We had big plans for our summer vacation this year: We were going to visit my husband's family in Wales.
That may not sound like much (given how many times we HAVE traveled to see my in-laws over the years). Let's change the emphasis: We had big plans for our SUMMER vacation.
You see, we have not been to the UK in the summer since Megan was a 1st grader (she just finished her first year of middle school). We tend to go in the winter, when flights are cheap. Unfortunately, that's also when the weather is cold and dreary, many of the tourist attractions are closed, and the sun starts to set around 4:00 p.m.
I really wanted to go this summer, but it was not meant to be. With crude oil at record highs and the American dollar at record lows, traveling to Europe is simply too expensive for our family this year (even though we save on hotels by staying with family).
So instead of one big vacation, we are taking several little road trips.
The folks at Ask Patty (the women's automotive website) and GetRoadReady.com produced this nifty video with tips to help you prepare for a family road trip:
GetRoadReady.com is a terrific resource for planning a vacation on the road: It's got a Rand McNally trip planning tool, which offers suggestions of attractions to see along the way... checklists... and games you can download for the kids.
I'm fortunate that my daughter is an excellent traveling companion. She has to be: We've been packing her off on trans-Atlantic flights since she was an infant... and she has to sit quietly in a car for seven hours to see my side of the family.
She's good. She's really good. But she's still a kid, and an only child at that -- and she gets bored. For years, I resisted the idea of buying her any kind of handheld game consoles (after all, I didn't have anything like that when I was growing up; why does she need one?)...
...and then, the kind folks at Nintendo gave us each one. And the first time we made the drive from Los Angeles to Sacramento, I was in shock: The DS kept her occupied and happy. We were even able to play games together, using the WiFi function (and made up some of our own using PictoChat).
All I could think was: Why didn't I get one of these for her sooner?
And now, we prepare for a family road trip by getting the car checked out... packing lots of snacks... and including lots of games for our Nintendo DS.
So, in honor of the start of summer road trip season, I am having a contest. I will be giving away TWO first prizes of a Nintendo DS PLUS their new Crosswords DS game (where your kids and YOU can test your word play skills on a variety of puzzles, word searches and anagrams)... AND I'm giving away one second prize of a Get Road Ready kit, with a variety of products to make getting there easier.
To Enter: I want to hear about YOUR most memorable road trip! You may tell me about it in a comment to this post, or write about it on your own blog and then link to it in a comment on this post.
Each comment with a road trip story (between now and June 30) will be an entry in a random drawing, with winners announced on July 1.
Get ready - get set - go!
We've had our drawing and we have our winners!
The following readers will be receiving cute Cruzor Gator flash drives:
Florinda of Reading, 'Riting and Randomness
Lorna of Lorna in Wonderland
Kelly from West Coast Grrlie Blather
Glennia of The Silent I, Kimchi Mamas, and the MOMocrats (to name a few!)
Congratulations, ladies... and stay tuned to this spot for the next contest on SoCal Stuff!
Reader Amanda, who did not leave a blog URL...
Yes, I know that Mom's Day is still two weeks away... but the kind folks at SanDisk have offered my readers a prize that would make a perfect gift (or just a handy device you can use yourself):
SanDisk's Cruzer Gator is an stylish flash drive covered in a mock alligator (I like the pink, because it's the girliest color and therefore less likely to be "borrowed" by my husband).
I'm going to use mine to store an album of digital family photos to give to my mom as her Mother's Day present, including these shots I took on Mother's Day last year. (Note: only my Flickr friends will see any photos of the kids; the rest of you will see some nice scenes of the Ventura Yacht Club, where we had our holiday brunch.)
SanDisk has generously offered five of these little beauties to readers of SoCal Mom and SoCal Stuff. Entering the random drawing is easy: Everyone who leaves a comment on this blog and SoCal Mom between now and May 2nd is automatically entered (just make sure you include a valid email address so I can let you know if you're a winner).
UPDATE: My contact at SanDisk has informed me that the flash drives being offered are NOT 8GB as I mistakenly thought. The Black and Red ones are 4GB and the pretty pink one is 2GB. I apologize for my confusion. They still make awesome Mother's Day gifts!
