You will definitely laugh--and you might cry too

Sounds scary and foreboding, right?
I know.
But reading about other people's mishaps is not nearly as scary as actually traveling with kids--yours or someone else's. Check out one of our newest titles: How to Fit A Car Seat on a Camel: And Other Misadventures Traveling with Kids.

My kids are older now (13 and 11), but when I think of car trips with a toddler and a baby, or a six-year old and a four-year old, I get a little knot in my stomach (at least I think it's a knot and not the "Sicilian" tuna I had for lunch. Only time will tell). You never knew what was going to happen next if you had the kids on an excursion. Whether you're trapped in a car, a plane, a bus, a boat, or a train, you're still trapped, and you're still responsible. I always felt like I was in hyper-attentive mode waiting for an explosion of sorts. What kind of explosion will it be? That is the question. It's not relaxing. That's just funny to think of now. I can remember thinking that getting away from the house would be relaxing. So gullible. Even my youngest son says I'm gullible. ("What's that word mom, for people you can trick easily? Who'll believe anything?")

It doesn't matter if you're traveling to your mom's house for a holiday or to a place with a pool so the kids can swim, or to another country for an adventure, if you're using vacation days, it will not be a vacation. An experience, yes. An adventure, most certainly. But vacation probably isn't the word I would use.

This is a great collection. Lots of different experiences, with kids of different ages, and travel for all kinds of reasons. It made me laugh and cry. And I wanted to run right home and say to my kids, "Remember the time . . . ."

Thanks to editor Sarah Franklin and her contributor extraordinaire Katherine Ozment for putting it all together and working with us.

Until next time.

K.