Tag Archives: travel with children

Visit An Aquarium

Family Travel Friday

Destination: Aquarium

Book Cover: Swimmy
Book: Swimmy by Leo Lionni (1963)

By Jennifer Close

The mystery of the ocean never ceases to amaze children and adults alike.  There is lots of information about the ocean, but there is still so much exploring to be done.  I have been fascinated with the ocean, its inhabitants and geography, since I was a little girl.  My children are just as fascinated with the ocean as I am.  We make regular visits to the beach where we almost always spy crabs, fish, and jellyfish.  If the sun is bright and high in the sky, we wander down the pier so that we can walk over the ocean while watching the water to spy the occasional stingray or turtle.

Aquarium, New Orleans
The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans

Visiting an aquarium is a good way to get an up close look at sharks, turtles, fish, seahorses and more without having to get your dive certification!We have visited aquariums in Baltimore, Virginia Beach, Atlanta, and Myrtle Beach just to name a few. Continue reading Visit An Aquarium

Road Trip: Take the Kids to Michigan

The Great American Road Trip

Destination: Michigan, with Kids

Books:
Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
and Weird Michigan by Linda S. Godfrey

A GUEST POST By Kristen J. Gough

One of the girls at Sleeping Bear National Sand Dunes seashore. Kristen says, "big surprise for me, Michigan's beaches are fabulous."

My youngest insists on nightly story time. My older two girls somehow outgrew this ritual about the time they entered 1st grade—they wanted to read on their own, “No helping, mom!” But not my youngest. She’s content snuggling up next to me and listening each night. No complaints here.

But tonight something interesting happened. As I started to read Patricia Polacco’s Thank you, Mr. Falker, my older two girls wandered in, taking places at either end of the bed; they didn’t even ask to look at the pictures. That’s too bad because Polacco both writes and illustrates her stories, so she knows how to portray the title character, Trisha’s, loneliness  as she moves across the country, from Michigan to California, in third grade. The words are almost secondary to her close-up images of Trisha’s face, lined with frustration. Almost. Continue reading Road Trip: Take the Kids to Michigan