Stuck in the airport? The best kids play areas in airports around the country

Snow hit the Eastern coast this past weekend, and with snow came the grinding halt of flights everywhere. Unfortunately for many, the cancelation of flights has come at a time when everyone is trying to get to family for the holidays.

If you find you are stuck in an airport right now with your children bouncing off the walls, take a look at Travel BaBees quick guide to airport play areas:

Boston: Logan International - Indoor playgrounds
Logan International has two play areas for kids, and they are both work the trek to Terminal C or A. Kidport has a model airplane to climb on or slide down, tunnels, and a fun kid friendly baggage claim. The Kidport in Terminal A also has a mini-control tower. Great for kids who love airplanes, and a break for you.

Dallas Fort Worth International - Play areas abound!
DFW is a very family friendly airport. They feature three play areas in three terminals, including a junior flyer themed area with runway, plane, and air traffic control (Terminal B by Gate B12). In Terminal D by Gate D33 you can find a McDonalds that will let you buy a happy meal and give your kids a place to play, which is great for long layovers.  Terminal C at Gate C14 has a smaller version of the junior flyer play area.


Seattle-TAC (SEA)
Let your kids run wild at the huge children's play area while you catch up on your reading. This playground is soft foam, and features an airplane theme. If you are nursing, there is a parents room with rocking chairs for feeding your baby privately. The playground is located on the left, once you pass through security and go through the Central Terminal on your way to Concourse A.

We hope you don't get stuck in the airport this holiday season, but if you do, at least there are places for your kids to burn off some steam and for you to catch a much needed breather.

Happy Holidays!

We're thinking of Military Moms this holiday season

Let's face it, it's not easy to be on your own with your kids for long periods of time. You cook, clean, play, and take care of them; eventually you are going to need a break.  Most moms can have that break, because Dad comes home after work or they have family they can rely on.  Imagine being in a strange city or country and not having your husband there to support you. You have no friends and family around you, and you are the full-time mom of your children.  For me, it sounds like the hardest situation I could imagine, but it is a reality every single day for thousands of military moms who stay back and take care of their families when their husbands are deployed.

It wouldn't be easy for those who are serving our country either. The men and women deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan worry endlessly about the families they have left behind.  Not only do they deal with the stress of leaving their wives and children, they have financial concerns to worry about as well.  It is a huge sacrifice that they make to fight for our country, and I am glad that there are programs out there to take a little bit of the stress from them.

This holiday season, Travel BaBees has sponsored a military family through Operation Homefront.  The "Adoptafamily" program pairs families in need with people who want to help provide a Christmas dinner and presents for the kids. If you are able, check out http://www.operationhomefront.net today.  It might be too late to donate for Christmas, but there many other programs that assist military personnel and their families.

Wishing all military personnel and their families a very Happy Holidays!

TravelBaBees Atlanta's best picks for your kid's this Christmas

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, like a Southern Christmas.  Those lucky folks living down south just seem to know how to do it all right, whether they have snow or not.  If you are one of the lucky few traveling down to Atlanta or the general area this holiday season, here is a quick list of fun stuff to do with your kids (and don't forget to rent, not bring, your stroller!)

Babyland General Hospital is widely known as the birthplace of the Cabbage Patch Kid.  Take your kids on a tour of the hospital, allow them to choose their own new baby, and go through the fun adoption process.  It's always exciting to bring home a new family member, and even more so at Christmas.

The Santa Express is rolling through town, and if your child loves trains or the Christmas movie "The Polar Express", he or she will love taking a ride on the Santa Express.  Sing carols, visit with the elves, and end your time on the lap of the big man himself.  Taking a trip on The Blue Ridge Express is a very festive way to kick off your holiday season.

Take a tour of the lights and sounds of Georgia with a trip to Callaway Gardens Fantasy in Lights.  Established in 1992, this drive through spectacular is sure to get you feeling festive.

Happy Holidays!

TravelBaBees Recipe #3 - Red Velvet Cake & 19 sleeps until Christmas

Although I do have a great family recipe for Red Velvet Cake myself, I'm bound by family rule to not share it. However, I do have this wonderful Red Velvet Recipe that I found on All Recipes, and it's just as good (if not better!) Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cake 

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 ounces red food coloring
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 8 inch round pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together sugar, oil, and eggs. Add food coloring and vinegar to buttermilk. Add baking soda to flour. Add flour mixture and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the sugar mixture. Mix well. Stir 1 teaspoon vanilla into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until done. Remove from oven, and cool on wire racks.
4. Mix together cream cheese, butter or margarine, confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in nuts. Frost cooled cake. 

On to Grandma Rosella's Recipe #2 - Sugar Cookie Icing

Heaven in a bowl! Thanks Grandma!

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk (I use whole milk, it's richer)
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• assorted food colouring

Directions

1. In your mixer, beat together icing sugar and milk until smooth. 
2. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing is smooth and glossy. 
3. Icing too thick? Add a touch more corn syrup (Grandma didn't like measuring spoons, she just added stuff as she went)
4. Get some small bowls and add a dollop of icing to each.  Add food colouring in varying shades to each. 

Now that you have sugar cookies, you can decorate them with this icing, then add candy or other sprinkles. 

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Recipe # 1 - 20 days left until Christmas, so let's have some Sugar Cookies!

The first index card I pulled today from Grandma's recipes is Sugar Cookies. A Christmas staple, sugar cookies are easy to make and fun for the kids to cut out and decorate. Light and fluffy, these cookies are so yummy that she said they couldn't possibly be fattening (Grandma was a little hippy, so take that with a grain of salt)

• Grandma Rosella's Sugar Cookies
• 
  
• 1/2 cups butter (take it out of your fridge about 2 hours before you bake so it's nice and soft)
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (She always used the real vanilla.)
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch Cream of Tartar 

Directions

1. In your mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid) cream your butter and sugar together until it's fluffy. 
2. Beat in eggs one and a time and add the vanilla. 
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. I like to add my dry ingredients all at once and let the mixer take care of it.
4. Scoop your dough onto plastic wrap, then cover it completely. Be sure to chill dough for at least 2 hours.
5. Turn your oven on to 400 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes.  *Quick Tip* Use parchment paper and roll out the dough directly on the paper.  You can remove the excess dough from the cookies as opposed to moving the cookies from the cupboard to the pan. Lessens the likelihood of having snowmen with broken arms. 
6. Bake 6 to 8 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.

These cookies are good on their own.  My mom always liked to eat them plain, but I decorate them with my kids. 

Tomorrow's recipe: Grandma's Icing! 

20 Recipes until Christmas!

My Grandma was an amazing baker/cook. She had 13 kids, lived on a farm, and barely ever got to leave the house other than Church on Sundays or the occasional grocery trip into town.  Because of this, Grandma had to make her own fun, and one of the ways she entertained herself was baking.

I have a small, wooden box that is full of recipes from her. I cherish this as a keepsake, and you can bet if there was ever a fire at my house that I would be grabbing for that box as soon as my family was safely out the door.  Recipes like hers are tradition, and they are meant to be shared with others.

My gift to you this season is 20 recipes in 20 days.  I hope you enjoy them as much as we have.

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