I admit, I’ve always had a love affair with pineapple. Growing up I had never had fresh pineapple (that’s what growing up in the Midwest will do to you), but I loved my canned Dole pineapple. I would open a can of crushed pineapple and freeze it in a Tupperware. Then, each morning I would hack away at it with a fork for breakfast. Totally weird—I know. So, I was really excited when we were offered an opportunity to visit the Dole...

We were fortunate enough to be hosted by the Waikiki Aquarium for a family visit last week! The Aquarium is located down Kalakaua Ave, next to a beautiful beach park. There is parking available on that Avenue, or the Aquarium also has limited free parking available for a time limit of 1 hour. You can see the Aquarium in 1 hour, so this is a fantastic option if you’re driving! At the entrance a...

The Meechok Plaza is located on the second ring road and the corner of the Mae Jo Road leading out of Chiang Mai. Fortunately for us, it was only about a 10 minute motorbike ride from our rental on the outskirts of Chiang Mai—and the drive didn’t require us to enter the city at all! The Meechok Plaza boasts of a variety of restaurants, McDonalds (not a restaurant…hahaa!), Rimping Grocery store (with a great selection of foreign...

I have to admit, one of the most appealing aspects of booking an 18-day Transpacific Cruise with our family was the thought of having a Kid’s Club for our girls (ages 8 and 5) to enjoy. I’m happy to say that Royal Caribbean’s Kid’s Club, “Ocean Adventure,” has exceeded my expectations! First of all, there is absolutely no extra cost for the Adventure Ocean Program, and it is for children ages 3+ who are fully potty trained....

Right now we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, crossing somewhere between Australia and Hawaii. Pull out a map and you will see that is a big ocean to cross! We were originally going to stay in Bali for 2 months and then fly back to the US via Hawaii. Tickets from Bali to Hawaii run around $1200 each. It’s not cheap to cross the big wide ocean. Then, we came across another option—a Transpacific Repositioning...

The 1st weekend in February, Chiang Mai hosts a Flower Festival near the Southwest corner of the moat. A parade winds through the old town, but instead of waking up early and trying to track it down, we decided to simply meet it at the end near the family park in the Southwest corner. This is where all of the street vendors set up their stands—including food, clothing, and flowers! The prices seemed to be reasonable....