After the initial shock when we told our children we are moving to Sweden, they immediately knew what to do. They know the drill, and they started getting ready for move sooner than we did. We still had our everyday work to go to, clients to take care of, blog posts to write. Life didn’t and couldn’t change in an instant. While our children still had their school play to get ready for, homework to do and their everyday chores to take care of, they were able to get started with the physical process of moving immediately.

Start Traveling With Children When They Are Young – It Will Become a Second Nature

Children are so adaptive, or maybe it is just our children, the nomads of the world, who have been dragged around the world since they were mere weeks old, and who got passports under the age of two weeks and all traveled to other countries under the age of two months.

I always say to parents, don’t wait traveling with your children until they “get older and it gets easier”. No. It gets easier when they are older because they are used to it, not because they are older. Look at two adults, one who never travels and one who travels constantly – traveling is easier for the one with traveling experience, not for the one who is older.
Age doesn’t have anything to do with it.

A few days after we told our children about the move to Sweden I walk into their room and find an enormous mess.
Toys, clothes, books… everywhere.

Before I even say a word, my oldest daughter jumps in and says “I know, I know, it’s messy. But the plastic bags are things we are throwing away, the paper bags are filled with things we can donate or sell and the plastic bins and stuff still in the closet are things we want to keep”.

A few days ago this beautiful creature looked at me with her gorgeous eyes with a look that could have killed because she was so upset we were taking her away from New York. Today she is already organizing everything she and her sister and brother own and already packing for the move.
And we don’t even know when we are moving.
And I have barely even started yet.

Nomadic life with children can be easy. Because they learn to adapt, they learn to put things in perspective (and understand why we can not move that big Barbie house and they don’t even ask if they could) and they learn to prioritize and see what’s really important in life.

In this week: first day of summer and first day of summer vacation for kids.
Here are some great summer survival links for mom on the go.

How to Make Your Dreams Come True at Champagne Living is a great post with tips how to live life to the fullest and how it takes small steps to ultimately achieve your dreams. Read the tips and start making your summer dreams come true stat!

The real price of quality of life is a great post on the Family on Bikes blog where Nancy writes about their family’s dream; the want of staying put after traveling around the world, but what is preventing them from living life to the fullest right now is… health insurance. I think many of us can relate.

Five Essential Summer Tasks With Kids at the Family Focus Blog has great tips how to make a summer schedule for kids.

How to Prepare Your Child (and yourself) for Sleepaway Camp at Role Mommy is a must read if your kiddo is going to a sleep away camp this summer. You’ll get simple tips plus you’ll hear the story from the other side, directly from the summer camp directors of Maine.

106.7 Lite FM presents Broadway in Bryant Park is a must read post at Prissy Reviews if you live in the NYC or are planning on visiting New York City between July 7th to August 11th. Local radio station offers free live Broadway musical performances at Bryant Park on one hour lunch performances on summer Thursdays 12:30-1:30. See the entire program by clicking the link.

JetBlue & PBS Kids Launch In-Flight Literacy Program For Traveling Kids reports Child Mode. JetBlue will give a free activity kit for kids flying with them with reading games based on PBS KIDS educational programming this summer. How cool is that?

Coffee: The World’s Greatest Addiction is a random must see video at The Luxury Spot if you are a coffeeholic like me. I blame my Finnish roots (an average Finn drinks 3 times more coffee a day than an average American). And I don’t care how hot this summer already is – I will be drinking hot coffee all summer long. Ice ain’t gonna dilute my lattes.

Do you know Amy Tara Koch? She is a former trend reporter for NBC, and author of Bump it Up, a fun and practical book about looking at your best during pregnancy. She is stylish and funny, and I pretty much wanna be her best friend. But closest to hanging out with Amy – I had an opportunity to interview her via phone, but she was so nice that she sent me this video of the interview. We talked about traveling with the kids, and the little tricks and tips what make it easier – and more fun! Check it out:

PS. I will be traveling to Killington, Vermont with the kids this weekend to ski and then taking a girls trip to Bahamas on a new Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Dream next week with one of my best friends, can’t wait to start this year’s traveling already this month!

Meet three new Hanes models: my kids!

I am part of the Hanes Comfort Crew and my family attended the Hanes Comfort Crew kick off trip to DisneyWorld earlier this year – and now my children were asked to be Hanes models for the summer ’10 catalog!

“It’s exciting and cool to try out being a model, maybe I’ll be in magazines and be famous one day”

The Hanes Comfort Crew is a network of social media influencers who interact with Hanes about clothing, comfort and online community. You too can interact with Hanes at their Social Mix Hub. There are amazing members in the group, and I don’t know how I got so lucky to be in the group. Maybe because I know how to chillax and be comfortable? Maybe because I have tried and tested (with three kids!) that their products last in use? Maybe because as a former clothing retailer I know a good brand and good quality when I see it?

The Hanes PR and brand people were able to meet my children this spring, and see in first person who they are, and now they offered all three an unique modeling opportunity!

“It’s gonna be awesome, I’m so excited, I want to be a model just like mama was when she was a teenager”.

My kids are getting an amazing opportunity to be in a Summer 2010 Hanes catalog. I am so proud, and yes, excited too! When I had my clothing store my kids used to model for my store, and they actually liked it. My two youngest ones auditioned for a movie this spring, and I think they have the same gene as their parents – they like to try out new exciting things. Now they are getting this opportunity to see what it is to be a model, have a professional photographer to take photos and what it really is. Who knows, maybe they are interested in pursuing modeling more after the trip – or just scratch it off as one of the things “I’ve done”.

“I’m excited to go because I know it’s gonna be a lot of fun.”

We are leaving for a four day shooting trip on Saturday, and I’m already busy packing.

Can you guess where we are going…?

Yes! We are going for a Disney Cruise to Bahamas!

Ever since I did the Disney Cruise in January I have wanted to take kids for a cruise too. There is so much fun for kids and I sort of felt bad for going without kids. This time our whole family is going, so exciting!

$50 Hanes Gift Card Giveaway

I think this news requires a little giveaway, don’t you think? I decided to raffle one 50$ Hanes Gift Card for one Skimbaco Lifestyle reader.

Enter to win $50 Hanes Gift Card

1. Subscribe Skimbaco Lifestyle in your email box and leave a comment you are a subscriber.
OR
2. Post a picture of your little “Hanes model” (your kid) in your blog, and link back to this blog post and leave a comment with your link. I bet as one of the Comfort Crew members and all, I can ask Hanes to check out the posts… Just sayin’.

DEADLINE: September 27th midnight EST.

CoCo Key Water Resort has five dollar tickets in all of their resorts this Monday only. For the price of a backyard inflatable pool you can actually take your whole family to a water park!

Note – you can get this $5 DAY PASS deal only for Monday, July 6, 2009 and only when purchased online while supplies last. Good on up to five tickets. Valid at any CoCo Key Water Resort – see the locations in the picture below.

Purchase tickets here and enter code: JULYFBT to get the deal.

SeaWorld’s Manta just opened last week in SeaWorld Orlando. SeaWorld is all about animal encounters and thrill rides, and Manta is the perfect mix of both. Manta is a sea life exhibit, a roller coaster, an aquarium and a thrill ride, all in one.

SeaWorld is running a cool social media campaign for you to win a front line pass to Manta by tweeting to @RealShamu, submitting your “I Love Manta” photo to Flickr and doing four other tasks. Visit the Ride Manta site for details and to win.

I have been chosen to be one of the nine bloggers to attend SeaWorld’s Manta Media Days next week in Orlando, and I can’t wait to see and ride the Manta, see blogging friends, and above all learn more about the amazing sea life that Manta contains. Manta has 10 aquariums and more than 3,000 animals living in these state-of-the-art aquatic habitats. Manta gives visitors a peak into life of hundreds of rays, thousands of exotic fish, sea horses and even a giant Pacific octopus. I can’t wait to see it all, and the rumor goes that we’ll also see the Shamu’s Believe-show, which is amazing, we saw it in SeaWorld San Antonio last summer, and you just can not watch it without having your eyes watering, it is so emotional to see such a beautiful animal so closely.

My recent cruise on Disney Wonder was amazing, and I already wrote how much fun the Disney Wonder cruise is for adults, now I wanted to share my thoughts why you should add Disney Cruise to your family’s vacation wish list. Especially now when kids can get 50% off their tickets.
The 50% off offer is good when traveling with two paying adults on the same stateroom and for 3-, 4- and 7-Night cruises on most sail dates from April 18, 2009 through May 31, 2009. See more great Disney Cruise travel offers.

Easiness of travel

Disney makes it so easy to travel with children. When you are checking in for your flight, you can actually check in your luggage to go to all the way to your stateroom in the boat – yes, right at your home airport. Your luggage is picked up by Disney at the Orlando airport and transported directly to the boat. And you can take the easy shuttle bus from the Orlando airport to Port Canaveral where you will set the sail. Just remember that it may take a few hours to get your luggage transported to your stateroom. And when you are leaving the cruise to go home – all you have to do is to put your luggage outside of your stateroom at the certain time, and it will be picked and taken outside the terminal right before the customs, so you can easily walk out of the boat without lugging your belongings. This is a huge plus for families – how many times I remember trying to carry all the bags, holding the kids, and even the dog (in Europe you have take dogs along for cruises) when waiting in the crowded lobby to get out of the boat. Disney cruises are different. Everything is made very easy for you.

And speaking of easy travel.. Did you know that you can actually order and have your diapers, baby food, infant formula, and other travel items sent directly to your stateroom at any Disney Cruise boats or any other Disney destination? This is a whole new way of traveling with the little ones! Read more details at Babies Travel Lite

Entertainment

Disney Wonder has a theater and a movie theater, and every night you can enjoy a different musical. On the 3-day Disney Wonder Cruise to Bahamas you will see The Toy Story Musical, The Golden Mickeys and Disney Dreams musicals. Amazing performances on a 1000 seat theater that spans over three decks high. The movie theater shows the newest Disney movies that are playing in movie theaters. There is even a huge movie screen at the poolside and kids can watch the Disney classics while playing in the pool.

Activities

There are several pools for kids of any age, and also one adults only – check out the picture of the fun water slide on board Disney Wonder. But swimming isn’t the only activity for kids by any means. There are different activities for each age group. The babies can take a nap at the Disney Wonder’s fully equipped nursery and kids 3-7 years old can enjoy variety of fun at the Oceaneer Club and Lab. When we visited the club, the kids were having fun with the chef from the movie Ratatouille and baking some chocolate chip cookies. At any given time of the day, there is a fun activity for kids at some part of the boat. There are also several excursions at the Bahamas destinations to go with the kids of all ages.

Photo: Amy of Selfish Mom

What I also really liked that it’s not just the obvious Disney age groups that are covered. There is not such thing as being too old for Disney, whether you are a teenager or an adult. There are so many activities for tweens and teens. And one of the coolest hang out places your family’s teen (13-17) is the Aloft – where there have the internet cafe, big plasma TVs, movies, video games and teens can jam with GuitarHero or relax and watch movies in the lounge chairs and take a break from all of the other activities. One of the things that really impressed me at the Disney Wonder was the basketball court on the top deck. I mean come one – playing ball with the ocean views?? Where was this fun when I was a teen? Oh, and the deck activities include playing ping pong and shuffleboard, and there is a separate gaming room for gamers.

Over all the Disney Cruise is a great experience for the whole family, and you can go all the way for a 7-day-cruise, or just test it with a 3-day-cruise. I hear that most people who try the 3 or 4-day-cruise return later for the whole week of fun. I really like the idea of first spending a few days at DisneyWorld and then going on a cruise to relax for 3 days after that.