Inspire family to travel one adventure at a time…

Visiting Orlando with kids is typically a must-do vacation for any family with children. Parents try to save money by searching the web for the best deals because we all know how expensive this once in a lifetime trip can be.

However, there are more things to do with kids in Orlando than Walt Disney World. You and your family can enjoy an inexpensive visit to Orlando with these free family friendly alternatives.

Downtown Disney Marketplace – Experience the Happiest Place on Earth without paying for it. This Downtown Disney area is a perfect spot for a relaxing day. You will enjoy walking along the boardwalk and shopping in various specialty stores like Disney Mega Store and Lego store. Afterward, you can reward the kids (and yourself… go on… you deserve it…) with ice cream from the Ghirardelli® Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop. It’s within a short distance from a value option of Disney ’s All Star Movie Resort.

Celebration Town – Escape from all the hustling and bustling of the tourist traps to this little picture-perfect town. It was carefully planned to be a place where kids could enjoy the simple life. The atmosphere of this quaint small town will make you forget that you are in the land of the mega amusement parks and gaudy t-shirt shops. You can stay nearby at the Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort.

Lake Eola Park – Visit downtown Orlando (and no, Kissimmee is not Orlando) and enjoy a nice stroll in the Lake Eola park. Kids will have fun feeding the live swan and other birds along the lake. For the active family, a walk around the lake will log you in at just under mile. If the pavement is too hard on your feet,  you can rent a paddle boat for a great fun in the lake. Also don’t forget to check the schedule for concerts or a plays at the Walt Disney Amphitheater.

See my full article at Oyster Locals.

I have so many dreams of traveling with kids. Europe, Asia, South America and Africa.. The list is endless and I don’t know if we can do it all. But when one of the dream seems to be within reach, it makes the dream even more exciting.

We have been talking about taking the kids backpacking through Europe in the next few years when they will be old enough to take care of some walking without whining.

Tuscany With Kids

But last week, I entered our family photo vacation for a chance to win a week long stay in Italy. Tuscany to be precised. Now, I have to admit when we were talking about Europe I was thinking more about Rome, London, Amsterdam or something in that nature. I didn’t even think about Tuscany.

Now, that there is a chance.. I start to dig more and see what could we do in Tuscany with kids. Will they get bored? We are not wine connoisseurs. Will we enjoy a week out in this beautiful countryside?

The answer is YES.. Big fat YES..

Resources for Things to Do with Kids in Tuscany

There are many more things to do for kids in Tuscany than we can fit into a week. A great resources from Ciao Bambino gives us a good start.

I let my fingers do a little more work and found more information at Children in Tuscany. A great resources for various things to do with kids in Tuscany. Kids will love to climb the Leaning Tower in Pisa, ride the bike in Lucca, climb the bell tower in Siena, and tour the amazing Florence.

The winning prize is a week stay in Casa Cornacchi Country House. The location is perfect for a family home base to explore Tuscany.

Now, why do you care about my dream?

You can help me achieve this dream my dear friends. It’s relatively easy.

How To Help

1. Become a fan of Ciao Bambino – Ciao Bambino Facebook Fan page (so you can do the next step)

2. Leave a comment on my family photo – Our Family Vacation in Macau

That’s it!!! Each comment will give us one vote.

The contest will run until March 12th. So you still have time to help us out.

Cheer to the dream!

You can check out other travelers dream for this Monday at Mother of All Trips.

First photo by Giampaolo Macorig

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.

Check out other Travelers Photo at Delicious Baby.