AnchorMom

My daughter, Riess, is quite the writer. She wrote about our summer trip to New York City for her personal narrative at school. If you want to know what stood out to her (a 9-year-old) ... here's her version of events:  

Fast passes at Disney World. I've got a little beef with them. They are absolutely great to have, but hard to get. I know, I know - we aren't Disney pros and we didn't stay at a Disney property (hello, Marriott points!), so our experience might not be like most. But I did do a lot of research and got some hacks online that I used pretty successfully. However, I found (and my family found too) that I was buried in my WDW app the entire trip - trying to get new fast passes, modify existing ones, get better times, etc. the entire time. We spent one day at Universal this trip - I'll post more on that too - but they have a fast pass experience that's good for most all rides, for $100 extra. Yes, we spent the extra $500 to get it. The problem at Disney is that everyone would probably get that option there and then the fast pass lines would be longer than the regular lines! It was super crowded when we went too. It is always crowded at Disney, but 4.5 hour waits?? Th

Okay, let's talk about Disney World. We are not particularly Disney people. We are likely more Disney than some people since we have been three times now in the last ten years. We took my oldest daughter alone when she turned five. We brought both girls right before my middle daughter turned three (mostly because kids are free at Disney until they turn 3!) And then we decided we should take our 2-year-old before his 3rd birthday too. Probably a bad idea.  Let me just say it. Girls are easier than boys. This is my experience and I'll likely change my mind by middle school. But for now - my 2-year-old boy is MUCH more difficult than either of my girls at this age.  For instance -- It rained on us in Disney one day (well, a few days) We were prepared for afternoon showers with ponchos and rain coast. John was in the best shape of all of us because he was in a covered stroller. (Don't even get me started on strollers. I never want to see another one again!)

So I'm going to start with traveling with kids to New York City. I'm starting there because I just returned from there and my poor momma brain doesn't retain information well from more than about two weeks ago.  I lived in New York City when I was a wee lass directly out of college. I was 22 -- ambitious, naive and a little stupid about life. But what better way to learn than to move to the largest city in the country without knowing a soul? I did learn a lot. That's another post... The point is that I love visiting! My mom was right (something I'm sure I'll write about often. She's ALWAYS right. So annoying!). She told me once when I was eating peanut butter out of a jar for dinner, "You know, if you left New York you might actually be able to afford to visit and see the plays you love and eat at the nice restaurants and do all the things you love about New York..."  Well, at the time I thought she was an idiot - who wouldn't

On our way to NYC! We've been fortunate to travel a lot, mostly because my husband's job keeps him out of town Monday-Friday every week. He's a consultant which means he travels to different company sites every week and for us, means he racks up the airline miles and hotel points like a rockstar. We consider it our consolation prize for him being gone most of the time.  First of all, a lot of people ask me about how I raise three kids with no husband around all week. The truth is he has traveled in this job for as long as we've been married and I've never known any different. As any of you mommas out there reading this know, you do what you've got to do. Whether it's sitting in a tub full of throw up in the middle of the night or sitting in the middle of traffic with a screaming, colicky baby in the backseat for hours. You just DO. Everyone has their "stuff" that makes life challenging at times. My husband traveling out of town for most of the

I quit my lifelong job in television news more than two years ago (!) I can't believe it has been that long. I have been asked NUMEROUS times over those years if I have a blog or if I've thought about creating one. The answers were "No" and "No." Always.  Seriously - I just figured out how to make this website work and I had no idea how to add a blog to it. Secondly, what in the world do I have to say that anyone would want to listen to?  Then I started to notice how when I'm around other women we chat about life experiences, kids, family, work, etc. and I really love hearing their stories. I really like sharing mine. It makes me feel more normal! I also have learned a lot of tidbits over the past decade about raising kids. I've learned a lot about myself too - all by trial and error, mind you. So I'm just going to basically ramble on this thing for awhile and see what happens. If you are interested in joining in the journey, zone out for