Today is your last chance to enter our free giveaway to win one of two Cannon compact Photo Printers (Each $189.99 Retail Value) .
While you are at it, you might also want to enter the Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest sponsored by Energizer and National Geographic (who also sponsored this giveaway).
If you have already entered, but want to add your recommendations for kid-friendly activities, restaurants, or hotels to DeliciousBaby for more chances to win, now is the time! Each recommendation will earn five extra entries in the giveaway.
Just visit this article: win one of two Cannon compact Photo Printers (Each $189.99 Retail Value) and follow the instructions.
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Posted on June 21, 2010 |
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One of the things parents often tell me is that they are either a) worried that their kids won't find a single thing to eat in a new destination or b) they'll spend every single meal on their trip at Pizza Hut. E is an incredibly picky eater, and he gets pickier when he's away from home, so I empathize completely.
While we work hard to make sure that the kids eat well: introducing new foods at home, packing picnic lunches, serving a hearty breakfast in our vacation rental, and seeking out the local equivalent of pizza or chicken fingers in fine restaurants around the world, I have to admit that there are times when everything we try fails. And guess what? When that happens - there's always bread.
They ate better the next day, I'm sure.
Related Links:
Eating Out With Kids on a Family Vacation
How to find a kid friendly restaraunt that you will enjoy
City Guide: Istanbul with Kids
Photo Friday:
Share a favorite travel photo by participating in Photo Friday. Please make sure that you link to your post directly so that readers can find it later in the week. If your url is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a url shortening service, like bit.ly
First timers, here is
more Information about Photo Friday
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photo-friday
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Posted on June 17, 2010 |
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Thanks to Energizer, I am giving away two Canon Selphy ES30 Compact Photo Printers
to two lucky DeliciousBaby readers. This printer has great reviews on Amazon (average 5 stars), and you do not need a computer in order to print pictures directly from your digital camera's memory card.
If you are taking lots of photos this summer, you might also want to enter the Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest sponsored by Energizer and National Geographic. Photographers of all skill levels are encouraged to enter by sending in their photos. The grand prize is a National Geographic Expeditions trip for two to the Greek isles and a feature in an ad in the December issue of National Geographic magazine. You can find more information here: Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest
How To Enter
Two lucky readers can win. If you would like a chance to win, leave a comment before 11:59PM PST on June 21 2010 and recommend one family friendly activity, restaurant or shop in a city near you. Please include your email address in the comment form (your email isn't shared with anyone, and I will not send you email unless you win).
How to Earn More Chances to Win
There are several ways you can get additional entries in this contest. Each takes only a few minutes!
- Recommend a kid-friendly attraction, restaurant or hotel in our city guides to receive five additional entries. It takes only a few minutes, and it is a great way to share your favorite places with other parents. To make a recommendation, just Click Here
- Subscribe to my RSS feed (either by reader or email) using the buttons on the top left-hand side of the page. Leave another comment telling me you did.
- If you have a blog, write about any article you enjoyed on DeliciousBaby, or write about the place you hope to visit, and link back to one of our kid friendly city guides. Leave a comment telling me you did so and show me the link where I can find it!
- "Like" DeliciousBaby on Facebook, and come back here to tell me that you did. I will be using my Facebook page to share exclusive giveaways, discount codes and other opportunities.
Winners
We will choose a winner randomly and announce the results here on Tuesday June 22 2010. Many thanks to the Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest for generously sponsoring this giveaway.
Rules
Please, only one comment per person per giveaway post (except as outlined above where the comment is related to an extra entry). Duplicate comments and Anonymous comments will be discarded. Please make sure that the email address in your comment form is valid (email addresses are never public). Winners must claim their prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize. A Sweepstakes winner's failure to respond to the prize notification within the specified three business days will be considered such Sweepstakes winner's forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may also be selected from the pool of eligible entries. To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older. Employees, partners and vendors of DeliciousBaby and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology. When applicable, the winner may be required to execute and return within five business days an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability and Publicity Release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected. All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that DeliciousBaby reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize.
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Posted on June 14, 2010 |
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I stayed at the Darussaade Hotel at my own expense. Nobody at the hotel knew that I had a website about traveling with young children, and I did not receive a "press rate" or freebies. The kids, on the other hand, received all sorts of sweets and small toys from the staff and their opinion seems to be for sale at a very low price!
Joking aside, whenever I do receive a special rate or complimentary service, I will always let you know.
For this trip, we planned to stay in a vacation rental, but unfortunately our apartment was not available for our first two nights in Istanbul. That left the five of us to recover from Jetlag in a hotel room for the first two nights.
Finding just the right hotel was tricky. Most hotels in Istanbul do not have rooms with two double beds (a single king bed, two twins, or a triple room with three twin beds are more common configurations). Add to that, the fact that any one of us might be awake in the middle of the night, and that we wouldn't want the kids to wake one another up. As a final constraint, we thought a hotel in the historic center would be best, so that we could return to the room easily during the day.
A small suite at the Darussaade Hotel turned out to be a great choice. There was a king bed in the main room, and a small sitting room with a sofa bed. The kids slept with my husband in the main room, while the baby and I slept on the sofa bed.
During the day, the living room made a nice play area for the kids. we loved that it did not share a wall with another guest room, so that we could be a little more relaxed about noise while we were getting ready in the mornings.
The room wasn't huge, but it was spotless and very comfortable. The location, across from a small market and in the historic center was perfect. The staff was very helpful, and showered E and D with small gifts and candy throughout our stay. A word of warning, though, most attractions are uphill from the hotel and the streets in this area can be tricky to navigate with a stroller - so make sure that everyone has their walking shoes on!
The hotel's breakfast buffet had a huge selection of local cheeses and sausages (sans pork, of course) plus homemade pastry. The calm breakfast room was a great place to retreat with early risers before the day started.
The kids had their first Nutella here - and loved it of course. They have no idea that Nutella is Italian and not Turkish
The Darussaade was quiet (except for us), well located in the historic center of Istanbul. Rates vary seasonally, and the rack rate for this room is between 144 and 175 Euros. Note that while prices are set in Euros, you will pay in Turkish Lira.
Related Links
Istanbul with Kids
Darussaade Hotel Review
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hotel-review
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Posted on June 14, 2010 |
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I've long been interested in the tradition of Arabic calligraphic art. We don't see much of it here in the west, so we enjoyed popping into galleries in Istanbul and seeing so many examples. As a new writer who is a little bit obsessed with perfecting his own penmanship, E was particularly engrossed in these pictures made out of words.
Related Links:
City Guide: Istanbul with Kids
Arriving in Istanbul
Hagia Sofia with Kids
Istanbul's Topkapi Palace With Kids
Photo Friday:
Share a favorite travel photo by participating in Photo Friday. Please make sure that you link to your post directly so that readers can find it later in the week. If your url is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a url shortening service, like bit.ly
First timers, here is
more Information about Photo Friday
8 comments |
Posted on June 10, 2010 |
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I want to thank everyone who entered to my giveaway for a gift bag from our recent Mom's Night Out event.
The randomly selected winner was Lori Brody. Lori, send me your mailing address, and I'll put a gift bag in the mail to you right away!
Didn't win this time? I have another fabulous giveaway beginning next week. Be sure to check back (or subscribe so that you don't miss a thing).
Many thanks to all the generous sponsors who contributed to our gift bags.
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Posted on June 10, 2010 |
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I'm going to start sharing my favorite travel-related (or destination related) children's books. I'll write about a new one every other week. Most books are from my personal collection, or checked out from the library, but whenever I do accept a book for review from a publisher, I will always let you know. If you buy the book using the Amazon link at the end of the post, I earn a small commission, and that income helps me keep the site going.
This sweet bedtime story shows baby animals from the Pacific Northwest cuddled up in their nests. The pictures are accompanied by calming poetry. The very last page, which shows a young child cuddled up in the bottom bunk of a bed with stuffed versions of each animal in the top bunk, is my kids favorite.
This is a perfect book to read when you are snuggling up with the kids before bedtime, and I love that the kids also learn the name of each baby animal (e.g. a baby dear is a fawn) and how it looks as both a baby and an adult.
Related Links:
Buy on Amazon:
Where Do I Sleep? : A Pacific Northwest Lullaby
Favorite Children's Books, Toys and References for Seattle Washington
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book-review
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Posted on June 9, 2010 |
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The Gift Bags from our Mom's Night Out event were so much fun, that I decided to save one to give away to one of my regular readers.
Here's What's Inside
How to Enter: You get one entry for each way that you connect with DeliciousBaby. This giveaway ends on Wednesday June 9 at 11:59pm.
Here are the different places that I am available:
- Subscribe to DeliciousBaby using an RSS reader:
Subscribe to our feed
-
- Follow @deliciousbaby on Twitter
- "Like" DeliciousBaby on Facebook. I'm planning to post some secret giveaways here in the next few months!
Next, let me know how you are following me using this form it takes just seconds to fill out!
Check back here to find out whether you won on Thursday June 10.
Rules
Please, only fill out the entry form once - using the form you can specify each way that you are following DeliciousBaby and will be given additional chances to win. Duplicate entries and Anonymous entries will be discarded. Please make sure that the email address in your entry form is valid (email addresses are never public). Winners must claim their prize within three business days after the date of notification of such prize. A Sweepstakes winner's failure to respond to the prize notification within the specified three business days will be considered such Sweepstakes winner's forfeiture of the prize and an alternate winner may be selected from the pool of eligible entries. If an entrant is found to be ineligible, an alternate winner may also be selected from the pool of eligible entries. To enter, you must be a U.S. resident, age 18 or older. Employees, partners and vendors of DeliciousBaby and their immediate family members are not eligible to enter. We will disqualify any entries that we believe are generated by scripts and other automated technology. When applicable, the winner may be required to execute and return within five business days an Affidavit of Eligibility and a Liability and Publicity Release to be eligible for the prize or an alternate winner will be selected. All prizes will be awarded. No substitutions including for cash are permitted, except that DeliciousBaby reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater monetary value for any prize. Winners shall be responsible and liable for all federal, state and local taxes on the value of their prize.
Filed Under:
giveaways
3 comments |
Posted on June 8, 2010 |
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I want to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who came to the Mom's Night Out event hosted by the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland. Everything came together so nicely, and we had a terrific night. I always enjoy getting together with my co-hosts Michelle Duffy, Anne Taylor and Lora Shinn, and we had a great time answering questions and meeting everyone who came to the event.
If you were not able to make it, I thought I'd post a behind-the-scenes look at what happened. You can also read a dad's eye view of our evening at The Carey Adventures
This picture of the room doesn't do it justice. Half of the room was set up theater style style for our panel, and the other half had a bar, sofas and cocktail tables. It was the perfect place to lounge, drink wine, eat cupcakes, and talk travel.
Speaking of Wine and Cupcakes, (could there possibly be a better combination for a mom's night out?) Trio Vintners provided wine for the evening. Trio is a local, 50% woman owned winery and if you get a chance to visit Walla Walla, you should stop in for a taste.
The cupcakes were provided by Trophy Cupcakes (another mom owned business). Don't they look yummy? We had two flavors - triple coconut and salted caramel (my favorite)
It was hard to stay inside, though, on this rare sunny afternoon... look at the view out the window.
Still, even though I was anxious for weeks about whether anyone would show up to hear the four of us speak, the room really started to fill up! We had to bring in extra chairs for the late arrivals.
Did you see that stack of gift bags behind the registration desk? Here's what each attendee received.
I'll be giving away a goodie bag to one lucky reader tomorrow! Check back for details.
This event was part of the Words at the Woodmark series of events, and if you live in the area, you should check out the other great evenings they have planned.
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Posted on June 7, 2010 |
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When you are really stuck for an activity, window shopping can be just as interesting for kids as it is for adults. Istanbul's felt making tradition makes for some interesting window displays, including this window full of felt hats. I wonder what dress-up games the kids were imagining as they checked them out.
Related Links:
City Guide: Istanbul with Kids
Arriving in Istanbul
Hagia Sofia with Kids
Photo Friday:
Share a favorite travel photo by participating in Photo Friday. Please make sure that you link to your post directly so that readers can find it later in the week. If your url is longer than 100 characters, you will need to use a url shortening service, like bit.ly
First timers, here is
more Information about Photo Friday
Filed Under:
photo-friday
11 comments |
Posted on June 3, 2010 |
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