Travel Postcards: Online Order Sent by Mail

Does anybody correspond with a pen and paper anymore? Me neither. Here's a great site for easy postcards: www.hazelmail.com, more about it below.

At our house, only birthday and Christmas gift thank you notes get actually written on paper and sent through the mail. (Not always promptly, I regret.) I finish mine alongside the kids. Each boy is plunked down with special stationery and a list of gifts received and prodded to write nice notes. The formula is: express thanks for the gift, mention why you like it or how you've appreciated it, and add a friendly closing sentence. The boy who finishes his list first gets a hot chocolate out with me. Hubby is harder to cajole into writing -- he still needs to finish his thank you notes from his birthday months ago. Maybe if I offer him a beer...

I do force myself to write a couple of personalized sentences in each holiday card we send. But I don't send letters on paper. And, it's been years, decades really, since I've sent a postcard. On our honeymoon in Paris and Rome, I did write on a few postcards, and even addressed them, but didn't figure out how to get stamps. On many trips since then I have frequented souvenir shops to carefully select postcards, and toted them back to our hotel room. And every time, they came home with me in my suitcase, languished on my desk for weeks, and finally were deposited in the recycle bin; never mailed.

On my next trip, I will use HazelMail.com. For just $1.50 or 2 Euros, via the internet (easy to use buttons offer the website in other languages for users who speak Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, or German), from anywhere in the world, I can upload any photo I've taken, add sentences and insert an address. Within two business days, the postcard will be printed and mailed to any destination in the world via regular mail. Registering as a member for free provides options to save addresses, store a history of previous postcards sent, and lock in a lower price per card using pre-paid HazelBucks. There's also a free iPhone app for sending a photo postcard instantly, as long as Hazelbucks are used.

These photos from Germany could have been our postcards!





The only thing lacking is the postage cancelation stamp from your vacation location. But I think the benefit of using a personal photo outweighs that downside.

My family thanks you, HazelMail!

Original resource: Paige Stringer at blog.seattlepi.com

Sandy Nielsen
Sleeps5.com

Travel with 3 Boys: Incentive to Behave

The problem: They fight!
It is not easy to corral 3 boys, which is frequently necessary when traveling. There are always waits for boardings, check-ins, subways, tables, and much more. And when the boys are corralled, they use tactics like a pinch or prod to annoy one another for entertainment, or for revenge from some slight the day before. Even a simple task of utilizing an elevator often becomes instant competition for first in, first to push the button, first to stand by mom, first to exit...you get the picture.

A parent could set up highly intricate rules to handle all possible altercations, such as: If a boy socks another in the arm above the elbow while riding an elevator going down without being provoked by a stealthy sneer or whispered derogatory term then that boy will...But that could get ridiculous and require an inordinate amount of parental hovering and intervention.

The goal: Peace and Harmony
Better to help them learn to avoid or settle their own disputes. We learned from a kid-expert that it is the relationship between the boys that needs help. We need to instill pleasure in being civil towards each other, and remove the gratification of having provoked or hurt the other or caused parental scolding of the other. We need to treat the altercation as a whole, not try to figure out how one boy used a guffaw or hah-hah line to enrage the other, or how much the other's swift kick really hurt.

When traveling though, it is usually impossible to separate the boys, impossible to enforce down-time to soften angry feelings, impossible to convene a powwow to discuss behavior, and impossible to remove privileges such as tv time without negatively affecting the rest of the family. Yet, after some brainstorming, we thought of one kid favorite, usually a treat granted only when traveling and eating out, that when taken away would affect only the guilty party(ies): Root Beer (or any soft drink beverage of some kind).

Our success: Consequences!
The rule: If two boys bother each other on purpose (accidental bumping or talking that happens to annoy an irritable someone doesn't count) or in any way push, hit, or kick each other, then they both get only water with their next meal. Likewise, if one boy fails to cease any activity upon being requested to do so by a parent, that boy gets only water with his next meal. An added benefit for us: less expensive dinner bill.

On our last vacation, the altercations decreased substantially after one or two meals with water as the only beverage. The rule morphed into short warnings. I needed to only quietly utter, "water" or "root beer", and the boys would settle themselves immediately, envisioning the misery of a restaurant meal without some refreshing, cold, bubbly drink.

Works like a charm.

Sandy Nielsen
Sleeps5.com

Seattle Family Favorites

Seattle is home to our family of five, but it is also my favorite place to be a tourist. These are five of our favorite things to do:

1) Pike Place Market - Teenagers love it, old folks love it, kids love it. It never fails to entertain and we are regulars. Our teenage girls love looking through all the inexpensive jewelry, tasting the honey samples, adding to the "gum wall". Yuck! Our teenage son and my husband love listening to the musicians with their varying skill levels and genres and watching the fish toss. I love to shop the produce stands, buy specialty items, sip a latte in the french bakery (Panier) and people watch. More often than not I'm texting my kids trying to track them down in the Market. On the street (Western Avenue) below the market, near the "Hillclimb" steps there is a wonderful spice store called World Spice. Their spices make relatively inexpensive gifts that are easy to pack home. The parking garage next door has the friendliest employees. (Free)

2) Ferry Ride - Seattle has ferries leaving from downtown to Bainbridge Island and Bremerton regularly. You can drive on if you want to go somewhere on the other side such as Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge (reservations necessary at the reserve), but it is just as fun and cheaper to park and walk on. The view of the city from the ferry can't be beat. The Bainbridge ferry is a shorter trip than the Bremerton. They charge for walk on passengers only from the Seattle side but you still have to disembark and get back in the waiting line to walk back on. (not a big deal)

3) Alki Beach - This beach is located in West Seattle. There are all sorts of fun eateries and a cool teenage clothing store called Coastal to visit. We all enjoy walking the waterfront with all manner of folks. If the tide is low there is a section further south and west of the main drag (past a few houses/condos) where kids can check out the tide pools. Our other favorite beach is Golden Gardens in the Ballard neighborhood. (Free)

4) Another favorite activity is renting a canoe from the UW aquatic center roughly behind and slightly north of Husky stadium. Paddling about next to the Washington arboretum, through the lily pads, under the wooden boardwalk, and past nesting herons can't be beat if you don't mind the exercise. Otherwise skip the canoes, park on the arboretum side, and take the wooden boardwalk through the bird preserve. (Budget or Free)

5) Tea at the Olympic Hotel - This may or may not be for the men of the family, but tea in the Georgian Room at the Olympic is a special event. At Christmas time the hotel is decorated to the hilt. There is a special decorated Teddy Bear room to be visited at this time as well. We love to sneak in to the ballroom (if nothing is going on in there) where the kids used to race around and get out their wiggles from having to be well mannered at the table. (Splurge for Tea or otherwise Free)

I love my city,

Holly Jacobsen
Sleeps5.com

College Tourcation Day 11-14: Princeton, WPI and Harvard

(I would like to reiterate that we visited schools for their historical value along with just exposing our kids to different kinds of schools and surroundings.)

At this point in our trip Grandpa has flown back to his home in Kentucky. So we are now down to our immediate family of five.

From Washington DC we drove on to Princeton.
The town of Princeton is about as charming as it gets. The old town is filled with high end boutiques, cafes, and understated hotels and inns. We stayed at the Nassau Inn - an old historical inn - with a Norman Rockwell painting hanging in the tavern. We were able to obtain a double room with a rollaway that would fit all five of us. (See Sleeps5.com for a full description.) Princeton University was picturesque. Wonderful old gothic buildings, covered walkways, well maintained lawns, lovely old chapel. Princeton has a seminary that is somewhat affiliated with the University. There is a little train station that has an old fashioned train that runs people between a larger station in the more commercial part of town. The only drawback for a potential college student is that the town is quite sleepy and far from a more hopping nightlife. On to New York.


Hogwarts Rating 5

In New York we did not visit any colleges but had a wonderful time going to the musicals Lion King and Nine to Five. We also checked out Times Square, China Town, Meat Packing District, Central Park, China Town, Soho, Henri Bendel's. Of special note was the elevated park along the waterfront in the Meat Packing District. It had just opened. It is a walkable artistic rendition of a city sidewalk, but elevated a few stories high. The plantings reflect a more manicured version of what Parks Department find in vacant lots. In New york we had given up our family minivan and instead crammed our lanky family into a five seater econo-car. Ahh togetherness. Off we went to Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusettes. Please note our friends in New York thought we could reach it in just a few hours. It took us two hours just to drive out of NYC and then a slow crawl to Worcester. We reached the school five hours later, long after the admissions office had closed.

Worcester Poly Tech (WPI) - The sun was setting when we arrived at this university on a hill. We were not sure what to expect as most of the technology schools we have seen have been in very modern structures. WPI is instead a beautiful brick colonial campus sitting high on a hill overlooking the town. We were exhausted from the endless traffic crammed in our tiny rental car with very low expectations by the time we arrived. We were so pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the campus, our normally reserved teenagers ran around doing flips and cartwheels on the lawn outside the Student Union building. Surrounding the oldest of buildings was a lovely knot garden, a vine covered walkway, perennial borders, little butterflies and then to our utter amazement a small bunny came hopping out from the lavender and made his way across the small lawn. We had the sense we were being followed by close circuit TV "O.K. they're feeling it now let out the bunny." We were all ready to sign up for WPI after that.

Hogwarts Factor: 3

We reluctantly left WPI and headed off to Boston.

It was raining in Boston. We are from Seattle and not alarmed by rain but this was heavy, heavy rain, that would not letup. We stayed at the Omni right on the Freedom Trail (great hotel). We walked the Freedom Trail as best we could, visiting all the highlights including Paul Revere's home. We walked along the harbor as well. The city is compact with windy streets -- we were often lost. The Bostonians were extremely friendly however and willing to set tourists straight.

Harvard. Boston is home to many wonderful academic institutions. Harvard, being the oldest university in the United States, is certainly worth a visit. However keep in mind it is a private college in a large city. Again it was pouring down rain when we drove to Harvard and searched for a parking place. We walked on to this august campus which was pretty, only to realize that we would not be allowed into any buildings so we stood in the downpour trying to appreciate its status in the US psyche, only to feel shut out as certainly most are. The rain really didn't help.

Hogwarts Factor: 1

This was the end of our trip. We returned to sunshine in Seattle.

Related:
Hotels with Family Room to Sleep 5 in New York City, Washington, DC, Williamsburg, Durham-Chapel Hill, Charlottesville

Things to Do in New York City

Holly Jacobsen
Sleeps5.com