Category — news

Does your local paper publish Parade Magazine in its weekend editions?  If so, look for MomsMinivan.com in Parade Magazine this weekend!  (The July 25 issue!).

Meanwhile, I hope your summer travels are filled with joy and adventure!

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Once again I have been invited back as a  “parent expert” at the PBS Parents website to answer questions and facilitate reader discussions! I’ll be taking questions for the next three weeks on their website.

We are discussing summer travel, ways to save money on the road with your kids , and creative ways to keep your family entertained in the car without emptying your wallet.  …Challenges worth facing!

Please click over and leave a comment on their site, or join in the Q & A discussion!

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Someone finally put all the fun printable car activities into one big fat ginormous printable book. It’s the Ultimate Road Trip Games book, that you can download and print. I love it!

It’s over 140 pages of stuff to do in the car. Print just the pages you want, and as many as you need for all your kids, and print more for your next trip.

A few activities are similar to the printable car games that I have available on MomsMinivan, but they have taken them to a whole new level, and included many many more, in an easy printable format.

We’re excited about the “secret mission” game. This one sounds just right for my school age children, and we can’t wait to play it on our next trip. None of the activities require any extra materials other than a pencil and the printed sheets. Use it over and over for every trip you take.

Overall, I think it’s terrific! It’s definitely worth the purchase price, and I feel really good about recommending it to my readers. You can find it on their website at Ultimate Road Trip Games!

Meanwhile, make sure you stock up on printer ink! Here’s a place I love to get mine – use the coupon I found for a discount! 15% Off Compatible Inkjet Cartridges – use Coupon TAK658W
(Expires 09.30.09)

Happy travels!

Last summer I had the pleasure of appearing as a featured “expert” at the PBS Parents website to talk about keeping kids entertained on the road. This week I have been invited back!

We are discussing ways to save money when traveling with your kids on the road, and creative ways to keep the kids entertained in the car without emptying your wallet.

Please click over and join in the Q & A discussion!

update: link has been updated to reflect archived story

Shop and Save for road trip gear!

On St. Patricks day the coupon code: 3STPAT09 will save Family Travel Gear customers 15% on every product except the CARES (Child avaiation restraint) harness. The coupon code can be used on both March 16 and 17, 2009.

They have great stuff to help make traveling with kids easier, and MomsMinivan.com gives them two thumbs up on service and quality! Shop at Family Travel Gear!

I need a little help from my readers. I’m sure you have noticed that I run ads on my site to support it and help me keep it going. My ad company needs demographics on my readers so they can make sales pitches to the wonderful sponsors that buy my ad space. In short, I need more data!

Please do me a big favor and take this totally anonymous survey about MomsMinivan and it’s users.

The survey does not ask for any personal info such as an email or your name or anything. Just generic stuff like how old you are, how big your household is, etc. They will not sell you anything, I promise!

http://www.momsminivan.com/survey.html

I couldn’t keep this site going without my readers. You’re the best. Thank you!

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One of my favorite online stores is having a sale this weekend! Starting Friday, Sept 26th – 28th, customers can save 15% on every item in Family Travel Gear store.

Just use the coupon code: FallTravel08 at the checkout.

Are you planning a road trip or vacation during the last week or two in August? A producer from Nickelodeon’s Nick News contacted me because they are looking for families who would be willing to be filmed for a segment about kids taking family vacations going camping, visiting national parks, etc. Kids narrate the piece and would have to be between 11 and 15 years old.

Send me an email if you’re interested and I’ll forward it on.

On a personal note — My kids started back to school yesterday, so our summer road trips are over for now! Bummer!

My blogging BFF’s Devra and Aviva are taking it on the road! They are part of a cross-country Mom Road Trip for mom bloggers on their way to the BlogHer convention in San Fransciso this month! Five fabulous bloggers and several thousand miles to cover in a Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUV with all the wireless internet and gadgets they can carry, starting July 12th.

Sounds like they’ll have plenty to do to keep busy. Still, the Road Trip Mom part of me couldn’t help but worry that they’ll get bored eventually and start hitting each other in the back seat. I mean, seriously, road trip bingo games and Slug Bug can only amuse a blogger for so long.

So, being a concerned friend, and hoping I can be there in spirit if not in person, I sent them a copy of my personal favorite road trip amusement item: All-American Car-i-Oke.

This is way better than ordinary music. It’s full participation music! It has a CD with the music, and all the lyrics in the spiral bound book. It also includes several smaller lyrics booklets – one for the back seat, the way-back seat, and another for anyone who doesn’t like to share (I’m wondering which booklets Devra and Aviva are going to use!).

I bought a copy of this for my kids a few years ago. We never tire of it, and use it at least once every trip. We have the most fun with the backseat drumming, and the “make up your own Blues” song. In fact, it helped evolve a rule in our car — No whining allowed unless you’re singing the Blues!

At least two of the moms on this road trip are trained singers, so I predict good times as they hit the highway. Listen carefully if you’re on the road this July — you might just hear a group of moms roaring through the Rockies singing “Proud Mary” or “When the Saints Go Marching In” over the sound of fingers flying across their keyboards. Blogher here they come!

Update: Here are Sarah and Devra on the road playing their Carioke!

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PBS has always been special to me. I could not get enough of Sesame Street as a child. Grover always was and still is my favorite character of any PBS show. He was a world traveler with a can-do attitude and was never afraid to try something new, even if it didn’t always work out the way he thought it would. I can see myself in him at every turn of my life. As a mom, I see the special place PBS has forged in my own children’s hearts.

I am very excited to be a featured “expert” at the PBS Parents website for the next couple of weeks. I’m heading up the topic of ways to keep children happy and parents sane during the busy travel season. Please come over and join in the Q & A discussion!

update: links updated to reflect archived story