Safely arrived in Texas a few days ago. No, this isn't the plane we flew on to get here--just some old shot I came across. :)
The flight here was a real confidence booster for me as a mom, because it went SO WONDERFUL, and not just because we got lucky (though there is always a little Heavenly blessing thrown in to make all successes happen). No, the travel was smooth and enjoyable because I have traveled a lot with a child by now and learned a few skills along the way. The main help I have learned is to give Lo
emotional preparation. Weeks in advance, talking lots about the trip and drawing pictures about it, letting him be involved in the preparations, etc. gives him the power of visualization. Then, during the trip itself we get to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Another fun addition I did for this trip was wrapping all the toys/snacks in fun, brightly colored gift-wrap. He stared at those wrapped presents for days before departure. He even asked, "Let's play airplane," and then when he had pretended to seat us on the plane, he turned to me and smiled, "Now we get to open our presents!" I chose the toys and activities carefully, looking for basic, brain-building or creativity-inducing ones like Clay, wiki sticks (spelling?), and a new board book, etc. The clay especially was a hit, because he could easily play with it on the airplane's food tray. He has played a lot with play-doh in the past, but this was the first time to touch REAL clay, and apparently it is a different enough experience he felt totally fascinated.
Here is our apartment. It has a generic, hotel-room feel to it, not very "homey" since we forgot to even bring framed family photos to display. Seriously only packed a few items of clothing and toys pretty much. And our rice cooker. :) But hopefully we won't spend much time at the apartment anyway, since we only get a couple months to enjoy the adventures of this new area! Yesterday we spent hours at the pool and "sandbox" aka sand volleyball pit. The heat here reminds us of Hong Kong--nice and tropical, never abating even for evenings. It is fun getting to live in all the different areas of the US. So far the Tam Fam has lived in: New England (Massachusetts), the Midwest (Ohio), the South (that's what Texas is, right?), Intermountain West/Northwest Pacific (some question as to what category Idaho falls into), and Rocky Mountain region (Utah). Where else do we need to live before we have it all covered?
Safely arrived in Texas a few days ago. No, this isn't the plane we flew on to get here--just some old shot I came across. :)
The flight here was a real confidence booster for me as a mom, because it went SO WONDERFUL, and not just because we got lucky (though there is always a little Heavenly blessing thrown in to make all successes happen). No, the travel was smooth and enjoyable because I have traveled a lot with a child by now and learned a few skills along the way. The main help I have learned is to give Lo emotional preparation. Weeks in advance, talking lots about the trip and drawing pictures about it, letting him be involved in the preparations, etc. gives him the power of visualization. Then, during the trip itself we get to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Another fun addition I did for this trip was wrapping all the toys/snacks in fun, brightly colored gift-wrap. He stared at those wrapped presents for days before departure. He even asked, "Let's play airplane," and then when he had pretended to seat us on the plane, he turned to me and smiled, "Now we get to open our presents!" I chose the toys and activities carefully, looking for basic, brain-building or creativity-inducing ones like Clay, wiki sticks (spelling?), and a new board book, etc. The clay especially was a hit, because he could easily play with it on the airplane's food tray. He has played a lot with play-doh in the past, but this was the first time to touch REAL clay, and apparently it is a different enough experience he felt totally fascinated. 
Here is our apartment. It has a generic, hotel-room feel to it, not very "homey" since we forgot to even bring framed family photos to display. Seriously only packed a few items of clothing and toys pretty much. And our rice cooker. :) But hopefully we won't spend much time at the apartment anyway, since we only get a couple months to enjoy the adventures of this new area! Yesterday we spent hours at the pool and "sandbox" aka sand volleyball pit. The heat here reminds us of Hong Kong--nice and tropical, never abating even for evenings. It is fun getting to live in all the different areas of the US. So far the Tam Fam has lived in: New England (Massachusetts), the Midwest (Ohio), the South (that's what Texas is, right?), Intermountain West/Northwest Pacific (some question as to what category Idaho falls into), and Rocky Mountain region (Utah). Where else do we need to live before we have it all covered?
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