Tag: travel

Giveaways, Parenting, Promotions, Travel

Attend the Water Lantern Festival near you in 2020! 2-Tickets Giveaway

Erin Sluka

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The Water Lantern Festival is coming to an area near you in 2020! Make sure you visit the festival locations map and click on your state for locations and dates (looks like all but 9 states have festivals planned).

At the Water Lantern Festival your ticket includes the lantern kit to design your own lantern, vendors and food trucks and more. It is a great family experience you won’t want to miss!

The magic of the lanterns carry messages of love, hope, remembrances, goals, and happiness as they drift out and reflect upon the water.

There are several ticket options and kid tickets too.

Head to the GET TICKETS section for your location. Hurry!

Deals and prices change as you get closer to the event date.

This giveaway is a part of the Mama the Fox Snow Much Fun Giveaway Hop! Enter below then scroll further to find a list of more Bloggers giveaways to enter! Good luck!

Ticket giveaway

Enter to win 2 Deluxe Tickets below! Deluxe tickets includes a mandala throw, wristband for entry into the festival area with food trucks, one floating lantern kit, marker, drawstring bag, and scavenger hunt giveaway entry. 

This giveaway is open to US for locations near you (check the map). Ages 18+ and you will be emailed the tickets as soon as you reply after winning email sent if your name is chosen. This giveaway event ends on April 5, 2020 so good for any dates after April 6th! You may enter for another family near the event and upon email you would provide me their email and I will send tickets. Good luck!

Head over to each linked blog below to enter their giveaways!

MamatheFox and all participating blogs are not held responsible for sponsors who fail to fulfill their prize obligations.

2019 Holidays, Travel

Cori Traveller – Modular Memory Foam Pillow

Erin Sluka

When you travel often you begin to stack up on travel stories. One of my uncomfortable moments was my Seattle to NYC flight and for over 6 hours I was in a middle seat with my young son on one side of me and on the aisle seat was a women that as soon as she boarded, grabbed a blanket and curled up-feet on seat and knees in my space and slept. I lost any ability to face or lean on my left side so I had to sit straight or find comfort on my right side which is my sore knee and hip. It was a long and (bottom) numbing flight. I had no neck pillow! I bought one in NYC for my trip back!

Travel pillow

I had found a standard neck pillow and on my flight home and could not get it to stay supportive. It had these beans in it that kept sinking and shifting and would not hold my neck as it would slowly flatten. It helped, but I realized I need a better one before next trip. Amazon had some with great reviews and I bought a memory foam standard pillow. It was great until I wanted to lean my head one side or the other then it was too firm. Finally, I was introduced to the Cori Travelerr.

pillow for neck

My Cori Travelerr Modular Memory Foam Pillow is a genius neck/head support pillow every traveler should own. It did take a few moments to play with positioning, but once I found that right combination I had no discomfort.

Actually, I lied. I did have some discomfort because my son wanted to sleep on our recent flight to Los Angeles so he stole my Cori pillow. He set it up for a back/neck rest and watched a movie the rest of the flight.

The cushions are so soft and comfy and you get to arrange them how you want. It all folds up inside the included travel pouch. It comes in many colors and covers remove for washing.

I highly recommend you travel with the Cori Travelerr for better sleep and head support. Also available on Amazon.

Kids, Travel

Day Passes Now Available at Great Wolf Lodge

Erin Sluka

If there is one place Anthony loves most here in the Seattle area, it is Great Wolf Lodge (Grand Mound, Wa). This past May you may remember my posting about spending Anthony’s birthday at Great Wolf Lodge (see that post here). He asked this year to forgo presents and a big party and bring a few friends to GWL for an experience instead. He has never regretted that decision. He even now talks his cousins into asking for an ‘experience’ instead of gifts because he promises them it’s “better than any toy or game”.

I wanted to take this post to announce that Great Wolf Lodge now has Day Passes!

We took our day passes and treated my nephews (ages 5, 9, 13) to the experience of Great Wolf Lodge for their first time along with Anthony (age 11). I brought my Mom along and she is hooked! No doubt that we decided that because all 4 boys have birthdays fairly close to each other that doing spring birthdays here going forward is a must! These boys were hooked! My nephew turns 10 at the end of this month and is so excited to find a way to get back here to stay!

With the day pass you get all access as you would normally if staying the night minus a room. You can eat at their restaurants, visit the other activities (extra charges apply as usual), attend story time and more. We did have ropes course passes but with the rain we had that day, we could not visit so we will update you later on that experience.

In the Wa. location near us, the water park hours were 10am to 8pm. Check in at that time of morning is a breeze and we were in the water by 10:30. The lines were low too at that time so I am glad we made a point to get there right at opening hours.

They were worn out and water logged by 4pm, so we got dressed and played some arcade for a but upstairs. Grandma bought them each a play card and they had some fun there.

Spending the night can cost you on average about $300 a night, but remember that is for up to 6 people to enjoy the water park and stay. You can bring your own food (to your room when you stay). It is well worth it. If you stay the night you get great value buying Wolf, Pup or Paw Passes if the kids plan to utilize the indoor activities.

If you are going for the day, I would weight how much stimulation you want the kids to have. It is a lot of great activities for the value on those passes, but if only going the day, it is hard to pull those kids out of the water when they know they will not be staying.

We spent so much more time in the water with the day pass then we ever do staying the night with play passes. So, if you have been before and plan to come back for only the day plan to get there early, score a table and keep it all day.

Another fun tip if trying to enjoy Great Wolf Lodge and save is that at the cafe in the water park, we spent about $20 on 2 Family Fries and a bag of chips and salsa and it was a lot of food! We had leftovers to throw out after feeding 4 hungry boys, my Mom and I. Kids meals are about $9 each and that would have added up with 4 boys (2 of which are teens). We also brought packaged snacks and gatorade bottles from home for them. Great Wolf Lodge is really good about allowing you to eat your own snacks so that you can spend your dollars on the fun instead if need be.

Enjoy the day and be in your own bed by night at Great Wolf Lodge!

Non-seasonal, Parenting, Summer, Tips and Tricks, Travel

Helpful Packing Tips When Traveling with Small Children

Erin Sluka

I hope you get the chance to travel together this summer, locally or abroad. These tips are great for flights or day trips and even a night at Grandma’s when traveling with small children. Safe travels!

Buy the RIGHT luggage

The fun monkey head suitcase is adorable, but I hate to tell you that many children luggage brands are not practical. Don’t get me wrong, there is a brand or two out there that does children’s travel cases well, but I ditched the cute stuff years ago with our 10 year old because I needed to fit more and stay organized with it all.

What do I use? We happen to use the Expanse Wheeled Duffel Carry ON by Eagle Creek. I use an Eagle Creek wheelie myself as well as the Eagle Creek Pack-It Specter On Board toiletry bag. Shout out to Eagle Creek in this post, they seriously do a great job with their bags and I recommend them for you and the kids!

Use Ziploc Bags for Clothing

I’ll never forget the look I got from my Mom when I dropped my son off for a stay with her years ago and as we opened the suitcase she saw my gallon Ziploc bag packing job. But, let me say that when I picked him up, they were all neatly re-stacked and refilled, dirty inside.

As I pack, I lay the bottoms, shirt, socks, underwear (in that layered order), fold all together in one set and put in a gallon ziploc and seal with air released. Put it in his duffel and repeat for all outfits. It is not only a folding space saver where I can stack many outfits neatly, but it is a time saver every morning. I (or whomever he is visiting and now himself) can grab a bag and head to get changed. It is all there. He shoves his dirty clothes back in, presses and seals. Smelly clothes are sealed and stay away from clean clothes and repacking to leave is so easy! Try it!

1 Bag + 1 Blanket + 1 Present

This is what comes on planes with us to the seat. I have one small backpack (bright colored so you can spot them if they get ahead of you) that he can wear and help me carry less with his snacks, entertainment, headphones and a small (noiseless) toy when younger. Now it is a tablet, his phone, book and chargers plus snacks. He carries his blanket and I always have a gift when he was younger to make the ride start off pleasant. The last one I bought him was a Pokemon neck pillow. He never took it off all flight or the next flight…..

Your Luggage Front Pocket

Chances are one of your luggage bags has that extra front pocket you never really know what to use it for. Grab 1 ‘special’ treat per child and a new thin book. Once you are done with the hassle off the plane, to a car or taxi, into a hotel lobby and finally checked in to your room you (and they) are beat! You have an urge to get organized, freshen up and plan the rest of the day and you have some exhausted kids.

Just wait for the magic as you unzip that pocket, pull out that special pick-me-up snack and quiet book(s). It will buy you some uninterrupted time. If you got in early enough a child or two may just doze off. Let them rest a moment or 2 and use that time! Then you’ll all be more relaxed, rested and ready to start your trip.

My Travel Items

Disclaimer: Thank you Eagle Creek for partnering with us on this feature. All opinions are 100% my own