The airlines wouldn't dare lose my child on Christmas

On Christmas morning, when many of my friends and neighbors were lolling about in their pajamas, opening presents and eating cinnamon rolls, I drove Zoe to Midway airport for her first solo flight. The airport was surprisingly crowded--especially after an easy, traffic-free drive to the airport--but her flight took off on time and landed early. So early, in fact, that I initially missed the "I've got your daughter" call my mom placed to my cell phone immediately upon picking up Zoe in D.C.

And I'm only half joking when I say I booked her travel on December 25th knowing what a PR nightmare it would be for an airline to misplace a youngster on Christmas. It's only been a day or so, but it sounds like my 7 year old is having a grand old time with my mom and stepdad in Virginia--reading Ramona books, looking at old photographs, learning to pick out tunes on the piano, playing ping pong and visiting my extended family.

For the record, it isn't cheap to send your child unaccompanied. In addition to the regular airfare, United and American Airlines charge an additional $100 each way, while Southwest charges half that: $50 each way (and two bags of luggage fly free). Since Zoe is only going for 4 nights, we didn't end up checking any luggage. Instead, she rolled aboard with a small child's suitcase and a backpack packed with 2 Boxcar Children paperbacks, a couple of snacks, a pack of gum and an iPod Touch with headphones. I'd also tucked her birth certificate in there, but we were never asked to show it.

I paid for peace in the car

Hurray for happy travelers

Some may call it bribery, but I prefer the more corporate incentivizing. You see, on this last road trip I paid my kids $1 an hour for good behavior in the car. I started halfway through the outbound trip and only rewarded them for car rides lasting more than 1 hour, but they each made about $16 and I bought priceless peace for myself and Josh.

My hope was that the girls would save all of their dollars for a souvenir of some kind, but apparently money burns a hole in the pockets of the young. They would scan the displays at rest stop convenience stores, wide-eyed in wonder at all the items for sale. Z got to buy Gatorade (something I won't pay for) and sugar free gum and A treated herself to a box of animal crackers. Later they both sprung for single serve bags of Cheetos, a purchase they savored as they sucked the bright orange powder out from behind their fingernails.


In any case, I fully plan to make the road trip reward system a regular feature of our trips. I won't get pestered by whining or fighting in the car (and asked to buy junk every time we stop) and they can indulge themselves silly...or (hopefully) learn the value of a dollar saved.

Grand Rapids getaway

"Going anywhere for Memorial Day?"
"We're headed to Grand Rapids for a couple of days."
"Why?"

I must have had this conversation a half-dozen times in the last week. Apparently Grand Rapids, Michigan, isn't exactly known for being a vacation destination. But I'd won a 1-night getaway via a blog contest and I wasn't going to let a free hotel night and a fistful of attraction passes go unused. We initially planned on staying a second night, but both of the girls woke up on the wrong side of the bed Friday morning and were absolute pills on the way to GR, so before we'd checked in, we agreed to make the most of a shorter (and entirely free) stay.

Our first stop was the Grand Rapids Public Museum, which is kind of a like a mini-Smithsonian with a wide-ranging collection that throws together natural science, local history and cases full of curiosities. The girls loved the room of 500 dolls, the exhibit of immigrants to the area and the restored carousel, while I lingered in the most elaborate exhibit: Furniture City (Grand Rapids was built on the furniture industry).

But as interesting as the museum was, for a 6 and 3 year old, nothing beats the thrill of checking into a hotel. The Country Inn and Suites was Z's dream come true: free Otis Spunkmeyer cookies, a library shelf full of books you could borrow, a heated indoor pool (which we had all to ourselves) and an extensive breakfast buffet with a juice dispenser and DIY waffles.

"Mom is mad"

The following day we packed in two breakfasts (one at the hotel and one at a place reputed to offer "the best breakfast in Western Michigan) and visits to the awe-inspiring Fredrik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park and the so-fun-we-had-to-drag-them-out Grand Rapids Children's Museum before heading out of town. On the way home we stopped for a very late lunch and cherry crisp at a Crane's Pie Pantry, which we've been visiting for their homestyle food and bottomless glasses of apple cider since I was 4 months pregnant with Z. Before we piled into the car, we let the girls run around the apple orchard. And they were perfect angels for the 2+ hour drive home in the pouring rain (although the DVD player running Lilo and Stitch probably had something to do with that).

Want to know more about what we ate? Read Josh's food blog. More pictures can be seen here.

Z took this picture

My foodie husband's got a blog

Have you checked out Josh's blog, Fishsticks and Ketchup? He just posted reviews of the Oak Park area's latest burger joint and first Vietnamese restaurant. Stay tuned for his review of the most talked-about restaurant in the country, Next. We're among the 7000 people to get tickets to their Paris 1906 menu and we're going on Thursday.

Like auntie, like daughter

My sister-in-law Bethany's been calling A her mini me since she was born. She may have a point.

Jellyfish, wow!

When your 1st grader has spent the last 2 months diligently working on a research project on jellyfish (complete with a hand-written book, model jellyfish and poster display), there's no way you're going to say anything but "Hell, yes!" to a Blogger Brunch invitation at the Shedd Aquarium and a chance to see their new Jellies! exhibit, even if it is scheduled for 8am on a Saturday morning.

The event itself was pretty disorganized. The parking lot we'd been directed to was closed and breakfast consisted of a table of coffee and massive jelly doughnuts (get it?) tucked away in a room full of duffles and sleeping bags from the previous night's "Sleeping with the Fishes" overnight. In fact, the PR staff kept having to shoo tweenagers away from the refreshments, asking "Are you hear for the media event?"

The jellies are beautiful and mesmerizing to watch, but their stinging tentacles are not the only reason to fear these ocean-dwellers: it turns out global warming, pollution and ocean acidification are actually good for jellyfish--making them a scary harbinger of bad news.

Happy Passover

Why is this Pesach seder different from all other seders? For starters, because it was 90 percent read/led by my precocious 6 year old. But also because we continued a childhood tradition of dying hard-boiled eggs with Easter egg dye and placing the prettiest on the seder plate.

My in-laws joined us around the seder table this year, and while A barely made it through our abbreviated 30 minute seder without losing it, it was a pleasant meal and one my children are sure to remember. Josh cooked a fantastic roast chicken and matzo ball soup as well as sweet potatoes and homemade horseradish. I contributed the charoset and Smitten Kitchen's addictive chocolate toffee matzo, which I sprinkled with pecans and sea salt.

And I'm because I'm still not tired of sharing pictures of my new dining room...

Happy Passover!