tax and port fee. Money saving alert!! :) There were plenty activities for him to do and they also provided baby sitting service if we required. Another big plus for parent with toddler was a separate pool that Disney built just for the baby and toddler who are still in diaper. In other cruise lines, kids in diaper are prohibited to use the pool and there are no other options for parents.

A private island – Castaway Cay was one of our favorite as well. We could roam the island and enjoy a relaxing day on the beach. There were food serving all day. There were plenty of water and beach activities for the whole family and there were also kids club lead by Disney employees for youngster to enjoy time alone from the parents.

I can’t wait till we plan for another cruise trip. This time I want to stay longer!

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Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) The Happiest Place on Earth (or Water?) is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Summer is the time for the fun in the water. When I lived in Florida, pool time was all year round so I wasn’t really appreciated it as much as when we moved here. Everyone anticipate the opening of the pool and it was such a great way to kick off our summer. But going to your little community pool everyday can be boring. I start checking out other water parks around the area to spruce things up for our summer fun day with our kids.

Here is our short list of water parks we have visited or would like to visit in the near future around the Atlanta area.

1. Lake Lanier Islands

As part of the Lake Lanier Islands resort, the Chattahoochee Rapid and Water park is a favorite for Atlantans. There are over a dozen rides and attractions for the whole family.

For family with little one, the kiddie pool will be your home based and you won’t be disappointed. The park planed with parent in mind, the Wiggle Wave and Kiddie Lagoon are situated near the entrance and the beach area so parents and kids can enjoy the relaxing day on the white sandy beach. For family with bigger kids, the fun has just begun. There are waterslides, wave pool and water fun area for them to enjoy. The price might be a bit on the high end but it’s well worth the visit.

You can also make it a weekend vacation by checking in to one of their resort rooms at Legacy Lodge and Conference Center.

Park Info:
Ticket Price: Adult $25.99 Child $15.99
Location: 7000 Holiday Road, Lake Lanier Islands, GA 30518
Contact: 1-800-840-LAKE

Tips:
- Look out for discount coupon if you can visit on the weekdays.
- Buy the season ticket if you know that you will visit at least 2 or more times and the ticket will pay for itself.

2. Six Flags White Water

Boasted one of the top 10 best Water Parks in the US by travel channel. We have yet to experience the Six Flags White Water in Atlanta. There are over 50 rides  for the whole family. Before you head out there, check their website for height restriction so you will be able to see how many rides your kids will be able to enjoy.

Park Info:
Ticket Price: Adult (online special) $29.99 Child (under 48″) $26.99. See sites for more update price
Location: 250 Cobb Parkway N #100, Marietta, GA 30062
Contact: 770-948-9290

Tips:
- If you can get a group of friends to have 15 tickets, you can get group rate for $23.02.
- To avoid the crowd, try to visit during the weekdays in Summer.
- Start from the furthest ride in the park.

3. Bogan Aquatic Center

Gwinnett county knows their water parks. There are several county parks that have great aquatic center that include indoor lap pool and indoor/outdoor leisure pool. Bogan Aquatic Center is located in Buford near the Mall of Georgia. When we went there, we were hooked. For the price of $5 per adult and $3 per kid, you can’t beat this fun, family-friendly water park. The indoor leisure pool is perfect for the whole family. There is a big slide to the lazy river for big kids and adults. There is a water playground in the beach entry for little one. The picnic tables are availabe outdoor next to the pool so you can plan your picnic for a full fun day at this water park.

Park Info:
Ticket Price: Adult $5, Child (4-10) $4, Child (3 and under) $2
Location: 2723 North Bogan Road, Buford 30519
Contact: 770-614-2063

Tips:
- Pack a snack in a cooler so you can take a break and save money from buying at the vending machine.

4. Sun Valley Beach

One of a few beach in Atlanta area with slides and kiddie play area. I can’t give my personal view on this one since we haven’t visited this place yet. But from the website and other reviews, it seems to be a great family day out. Don’t expect the same types of rides as in Six Flags but I guess the stretch of white sand beach might compensate the lack of other cool attraction.

Park Info:
Ticket Price: Adult $17.95, Child (2-11) $14.95, Child (2 and under) FREE
Location: 5350 Holloman Road, Powder Springs, GA 30127
Contact: 770-943-5900

Tips:
- Get there early so you can get good spot for your stuff.
- Bring cheap water toys that you won’t mind loosing. With lot of people and kids, things can be misplaced.

5. Bethesda Park Aquatic Center

Another great water park from Gwinnett county and this one seems to be the biggest one of all. I have never been there but I’m sure there won’t be shortage of fun. This family-friendly water park features indoor lap pool and indoor leisure play pool. The leisure play pool includes beach entry that perfect for little baby or toddler, the river channel, hydrotherapy benches that will be perfect for mommy and daddy after a long day chasing after our kids, water play struction, vortex and ceiling spray.

Park Info:
Ticket Price: Adult $5, Child (4-10) $4, Child (3 and under) $2
Location: 225 Bethesda Church Road, Lawrenceville 30044
Contact: 678-924-6334

Tips:
- Pack a snack in a cooler so you can take a break and save money from buying at the vending machine.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Family-Friendly Water Parks In or Around Atlanta is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Our trip to Thailand a couple years back was the first trip with both kids. My sister knew that going around town with both kids were a lot of hassle in Bangkok so she arranged to hire a mini-van driver to drive us around. One of our stop was The Ancient City (Muang Boran in Thai). This park is in Samut Prakan which is in the outskirt of Bangkok.

This park was created by one of the Thai millionaire to recreate Thai architecture from all around the country. Some are the replica of the country historical structures, some are the replica of the no longer exist structures, some are the genuine building that has been purchased and moved to this site. Each has been built with intricate detail and accuracy.

So if you want to get a preview of Thailand architectures and history around different parts of the country, then this will be a good bet. The site is over 200 acres and each site is not close to each other. It’s highly recommended that you have your own car or hire a car to tour the site. You will be able to drive around and stop at each site. Another way to tour it is by bike. Since our kids at that time were too young, car was a better option.

We stopped by the floating market (replica as well) to have lunch. Kids got to enjoy feeding turtles and fish in the pond. We didn’t cover half of what the over 100 structures are available at this park. I will go back there again when we visit Bangkok on our family trip. It’s a trip well worth a visit!! Plan as a day trip from Bangkok to get away from all the busy life and enjoy the cultural visit in a day.

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Thailand in A Day at The Ancient City is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Pick you own or You-Pick farm has been one of our favorite activities throughout the year – one of the beauty of living in the Atlanta area. I have never done that before when I lived in FL. Maybe at that time, Miss J and Mr. Z were still too young to appreciate such activity or maybe I was so frazzled as a first time mom that the only thing I could think about was how to take care of them.

So check out some of our favorite farms for any season. Plan your weekend, go out and enjoy! You can also visit pickyourown.org to search for farm in your area.

Summer:

Strawberries Picking – The season typically starts from May – Jun. Our favorite is Washington Farm. There are 2 locations in the Atlanta area. One is in Loganville and another is in Watkinville. We have been going to Loganville for the past 2 years and we love it.

The Loganville location is closer but smaller in size. It’s a no frill farm. You go there, park, pick up the bucket or you can bring your own, learn the rule, and start picking. Then after you have eaten (shhhh.. you gotta taste the fruit somehow, right?) and filled up your bucket, you will go up to the stand and pay. I have never been to the Watkinville location so I can’t provide any first-hand experience. But my friend said that they do have small picnic area and playground for kids to enjoy.

Tips:
1. Bring wet wipe or diaper wipe for those little dirty hands.
2. Bring a cooler with ice if you have to drive for a distance to help keep the strawberries fresh
3. Do not wash the strawberries right away. Keep it in the fridge till you are ready to enjoy them.
4. Remove them from the tub and put them in shallower container so it won’t be crushed.

Blueberries Picking – The season starts right after the strawberries season. Last year we went blueberries picking at the Berry Patch Farm around July. The farm is not too far from Alpharetta. It was a really nice farm with small playset for kids to run off their energy. The blueberry picking is not as easy as strawberry. For one, it’s smaller so it will take you much longer to fill up the bucket. For another, the blueberry tree has some sharp branches that you have to be careful especially with small children.

Tips:
1. Watch out for the tape that mark poison ivy. If you see it, then move on and don’t go near it.
2. Head out early in the morning so it won’t be too hot for the kids.
3. Wear sneaker or rain boot. Since you will be there early, the  morning dew will still on the ground.

Fall:

Apple Picking – The picking season for the Apple orchard in North GA mostly starts around Sept till Oct. We went to Hillcrest Orchard up in Ellijay (the main Apple orchard city in GA) a couple years ago. It wasn’t what I envisioned for the apple picking. I dreamt about cold crisp air as we walked down the apple trees. I imagined the morning dew on the apple for the lovely morning. But what we got was 70 degree and we wore sweater. So needless to say, it wasn’t pleasant picking. But that’s no fault of the orchard.

The orchard is fairly big with more than just apple picking. They also have a nice shade picnic area for you to enjoy your break, a play area with big slide for kids, a stage with live-music during the weekend, a pig race for us to root for. So it’s not just an apple picking but a fun-filled day for the whole family. Next time, I just have to check the weather channel before we dress.

Tips:
1. Bring cooler to store your apples.
2. Fill up your cooler with snack and water so you can have lunch and enjoy a day out without spending too much money
3. Don’t forget the sunscreen and hat.

Pumpkin Picking – Who doesn’t like to carve the pumpkin, use your hand to scoop out those yucky stuff from the inside and enjoy the masterpiece after it’s done. Around the Atlanta metro area, I think everyone has heard of Burt’s Pumpkin farm. It’s one of the popular farm that sits right in front of the beautiful Amicalola Falls entrance. I think every school has a rule that they must have a field trip there. I could understand why.

Burt’s farm has a HUGE selection of pumpkins. I mean huge and a lot. You will be overwhelmed with all the selections available; big, small, tiny, funny looking, you name it. The pumpkin patch is not the only thing at the Burt’s farm. They also provide a hay ride. It was a fun ride through their farm with some funny prop. There is a creek running through the farm that you can setup and enjoy your picnic after a full day of choosing the perfect pumpkin.

Tips:
1. Try to visit there during the weekday. Weekend can be a challenge with a lot of visitors
2. Bring lunch or snack to enjoy a picnic by the creek.

Now, go out and enjoy this fun, family-friendly and affordable activity with your whole family.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Pick-Your-Own Farms Around Atlanta is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

This is the shot of the White House as close as we could get. We went to DC during Spring Break which coincided to the Cherry Blossom festival and added that to the new president who just recently moved in, we competed with a lot of people to secure the ticket to visit the White House and luck wasn’t on our side. But that didn’t discourage us to make our final destination on our last day in DC to be the White House.

First we stopped by at the White House Visitor Center. We were a bit late to watch the free video about the White House history. But there are plenty of other interesting things for you to see. The exhibits throughout the room show the history of the White House. Kids could sit down and enjoy some game or craft. Parents can shop the White House souvenir like jigsaw puzzle of the White House.

Then we continued along the 15th Street NW to check out the exterior of the White House. I was determined to get the most famous pose with the White House front lawn. Unfortunately, the access to that section was closed that day. So we continued our walk to the Lafayette Square to get the backyard shot of the White House. The square was a nice area with only foot traffic so it’s perfect for kids to roam around. After we fueled up at Old Ebbitt Grill, we walked all the way to the Tidal Basin for one last shot of the Cherry flowers.

Adios DC, till we meet again.

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Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Washington DC With Kids: The White House from Afar is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Summer is here. Kids are out of school. The weather is begging you to go out and enjoy the outdoor activities. We are, by no mean, an outdoor type family; however I do appreciate that where we live has so many activities to offer. I will feel so bad not to try them out.

Here are the list of outdoor adventures in or around the Atlanta area (mostly the North part of Atlanta). Get out and enjoy!

1) Amicalola Fall : Less than an hour north of Atlanta, this waterfall is our family favorite. It has a hiking trail to go up to the top of the Falls. But you can also drive up and park and do a relatively short trail at West Ridge Falls trail. Best of all, this trail is paved with recycle tire that family with stroller can enjoy the same view as well.

2) Tallulah Gorge State Park : Boasted the most spectacular canyon in the Eastern US, this park has various trails with varied degree of difficulty. A novice like us probably aims for NORTH/SOUTH Rim Trail or the SHORTHLINE Trail. If hiking is your hobby and you would like more challenge then you can obtain the permit to hike down the Gorge.

3) Sawnee Mountain Preserve : Another perfect park that less than an hour from Atlanta and literally in my neck of the wood. And yet, we haven’t been there. So this year I made a mental note that I will have to visit this well-praised preserve to check out the hiking trail. If hiking is not your thing, there are other activities like Rock Climbing or simply just sightseeing the view from the mountain.

4) Unicoi State Park & Anna Ruby Falls : Our last visit to Helen during the Fall was amazing. But there are other things that we didn’t do because of the season. We have visited Unicoi State Park briefly but we didn’t hike up to the Anna Ruby Falls. We couldn’t go River Tubing. So this year, I am determined to go back and enjoy River Tubing and hiking up the waterfalls.

5) Water Adventures on Chattahoochee River : I have driven by Up The River Outfitters countless times and I have yet to stop by and do it. Up The River provides water adventures ranging from tubing, whitewater rafting and kayaking along the Chattahoochee River. Again, another fun outdoor adventure in my neck of the wood that I can’t pass on. This might have to be mommy and daddy adventure at the Q family because Mr. Z is a tad too young. But giving a couple more years we can have a fun family adventure together.

There are also other fun things on the other side of the town. But I will not be an overachiever and will try to accomplish this list in my nearby area first.

What fun adventures you have planned this Summer?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Outdoor Adventures Around Atlanta is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

There is a saying about cruising that you either hate it or love it. We are on the LOVE IT camp. We have been to 2 cruises so far and both of them on the Carribean.

Our first cruise had set the bar pretty high seeing that we went to Disney Cruise Line. It was everything you expected from Disney and more. The food was amazing and abundant. We loved to order milk and cookie to end our night. The cabin was arranged in a way that you didn’t feel cramp even for a family of 4. It was our first cruise so we were pretty green and I didn’t do much planning on the excursion. Nonetheless, activities available on the ship were plenty to keep the whole family entertained.
The next cruise was with Carnival Cruise Line. That trip we headed to Jamica, Cozumel and Grand Cayman. The ship might not be as nicely decorated as Disney Cruise but the service was up to par. We had as much fun as our Disney cruise. Surprisingly, Miss J and Mr. Z seemed to feel more comfortable with the kid camp program with Carnival. Maybe because they were older or maybe because it was more intimated. We don’t know but we would like to find out by going on a cruise again.

So today I’m dreaming of getting on another ship, being greeted by cold drink and cool breeze, enjoying pool side fun, eating till I can put any more food, getting to know other destination even for one day, oh.. so many things to do.

Picking a ship is almost as important as picking a destination. Not all ships go to the same destination so it depends on your preference.

So if I want to pick based on ship, I would love to try Royal Carribean Cruise Line next. I have heard so much great thing about them as one of the best cruise line for family. The Freedom class ships will allow us to try the surf board, the rock climbing and the water slide. What fun would that be!

If I want to pick based on destination, my other dream cruising is Hawaii. I think it will be a good introduction to see all the islands. It doesn’t mean that it’s the way to do it but I think it’s a great start. Then we can use that experience to explore our favorite island.

This post is part of Monday are for Dreaming at The Mother of All Trips. Check out other traveler’s dream.

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Last year we went to Destin during the off season in October. Many people might think we were crazy. But it turned out to be one of the best vacation we have had.

The weather in Destin during October was unpredictable but mostly still warm. We got rained in a couple days but we were saved in the last day with Sunny Florida style day. The water was a bit cold but tolerable. We enjoyed Destin without any crowds. The drive along famouse Route 98 (Emerald Coast Parkway) was a breeze without any traffic. There were no wait in the restaurants.

We took a scenic drive along the coast from Fort Walton Beach up to Seagrove. We made a quick stop near Santa Rosa Golf and Beach Club. The sky was clear, the water was blue, the beach was empty as if we owned the whole stretch. The little townsquare lined up with plam trees and candy color building. It was a picture perfect day and we got to witness the beautiful wedding by the beach. Next time, we will have to linger a bit longer and rent a bike to ride around town.

On the last day, we enjoyed beautiful sunset. Not too far off the coast we saw several dolphins swam up to say goodbye to us. What a perfect vacation!! We can’t wait to go back.

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If you have been to Orlando, I’m pretty sure you have been to Downtown Disney. It’s one of our favorite spot to go every time we visit the Mouse Town. One of our favorite stores there, is this unique and fun toy store called Once Upon a Toy.

This fun toy store is like a heaven for kids or even adults. When you first walk in, you will see a huge selections of Mr. Potato Heads and family board games. The fun part has just begun. There is a play area that kids can spend hours creating their own version of Mr. or Mrs. Potota Head with various mouse-inspired accessories like Mickey Ears, Mouse hands, or Mouse balloon.

If you can peel them off from Mr. Potato Head table, you will walk into the Boy’s Zone. A great selection of all classic action adventure characters like Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Pirate of the Carribean are all on display. This was where Mr. Rojo just lost his coolness and became kid once again. The Star War Build Your Own Lightsaber – Choose Your Own Destiny station is a big hit for kids and adults. Well, I must say I see more parents than kids stood there. You can learn how to build your own version of lightsaber with instructions and all the necessary parts. Now, who can say no to that!

Girls don’t have to worry.. In the back of the store, awaiting for them is the huge My Little Pony station. Miss J was never a my little pony fan but I know a bunch of friends who are. I’m pretty sure I can hear them scream as if they have found the best treasure box ever. No worried, there is another section for little princess lover to create their own jewelery using different Disney characters.

It might not be as big as FAO in New York City but it’s as much fun to check them out and a great stop during a hot Florida day. Best of all, if you can resist the begging, you might come out without spending any money. :)

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Our Summer vacation started pretty early considering we headed down to Orlando the day after the school ended. This year we headed down to Orlando to celebrate Mr. Rojo’s Birthday and kick off our Summer vacation with the Mouse.

We stayed at Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club. It was a really nice property with a lot of amenities for the whole family. There are golf course, several pools, mini-golf, bike trail, jogging trail, basket ball court and fitness room. We had a 2 bedrooms / 2 bathroom condo with full kitchen. It was Mr. Rojo’s parents timeshare so we didn’t have to spend any money on accommodation. Our friends from Florida came to stay with us a couple nights. What a great fun we had!! We ate, we drank, we played game, we chatted and then we drank again..

The next day, we headed out to Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water park. We arrived right when the park open at 10 AM. I liked Blizzard Beach from the start just like love at first sight. You know why? No parking fee! Anyone visits Disney World knows that parking fee is not cheap there. When we went to Animal Kingdom it was $12 per car. Ouch!! But no parking fee at the water park.. Score #1.

The park is small enough for us to enjoy all the fun rides in one day without feeling like rushing. But it’s big enough to accommodate all the guests that we don’t feel overcrowded.

Once we got in, we headed out to get the locker to put our personal belonging there. Then we headed to the Tike’s Peak area which is a perfect area for family with small children. We found a few chairs under the hut to make that our home base. We had our cooler with us filled with drinks and snacks. Score #2 for saving on snacks and drinks. The kids loved to play at the shallow pool area and went up and down kid-sized slides. We felt pretty save as there were several lifeguards in the area keeping close eyes on them at the bottom of the slides.

We could probably stay there the whole day but the rafting at Cross Country Creek was begging us to take a leisure ride around the park . It was a nice relaxing way to unwind. There are also life jacket for kiddo if you didn’t have one. Miss J loved it so much that she asked to do it again and we did right before we left.

Mr. Z’s favorite was the Teamboat Springs – a family rafting ride. To get to the ride we had to ride the chairlift (just like at the ski resort) to the top of the Mount Gushmore.. It was a really cool ride and the raft is big enough to accommodate the whole family.

Another favorite for the Q Family was the Melt-Away bay or what we called the Wave pool. Mr. Z loved to jump on the wave and Miss J loved to ride the wave on the raft.

By 5pm, we were all wiped and it was about time the park is closed. We got in the car and the rain poured down. What a perfect day!

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This was how Miss J and Mr. Z prepare for Animal Kingdom visit during our Memorial Day weekend trip down to Orlando.

First of, you gotta have a water bottle fan. It’s a must-have in this park. I don’t know if it’s just me or it’s the way Disney planned it, this park has always been hotter to me every single time we visited than any other parks. Maybe it’s just a lot of walking with less shops to stop by.. Or maybe we just spent our entire visit in just Africa.

This park seems to be smaller than other parks from the map but we didn’t even manage to finish one continent before we ran out of juice. So a map is a second must-have to know your way around. Truth be told, Mr. Z had only one agenda for this visit. He must ride a train.. So our main goal was to get to the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Another must-have for Miss J is her new digital camera. It was our gift to her. She loved to take pictures and I found that little kiddie camera was not good enough for her and it ate up battery like water. Since we have extra digital camera that we hardly use, it was a perfect solution.

Now that they were all set. Check back later for our experience in Animal Kingdom with school-age kids.

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Mr. Rojo and Mr. Z admired the dragon made entirely from lego in front of the Lego store in Downtown Disney. We went there 2 years ago during Christmas. It was a wonderful time to be in Disney World. It was busy but the weather was so nice. It was not hot and humid like typical Florida weather.

The Lego store was a great stop for family with kids (or no kids). There is a playground right outside the store. There are also several lego tables for kids to play while the parents shop or the other way around. :) The best of all, it was right at the water front at Downtown Disney so you can enjoy the view and hear the live music shows that were going on throughout the day. The hard part will be when you have to peel them of the store and get home. :)

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I love to talk to Miss J and Mr. Z about our trip even long after we were back. I love to hear about their view on each trip and learn about what they like or dislike on the trip. Sometimes the answer is fairly predictable and sometimes it surprises me.

For our recent trip to DC, here are their choices:

Favorite Activities:

Miss J: The walking tour of the monuments with DC by Foot. But she said ‘Next time, I want to go up the Washington Monument’. Almost a month after the trip, she still remembered what we learned from the tour that the Washington monument that we saw wasn’t the original design.. Wow! I didn’t even know that she paid attention.

Mr. Z: The Metro ride all over DC. But he said ‘Next time, we have to ride the Green line. We didn’t ride the Green line this time’. He also likes the Transportation exhibit at the National Museum of American History. Surprisingly, we spent the least amount of time here than other museums we visited. But the boy has his obsession with trains and all thing with wheels.

Favorite Food:

Mr. Rojo: He loved the hot dog we got from the stand right in front of the National Museum of American History. It was the spicy polish sausage that was the size of a pipe. Yum-O

Me: My softshell crab at Old Ebbitt Grill was to die for. The atmosphere there was so DC. All the suits and ties at the bar reminds me of the West Wing. :)

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As we approached our last full day in DC for our week long vacation, we had already dreamed about the next time we will visit this fun-filled-family-friendly city. We hardly scratched the surface of what DC has to offer us. But today, we couldn’t go home without visiting the most visited museum in this country – The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

We had planned only one stop today knowing how big the museum is. We started our day early and headed to the metro. After a quick breakfast on the bench along the Mall, we headed to the National Air and Space museum entrance. The line was long but it moved rather quickly. After we got in, we found out that we just missed the 11am tour. A quick stop at the information desk was very helpful. A volunteer pointed us to the ‘How Things Fly’ room. This room is amazing and perfect for kids of all ages. Kids get to learn about what makes thing fly with an interactive hand-on exhibits. Each one teaches them the concept of air and space. We spent almost an hour in this room alone.

The next stop was to check out the Skylab space station on the second floor. Along the way, we also checked out the Apollo 11 and the Man on the Moon displayed. Do you know that all exhibits in the museum are the original items not replica. It made the experience even more surreal to see all these amazing items that had been out in the space. A line to the Skylab was long but don’t get discourage. It moved rather quicky. The kids got to walk through the space station and check out what living and working in the space was like.

The tour started at the Wright Brothers & the Invention of the Aerial Age exhibition. A gentleman who leaded the guide was very knowledgeable and nice. We got to learn about what it took for the Wright brothers to get that first plane up in the air. It was a long tour so it might not be suitable for younger kids. We stayed for half the tour and figured that it was enough for Miss J and Mr. Z so we headed down to the Museum store. The Museum store was a fun place for them in itself. Don’t forget to go down the basement to check out the original model of the U.S.S Enterprise Model, used in the filming of the first Star Trek series. I think it was the highlighted of the trip for Mr. Rojo..

By this time, we were done as in.. physically tired and couldn’t check out any more exhibits. This museum would require more than one day to fully explore. And we would have to save them for next trip. :) We walked outside to take a quick snack break on the lawn in front of the museum. The weather was perfect. It was such a nice day and everyone enjoyed sitting there and peopel watching for a while…

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One of my favorite spot during our spring break trip to DC was the Lincoln Memorial at night. We went there during our walking tour with DC by Foot tour guide.

It was one of the highlighted of our trip. It’s a must-do in my opinion. The tour was fun, educational and very affordable. We walked from the corner of 15th and Contitution Ave to the Washington Monument. From there, we got to learn about the history of the monument and the Capitol Hill in which we could see from the distance. Then we walked to the World War II Memorial. Along the way, we heard the story about the White House and the Jefferson Memorial. My most memorable part of the tour has to be the Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall. Do you know that it’s not the War memorial because Vietnam war is not official war?

Once we got to Lincoln Memorial, the Sun had already set. The memorial was well-lit and had a lot of visitors even during night time. I love to just sit on the steps and look out to the reflecting pool.

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When traveling with kids, we plan our trip around them. This trip is no difference than our other family trip. With that in mind, we took them to the National Zoo for a break from all the museum and history. The weather during our visit was so varied from day to day. The first day we were cold and pulled out our sweater and jacket. But today, it was a nice sunny day.

We got on our train from our hotel and hopped on the Yellow line and connected to the Red line at Gallery Place/China Town stop. We felt so comfortable traveling around DC with the Metro now that we could figure out our stop or even exchange to different line. Then we hopped off at Cleveland Park stop. The Zoo is actually located between Cleveland Park and Woodley Park stop. But if you got off at Woodley Park, you will be walking uphill to the Zoo instead of walking downhill from Cleveland Park stop. A little tip I received from the Tripadvisor forum..

It was pretty busy at the Zoo today. I guess everyone came out when the weather was really nice. We checked out the map and decided to start from the back. We stopped by the stroller rental booth to rent a double stroller. Eventhough Miss J and Mr. Z are already capable of walking on their own, we knew that the amount of walking today would be too much for them. The best decision we had made that day!!

The Zoo itself wasn’t that impressive in my humble opinion. But the kids enjoyed them tremendously. We checked out the baby gorilla, the Ape House (make sure to hold your breath.. The smell was the worst I have ever experienced!!), the Tigers and the Lion.

At lunch, we ate at the Mane Restaurant. It was packed by the time we got our food. The food was pretty decent for the park food. Afterward, we walked around to check out other animals and of course the Panda and the Elephant.

By the afternoon, we were wiped out. We headed out to the Woodley Park station and stopped by Open City for early dinner. This is a great restuarant with the neighborhood feel. They had breakfast all day so I satisfied my craving for pancake and ordered the Organic Wholewheat Oatmeal pancake. It was delish!!

I originally planned 2 stops today. The Zoo and the Air and Space museum.. However, things never go according to plan. We were so tired from the walk all day. We decided to do the Air and Space tomorrow and headed back to the hotel for an early night.

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The Terracotta Army from China is probably the second most recognized Chinese treasure after the Great Wall. Mr. Rojo and I were fortunate to visit China many moons ago but we didn’t have enough time to visit the Terracotta Army. And it’s probably almost impossible to make a trip to visit China anytime in the near future. So we were pretty excited when the High Museum in Atlanta had an exhibit of the Terracotta Army on loan from the British Museum.

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When you live in Atlanta metro area, you can’t help but see or hear about Coca Cola. After all, it’s the birthplace and headquarter of this mega company. The new World of Coca-Cola has been opened for quite sometimes. Until recently, we had a chance to visit on a nice sunny Saturday.

The new World of Coca Cola is conveniently located next to the Georgia Aquarium and the Imagine It! Children’s Museum. Across the street is the Centennial Olympic Park. So it’s a perfect location to have a full day of all Atlanta favorite tourist spots. When we got there, there were a few field trips but the line to get the tickets was short.

Once we got in, we waited at the lobby area and checked out the amazing Coke bottle artwork around the world. The detail and representation for each of this bottle is amazing. A short wait and then we were directed to see the short film ‘Inside the Happiness Factory’. It was pretty nice and fun short film to give you the glimpse of what Coca Cola wants us to know about their factory..

Then we walked to the Hub which we waited in line to meet the Coca-Cola Polar Bear. I think it was well planned that they timed the guests in group so there wasn’t a long wait and if you aren’t interested in the picture, you can head directly to the next gallery.

One of the things I always do when I go to the World of Coca-Cola is to hunt for the Coke sign in Thai. Coca-Cola is pretty popular in Thailand so I’m sure we are a pretty good customer. And they didn’t disappoint me when I found a sign in Thai language. It was amazing to see how globalize Coke is.. It’s everywhere!

My next favorite part was the Bottle Works. This is where we got to see a real bottling line and see Coke being made right in front of us. Having an industrial engineer background, I love to see all these machines come to life. We probably spent a good 20 minutes watching the Packaging Robot doing his job. And do you know he has a name.. ‘Fizzybot’ is his name..

We then headed to the 4-D theatre to watch ‘The Secret Formula’ show. It was pretty interactive and I don’t think small children will enjoy it much. The chair can shake pretty violently and I heard a few small kids cried. But Mr. Z and Miss J did enjoy them. The 4-D effects was really thought out.. the water, the air, the movement.. It felt like we were at one of the Disney ride.

After the theatre, we headed to the most anticipate room.. the Tasting room.. This was the room that the kids got to drink Coca-Cola products from all around the world. They group the drinks into regions.. Some were pretty good.. some were not so good (ok.. it was really bad). But you have gotta try them all, right?

Each guest can pick up a bottle as they headed out to the gift shop. It was one of those place that you have to visit once..

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Today was the day with great plan and great expectation. I had secured tickets for the Capitol Hill tour and planned for the evening tour of the monuments from DC by Foot. But things don’t work according to plan…

We started of early enough (or what we thought..) and hopped on the Yellow line to head to Capitol Hill. Once we arrived at the Visitor Center entrance we found out that there was a long line to go through security. Our tour time was 10:15am and now it’s 9:50am. I was hoping that they might be a little bit flexible with time.. Oh.. No.. We missed our ticket time by 5 minutes and there was nothing they can do. If we still want to do the tour, now we had to go wait in the walk-up line that can be anywhere between 30 mins-1 hour wait. So consider yourself warned, if you have your Capitol tour, be early!

Since we didn’t have any other big plan till the evening, we decided to wait. Mr. Rojo was an ever loving dad waited in line for us while Miss J and I walked around and checked out the information room. It was a great place to spend time there. There were so many information of the House and the Senate, short movies to tell you about the history and what the Senate and the House do.. We didn’t walk around and check out everything. I went back to check on Mr. Rojo and Mr. Z. The line was moving along but it was still a long way to go. So I took them to have a quick snack at the Capitol Hill cafeteria. It was a really nice cafeteria. I would think we probably would enjoy our lunch time there if we had a chance. But before we could even finish our snack, the fire alarm went off!!! We headed to meet up with Mr. Rojo and followed the evacuation route out of the Capitol Hill. So that was pretty much our Captitol Hill experience. :)

Well, it was a nice day so we took our time in front of the Capitol Hill and the Union Station park. Then we headed to the Union Station for lunch. It was crazy busy there. Too many food to pick from… After a fulfilled lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel to take a quick break before heading back to town again for our walking tour.

I found out about DC by Foot tour from the TripAdvisor forum. It was a FREE, tip based walking tour of Washington DC. The tour took us through the heart of National Mall by visiting Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Lincoln Memorial and Korean War Memorial. It was such a great, high energy tour that was full packed with history that won’t bore you to sleep. The walk started from the corner of 15th and Constitution Ave. NW and ended at the Lincoln Memorial.

We learned a lot of fun facts like the current Washington Monument wasn’t original design. Or if you look closely, you will see 2 different color stone. That’s because the construction was stopped for a long period of time before they finished the monument.

One of the highly recommened activity is night tour of the monuments. We didn’t plan but by the time the tour ended it was already dark. But the Lincoln Memorial was still packed full of visitors. And it was breathtaking indeed! We just took it all in with all the beauty and sense of pride for the history of this country.

It took us approximately about 2 hours for the whole tour. I highly recommended anyone who will visit DC to check them out. After the tour, we walked through George Washington University to take the Metro back to the hotel. By that time it was already dark but we felt pretty safe walking in DC. It’s one of the thing that we really love about DC. It feels very safe to walk around even at night in the downtown area. I’m sure there are certain areas that not safe but as far as the popular tourist places we have no issue there.

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We arrived there right before lunch so we decided to have lunch at McD before we started our journey. The museum is very close to the Harbour so it is an easy walk from the Aquarium. As soon as we walked in, the kids didn’t wait to climb on the 3-story playground. It’s one of the coolest play structure I have ever seen. There are so many things for them to do.. The structure is made from steel so it looks very artsy and industrial.

At 5 and 7 years old, both of them were big enough to be able to do all the climbing themselves so we didn’t have to go in to help them. But for younger kids, parents are welcomed and encouraged to help them out. They ran around all over the place trying out different things ranging from Rock Climbing, Slide, Suspension Bridge, or Tunnel Bridge. They spent a good hour just climbing and then we started to walk around to check out other areas.

There was a gas station and a grocery store that was a big hit for them. Kids can learn to shop for the healthy food and check out at the cashier. They can learn about ATM and gas station. After that, we head up to check out the cookie decorating. Miss J did a really good job on her cookie and Mr. Z did just as well for a 5 years old. :) The finished products were there for long. It was in their tummy right after they finished.

Then we went to check out the Water room. This was probably one of another highlighted room for them. Mr. Z enjoyed playing with the rubber boat and lego boat. Miss J loved to build the dam and see how she could manipulate the water flow. She also did really well with the bubble hoola hoop.

After oh… I don’t know.. a really long time, it was time (at least for me and Mr. Rojo) to leave. We had pretty much spent almost 4 hours there. I haven’t had much experiences with too many Children’s museums but I have to say that the Port Discovery Children’s Museum is definitely one of our favorite museum.

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Then we headed across the lawn to the National Museum of Natural History. It was really big and impressive to say the least. We know that we won’t be able to see everything in detail having a 5 years old whose attention span is shorter than 5 minutes. So we just let them lead and take us where they wanted to see.

After wandering for a while, it was time for lunch. We headed to the Old Post Office Tower. I have read that they had a great selection of food at their food court. And if the sky opened up, we might get a chance to enjoy bird eye view of the downtown DC from the top of the tower.

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Last week we enjoyed our spring break in our capital city. It was our first family trip there but it was my third trip to DC. We had done quite a research using my normal site – Trip Advisor to gather all the information. We stayed there for 7 days/6 nights at the Sheraton Crystal City. I snatched such a great deal for $80/night during the busiest week in DC from Priceline. It was the same week as the Cherry Blossom Festival.

We managed to save during our vacation with a great planning this trip. I checked out a few restaurants in the area and was able to purchase $10 certificate from restaurant.com for $0.30 for a couple restaurants. Since we stayed in the normal hotel this time instead of condo or apartment rental, cooking is out of the window. Dining out was planned so that we won’t break the bank. There were plenty of cheap eat around town if you know where to look.

We lunched at the Ronald Reagan’s food court, the Old Post Office Tower’s food court, the Union Station’s food court and even had snack at the Capitol Hill’s food court.. You see the theme here… :) But I had to say we really enjoyed the polish sausage we got from the food stall right in front of the National Museum of American History.. We also tried out a few local restaurants like the Open City when we went to the National Zoo or the Old Ebbitt Grill next to the White House..

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I know it has been a while since my last update.. I have been busy planning our Spring break trip to DC. It has been overwhelming with all the information… What to do, where to stay, where to eat. Well, I think I have done all I can and finalize our plan. Here are a few things we plan to do during our trip.

1) Tour Capitol Hill – This has to be done in advance. We called our senator and requested tickets for the tour. We also did the same for White House tour but unfortunately we didn’t get the tickets. Apparently, we picked the busies week to go there. It will be the Cherry Blossom week in DC.

2) National Museum of Natural History – There are so many museums in DC that it can be the case of too many choices. So I narrow it down to a few museums that will be more interesting for Miss J and Mr. Z. Nothing will beat seeing a big Dinosaur and other types of fossil.

3) National Museum of American History – Miss J has learned so much as a first grader. I hope that she will enjoy checking out this museum

4) National Zoo – We love animals especially if we don’t have to take care of them ourselves. :)

5) National Air and Space Museum – I admit I think I’m as excited or even more so to check out this museum than my kids

6) Old Post Office Tower – A lot of reviews mentioned that this is much better place to view than Washington Monument. Plus great place to have quick lunch.. hmmm.. someone mentions food?

7) Union Station – I think Mr. Z will be happy with this choice. Can’t miss Union Station when you have train obessessed kid.

8) Cherry Blossom Lantern Walk – One of the perk about visiting DC during Cherry Blossom week is variety of activities available. I’m looking forward to night tour.

9) DC By Foot – I have read about this free tour guide (tip only). I can’t wait to check them out. They will provide the tour for the monuments..

10) White House Visitor Center – Eventhough we didn’t get the ticket to the White House, a visitor center will provide plenty of information for us to get started.

11) Arlington National Cemetery – If we have enough energy left, I would love to see the change of guard at the Arlington. It will be a great tribute for the fallens.

12) Rent Paddle boat at Tidal Basin – And if we have energy left from all above activities, it will be a fun afternoon to rent a paddle boat at the Tidal Basin

13) Visit Old Town Alexandria – We will be staying in Crystal City which is only 1 stop from Old Town Alexandria. It will be neat to go check this old town out one evening.

These are just things that I have planned for our 5 days visit. I didn’t realize how many things we can do in DC. Maybe we might need the revisit trip in the future as well.

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This past weekend, we had a short weekend trip with a group of our friends up the Great Smoky Mountains in Gatlinburg. It started from a quick conversation of ‘would it be nice to go skiing and stay at a cabin’… The next thing we knew we were packing for our weekend trip up the mountain.

We stayed at the Vista Hermosa Manor in Sevierville, TN. It’s about 15 minutes drive to Gatlinburg.. The cabin is top notch with all the amenities we can think of. The kids had a blast running around in the basement and watched movie in the theatre room. The adults enjoyed the view out in the wrap around patio and big dinning table.

The next morning, we headed to Ober Gatlinburg for snow tubing. Ok.. It was 70 degrees but they did have snow.. Where else can you go snow tubing in t-shirt and sweats like a pig! It was the end of the season so it wasn’t that busy. I lost count how many times we went up and down that slide.. But by the end of the day, I was wiped out!

On the way down, I took Miss J and Mr. Z on the Aerial Tramway down the mountain. It was nice seeing the whole town from the bird’s eyes view. The ride was short but memorable.

The last day in Gatlinburg, we didn’t get to spend a lot of time there. Since we now knew that we would have to drive through the Smokey via the curvy road, we want to make sure we get through that part before dark. So we just had a couple quick stops in town. First, we headed to the Track in Pigeon Forge. It was a cool go-kart ride for the whole family. I rode with Miss J and Mr. Rojo rode with Mr. Z. The ride went up and down the wooden track which makes it so cool and so much fun. It took a while to convince Mr. Z to leave… Oh.. We even got discount by merely mentioned that we saw coupons for buy 2 get 1 free and she just gave us the discount without the coupon itself. Nice!!!

Then we headed downtown Gatlinburg for another stop for Miss J – Ripley’s Guinness World Records. It just happened that Miss J just checked out the Guinness Book from her library last week. So it’s something that she was really excited to see things from the book come to life. It wasn’t something I will write home about but for her it was really great experience..

After a quick stop to KFC for our lunch on the go, we headed out of town.. Bye bye.. Gatlinburg and see you soon.

The drive home was as much fun as the experience in town itself. We stoped at a few lookout to take pictures and check out the gorgeous view of the Smokey. I couldn’t imagine how much nicer it will be in Fall. We just have to come back and find out, huh? :)

All in all, we truly enjoyed our small trip there. We already think about next year. :)

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Weekend in Gatlinburg is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Ah.. The year end review.. I don’t like to look back in the past but rather focus in the future. But there is one thing that I don’t mind looking back often. I love to review our travel trips from the past to relive the fun and treasure all the memories we have created with all those trips.

At the beginning of 2008, I have made a list of Top 10 Weekend Trips that we could do from our homebase in Atlanta.. How did I do..

We did take a trip to Helen for our anniversary. It wasn’t the romantic getaway that we were planning for but nonetheless it was the fun family trip that my kids are still talking about.

Then in September, we took a day trip to Chattanooga for the fun full day at the Creative Discovery Children Museum and Tennessee Aquarium.

And to celebrate my birthday in October, we went to Destin for a few days.. Oh!! This will be one of my annual trip as long as we can afford it. The beaches are gorgeous.

So we managed to check off 3 out of 10 from our list. Not too bad. In between, we also went to the Carribean on Carnival cruise. It’s yet another one of our favorite vacation type. I already start planning for the next cruise.

I can’t wait to start planning for 2009 trips.. So far, one is already in progress.. Stay tune for our next adventure.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) The 2008 Review is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog