This time last year we were returning from a family Labor Day holiday in New York City where we played in Central Park, went to the top of the Empire State Building, and saw the dinosaur skeletons at the American Museum of Natural History. We had a fantastic time and today I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for that trip, the boys’ first memorable experience in Manhattan.

Perhaps the most dreamy part of our adventure was our visit to FAO Schwarz, that purveyor of everything any child could want from marbles…

to Muppets…

and everything in between.

I was probably seven or eight years old – the same age as Tommy – the first time I entered this iconic space. What’s amazing to me is that it was just as thrilling to go back at 39. There is just so much of everything, more than you’ve ever seen – more Legos, more dolls, more trains, more stuffed animals -  that children actually forget to be acquisitive while they are in there. I don’t think I heard one “can I get that?” It’s like visiting the Museum of Childhood Dreams Come True where everyone wanders around in kind of a happy daze. Everywhere you look there is something you never even knew existed, whether it’s giant stuffed dinosaurs,

or snakes,

or a piano you can dance on.

I know that there are other toy stores in Manhattan and that many people think an indoor Ferris wheel can’t be beat. I’ve got no beef with that, but nevertheless I remain loyal to this old-school store in this most magical of locations, close to the Central Park Zoo and facing The Plaza. So today I’m dreaming of a return to New York City with children, and especially to FAO Schwarz. Maybe next time we’ll even make a purchase.

A Happy Labor Day and unofficial end of summer to one and all. Please feel free to share your Monday Dreams below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

I don’t usually share posts that are primarily photos (since I don’t really consider myself a photographer) but sometimes the perfect words elude me, especially when it comes to a place as gorgeous and magical as Oxford. Looking at these pictures, it amazes me I don’t still have a crick in my neck, I spent so much time looking skyward.

I’ve got lots of posts about our trip to England still to come and also tips for traveling with kids using only carry-on bags, some exciting upcoming travel to share, and the return of MidAtlantic Wednesdays. But for now I think I’ll tarry among these dreamy images for a while. What about you? Anything good to share? If so, please list your link below. And if you could be so kind, please link back to this post. Happy Monday!

Now is usually the time to write the obligatory “summer is ending and I’m feeling wistful” post, but to do so would be disingenuous. Yes, I love fireflies and ice cream and corn-on-the-cob as much as the next person, but you know what I don’t like? Mosquitoes. Heat and humidity. Aimless children bickering in the backyard. And so the fact is that this August, as I face the prospect of two children on the same full-day schedule for the first time in eight years I’m quite happy to say Au Revoir Summer! Don’t let the door kick you in the behind while I put the kids on the bus and start churning out posts!

I may not be pining over the end of summer, but I do miss Vermont in that dull achy way that always follows me around a while after we leave (we’ve been home for almost a week). You won’t see me writing lots of posts about our trip there this year; I actually took a blogging vacation and didn’t even bring my camera along most of the time. But happily, I did have my phone with us on our last evening when we took a stroll down my favorite country road before enjoying one last maple creemee. Because otherwise I wouldn’t have caught these quite dreamy shots.

OK, so maybe I’m a little sad that summer is almost over. But only a little, you hear?

What about you? Any summery dreams this Monday? (If you need guidance, please see About Monday Dreaming.)

When the boys said they wanted to go up in the London Eye I was dubious. Expensive, crowded, tourist trap…these were the words that came to my mind. And yet as we approached it on the afternoon of our ride I realized that like the Eiffel Tower it has a beauty all its own that comes partly from the sheer grandeur of size, partly from the human folly that led to its creation, and partly from the tremendous feat of engineering that keeps it rotating in a circle that is somehow both efficient and lazy.

Travel-with-kids tip: If you will be visiting the London Eye at the height of tourist season as we did, it’s worth it to spring for the Fast Track tickets. Yes, they are almost twice as expensive. But we saved ourselves nearly two hours on line and the boys loved the little knapsacks they got each of which contained a pair of binoculars, a pencil, and a small pad of paper.

I actually found the ride to be worth the money, largely because it offered such a new vantage point for viewing the city. And each of us saw something a little different. I gave Tommy my point-and-shoot camera and he spent the entire ride like this:

I now have photos of any number of buildings in London, most of which I don’t recognize, especially since he spent more time taking pictures of the Southwark side of the Thames, not noted for its architectural distinction. He did snap this beauty though, which I love:

Teddy realized his dream in the London Eye of seeing a pod of dolphins in the Thames (that’s his story, and he’s sticking to it, thank you very much – if you or I didn’t see them, that’s our problem). He spent the first part of the ride searching for them diligently in the water using his binoculars. When he “found” them swimming alongside one of the tourist boats that move up and down the river he gestured excitedly and told everyone in our car that he had seen a pod of common dolphins and one bottlenose. Then he decided that like any good scientist he had to sit down and sketch his observations.

And me? I simply enjoyed getting such a different view of a familiar cityscape. The spans on the Jubilee Bridge looked like violin strings or spiderwebs, so fine and white were they against the gray water.

I’d never seen the front of Buckingham Palace so clearly, nestled almost cozily into the surrounding trees.

And I loved the rain-dappled Houses of Parliament.

But my absolute favorite had to be seeing Nelson’s Column, normally so high above it all in Trafalgar Square, looking small (yet still self-important and imperious) tucked in amongst the buildings and cranes of an oblivious city.

Riding on the London Eye was one of the dreamiest parts of our trip and I’m so glad now that the children persuaded us to take a spin. Have you any Monday dreams? Please feel free to share them below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

When I was recently in London, I was lucky to spend an afternoon hanging out at Coram’s Fields with Victoria Wallop and her son Dickon. (And you can tell, by the way, that we were two solo moms trying to cram about three days worth of conversation into part of an afternoon while watching our kids at the same time – did I think to snap a photo of us together? Of course not.) Victoria writes a blog called It’s A Small World After All and she is about to embark on a 9-month trip that will take her, her husband, and their three children (8, 6, and 4) from London to such far-flung places as New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, and Disneyland. They leave this fall and she seemed remarkably calm and pulled together for someone who still has to find someone to rent her house while she is gone. Oh and for someone who will spend the better part of a year in the constant company of three people under the age of nine!

Victoria isn’t the only person I know who is about to start a travel adventure with multiple children. Looking west I see Michelle Duffy of WanderMom who in a few short weeks will be leaving with her husband two tween boys to explore Bolivia, Laos, China, and possibly Egypt (just to name a few of their planned stops). Michelle literally wrote the book on traveling with kids and she and her husband have been biding their time in high-tech jobs while just itching to hit the road. I’m very excited for their family that departure is now imminent. (Again, I spent lots of time hanging out with Michelle at the BlogHer conference in Chicago last summer but we were too busy gabbing to take a picture apparently.)

When Matt and I sold our house and one of our cars and hit the road seven years ago, we were mostly traveling domestically; the farthest we were heading from home was Italy. More significantly, we only had one child. I smile now when I think how complicated and difficult it all seemed at the time. I’m sure Victoria and Michelle would smile too to see how stressed out Matt and I were about things like making sure that Tommy had his own dark and silent bedroom or what would happen if he missed a nap. The two of them have trips planned that make our jaunt seem strictly minor league. Trips that involve things like vaccinations and schooling on the road.

Anyway, today I’m dreaming not of our previous trip, already taken and well catalogued, but of a new extended adventure that Matt and I have just begun to discuss. This one will possibly take us to the far side of the world from where we live, to places like Hawaii, Australia, Korea, and India with school-age children who expect more from us and from the world than a toddler ever could. It’s more than a couple of years away and only a gleam in our eyes at this point, but it’s there, a golden possibility. A perfect Monday Dream.

What are you dreaming of on this fine morning? Or perhaps you are already living the dream of extended and distant travel? Either way, I hope that you will share your link below. And I do hope you’ll check out Victoria’s and Michelle’s blogs – I know that their stories are going to inspire me until I can follow in their footsteps. What I love about both of them is that they are taking their trips for a very pure and simple reason: They love the world and want to explore it with their children.

(Questions about how to participate? See About Monday Dreaming.)

Photo courtesy of atomicShed via Flickr.

I’d like to interrupt my series of London posts (don’t worry, I’ve got lots more planned) to share something that is currently going on in Mother-Of-All-Trips land. I’ve been thinking over the past few days about the amount of traveling I’ve done since last August. There was of course the annual trip to Vermont, followed by a long weekend in New York City in September. Come November, we were in Vermont again and then over the Christmas holiday we took a quick trip to Philadelphia and Bethlehem, PA. That was followed by skiing in Vermont and sunning in the Bahamas (both in January) and then spring break in Los Angeles and Phoenix in April. With May came a weekend in Lancaster and June had a journey to Virginia Beach and Washington, DC. This was all followed by two weeks in England in July. All of this travel, with the exception of one night in Arizona, was done in the company of at least one of my children.

Here’s a fact though, an honest one: Right now I don’t want to walk to the end of the driveway with either of my boys.

I’m not going to generate a tedious list of all the things that they are each doing to make me (and Matt) feel this way, but trust me, they are far from being the ideal traveling companions at the moment. See Teddy and me looking so happy on that tandem bike? It looks like fun, but in reality he’s not pedaling 60 percent of the time. And my legs are tired.

I’m sure this is just some normal developmental phase for each of them – for Teddy it might be the anxiety of going off to full-day kindergarten in a few weeks and for Tommy it’s probably just a normal 8-year-old desire for independence and testing of his parents. But the two of them experiencing whatever these phases are at the same time is like the perfect storm of wearying behavior.

So.This week, the first full week of three spent in Vermont, the boys are each going to attend a separate day camp. From Monday until Friday they will be gone all day doing all kinds of fun things in the company of other children (and under the supervision of other adults). I’m not going to share what Matt and I will be doing. But I assure you, it will not involve words like “Don’t do that!” or “Why would you act that way?” or “Just stop touching your brother and sit on your hands!”

It’s a happy fact that this blog contains hundreds of posts that concern themselves solely with the pleasures of traveling with children; I expect that before I’m done it will hold many more, including some about our last week here in Vermont when we all reunite and Teddy and I ride that bike together trying as hard as we can to keep up with Tommy who as always will be flying along ahead of us. After a week off I am confident that will once again be a dreamy prospect.

What are your Monday dreams? Please feel free to share them below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

Taking the red-eye to Europe always puts me into a dreamlike state. It’s always the same: the giddy strangeness of the day before departure when I know that instead of getting ready for bed I will be boarding an airplane. There’s the flight itself with dinner served at 11 p.m. followed by a strange nether time when the cabin lights are dimmed and I have my eyes half closed, watching Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire twirling on the screen that is inches from my face. Then suddenly the plane touches down and we’ve crossed an entire ocean – how is that possible? The boys haven’t slept enough and are pawing at me, hyper in their exhaustion and excitement. There’s the glamor of a foreign airport with its funny signs and duty-free shops and the bustle of changing money, finding food, getting subway passes.

A side note: Do you know that Marks and Spencer actually has a supermarket in the arrivals area at Terminal 5 at Heathrow? It’s called Simply Food. I went in expecting to find some prepared food and snacks, and did, but if I wanted to I could have picked up a dozen eggs, a gallon of milk, and a loaf of bread. Oh, and my favorite necessity: Individual shrink-wrapped glasses of wine.

We arrived just in time to plunge into the city with the crowds of people who were simply going about their daily business of work and school. Nothing unusual for them, but it all seemed new to our sore eyes. We had four suitcases and four backpacks and were so tired, but not too tired to read The Phantom Tollbooth. After I read aloud a bit I realized that my eyes were burning and told the boys I had to stop. Tommy pulled out one of his invisible ink activity books and the young man sitting next to him – was he from India, Pakistan, or Bangladesh? I was not certain, but marveled at the parka he wore on a warm and muggy morning – looked intently over Tommy’s shoulder as he played tic-tac-toe.

The day could have been a total throwaway. The Tube ride to the apartment was long and included a change of trains at Euston where I was terrified that the combination of fatigue and crowds would cause us to lose one of our bags, or worse, one of our children. Once we arrived I discovered that I hadn’t read the rental contract carefully enough and actually didn’t have enough cash to pay in full as I was supposed to do (I was kindly given leave to bring the rest of the money later). We were all a bit greasy and sweaty as one always seems to be after long hours in transit. It would have been easy enough to draw baths and then curtains and simply collapse into the welcoming embrace of our basement apartment.

But Matt and I are nothing if not resolute. After an all-too-brief rest, we piled the boys out the door and in the general direction of the bus stop. We were headed for one of our favorite haunts from our previous stay in London when Tommy was a toddler: The Belle Epoque, a small French bakery in Stoke Newington, a neighborhood reachable only by bus or taxi where we spent the month of October in 2003. We knew that this wasn’t the day for lots of sightseeing but we were determined to check out some of our previous haunts. Hunger and a desire for cappuccinos propelled us.

At first the boys were enchanted with our errand because we got to ride on a double-decker bus. Only when one bus ride stretched into a total of three with the entire trip lasting well over an hour did they start to complain (I was a bit rusty on reading the bus maps and was also trying to avoid any kind of extended walking).

It was all worth it when we arrived at our destination, which hadn’t changed at all. I remembered so well that chilly October day when we stumbled on this little refuge in Newington Green seeking comfort after our flight and harrowing taxi ride into the city wherein a crazed commuter deliberately rammed our taxi thinking we had cut him off. Then, as now, we were immediately embraced by the rich smell of bread, chocolate, and coffee. Now as before case was full of exquisite tarts and marzipan fruit, the shelves stocked with Lu cookies, Bonne Maman preserves, and Perroquet lump sugar. Back then Tommy would stack and restack those boxes of sugar while Matt and I drank our coffee and ate almond croissants.

This day I ordered a piece of spinach and goat cheese quiche and was offered salad with it, an offer I gladly accepted. We sat in the back garden and Matt gave each of the boys a huge lump of sugar and let Tommy have the normally forbidden caffeinated treat of a Coke. When my sandwich came, I was delighted to discover not the simple green salad I had been expecting, but gleaming beets, plump chickpeas, and an unctuous helping of egg salad.

Pastries were purchased, coffee was drunk, and a general feeling of well-being that I remembered so well from that day nearly seven years ago descended on us all. The food is excellent and affordable at the Belle Epoque, but the reason I wanted to go back was also for the feeling that I was being cared for. There is nothing like starting off an adventure with a little nourishment, even if you have to go a little out of your way to find it.

After lunch we hopped on yet another bus (the grand total for our first day would end up being six) and rode up to another favorite hangout from our earlier stay, Clissold Park. We were surprised to find most of the park, including the ancient manor house and small zoo, under construction. (In the coming days we were to discover that much of London is in a similar state in preparation for the 2012 Olympics – I can definitely see how the former government has been charged with being on a spree.) The playground where Tommy and I spent many hours is yet untouched, although it too will be getting a grand upgrade. But for now it was just as I remembered it, full of children and sand and pigeons and slightly seedy equipment. The boys were now wild-eyed with fatigue and screamed and ran as only children who are operating on a few hours sleep seem able.

We let them run until we could barely stay upright ourselves and all managed to hold it together and stay awake through the two long bus rides home – down into Islington and then back north and west again toward our apartment, which somehow already seemed familiar. The boys poked and slapped at each other like puppies and I asked them in less and less patient tones to behave and not to touch each other and Matt reminded us all that were tired.

We sat in the first row on the upper level of every bus, our feet stretched out toward the large window watching the lampposts and window boxes go by in the late afternoon sunlight. I admired the riot of hydrangeas, geraniums, and petunias bright against shiny black trim and longed for the pint of beer I knew I wouldn’t get.

We descended to the sidewalk finally and while Matt and the boys headed for our temporary home, I took a quick trip to the grocery store. I returned to find two freshly bathed boys snug in their bed and the door to the small yard in back open to the warm evening air. I opened the bottle of wine I had purchased, toasted our safe journey with my husband, and then I settled down to my dinner:

What are your Monday dreams? Please feel free to share them below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

Wigs! Printmaking! Oxen! When I got the itinerary from Homeaway.com for the trip Tommy and I would take in the Truckster, I was most excited about the fact that we would be stopping in Colonial Williamsburg, even if the visit would be brief one. We in the Mother of All Trips household love history, especially early American history. And Williamsburg, definitely high on my list of dreamy places, did not disappoint. The lovely historic downtown is chock full of interpreters in costume, horses pulling wagons, and children in bonnets or tri-corner hats bowling hoops. Four refugees from a 1980s movie car fit right in.

Although we were only there for a couple of hours, we learned a lot. Tommy was fascinated by the print shop, where we got to handle pieces of moveable type and see how playbills and newspapers would be published in the eighteenth century.

At the peruke maker we learned that men had pretty, pretty hair once it was shaved off their heads and sewed by hand into comely wigs.

And I was fascinated by our visit to the county courthouse where the process for electing local officials was describe in detail down to the rum punch on offer from the candidates to the fact that you had to look the person you voted for in the eye as you gave them your vote (while all of the other competitors stood in a line nearby).

And even if our visit was short, I was able to glean a few tips for any family planning a visit there. Number one would be to avoid going in the summer if you can help it. It’s just plain crowded – and since many of the sights in the historic area have a limited capacity you’ll spend time standing around outside in the hot sun waiting to get in (we probably wasted close to 45 minutes doing this). And that hot sun is another reason to stay away in the summer if you can – it was sweltering on the June day we visited. With kids, I’d also go into my time there with a plan of what I wanted to see and do roughly sketched out so as to maximize what we were able to see on a given day. And I’d definitely consider costume rentals for the kids – just to help get into the spirit of things. And to have mortifying photos to pull out on prom night.

After our all-too-quick stop in Williamsburg, we made the long drive to Washington D.C., which was lengthened by the usual heavy Beltway traffic. The Truckster was a comfortable ride, but we were glad to arrive at our destination in the early evening. The kind people at Homeaway.com put Tommy and me up in an immaculate and large house just north of the city. We unfortunately didn’t have much time to spend there, but the lovely owner Patricia left me a birthday card and Tommy a basketful of snacks, which he managed to devour despite the fact that we were in the house for only about ten hours total. This house would be convenient for anyone staying in D.C. with a car (we drove from there to Capitol Hill in about 20 minutes the following morning). It could easily hold several families staying together since it has no fewer than five bedrooms, one well equipped for a posse of kids. It’s a little quirky – three of the bedrooms are basically adjoining and the neighborhood isn’t exactly scenic. But it was very comfortable and I kind of like the variety that’s to be found when looking for rentals with Homeaway – no cookie cutter accommodations here.

And honestly, since I’m all about getting out and about when I’m on vacation in a great city, as long as my rental is clean, safe, and comfortable, I’m happy. This trip was no exception – we arrived, dropped off our bags, and took off for a minor league baseball game between the Bowie Baysox and the Reading Phillies (we may have been the only people there routing for the Phils, who were up by quite a few runs when we left after the fifth inning). The evening was gorgeous and Tommy couldn’t have been happier to hang out with his new best friend.

And the next morning, after enjoying many of the lovely snacks in Tommy’s basket, it was off for a photo-op in front of the Capitol Building and the breakfast at Union Station. A great end to a whirlwind of a road trip. I was so grateful to HomeAway for giving Tommy and me a chance to hang out with John and Stephanie and to ride in that car, which has a personality all its own, almost like a member of the family. Maybe even better. Certainly the trip was an experience worthy of many Monday dreams and one Tommy and I will continue to talk about for months if not years to come.

I know that you may be surprised by the topic of this post and may have been expecting a post about London where we’ve been for the last week. England certainly has been dreamworthy (if exhausting). I have lots and lots and lots to share but have frankly been both too busy and too tired to post. Now that I’m not jet-lagged anymore, I’m hoping to have a little more energy to publish at least a few “postcards” from the rest of our trip to Bristol, Oxford, and Windsor if not a full report on our stay in London. But since my Internet access is less certain once we leave London tomorrow, we’ll have to see just what I’m able to publish before my return to the United States next week.

Until then, I hope you’ll share your Monday Dreams below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming. And I hope you’ll read more about my trip in the Wagon Queen Family Truckster in these posts:

Wagon Queen Family Truckster stop one: Virginia Beach
Your top 5 questions about riding in the Truckster answered

Disclosure: Our entire trip was paid for by HomeAway.

The day before you leave for a two-week trip is always a day for dreaming (and cleaning, packing, and scurrying) no matter what day of the week it is. Today happens to be a day like that. Tomorrow evening we catch the red-eye from Philadelphia Airport to Heathrow – London here we come!

As you can imagine, I’ve been working feverishly on our itinerary this weekend, celebrating our country’s independence by planning a trip back to the land whose “tyranny” we escaped. I’m still filling in some blanks for the later part of the trip when we’ll leave London and travel to Bristol, Oxford, and Windsor, but the London portion is pretty well mapped out. As I was working I periodically hopped on Twitter to ask questions of the many travel people I am connected with there and I got a great suggestion from Lisa of The World Is Calling (her blog is my latest crush – I think her husband takes the dreamy photos and I love her fun, friendly tone). She recommended I look at Fat Tire Bike Tours and once I did I knew that this would be the perfect thing for us.

I’ve written about how the last time I was in London Tommy and I experienced the double decker buses – how riding on them shifted my perspective and made me see the city in an entirely different way. I’m really looking forward to that happening again on the Royal London Bike Tour as we see attractions and parks I’ve visited before from the seat of a bicycle. We’ll start just north of Hyde Park, lunch in Trafalgar Square, with stops such as Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, and Big Ben. It’s a perfect way for the boys to cover a lot of territory and get a sense of the city. They wouldn’t enjoy taking individual tours of all the monuments, museums, and churches we’ll see but will love biking to them, getting a quick overview from the guide, and then moving on.

Other plans for London include learning about Ancient Greece and Egypt at the British Museum, spending a morning touring the Tower of London, riding a boat to Greenwich, and enjoying high tea at Fortnum and Mason. But I think that it’s the bike ride I’m looking forward to most. I can’t wait to experience a city I know and love in a new way.

So what are your Monday dreams? Please feel free to share them below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.

Photo courtesy of markhillary via Flickr.

Yes, I realize that it’s Tuesday and even almost Wednesday in some parts of the world, but since I actually had this dream on Monday and just didn’t find time to record it, I’m going to give myself a pass.

This past weekend I was at a conference with many other travel bloggers. One of the things you realize pretty quickly when you get into a room full of people like that is how many different ways there are to travel, a diversity that’s of course reflected in the many different websites. There are the mature travelers, the solo travelers, and those who travel in pairs. There are the luxury-resort travelers, the spa travelers, and the twenty-dollar-a-day travelers. There are gear heads and hikers and cyclists. There are political travelers, environmental travelers, and foodie travelers, to say nothing of travelers like yours truly who are just trying to figure out how get as many places as possible with their kids in tow (and who may or may not be married to people who don’t like to camp. But that’s another post).

One of the things that really seized my imagination was all of the young faces I saw in the crowd, kids in their twenties who have just set out on their own. Their presence made me realize something I wanted to be true, but wasn’t sure of, namely that I have a deep hope in my heart that my children will take time to travel before they have commitments or mortgages or children themselves. I want them scruffy and sandaled, carrying backpacks, sleeping on friends’ floors, drinking beer and meeting new people wherever they go. I want them to miss trains, go for days without showers, and grow beards so that I don’t even recognize them. I want them to climb mountains and dive off of cliffs into the ocean. I want them to encounter the other and have the other encounter them, to explore many different foods, cultures, and landscapes. I want them to experience the limits brought on by fear and fatigue but also the absolute freedom of having no set agenda and no one to report to.

When I saw how happy these travelers looked, how friendly they were, how willing to engage with the world, it made me realize that even though I know I’ll worry, I want both my kids become nomads for at least a little while.

I won’t lie: Partly I want this for my kids because I never did it myself (and who’s to say I won’t join my children for part of their journey if they choose to take it?). But I also think I want it because I believe that the best way to learn how and why to help save the world is to see it in all its fragile beauty. And when I did an internal check it made me feel great to realize that I would be ready to embrace my children’s travel dreams, whatever they end up being. Because that is the kind of parent I want to be.

So what are your Monday, er I mean Tuesday, dreams? Please feel free to share them below. Questions? See About Monday Dreaming.