We have two kids and are departing soon for a trip to Europe, we will be in the south of France for two weeks and in Holland for one week. In the south of France, we are staying in a house that is located in the Luberon. I drew a circle around the town we're staying in and basically researched the towns within a one hour driving radius. We are then flying via Ryan Air to Holland and staying in an apartment in Amsterdam. The house we're staying in in the south of France is a relatively simple place. My kids are older than yours, but we've made it a priority to pack books and simple arts activities they can do. I expect to buy a jigsaw puzzle. We are bringing a deck of cards, an IPod and a Nintendo DS. There is no TV or internet connection at the house. We've talked to the kids a lot about flexibility. The biggest hassle with the electronic games, is that yes they have the advantage of being small and light, but they need a variety of chargers and power adapters to work with the European electrical current. Radio Shack had the highest prices around, Best Buy was better, but believe it or not, I found electrical equipment in the men's section of Marshalls where they sell things like um, power golf ball washers and the like. I also have purchased and wrapped small items for the children to receive at various times through the trip. Little clay kits from JoAnne bought on sale, they like these, and they cost about $2 each. Calvin and Hobbes books collected from garage sales for about 25 cents each. I sleep mask and ear plugs set, two bucks on sale at KMart. I assemble these and wrap them before we leave -- unwrapping the 'gifts' makes it even more fun for the kids. Oh, crayons and paper are another must. I had my daughter down load a lot of young adult books on CD onto her eye-pod and got an ear phone splitter so two kids can listen to the books on tape on the same Ipod player. Ideally, they'll listen to these in the back of the car while my husband and I talk or listen to our own music up front. We enjoy having down time while we're away, and plan on doing only one 'big' touristy thing a day. When traveling with kids, I like to have a sort of big picture plan, with info about all the sights available in a specific region, but like to play it by ear on a day to day basis, being responsive to people's moods, energy levels, health, etc. I also know in advance that I want to show them certain things, as in categories of things, like in the south of France, it'll be something like one cathedral, one abbey, one art museum, etc. I have a child whose into nature so we've made sure to research natural habitats and will probably get him a book so he and his sister can identify bugs and birds while we're there. I've also taken out library books on the countries we're visiting and left them lying around the kitchen table and we've done some casual thumbing through the pages. I don't force it. I just try to get them thinking a little, and looking at pictures really does that. It's important to remind them that travel is fun but it's also work and some days may be challenging for them. Oh, one more thing, we bring addresses for their friends so they can write postcards. I also take pictures of their friends and keep them stored on the digital camera so they can scroll back and look at the pictures when they feel like they're missing the kids back home.

>> But the point I was making is whether you should be buying it with foodstamps. I may be out of line, but if you're buying on someone else's dime, you should make that dime stretch as far as you can.Why do you automatically assume that food stamp recipients are buying food on someone else's dime? You don't know why they are receiving FS and you don't know for how long. For all you know, the FTR could be employed but still eligible for FS. They could be members of the the Armed Forces Services. Heck, they could have just been laid off from a long term job/employer. They could be seniors/or not on Social Security.. or SC Disability. All of those examples paid taxes, too. So, where do you get the idea that you should feel ripped off, somehow? And maybe it's none of those things. I don't think it is your business what they buy to eat. I find this attitude to be stingy, mean spirited and very very judgmental. Do you have kids? I don't, and yet, my taxes go towards lots of GS only kids use. >> I would think you could buy a lot more chicken than lobster for the same amount of money. Lobster might be healthy, but it ain't cheap! Even here in Boston! ;)They probably could, that's true. But it's still their choice, not yours. And FWIW, lobster can be had cheaply in the summer time here. Last summer we were able to buy chix at 2.99 per pound. Once or twice we managed to get it at 1.99 pound. And our local north shore restaurants had triples for 15 bucks as a special run twice a week. That's 5 bucks per lobster...not expensive at all. I don't know if you've lived here all of your life. I have. I do think that you have most likely never had to suffer the humiliation of food stamps. Or endured the looks and stares of disapproval, as strangers feel entitled to survey the contents of your grocery cart. Often they will even have the gall to make comments, quite frequently those comments are said in front of small children. Lastly, you would be amazed to see the most vocal anti welfare folks in this neighborhood rant and rave how "those" people get everything for nothing. All the while these folks who have very good paying municipal jobs (with fine benefits) that they got solely based on some sort of connection.. and that connection doesn't just give them one good job. Nope, I know families who have firefighters, cops, EMT'S and crossing guards... not to mention uncles or aunts working at city hall and have been told that any one of their kids that have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, they need only place a call letting the PTB know that they are now in need of a job. And despite of this.. these favored and connected families not only justify but brag about their kids getting free lunch.. and LOUDLY scream about "those welfare cheats" at the same time.As far as I can see, there are many more cheats with city jobs. Theft is theft... stealing is stealing. Those with connections just get a pass. It's legalized theft and it is so ingrained that the connected have a total disconnect..they don't see what they do as thievery. Hey, this wasn't anywhere near as bad as a post I saw on another forum that basically said, birthday cake and even cupcakes for little kids BD'S paid for with FS put her over the edge... turned her into a republican from a life long democrat. Really, if a cupcake for a little kid put her into such a tizzy.. well, I say she was just livin' in the closet of denial. Me? I say you all spend way too much time feeling entitled to scrutinize "CERTAIN TYPE" folks grocery carts. Admit it... you know you do. I find all of this sad, very sad. Silly ~~~although, nothing silly about any of this

I'm taking a new approach. I had a weightlifting set with a weight bench, but it was taking up half of a room and in my tiny house that was just too much room. So it is gone and in its place I have 3 sets of dumbbells in a large basket (light, medium, heavy) and an exercise program called Stack 52, a set of cards that illustrate and give info on a total body workout using only dumbbell weights. Less space, and the card method is kind of fun, keeps it interesting, you can shuffle the cards and deal yourself a new set of exercises every day. The weights, along with dog walking and bicycling, make the road to fitness fun. I think the reason many people start and then stop exercise is that it gets boring, but if you have several things you like to do, you have the opportunity to choose what you feel like doing that day, and adjusting for bad weather/extreme heat or other reasons you may not want to do outdoor exercise.

I rode my Harley Davidson 3 wheel trike for years, I rode it every where it was my main means of transportation, still have it. Now I have my 3 wheel trike bike and my 3 wheel trike scooter. The most important thing to always remember with the 3 wheels is that you have so much more width behind you not just the single wheel you have in front. So you have to anticipate the distance you have to swing out when going around a curve or where the edge of your back tires are riding. That's not as easy as you would think because you have always rode with just 2 wheels directly under you. It is also harder to steer a trike it naturally wants to continue in a straight line this is especially true on a motorcycle and scooter it takes some muscle to do a turn. I will tell you that I ran over my share of curbs when I went from my 2 wheel Harley Davidson to the trike! It's doesn't feel natural like riding a regular bike does. I have seen people wrap their back wheel around a pole on the corner because they didn't consider the extra width of the tire on that side. It is not something you want to do lol. My very first ride on the Harley trike I was trying to go around a curved road and didn't realize how much I would have to muscle the steering and I ended up jumping the curb over the sidewalk and into someone's yard. My husband was following behind on his Harley and when I got stopped and off the trike, I was shaking. He was laughing so hard he couldn't talk. That was the learning experience I needed! Never happened again. Lol Luckily the 3 wheel bike is not as bad!