All posts by Alicia

Back To School with Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin, an Essential Part of My Kids Morning Routine

August 28, 2016HealthKids Health, Nature Made, vitaminsAlicia

This post was sponsored by Nature Made® as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

School is in full swing for my kids and while their morning getting-ready-for-school routine may not be perfect yet, there are a few things they do without question. (1) Brush teeth (2) Brush hair (3) Eat breakfast (4) Take a vitamin.

According to Madelyn, Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin gummies are “so delicious” and I need to “buy all of them off the shelf at Target so she never runs out”. Apparently not every gummy vitamin is created equal. Some are too chewy and some are too chalky but Nature Made® gummies are just right for Madelyn. It wasn’t always so easy to get her to take a vitamin so finding ‘the one’ was pretty great. Even though she eats a healthy variety of fruits and vegetables every day, I worry she’s not eating enough of them. Knowing she’s getting the essential daily nutritional support that she may be lacking from her diet, in a delicious, easy-to-chew gummy, is reassuring.

Madelyn enjoys a Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin gummy every morning. We’ve tried several gummy multivitamins but this one is the keeper for a few reasons.

Yummy, true-to-the-fruit favors (according to Madelyn)
12 age-appropriate essential vitamins and minerals
Colors are from natural sources, not synthetic dyes
Preservatives and yeast are not found in Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin gummies

I was thrilled that when shopping for school supplies at Target earlier this month, Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamins were on sale. Madelyn’s dream came true and I practically emptied the shelf of the vitamins.

A variety of Nature Made® vitamins are available at Target including KIDS FIRST® Vitamin C Gummies, KIDS FIRST® Fiber Gummies and KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin with Omega-3 Gummies. Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® Multivitamin Gummies come in great-tasting all- natural fruit flavors that Madelyn and Sebastian love, like Orange, Cherry & Mixed Berry. Not only do they taste great, they help fill many of the key nutrient gaps from their diet, and support overall health. †

I recently had a meeting with a contractor who is going remodel our kitchen and when he asked what direction I wanted to go in, I handed him the nearby Nature Made® KIDS FIRST® multivitamin bottle and said “this is what I’m going for because inside this vitamin supplement is extreme goodness and that’s what I want in my next kitchen.” Granted, that was a dream, but Madelyn did wake me shortly after asking me to open her vitamins for her. 🙂

It’s time for school!

Follow Nature Made® and Target to learn about new products,and find more information:

†These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Getting To My Vacation Destination & Enjoying Vacation Is Easier with Dramamine® Non-Drowsy Naturals

August 22, 2016Health, TravelDramamine, Motion Sickness, TravelAlicia

This post was sponsored by Dramamine® as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central.

Read my post about Dramamine® for Kids here

I love being outdoors and as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that my love for the outdoors likely came from my mom. Not that my dad doesn’t enjoy being outside but my mom purposefully goes bird watching, hiking, volunteers at the nature center, and draws and photographs nature. When my sister and I were about 11 and 13, she would drive us to a beautiful place called Snowbird Mountain Lodge in the smoky mountains of North Carolina. While the scenic, beautiful destination was something to look forward to, the road trip was not.

This is a view of just a small portion of the drive to Snowbird but you can see how someone prone to motion sickness might not enjoy that ride.

I quickly learned what motion sickness was and some ways to manage it, not knowing Dramamine® existed when I was so young; but nothing knocked it entirely on those road trips. My mom couldn’t relate to motion sickness and I didn’t know there was a medication to alleviate the nausea, so I went on road trips for years as a child without relief.

During my teen and young adult years I drove myself everywhere so I didn’t experience motion sickness again for years. A car accident in 2000 left me injured and in physical therapy for months, and scared to drive. I was a passenger again after years of being the driver. My motion sickness was noticeable almost immediately after getting in a car. I thought maybe it was my husband’s driving or anxiety from being in a car but it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t. I really got nauseous. During a road trip to Florida I got so car sick after being in the car for about an hour that we pulled off the highway and into a gas station where I could buy Dramamine®. Within about 15 minutes of taking Dramamine® I felt like a different person. I was able to pay better attention to my son, then a toddler, and talk to my husband.

Another time Dramamine® recently came in very handy for the four of us was on our cruise. I won’t go on a cruise without Dramamine®!

I rely on natural remedies for most ailments, including motion sickness. Dramamine® Non-Drowsy Naturals is the first non-drowsy solution for motion sickness from Dramamine®, the leaders in motion sickness relief and that’s what I take when I’m going to be a passenger on a road trip. Motion sickness sufferers frequently try ginger ale, ginger candy or gum. But unlike many other sources of ginger that motion sickness sufferers frequently try, Dramamine® Non-Drowsy Naturals contains the clinically-tested ginger dosage required for preventing and treating motion sickness. Dramamine® Non-Drowsy Naturals helps prevent and relieve motion sickness symptoms nausea and vomiting, which products like antacids and upset stomach relievers do not. And since it’s made from natural ginger, it is safe to use every day you travel.

These days, the thought of getting car sick on an upcoming road trip doesn’t consume me like it used to. Being a passenger on a road trip is not uncomfortable anymore. Unfortunately, my daughter ‘inherited’ my motion sickness trait and also must take Dramamine® before road trips, on cruises, and at amusement parks. Stay tuned for my post about Dramamine® for Kids.

These are just a few of my road trip essentials. Dramamine® for myself and daughter, lip balm, and my headset so everyone in the car does’nt have to listen to my calls. Road trips should be fun and easy, not stomach-churning and miserable. Keep Dramamine® Non-Drowsy Naturals in your car so you never forget it on road trips. Always take Dramamine® before embarking on your road trip. While it may still be effective if you take it during a spell of motion sickness, it will prevent it from happening if you take it before starting your trip.

Dramamine® Non-Drowsy Naturals is also great for cruises, flights and amusement parks.

Get $1.00 off Dramamine® products with this coupon.

How to Impress Your Child’s Teacher with P&G Household Needs Products

August 14, 2016Product ReviewMr. Clean, P&G, Proctor & Gamble, product review, school supplies, Swiffer Dusters, TideAlicia

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

When kids hear back-to-school they think about homework and tests. When parents hear the back-to-school; laundry, filling out paperwork, getting the best teacher, and shopping for school supplies come to mind.

With two kids, 16 and 10-years-old, I’ve had my fair share of back-to-school shopping trips, school registration paperwork, and loads and loads of laundry. School supply shopping at Costco is one shopping trip my daughter asks to participate in. She loves picking out colorful pencils and notebooks, and supplies for her teachers.

When choosing supplies for teachers I don’t compromise on quality. For example, I buy only the best paper towels, Bounty Advanced, for teachers, and a couple of years ago began supplying teachers with Swiffer Dusters. I’ll let you in on a secret; teachers love Swiffer Dusters. Dust accumulates on bookshelves in your home, right? Imagine the dust that accumulates on bookshelves and desks in a classroom of 15+ kids! I can’t tell you how many ‘thank-yous’ I’ve received for sending in Swiffer Dusters. Swiffer Dusters use thousands of fluffy fibers with Dust Lock Adhesive that traps and locks 3X* more dust than a feather duster on virtually any surface for a great clean (*Common inanimate allergens from cat and dog dander and dust mite matter).

Can you guess how many paper towels are used in a classroom each day? I don’t know how many but I’ll take a wild guess. A bunch! Dozens and dozens perhaps. Teachers need GOOD paper towels which is why we give teachers Bounty Advanced paper towels, Bounty’s most absorbent towel* (*vs, National Bounty Select-A-Size). When poor quality paper towels are used, classroom garbage bins become obnoxiously full. That’s not fair to the teacher or the students. Providing your child’s teacher with high quality paper towels ensures students get their hands completely dry before getting back to work and clean up messes on the first try.

Every summer break I tell myself this isn’t going to be the case, but the weekend before school starts is a whirlwind of doing loads and loads of laundry, spot cleaning backpacks, planning lunches, and wiping clean the kids favorite shoes. To get dingy summer stains out of clothes and to clean new clothes – all clothes for that matter, I rely on Tide Advanced Power and Tide Pods. I don’t compromise on quality when it comes to laundry detergent. Tide Advanced Power has advanced whitening technology and color protectors making it Tide’s Best Clean.

Something I didn’t think of until about a year ago is using a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to make the whites of the kids sneakers, white again. What a miracle worker! Oddly enough, Sebastian and Madelyn aren’t big fans of shoe shopping, thus they wear the same shoes as long as possible. We all know that after a few months of wear, the whites of shoes are no longer white.

How to clean your child’s shoes with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser:

Remove shoelaces if you are going to wipe the entire shoe
Wipe the shoes with a damp Bounty Advanced paper towel
Dry the shoes
Test Mr. Clean Magic Eraser on a small area of the shoe to make sure you get the desired effect
Dampen a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (don’t get it too wet)
Gently rub on the white of the shoe
Let dry
Put shoelaces back in shoe
Wear a fancy, new-looking sneaker!

A checklist: Impress your child’s teacher

Put Bounty Advanced paper towels in Mr./Ms. ___________’s school supply bag instead of flimsy generic paper towels.
Give Mr./Ms. __________ a Swiffer Duster starter kit and Swiffer Duster refills.
Include a package of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers in Mr./Ms. ___________’s supply bag.
Toss Febreze Air Effects in the supply bag while you’re at it!
Sign up to be a room mom/dad. This will really impress Mr./Ms. _______________!
Join the PTA!

P&G Household Needs products are a huge part of our everyday life and back-to-school prep is no exception! You can purchase these and other P&G products at Costco.

These P&G Household Needs Products Have Been In My Life for Decades

June 23, 2016Cleaning & Cleaners, Family TimeBounty Advanced, Cascade Complete, Charmin, Costco, P&G Household Needs, swifferAlicia

This post was sponsored by P&G as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central. I received complimentary products to facilitate my review.

If you ask what brands I remember having in my home as a child, they would be Charmin, Bounty, Tide, Bounce, and Cascade and my mom’s own ‘brand’ of kids clothing. I grew up wearing clothes my mom made for me – she didn’t actually have her own line of clothing in stores. 🙂 She was, and still is, a very budget conscious woman but she never compromised on home care products like paper towels and toilet paper and now that I’m a mother, some 30+ years later, I wouldn’t dream of it either.

REWIND 30+ YEARS

My sister and I played outside on our backyard swing set, the ‘old-fashioned’ metal kind – remember those? – and upon trying to enter the house, my mom presented us with a Bounty paper towel and require that we wipe off wet grass stuck to our legs, ankles and sneakers first.

As a child who grew up in Florida, one of my favorite pastimes was being a roly poly nurse. That’s a real career as a 10-year-old, didn’t you know? I wasn’t aware then that roly polies lived in other states as well and it was my assumption that they only existed in my backyard thus it was my responsibility to make sure they didn’t go extinct. My job was to assess the health of roly polies on our back porch and for those that had something attached to them like a piece of hair or spider web, which would hinder their movement, I gently moved the multi legged bug to the roly poly hospital which was made of a few long lines of Charmin toilet paper for triage and paper towel lined shoe boxes for their after-stay. I’m sure my mom loved my alternative use for toilet paper. I gently set the cute little bugs, of which there were dozens at any given time, on the toilet paper then very carefully removed whatever was stuck to the bug so it could move about freely again.

FAST FORWARD 30+ YEARS

Jump ahead 30+ years from my days as a roly poly nurse and you’ll find my home filled with P&G Household Needs products just like my childhood home was all those years ago. I stock up on Charmin Ultra Soft, Bounty Advanced, Mr. Clean Magic Erasers, Tide Pods, Swiffer Dusters, Febreze Air Effects, Cascade Complete Action Pacs, and more, at Costco once a month.

Bounty Advanced Paper Towels

My daughter’s birthday party was a couple weekends ago and I couldn’t have pulled it off nearly as neatly without my favorite Bounty Advanced paper towels. Let’s just say the ice cream cake situation became a little messy and the dining room table and kids faces were in desperate need of a wipe down after enjoying the cake. Bounty Advanced was by my side to rescue me from the mess that is stickiness.

Bounty Advanced paper towels are always a part of our craft time setup routine. When I was a kid, we covered the table with newspaper before starting a craft. My kids have grown up using paper towels because I realized they not only provide great coverage but quick access to a wiping cloth as well.

Bounty Advanced Paper Towel Craft

When Madelyn recently painted a piece of art for my dad, she relied on Bounty Advanced paper towels to keep the table and her arms and hands clean of paint. She also used the paper towels to dab extra paint from the canvas and lightly smudge the paint for a textured effect as you see in the painting above.

RECIPE FOR A NON-DISASTER CRAFT TIME WITH MULTIPLE KIDS

During playdates, Madelyn and her friends like to get crafty. Not the mess-free kind of craft like needlepoint or crocheting – duh! They go all out and line the craft table with paint, bowls of water, glue, and glitter. Then, just as any carefree child does, they paint pictures, shake glitter on the freshly painted works of art, after applying a glob or two of glue. So, the recipe you ask?

Bounty Advanced paper towels
Tape

I line the craft table with paper towels, making sure to have enough to go over the edge of the table, then tape the paper towels down in a few spots along the edge. That’s it. What a difference this makes during clean up time. The kids think it’s fun to bundle up the paper towels at the end of craft time and toss them in the garbage. It’s the little details in P&G’s Bounty Advanced paper towels that make them different from other brands. Bounty Advanced paper towels are stronger than any other brand of paper towels I’ve tried, ever.

When it comes to toilet paper I can’t imagine using any other toilet paper than Charmin Ultra Soft, the widest toilet paper available from Charmin. My husband and son especially appreciate the how wide the paper is and I appreciate that the extra fluff which means we use 4 times less toilet paper on average. The super-soft texture and fluff of the paper is just what’s needed when dealing with ‘that’ area. My daughter comments about the yucky toilet paper in restaurants and other public restrooms. What’s the solution to that? Bring toilet paper in a zipper bag! They are so used to Charmin’s ultra-soft feel; there’s no going back!

Cascade Complete Action Pacs are a staple in my house. I can skip the pre-rinsing step before putting dishes in the dishwasher. My kids *really* appreciate this as they don’t understand why a dish or pot would ever have to be rinsed before putting it in the dishwasher, so they don’t! Now my kitchen smells clean and fresh every time the dishwasher is run and I know the dishes are going to come out clean and shiny every time!

Cascade Complete

I am at my Dad’s house in my home state of Florida where my P&G product attachments and loyalty began so many years ago. As I write this post I am enjoying a delicious macaron served to me on none other than a Bounty Advanced paper towel.

We don’t realize how often we use everyday household products for reasons other than what they’re intended for. Not things like Cascade which should only be used as directed, but paper towels and Swiffer Dusters are game for creativity in my house! I left the Swiffer Dusters out last night and found Madelyn ‘dusting’ her LEGO city, AKA pretending the duster was attacking the city, this morning. Below is a GIF I made from three of the photos I snapped while she was playing with the Swiffer. She insists she was actually dusting her LEGOs at first. Whatever it takes, right?

Swiffer Dusters

P&G has been a part of my life for at least 35 years, the years I can remember, and will continue to help my family, our dishes, and our clothes, stay clean for years to come. Being able to stock up on my favorite P&G products in bulk at Costco is fabulous. My mother and I go to Costco together sometimes and we walk out looking like P&G ambassadors preparing to film a P&G commercial.

When I’m home I probably use a P&G product every couple of hours and chances are, you do to! Besides the obvious, there are creative ways to use some P&G products including making cute flowers out of Bounty Advanced paper towels with food coloring and pipe cleaner. Gently dampen a paper towel with colored water, lay the paper towel flat, pick the paper towel up by the center of it letting the four corners droop down toward the table, then twist a pipe cleaner around the portion that you picked up, making it the center of your flower. Let dry.

I’ll end with this photo; one I took last week during a visit with my dad and stepmom in Florida. The feet in the photo are mine, my daughter’s and my dad’s. The blanket we’re laying on is one my sister and I used during our childhood in Florida. This goes to show how we rely on and find comfort in the things we grew up around even if we didn’t appreciate them nearly as much as children, including toilet paper and paper towels. 🙂

Memories

Find these and other P&G Household products at Costco!

What is the Real Cost of Cruising? See What We Spent on our Carnival Cruise

May 12, 2016TravelCarnival Cruise, family travel, Family VacationAlicia

Summer break starts in just over two weeks and I am starting to obsess about how we can possibly top our Spring Break vacation. Actually, we have an amazing trip to Arkansas planned, but that doesn’t involve the ocean, my all-time favorite thing and place in the world. Our two favorite local family vacation destinations include water; one a beach, and the other a lake beach. Both are within less than a 6 hour drive of Atlanta. Until recently I considered taking a cruise vacation to be a bit unreasonable mostly because I’d rather not spend $1500+ on flights just to get to the departure port. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me that there are several cruise ports within driving distance of Atlanta and other southern cities. Carnival Cruise departs from Jacksonville, Miami, Charleston, Mobile, Fort Lauderdale, and Port Canaveral, all of which are within driving distance of Atlanta and if you don’t live near Atlanta, chances are there are cruise ports within driving distance of you too! I might have just heard you think “but a cruise is too expensive even without flight tickets”. That’s where you’re wrong. I was wrong about that for years too!

A Carnival Cruise can cost from about $200 per person per night to well over $1000 per person per night. If you just want to get away and cruise to the Bahamas or Western Caribbean for a few nights, you probably won’t spend over $2000. If you are willing to forgo a room with a window or balcony, you’ll pay even less, giving you more money to spend on attractions, tours, amazing food, and souvenirs.

Below is an example rate for a family of four, taking a 5-day cruise from Jacksonville, FL to the Bahamas, in an interior stateroom that sleeps four. Carnival’s rates include includes taxes, fees and port expenses, room, food and entertainment. The only thing you’d pay for is gratuity, and food if you dine in restaurants that cost extra. There are tons of dining options that are included in the cruise package though, so you really don’t have to consider paying for food.

Now let’s look at the same cruise but in a Suite with a balcony, instead of a interior stateroom. The price went up substantially BUT the view.. oh, the view! We sat on our balcony and read, watched the flying fish, dolphins, and even a sea turtle, and just relaxed. Other than on our balcony, we spent very little time in our room. Given that, if I had a lesser budget than the $2400 you see below, I wouldn’t hesitate to book an interior stateroom. Between the pools, tons of lounge chairs, outdoor activities, indoor activities, entertainment, dining, port excursions and shopping, you’re not going to spend a lot of time in your room. Oh, and there is no ‘status’ issue on a Carnival Cruise. Families staying in an interior stateroom are treated just as great as those in a suite!

As I mentioned above, Carnival Cruise rates include the following:

Taxes
Fees
Port Fees
Room
Food
On-board entertainment
Ice water, lemonade, ice tea, coffee, hot tea, orange juice

Rates do NOT include:

Alcoholic beverages
Port excursions
Special on-board dining such as sushi, or Green Eggs and Ham breakfast and other specialty dining options
Casino games
Shopping
Photographs taken by on-board photographers
Soft drink and water packages, starting at $3.99 for a 12-pack

Money Tip: Bring cash! You can’t use a credit card on the boat and many banks charge an enormous fee for withdrawing cash in other counties, so be safe and take $1000+ cash with you. You’ll want to divide the cash among yourself, your spouse or partner, and your older kids so one person is not in charge of all the money. Once you’re on the boat the only form of payment accepted is your cruise card. If one of your kids wants to buy a t-shirt, they’ll just need to present their cruise card, also their door key, to the cashier. That means everything purchased on-board will be put on your bill. I gave each of the kids $125 cash in an envelop the first night of our cruise. Each time they purchased something on the ship (using their cruise card), they had to give me the equivalent in cash and I put that cash in an envelop in our safe. That cash was how I tallied what our final bill was going to be.

During excursions, on a Western Caribbean cruise, you can use American cash. Some larger vendors accept major credit cards, but not many.

Port shipping tip: Most crafty items and souvenirs at ports DO NOT have prices on them. You will have to ask how much an item is then say how much you are willing to pay. There were a few times we realized we were getting played and left a shop only to find the same item for 75% less across the street. Sweet! At one Grand Cayman shop, the seller told my husband a souvenir cost $65 then told me the cost was $9.

How much money did we spend during our 7-day Spring Break Carnival Cruise?

I probably missed a few things but below are all the things we spent money on that I can think of.

Parking at the cruise terminal ($20 per night) – $120
On-board souvenirs (Madelyn bought a beautiful glass paper weight and a bracelet) – $25
On-board medicine – $25
On-board soda – $15
Grand Cayman excursion – $350
Ocho Rios taxi ride, admission to beach, lunch – $75
On-board bottled water at dinner 2 nights – $8
Photographs taken by cruise photographers – $45
Sushi dinner for one – $15
Souvenirs – $250
Gratuity – $255
Total – $1183

So there you have it. Taking a cruise doesn’t have to break the bank. Many families we talked to during our cruise didn’t go on port excursions which can be very expensive when there are four or more people in your group. You can get off the ship, walk around the port town, swim at a public beach, and not spend a dime! A lot of families got off the ship in the morning, spent a couple hours walking around the town, then got back on the ship and enjoyed the less busy pools and on-board games and attractions. Smart folks!

Stay tuned for the next post where I will go into more detail about our cruise.

Connect with Carnival Cruise Line

Visit Carnival Cruise Line’s social media pages to watch ship videos, get the inside scoop on the latest cruise vacation deals, and see what passengers love above Carnival!

Note to readers: Carnival Cruise Line provided our family with a 7-day cruise in exchange for providing our readership with information and honest opinions about our experience. No positive review expectations were set or required by Carnival Cruise Line.

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