If you’re taking the little ones on the snowy slopes for the first time it is important you introduce them to the wonder of skiing in a way that will have them pleading to return the year after. And, of course, make sure you protect your investment in the trip in case your plans go awry.
Need a saddle blanket? Not to keep warm, to eat. In cowboy parlance, a saddle blanket is a pancake; belly wash is coffee and Pecos strawberries are beans. Welcome to Fort Worth, Texas, which prides itself on being known as the City of Cowboys.
But then we all gather around the table and, as is our tradition, we tell each other what we’re thankful for this year. “Thank you for being such wonderful kids and such terrific, responsible adults. We can’t imagine our lives without you!” Eileen says.
It’s worth the effort, I promise, to take the kids and grandkids. For a few hours you can forget the baking, the shopping and the wrapping and just enjoy the holidays and each other.
Let’s play the what-if game. What if Mother Nature derails your holiday travel plans — as it did for so many people I know earlier this month during Hurricane Sandy and during the Christmas blizzard that crippled the East Coast two years ago?
It’s not just about getting a great price on a tablet, TV or the kids’ must-have toy or video game. These days, Black Friday or Cyber Monday can also be about snaring a bargain on a vacation.
Eileen interviewed on Foxnews.com about CyberMonday travel deals — good ones and bad ones.
I couldn’t help but smile as I looked out at the room filled with family travel writers and bloggers, some with their kids beside them, busily learning how to become better travel communicators.
Our first day on the mountain my daughter’s instructor got her set up with a bi-ski and we all headed out onto the lift. It was a short run and I’m not sure if I breathed the whole way down, anxiously wondering how she was doing. We got to the bottom of the run and I was greeted by a wide smile. Game o!.
Inevitably, we’ll reminisce about less-than-perfect Thanksgiving gatherings, like the time we arrived back home at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago to discover our car battery was dead, or the time in Connecticut our dog devoured the homemade pate a cousin brought to Thanksgiving dinner before anyone had a bite.
TakingTheKids