Paperback Writer - Sharing my work on other sites

It's that time where I get to share some of the work that I've completed over the past month.  I am lucky enough that I get to research some fun topics and learn something new almost every day (even if sometimes it's just celebrity gossip).   In the coming months I'm excited to share some amazing articles on health and fantastically fierce Canadian women, at Future Female, our first digital issue came out earlier this month, and in the summer we release our first print issue.

Today for my full-time job I write and ghostwrite articles for online publications, organizations and blogs, in addition to providing public relations services.  While I can't really share my ghostwritten articles on this platform, cause then I wouldn't really be a ghostwriter would I, I can share some of the other stuff I have been working on.

Click on the links for the topics that interest you most, and if you enjoy what I wrote please share, like, and follow, and keep parenting and reading on!  If you have any ideas for a story, a playground review, or article on any front, feel free to shout it out!  I'm always looking for new sources of inspiration!

Future Female Magazine

It's a great read on a whole, but my articles are on pages 8, 20 & 40

Celebrity Gossip

10 Celebs Who Should Have a Bigger Fan base and Ten Who Shouldn't

16 Celebs Who Love To Break Up & Make Up

14 Celebs Who Became Dads in High School

Parenting Humour 

15 Things Pregnant Moms Did In The 1990's

Pregnancy & Conception

15 Pregnancy Myths Science Says Are A Lie

12 Things Science Still Can't Explain About Miscarriages

Parenting Infants

15 Things It's Still Too Early To Give To The Baby

Pink Summer - Tips for A Summer Day Camp Experience Your Kids Will Love

Time seems to speed up when the weather is nice.  As we all begin to clean up our yards, go for lengthy walks in the park, and tune up our bikes, it's also time to start thinking about summer camp and our kids.  My kids will be attending a variety of camps this summer, and like all parents we want to make sure that it's a fun and enriching experience.  It can be difficult to know where to get started, but these tips can help you and your children prepare for an amazing summer. This blog post was sponsored* by True North Sports Camps, offering sports programs for kids aged 4-14 in Toronto, Etobicoke, Hamilton, Markham, and Whitby.

11 Tips For A Summer Camp Experience Your Kids Will Love

Image Courtesy of True North Sports

Set Your Budget

It's best to determine your summer long budget for child care (and family vacations) before looking into camps.  Prices can vary, but don't forget weeks at pricier camps can be balanced out by other weeks with a local sitter or at camps that are less expensive.  Pricier camps often have discounted rates for weeks that include long weekends, which is a great way to cut costs on a camp that is considered a splurge.  Some camps will require deposits (or payment in full) upon registration, so be sure to include this in your budget process.  Remember camp hours vary, and although some camps offer extended hours this may come at an additional cost.

Let Them In On The Decision Making Process

Not sure what to talk about around the dinner table?  Connect with your kids on things they've always wanted to try, favourite extra-curricular activities, and camps their friends have been raving about, along with recommendations from other parents.  Use this information to research camps within your price range and let your kids a vote from your short-listed camps.

Include Their Friends

Another friendly face or two can help relieve any stress your child may be feeling about going to a new camp.  Most camps are quite accommodating and will even make sure your child is placed in a group with their friend or sibling, provided they are both in the same age group, if you just ask.

Figure Out the Logistics Ahead of Time

You can either search for camps close to your home, or your place of employment for easy drop off.  You can also talk to your employer about working some flexible hours or remotely some days if your child is attending a camp that is going to add significant time and effort to your parental commute.  You can also arrange car pooling with other parents to help share some of the driving.

Image Courtesy of True North Sports

Mix It Up Over The Summer

The expression variety is the spice of life comes to mind here.  Whether your child is a future varsity athlete, avid crafter, or STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). wiz, consider camp as a fun way to allow them to expand their horizons.  While routine can be fantastic, a few days, or weeks trying something new can be a great, low commitment way for your children to discover a new passion, or rule out an activity they thought they'd love but don't.

Cross Your T's and Dot Your I's 

Parents, here's where you do your homework to make sure the camp meets appropriate local health and safety records.  Read testimony and reviews online, and talk to other parents to determine if the camp meets your standards.  Raise any concerns you have about the camp with the facility before registration.

Before The First Day

Connect with the camp to find out any supplies that will be necessary each day.  This could include:  packed lunches, water bottles, sun screen, a change of clothes, or swim suit for particular days of the program.  Don't forget to inform the camp about any special needs, food allergies, or any other 'need to know' information about your kiddo.  If your child will be required to put on their own sunscreen each day, make sure you teach them how to do so for proper coverage from the sun.

Image Courtesy of Mom Loves Best

The Week Before

Have your kid help you pick out special snacks and items for their lunches that will help them get excited about their time at camp. Something as simple as a nice lunch or a nice sun hat can help your child feel fantastic on their first day. Remember in summer months kids lunches may get warm, so use ice packs if necessary, or put some ice in their water bottle to help cool the rest of their food.

The First Day

Arrive a few minutes early to help your child get settled in.  Introduce yourself and your child to their instructor.  They may be nervous at first, but camp directors are trained to help your child feel welcome. Give them a chance to acclimatize to their new camp, this may take a while, and although it may be tempting to hover a while, they'll likely do better once you leave.

Offer A Treat

Going out for an ice cream after dinner, or having a picnic together after the first day of camp can be a fantastic way to connect with your child and find out how it's going.

Give Feedback

Camps can only improve their programs with the feedback from kids and parents.  Fill out online surveys about how things went and provide detailed comments.  If one of the counsellors go the extra mile for your kid, be sure to thank them, and let their boss know that they have a super star on their hands.  Positive feedback is just as important as the negative stuff!


*This is a sponsored blog post, however all opinions and commentary are my own.

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Have Fun Storming The Castles - Tips for A Magical Family Vacation At Disney World

When we had kids I knew that a trip to Disney was inevitable, particularly since one set of grandparents snow bird in Florida.  I also knew it was going to be expensive, and pretty much a once in a childhood type of event, so we wanted to time it perfectly.

A few years ago I was at a work event and someone told me a Disney story that had me realize my biggest Disney vacation fear.  A family had planned the perfect Disney vacation to The Magic Kingdom with their three and a half year old daughter.  She got to meet all of the princesses, and it was magical, or so they thought.  Less than six months later the family was watching TV when an ad for Disney came on and the child said, "That looks like fun.  When can we go to Disney?"  She had forgotten ALL OF IT.

I knew I wanted our Disney Trip to be magical and memorable, so I put in a lot of planning and research so you don't have to.

15 Tips For A Truly Magical Disney Experience

Molly & Cinderella 

1. Plan the trip for kids who will remember it
I couldn't get over how many parents brought babies to Disney while we were there.  Recognize that if your child is three or under it's going to be all for you and they aren't going to remember it beyond the photos you show them and stories you tell them.

2. Talk to someone who knows what they're doing before booking

Talk to other parents who have taken their kids recently and find out what they're kid loved and what just didn't work.  The last time I was at Disney I was 10 years old, so my experience wasn't exactly up to date. A parent friend had raved about a service that interviewed you about your children, their favourite characters, and created an 'all inclusive' Disney experience based on your budget and helped you select the best parks for your family called Fairytale Dreams and Destinations and we booked with them. (I did not receive any discount, nor do I receive any commissions for posting this on my blog).  This was the best decision I made and it took all the stress out of the planning process.

3. Embrace the process

If you decide to go with an agency, put in the time to answer all of their questions about your kids likes and dislikes.  They'll even ask you things about your child's level of shyness to make sure that things don't get too intense for them.  By booking with Fairytale Dreams and Destinations we were able to get all of our meals and snacks covered at Disney with our price and were given suggestions of fast passes to book based on our kids and decide on the best parks for us (which were Magic Kingdom & Hollywood Studios because of the connections to Star Wars, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Muppets, and ALL THE PRINCESSES)

Meeting Star Lord and Baby Groot

4. Get the character meals

Character meals are the best way for your kids to get to meet their favourite Disney critters and princesses without waiting in line for hours and it frees up your fast passes for other things, but more on that later.  Some of these meals book up months and months in advance, and booking companies often have preferred access to these services which is another reason it's worth the price tag.  We were able to get a dinner with Mickey, Minnie and crew on our first day and a brunch with Mary Poppins, Alice In Wonderland, The Mad Hatter, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger too.  The princess meal is the one that books up the fastest, so you'll likely need at least 6 months in advance to get in for that meal, we didn't get in, so used our fast passes to meet princesses at Magic Kingdom

Meeting the Mad Hatter

5. Make any breakfast buffets closer to lunch time
To get more bang for our buck, our agent booked us the last possible 'breakfast' seating at 11:20 AM this meant that after our big buffet meal (which was seriously delicious) we were raring to go, and not hungry until seven or eight at night.

6. Take a rest day

Our first day was amazing, but also long.  Our first event was at 10:30 AM, but we had to be up and check into the hotel first at around 8AM and we didn't get back to our resort hotel until after 11PM after the fireworks show.  The next day we were super tired, and didn't have the patience to put up with the lines that the rides at Magic Kingdom have, so we ended up bailing at around 4PM after our last fast passes were used up.  If your budget and time allows for it, take a day between parks to sleep in, rest your swollen feet, and just swim in your hotel's pool.  This is my only regret.

7. Don't expect a regular bed time

Our kids time was all turned around, but that was okay.  Things were exciting enough and they were old enough that they could handle it.  If you close the park be prepared to wait a while for your bus or trolley.  We ended up waiting 40 minutes for ours after the Star Wars Fire works show.  We were luck enough to be early in the line for the third bus because it meant we got seats.

Molly crashed out on the shuttle bus back to our resort hotel after Magic Kingdom

8. You can cash in unused meal and snacks

While waiting for the night bus was annoying after a long day, people were really friendly.  We learned by just chatting to people in line that if you don't use some of your allocated counter meals or snacks during your time on resort you can cash them in for snacks that you can enjoy in your room or on the road home.  We had enough left over snacks to trade for a big bag of dried cereals, trail mixes and other items we could enjoy on our drive back to Canada. Score!

9. Wear comfortable shoes

Think function before fashion for everything for Disney and pick clothes and shoes that can withstand a long day with a lot of standing for both the grown-ups and the kids.

Alice on the Tea Cups

10. Fast passes

Fast passes are basically appointments to avoid three line ups in a park each day.  If you use a Disney affiliate agency to make your travel arrangements you can book your fast passes 60 days in advance (otherwise it's 30 days before your trip).  We had recommendations on what to book.  Which in Hollywood Studios was The Frozen Sing Along Show, The Star Wars Ride, and a Muppet 3-D Movie.  On day 2 at Magic Kingdom we booked fast passes to meet Ariel, Cinderella, Tianna, and Rapunzel.  If we'd managed to get a princess meal we may have been able to save these fast passes for rides instead.  You can use the Disney mobile App at the park to book more fast passes once you've used your three passes. 

11. Pick your days carefully

If you want to minimize crowds avoid holidays and weekends and any time adjacent to them.  Our Magic Kingdom Day was on Good Friday which made lines extra long, but because the kids cared more about meeting characters we were fine to skip 90 minute waits for the Peter Pan ride.   Also for us two days was more than enough!

12. If you see a short line just go for it

If you see a small line it might be a fluke, so just go for it.  Thanks to short lines we were able to ride the tea cups, catch A Little Mermaid Show, meet Merida, Olaf, and Star Lord and Baby Groot.  When we saw the same lines later they were much, much longer! 

Molly Meets Merida

13. Dinner Drinks

Ask about extras.  Thanks to my mother-in-law asking if we could enjoy an alcoholic beverage with our dinner as a part of our meal plan, and it turns out we were allocated one drink per day, which was a nice add on.  Some restaurants will add on gratuity in addition to what you paid for your meal plan, but the service is fantastic and it's worth every penny!

14. Souvenir Shopping Smart

You can either shop at the end of the day so you aren't carrying around your kids purchases, or if you're staying on resort, just ask and they'll ship your purchases to your hotel for you - easy peasy!

14. Let Your Kids Pick What They Wear

Molly wanted to wear her Cinderella dress to Magic Kingdom, so we just let her.  Both kids wanted to wear Star Wars Apparel to Hollywood studios and it helped them both get into the spirit of the day!

In their Star Wars Apparel and Glasses Before The Star Wars Ride

15. Let them be kids & be one yourself!

If they can't be kids at Disney, then where else can they be.  Have patience for long lines and road bumps and be flexible, knocking off your must sees and must dos first, then everything else is gravy.  You may find the grown ups have more fun than the kids!

Us in front of Cinderellas Castle

What are your tips for making Disney a success?  Please share in the comments below!

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My first 101 days of 101 in 1001 - When Resolutions Meet Bucket Lists

I'm a list person.  You should see my day planner, it has hundreds.  There are few things that feel better to me than when I get to cross an item off my to-do list.  Here's the thing - in the everyday, my to-do lists are filled with work and chores and not a lot of big ticket life goal moments, and I wanted to find a way to change that, even if that change was me chipping away at some things a little bit, day by day or month by month.

In December I read an article that really spoke to me about creating a list of 101 things I wanted to accomplish in 1001 days instead of  a more traditional resolution list (check it out in full here).  Yesterday I reached 101 days into this mash up of a bucket list and resolution list and I'm pretty happy with this progress.

Yeah, I know that it's highly unlikely that I'm going to complete every item on this list in less than three years, but I'm going to give it a shot, and for added motivation I thought I'd share what I have managed to complete, to help motivate me to push harder, and what I am planning on tackling next with my next check in being 250 days into my 1001. Some of what I achieved was big, other stuff was smaller tasks, moments, or to-dos that I routinely put off, some is a work in progress that I won't report on until it's complete.

Here's What I've Managed to Cross Off My List So Far - 9 Items

Take the kids to Disney✔ Completed March 2018

This will forever be one of my all time favourite moments, when Molly had to show Cinderella how they both had magic and matching shoes because sparkled high-tops are very royal

Indulge in a scalp massage✔ On February 2, 2018 I had this and it worked wonders on my laptop neck!

Have a pay per view article go viral (and earn me the freelance white whale of $1000)✔ on January 31st, 2018 I broke this record and have received over 2 million hits for this article  

Paint a painting✔ See my blog entry on this here

Run a 12.5 minute mile✔ Completed on February 20, 2018 during mile 3 of a 5 mile run

Walk along the ocean at Myrtle Beach✔ Completed on March 26, 2018

A view from the Myrtle Beach Board Walk on a Blustery Day

Finish Jack's baby book ✔ Completed February 24, 2018

No take out or fast food for a month ✔ Completed on February 28, 2018 and you can read about it here

Take Chris to try Korean BBQ✔ Completed on February 24, 2018

How do you stay motivated to complete your goals?  Stay tuned to find out how I do over the next 149 days this August!

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Life Is A Highway - Tips for A Road Trip Down South With Kids

This past summer we test drove the minions on how they would react to a lengthy road trip when we drove to the East Coast.  The trip went really well, so well in fact, that we decided to take the plunge this past March and take on a 2250 KM road trip each way to visit the grandparents in Florida and take the children for their inaugural trip to Disney (more on that later).  While our trip to the east coast was shorter, it also took place in the summer, this meant we were able to take many of our rest stops as outdoor picnics and hikes, which really helped take the edge off the hours cooped up in a car.  (Here are ten tips for a great road trips that I came up with this summer.)  Driving from Ontario to Florida, with a stop off in Myrtle Beach, can make for unpredictable weather, so it changes up the rules a little, as does driving in the US instead of Canada.

10 Tips for An Amazing Road Trip Driving South With Kids

1. When Booking Hotels, double check Amenities
I was booking hotels on the road, I looked for ones with pools, but didn't bother to check if they were indoor or outdoor.  Even in Virginia, an outdoor pool is going to be closed in March or April because it's too cold.  In addition to this, when making a last minute booking for Columbus Ohio I searched for a hotel with an Olympic Pool, only to arrive and discover it had shortened Easter hours, so we were out of luck in terms of swimming.
2. Sack of Snacks
Before we left for the trip I went out and spent $50 on snacks alone.  Energy bars, apple sauce tubes, and fruit leathers kept us healthy each day and saved us money.  We topped up at the grocer regularly for carrots and cherry tomatoes, in addition to two new road favourites clementines and pistachios.  We even kept a separate shell bottle to help keep the car clean.

My sack of mostly healthy snacks

3. Be Wary of Portion Sizes
When on the road, travel will take you to restaurants with different portion sizes.  We felt a sizable difference in super sized meals on the road and found that two to three meals easily fed all four of us with left overs.  It's also better to under order, and then order more food, than it is to waste food and money.
4. Gas Station Differences
I guess Canadians are just more trusting than Americans when it comes to gas.  Most Canadian gas stations will let you pump your gas and go inside and pay after (particularly during the day).  In the states you need to go in and pay for your gas before you pump, and if you overpay you'll sometimes need to go back inside to get them to refund you the difference on your credit card.
5. Speaking of Gas
Both Chris and I have been driving long enough to know that when driving, particularly on a highway in an area that we don't know, it stresses us out to be low on gas. Travel can be stressful enough, so we made a rule that if the tank fell to a quarter we found the next gas station.  My grandfather always used to say, 'it takes the same amount of money to fill the top half of your gas tank as it does the bottom'.  By the time we hit a quarter tank it was time to get up and stretch our legs anyway.
6. Avoid Rush Hour
By making weekends the days when we did the largest blocks of driving we never hit 'rush hour'. This probably saved us hours on the road.
7. Learn Your Power Hours
You'll quickly figure out the times of day when you feel the most energized and alert, and are able to cover the bulk of your mileage with little issue.  For us an early start was key to getting to our destination and being able to kick back a bit and feel like we were still in vacation mode, even if we had just finished a big day of driving.

One of Our Best Mid-Day Stops was at the Art Museum in Indianapolis

8. Mid-Sized Towns Are King
Big cities are expensive to stay in and have a lot of local traffic, some smaller towns may not have a restaurant open by the time you arrive and settle in.  By booking our travel days around medium sized cities we saved on cost, but were able to order pizza to our room at 10PM if we needed or wanted a late dinner.
9. Know Your Maximum Driving Times & Stick To It
Figure out the maximum time you ever want to be in a car during the day and then subtract an hour to half hour from that total.  This way you can have a traffic mishap and still come out close to your intended time on the road (most of the time).  Take shifts driving, particularly on longer days. When I took a shift Chris would often fill his time helping Jack build Lego or playing Mad Libs in the car with the kids.  Sure it wasn't a break to sleep but it made us both better appreciate the driver.
10. Have Fun With It & Embrace the Weird
Some days won't go as planned, but have a sense of humour about it.  The family now has a number of vacation related jokes about how a field full of deer may have saved Chris a speeding ticket, some overly animated billboard posters, and the hopefully well-intentioned gentleman we spotted who accidentally hit an armadillo with his car and thought he'd kick it to see if it was okay.

What are your best tips for family road trips?

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Things My Kids Say As Shared on Twitter

We spend a lot of time with the minions and I'm fortunate enough to record the things that they say and do so I can look back on it and laugh.  Some of it makes the blog and other smaller moments don't.  One of the brilliant things about Twitter is how it's the ultimate parenting "elevator speech", because you have to keep it short. Below are recent Tweets, conversations, parental musings and things that the minions have done or said over the past month, for your reading pleasure that haven't made it to the blog.

Image Courtesy of Giphy

1. Papa: let me take you to where I used to work. M: did they fire you? Papa: no I retired. M: mom is retired just a polite way of saying someone got fired? #smh #ThingsKidsSay #parenting #MarchBreak

2. J: Can you squirt some #ketchup in my mouth so I can pretend to be a T-Rex who just ate a bad guy? Me: Sure. (Things that happen when you let your kids watch #JurassicWorld) #parenting

3. M: sometimes when I eat clementines I like to pretend that I'm eating a human heart. And that the heart is on fire #parenting #ThingsKidsSay

4. Dad: do you want me to get you some things you like to colour? j: I'd like to practice my colouring on pictures of the creepy dummy from #goosebumps you know the one that upsets my sister #siblings #twinning

Image Courtesy of Tumblr

5. Spring cleaning your car shows you exactly how disgusting your children are #parenting #AllTheSnacks on the floor


6. J: Are you enjoying your poo cookie? Dad: I'm eating a butter tart J: Whatever you want to call it. It looks disgusting.

7. True love is putting on a damp bathing suit that has been sitting in a plastic bag all day during a #RoadTrip just so you can take your kids for a swim after a long day on the road #parenting #sigh #motherhood 

Image Courtesy of Giphy

8. J: looks at gingerbread cookie "hi my name is Jack and I am going to eat you" #parenting #ThingsKidsSay

To read more blogs featuring the wacky things my kids say as featured on twitter, follow me @Sarabethbug & click here, click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, &here.

There's a Hole In My Bucket - Spring Family Bucket List

The minions really loved knocking items off of bucket lists since we started the project last winter, and we've continued it each season.  We seem to struggle the most out of our winter bucket lists, this year only completing 13 out of 23 items!  Most of these items are for the family, but some are for me as an added motivation for my 101 in 1001 goal/bucket list, and since I'm a little late posting this, we've checked a few items off already.

I love bucket lists because the have inspired us to book activities, appreciate what each season has to offer and get out and move, even when we were tempted to just curl up and binge on some Netflix - which when it's cold outside is really easy to do.

Enjoying some of the sweeter moments of last spring

Feel free to steal ideas from our list, and if you have any must see / must do suggestions please let us know so we can keep adding to our own list.  I'll be adding check marks and writing posts as we cross stuff off our list.

1. Learn to ride our bikes
2. Go on an Easter Egg Hunt✔
3. Park or Outdoors clean up day to help celebrate Earth Day✔ 
4. Go on a Scavenger Hunt 
5. Go on two hikes✔
6. Visit Disneyland✔ 
7. Research what to feed ducks and feed the ducks✔
8. Celebrate May the 4th (Star Wars Day)✔
9. Go and see the cherry blossoms at High Park
10. Fly a kite✔ ✔ 
11. Visit one new playground
12. Go for a walk on the beach✔ 
13. Go on a date with each kid while Chris is at a ball game with the other✔✔
14. Visit Pioneer Village for their Princesses and Pirates Festival✔
    
    

    

    A fav climber in Etobicoke

15. Watch A Recorded Version of Wicked (The Musical) with the kids✔
16. Go to an outdoor flea market/craft market/farmers market✔
17. Plan our garden✔
18. Plant our garden✔
19. Try archery (for the adults)
20. Go to Great Wolf Lodge (moved from winter)✔
21. Go to Garage sales✔
22. Host our own garage sale✔
23. Complete an Earth Rangers sponsorship of a salamander and a grey fox
24. Use a fire pit✔✔
25. See Won't You Be My Neighbour in theatres
26. Try new BBQ Recipes
27. Have a picnic✔
28. Jump in muddy puddles

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