This was our first experience with Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines. It was a wonderful vacation all around. We took our entire family (all 6 of us). One thing that all agreed upon was that this vacation had something for everyone.First, Royal Caribbean has a wonderful children's program. We left our three youngest and some of their friends that came along for several hours at a time in th...

OUT! Pet Odor Eliminator is a lifesaver! We left for vacation and somehow our "outdoor cat" got left "indoors". We came home to a nasty mess. I thought for sure the carpet and furniture was ruined beyond repair. Then a friend recommended this product. I figured it was worth a try.It took two bottles to completely do the job, but it did it! I couldn't believe it, but it e...

I am a mother of four, so I am always on the lookout for products that make clean-up a bit easier and more pleasant. Here is a product that is a "thumbs-up" in our household: Natural Concepts Foaming  Hand Sanitizer with Aloe. It gives you the great feeling of being clean without the smell or driness of alcohol.It comes in a pump that provides you with just the right amount ...

I love to travel! I have flown on many carriers, but I hadn't experienced a flight on British Airways until this last July. My husband and I flew from Seattle, Washington to London, England where we changed planes and traveled on to our final destination of Edinburgh, Scotland.I will try to share the good, the bad, and the ugly.First, the boarding process went very smoothly on eac...

The Hyatt Key West Resort and Marina is a beautiful resort that has recently been totally renovated. My husband and I spent a few days here on our honeymoon several years ago. We enjoyed our very relaxing stay.We recently had a chance to visit this resort again, but this time with our children. It has been updated beautifully to the standards that you would expect of the Hyatt hotel chain....

DK's Silly Sentences is a fun educational game made for children ages 4-7, but chldren a bit older also enjoy this game.It is a cross between a puzzle and a game. The playing pieces are made in such a way that they will only connect if it makes a proper sentence. The pices are color-coded (examples: orange/nouns, green/verbs, blue/adjectives, pink/prepositions, etc.)with a picture if it is ...

Cookin' Cookies by Fundex is a delightful game for preschoolers. It  comes in a tin that looks like a mini lunch box (which is also very durable). Inside you find eight "recipe cards" for cookies such as: Oatmeal Raisin, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, and First Cookies. These list the ingredients in both written and picture form. Then there are the ingredients - circular...

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Scholastic Books is a delightful book for preschoolers. It teaches the alphabet in a rhythmic fun way for them. The story is about letters of the aphabet climbing a coconut tree.It is very colorful, highly educational, and a great memory aid. We have four children and each has enjoyed having Chicka Chicka Boom Boom read to them while they were little.The book is in fu...

Do you remember sitting there as a child trying to find all of the hidden objects on the "hidden pictures" page of the Highlights for Kids magazine? I sure do!The makers of Highlights created a book full of hiden pictures puzzles. There are more than 2,000 items to find throughout the 192 page book.While it is fun to try to find the items listed below the pictures, I do have a complai...

The Hilton at Edinburgh is a gorgeous turn-of-the-century property located only two blocks from the world-famous Edinburgh Castle. The photo shown is taken from our hotel room.The hotel is conveniently located on the corner of Princes street - one of the main tourist streets. The restaurant serves delicious Scottish cuisine (my husband enjoyed the traditional Haggis, but I am not a fa...

National Grographic Traveler Rome is a wonderful book to add to your collection of guide books when touring Rome. It has more than 160 fabulous, clear, vivid pictures (which you would expect from National Geographic). It contains 21 full-color maps. It has information on recommended hotels, restaurants, shops, transportation, and tourist attractions.It contains color coded tabs for each of the ...

The Story of a Lifetime - A Keepsake of Personal Memoirs is a wonderful "do it yourself" book. It is a large (9 x 12) hardbound, gilded page, professional looking book on the exterior. Open it up and you have 384 pages to write your personal memoirs. What a clever idea.The table of contents list 21 chapter topics in which to write your life story. Some of the chapter titles are: Famil...

Golden Book's "My Big Dog" is my daughter's favorite story. This delightful hardbound book has the cutest illustrations!The story is about a spoiled housecat named Merl, who one day discovers (to his horror) that his "people" have brought home a puppy. The good life as he knows it has definitely come to an end. The puppy won't leave him alone, and to make matters...

"Look Who Lives in the Ocean" by Alan Baker is a beautiful hardbound book with wonderful sealife illustrations. Each page is filled with a depiction of life under the ocean accompanied by well-written clues as to what sea-creature is being described. Also on the page is a small glimpse of the creature. Upon turning the page the sea-creature is revealed in another full page i...

Sldie and Find ABC is a sturdy boardbook with a built-in handle made for toddlers age 2 and up. It uses real photographs (not illustrations) combined with bright colors to keep their attention for a long time. What makes this book unique is the "sliding" feature. The letters have a little plastic sliding door with a picture of the letter of the alphabet on it and a question ...

I recently purchased the Weider Ultimate Toning Wheel. I have mixed feelings on this product.What I like: Simple, easy to use, inexpensive, does a pretty good job of toning abdominals, shoulders, chest, and arm muscles, the price ($9.99), the portablility, and the ease of putting together and taking apart.What I don't like: I guess there is basically only one real thing I don't lik...