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Winter Vacation
Xmas time is the most amazing time as you have a winter vacation from 24th December to 2nd Jan usually in Maharashtra. From childhood, my parents have kept summer vacations for our native place and winter vacation for fun vacations. Even native place vacations were as good as winter but due to summer seasons, we could not do a lot of activities in native place, which is in my case in Rajasthan.
So as soon as we used to get Xmas vacation, my dad used to take either to Mahabaleshwar, Matheran, Lonavala or Khandala. In Maharashtra, winter vacation is more important as they are shorter but the cold temperatures make it more worthy and loving. I still remember my trip to Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani during Xmas vacation. Every hotel or restaurant is being designed for Xmas, with a lot of Santa Claus or snowy clouds design inside the rooms.
1) Mahabaleshwar: When you travel by car from Mumbai to Mahabaleshwar you can see all the small houses to big hotels on the way is being lightened up by colorful leds and star-shaped candles hanging right on top as pole star on each house or restaurant. Since Mahabaleshwar is a famous hill station in Maharashtra, we keep on going during summers also but winters are more amazing.
mahabaleshwarYou get to enjoy hot Maggi, hot tea, corn bhel, coffee and lot of spices to keep you heated. But that fun cant is explained in words, it has to be experienced only. The only problem in winter is that Mahabaleshwar faces a lot of fog in the morning which creates mishaps like accidents and so on. So be careful before you step out on a foggy day.
2)Lonavala and Khandala:  which is very close to Mumbai and most common destinations for one two days trip too. As you must have read my waterpark post in the last article, you must have got an idea how Lonavala has so many attractions like Imagica. Lonavala and Khandala are most visited destinations for Mumbaikar as they are serene n divine during winter and rainy season.
Xmas vacation with kidsWhat I love the best is the mountain drive or we call it as ghats, bit dangerous but still an adventurous one. During the rainy season this becomes most accidents prone area and hence you must be careful before you start. But winters are not so problematic. During Xmas vacation, Lonavala and Khandala have a lot of resorts organizing various camp activities for kids, so that they can enjoy winter to fullest. Don’t miss hot spicy sweet corn on Khandala ghat during winters. My kids love eating corns, carrot and sour raw mangoes in the topmost hill of Khandala.
3) Lavasa and Ambey valley: Place very near to Mumbai but its similar like a foreign destination. Once you are in Lavasa or Ambey valley, you would feel like either Switzerland or hilly European countries as it is so clean and neat and well maintained. Sometimes you don’t want to leave above places just because of its cold weather and chilling temperatures. Make sure you take sufficient clothing once you are there as your kids might feel very cold at this place during winter vacations.
Lavasa
Tips to remember while you go for Xmas vacation with kids during the vacation
  1.  Always carry extra jacket as you would never know about the temperatures.
  2.  Make sure you don’t fall sick as you are traveling. Colder temperatures can make ur kid very ill.
  3.  Always wear comfortable cloth whilst traveling.
Blogchatter PS: I am participating in the #blogchatterA2Z challenge and today’s letter Is X,  so our article is related to Xmas Vacation with Kids.
Best Water Park for Kids in Mumbai

Summer vacation without water park in Mumbai is like bhaji without pav. Just kidding but its really good way to beat the heat of this scorching summer. Today I am gonna share some insights abt Best Water Park for Kids in Mumbai.

From childhood, my vacations in summer had at least one day in waterparks. Nowadays even all foreign tour packages in summer add one day at waterparks like I had in Singapore. Adventure cove park in Singapore is the best water park for kids as well as for all age groups. If you consider safety, compared to India its 10 times better in Singapore.

The equipment, water rides, lifeguards, water jackets, floaters, everything in Singapore is of high quality. But Indian water park is not far behind nowadays. They all are improving much more now to give better fun and entertainment to customers. Today I shall give you list of best water parks in Mumbai which is safe and have amazing rides. For water parks in Phillipines do Read this.

The first best water park in Mumbai is

  • Aqua ImagicaThis is situated in khalapur near Pali district. Its approximately 2hrs distance from main Mumbai. The rides are for all ages. If you are water baby then you will love it for sure. The most amazing ride is the whirlpool ride. It was just a thrilling experience. But do not go if you have any health issues like heart problems or any disease which can give you a shock. Never leave a kid unattended except if your kids are a good swimmer. Don’t try and force your kids to go to rides which they aren’t comfortable.

Food and soft drinks are available along with a lot of souvenirs to take from Aqua imagica. Now they have packages of aqua imagica plus Adlabs imagica along with a stay at Novotel hotel. I would recommend everyone to enjoy at least for one time to go and enjoy aqua imagica. Ps try and go as early as possible because later you need to stand in long queue for each ride. So start as early as possible as the park opens up.
Price per ticket ranges from 900-1500

  • Water kingdom: Situated in Borivali, you have to use water boats to reach to Essel world and water kingdom. It is one of the oldest water park and largest pool water park in Mumbai. The best part is waving time which is full of heavy waves, music and lot of masti.

Water KingdomEvery 30 min gaps you will find waves with music starts. It has a lot of space for relaxation near the wave pool. All other rides are so good for all ages and safe to enjoy. Again the problem is a long queue for every ride. All the best water parks in Mumbai provides facilities for food, changing rooms, washrooms and lot of souvenir to take back.  Prices range from 625-750

  • Tiku ji ni wadi -Situated in Thane Ghodbunder road, easy to take a cab from Thane station is one of the best water parks in Mumbai. Tiku Ji ni wadi has derived from word chikoo fruits as the place has a lot of chikoo trees, where people sit in swings and relax. The second zone of tikujini wadi has biggest lazy river where people can just sit on the tube and swim and relax in water if they want to enjoy high rise water bodies.

TikujiniwadiThey have a buffet section included in tickets. The other section of tiku Jini wadi has amusement park for kids. And most attractive part is dinosaur model which look like real animals.
Price ranges from 750-1000.

  • Suraj water park: This is too situated in Thane near the tikujini wadi only. The major attractions of this water park are they have different rides compared to the tikujini wadi. The lord Shiva with sun backdrop is the high light of this water park in Mumbai.

suraj Water park Price ranges from, – 700-900

  • Wet and joy park

Wet N JoyThis is situated in Lonavala. This is biggest in area wise and has a lot of places to click photos as it has a lot of graffiti on walls. From Mumbai, It takes two hours to reach this park but its Worth to enjoy during summer.

BlogchatterPS: I am participating in the #blogchatterA2Z challenge and today’s letter Is W,  so our article is related to WaterPark Vacation with kids.

Vacations with kids

Vacations are those days usually for the purpose of recreation or tourism. It is a leave from regular work for a specific trip or journey. During my childhood days, I used to desperately wait for the vacations because during vacations we used to visit our grandparents at our native place.
When I think about my vacations as a child, the life we lived in the village with friends and the food and environment we experienced, cherishes my childhood days and I realize how much we had fun during vacations at that time period which our children of present generation fail to experience.
flying with kids
Nowadays, the scenario has completely changed, people from villages have shifted to live the lifestyle of the cities, there are hardly few people who are still staying in the village areas waiting for their children and Grandchildrens to visit them during their vacations. When no one stays at a native place the question to take our kids at the native place doesn’t arrive.
flying with kids
At present, the parents, today are making their kids join different classes to keep them all time busy. So, the kids of today’s generation just can’t differentiate between vacations and working days because for them all days are same. According to me, this is not completely correct, at some point you are spoiling your kids childhood, you are trying to make them smarter than their age, you are forcing your kids to move with the competitive world forgetting that they are just kids and it’s their age to live without tensions and enjoy each and every day.
It’s not like that you should not send your kids to different classes and make them perfect or should keep them update but the only thing is everything should be done at a proper time and with proper management. During vacations you should allow your kids to enjoy their life on their own, should allow them to do whatever they love to do, through this you will not only get the chance to know the hidden talents of your kids but at the same time you will allow your kids to live stress free life during vacations.
Vacations nowadays are filled with assignments and projects from school whereas in our times we do used to have assignments but they were fun to do. Those assignments were more of learning and gaining knowledge.
The scenario has changed completely when we talk about vacation, nowadays we plan the foreign tour, well in advance according to children’s vacations before going to the native place and enjoying with cousins and living native life.
I still miss my native place where I used to take my pets like cow and Buffalo for morning walk and feed. The most amazing part was diving in the small well. Plucking mangoes, Imlis, custard apple from any farm used to make us run like cats and dogs.
Wish  I get those lovely moments again with angel.

PS: I am participating in the #blogchatterA2Z challenge and today’s letter Is V,  so our article is related to vacations with kids.

Unwinding with Kids

Being a mom, have you ever came across a  situation where you just want to run away from home or scratch your hair out. Well, I go beyond my saturation level when demanding guest comes to stay at home without prior notice. If you live in the joint family, this pain of tolerating things makes you stronger.But a day comes, where you decide to take your kid and along with your husband to a place, where you don’t have anyone to interfere. This is an absolute best way to get relax.

Unwinding the calm in the chaos. People today are living a very busy and stressful life which is full of tensions and worries and it is putting an adverse effect on your kids too. So it is very essential to find a way which is free from stress and in such a case the most productive thing you can do is Relax, the only thing is you have to find the ways for it.

The key to unwinding is to find a small chunk of time where you can enjoy some kind of pampering. For many kids, a long hard day at school can also be stressful and tiring. The things which hardly matters to us in many cases does affect our kids a lot, in such conditions, it is necessary to provide them with some activities which can unwind them from their daily routine and provide some change.

There are several small ways which you can use for unwinding with kids

1. Meditation – There are several great books, apps and Cd’s available in the market that focuses on meditations for children. The goal is to inbuild the meditative scenes in the minds of kids when they are alone or are under stress.

meditation2. Storytelling about their day– Ask your child about their entire day and how it was? Don’t spend time in lecturing and debating with them, give them space and allow them to share the stress and worries they have.

3. Calming sensory tools– Depending on the choice of your child find them with some common sensory tools to calm them senses whenever they are under stress, etc.

toolsYour calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges is a famous saying by Bryant Mcgill. When you are stress-free and happy, definitely the atmosphere and the people surrounding you will also be happy. There are several places where you with your family especially with kids can enjoy and relax like the most common and the best place to have a vacation at any resort.

Resorts are the best place you can visit for relaxation that too with your family and with kids. Resorts across the country are the hot spots for people to cool off and beat the heat in the summer. Many resorts and hotels provide a special welcome for babies and toddlers. Resorts are the most convenient and cost-effective vacation for the kids. It is the place which makes the stay more comfortable and makes them feel as safe at home.

With kid-friendly amenities and several activities for kids, resorts are the perfect accommodation choice for a family getaway. While kids can enjoy at swimming pools and other outdoor activities, parents can unwind on a pampering spa day. Resorts are fun-filled with beautiful amenities for adults and childrens both. With all the water attractions, cooling sprays, waves and wild rides, the most important thing is to stay safe and keep your kids safe.

So, while you are on vacation with kids that too at the resort you should take some precautions like

1. You should keep eye on where your kids are playing in the resort.

2. Comfortable clothes should be wore and should ake swimming dresses for your kids and yourself.

3. Should carry sunscreen.

4. Should always be hydrated and make sure your kids are also drinking proper water.

5. You should take care of your so that they don’t get misplace around the resort, etc.

Sometimes you cannot control everything, you just need to relax and have faith that things will work out accordingly.

PS: I am participating in the #blogchatterA2Z challenge and today’s letter Is U, so our article is related to unwinding with kids.

 

Sight Seeing with Kids

Everything has beauty in its own but you can feel and know it only when you see it, is what I believe. Be a traveler, not a tourist, try to gain knowledge from it, try new things, meet new people these are some of the keys to understanding this amazing world. This is what you should teach your kids too.

Selfie with FamilySightseeing means the act of visiting and seeing places and objects by people, especially during holidays. Depending on your interest and the distance you can go for sightseeing using any means of transport. Going for sightseeing during weekends and during holidays is followed by a majority of people nowadays.

There are many beautiful sightseeing places in India and each one is just beautiful in its own way. India has most of the ancient and exotic cultures which makes it exciting for sightseeing.  Mumbai city is well-known for beautiful places to visit. I myself a resident of Mumbai enjoy staying here and hardly miss any weekend going for sightseeing with my family especially with my kid.

SelfieBeing a born and brought-up  Mumbaikar, chances are that your school or parents paid homage to every typical sight seeing with kids spot in Mumbai city, but today when asked to our kids they turn up their noses for those places which we loved exploring with our family. Many just throw up with words and say there’s nothing exciting for kids in Mumbai but since I am a Mumbaikar and have visited a majority of places here so know it that Mumbai city is rich in its heritage and uniqueness.

Points to be considered when you are going for Sight Seeing with kids

  1. Choose the best time to go, which is convenient for you and your kids too.
  2. Choose the best place, the place in which your kid is interested.
  3. Be prepared to be flexible, to face new things happen during the journey.
  4. Take necessary stuff of your kids with you for the journey.

When you go for sightseeing on weekends especially with your kids, it means planning much in advance and pacing yourselves differently, no doubt they will have a lot of fun and will even get a chance to gain new experiences. You should take a very comfortable means of transport for traveling. To avoid them becoming a bookworm and to give them live knowledge about different places, you should send your kids to different educational trips.

#sayyestotheworld
family at tajmahal

 There are several benefits of going for sight seeing with kids:

  1. They get a chance to visit new places and gain more knowledge.
  2. When you take them to museums for a visit, they become more familiar with Indian cultures and traditions.
  3. Visiting historical places with your child helps them to expand their knowledge of what they are learning in school.
  4. If your child is very much interested in any of the particular place you visit, ask him/her to carry a notebook to note down the information which he/she learned from that place.

The benefits you and your kids can reap by visiting different places especially nature, historical places and the museums are immeasurable.

PS: I am participating in the #blogchatterA2Z challenge and today’s letter Is S, so our article is related to sight-seeing with kids.

Questions asked by kids during Trip

For us, there are Seven Wonders in the World but for the kids, every place is a wonder in their own World. The moment they will see any new thing, they will start questioning you about it till the moment they are not satisfied with your answer. Why? How? What? Where? When? Etc as your child grows, he/she becomes more curious to know about the world. A topic is covered on questions asked by kids during trip.

Sometimes the questions asked by kids during trips have no meaning or have no prescribed answer or are sometimes very funny but still, we have to answer them. At some moment their question might irritate you but you have no other option rather than to answer them.

Not many ask the questions during Trip, their main motto is just to enjoy the trip. As we all know, nowadays the majority of people travel by booking their tickets through the travel agent and loves to travel on a tour. While traveling with the tour with other groups of people and with all arrangements including sightseeing, pick and drop facility, stay and food all included, it becomes much simpler and convenient to enjoy entire tour without any tension.

In such situations when you get all the services without even asking for them, to ask questions during trip minimizes, but in case when you are very much interested to know about the place you are travelling and also related questions, you can definitely ask, not only because you are interested but it is also your right to ask any question you feel to ask during the trip. There are no such limitations or rules for asking questions during Trip, the only thing is your questions must be genuine and should be related to the trip you traveling.

When you are traveling with kids, you will surely be bombarded with lots of questions from them. Today’s generation kids are very smart and are always keen to know about new things and to gain knowledge about it. So, when you are traveling with them you should either keep complete knowledge about the place you are visiting or should take help of someone else’s or of Google to answer their questions. I myself have experienced this, once you finish up giving the answer of one question your child will be ready for the new one.

 

Frequently asked questions by the kids during the trip

Which place is this..?
Why it is so different than ours?
Why people here are dressing like this?
Why the moon is traveling with us?
Why is water of blue color here?
Why the taste of Seawater salty?
Why don’t we dress like them?
Why do we live in big towers, not in small houses? Etc
Why there are so many stars in the sky?
Can we count the stars in the sky..?
Questions asked by Kids during Trip
Likewise, a lot of questions can be asked or even new one which you can’t even imagine. Some of them can be answered fairly or easily, some will make you laugh, some will make you shudder or even some might leave you completely perplexed but one good thing is you will never get bored.

So, before traveling, you should know all the basic information about the place and should also mentally prepare your kid for the trip.  Ps: This article is written as part of the blogchatter challenge on the theme of #travelwithkids and today’s letter is Q and hence my topic for today blog is questions asked by kids during trips.

Navigation

Navigation is the term of art used by navigators to perform navigation tasks. In a broader sense, it means any skill or study that involves the determination of position and direction. There are several navigation techniques which help to locate the navigator’s position. Being a traveler mom ,my most of traveling goes in understanding and navigation. This helps to plan the drive so as to get safe and smoith journey .

Today, because of the presence of satellite navigation and Global Positioning Systems (GPS), to travel by roads have become much simpler. Remember the days when we used to ask directions from roadside tea-stalls or any passing people to reach our destination, but this is not the case today because the electronic gadgets with navigators provide you the views of the even the smallest lanes of the remote locations. Benefits of using navigation:

  1. It gives a real-time location and also enables users to chart routes on your immediate position.
  2. Just you need to type your destination and the device selects the shortest route to reach there.
  3. Traveling to new places becomes easy.
  4. While traveling if you are in need of something or if you are in an emergency, it is easy to find the nearest chemist, ATM’s, restaurants or hospitals or any other service.
  5. Navigation applications have proved to be a handy tool for traveling and searching.
  6. Another great benefit of these applications is connectivity.
  7. The other thing is it saves a lot of your time and gives you a lot of comfort regarding everything.
  8. To help with navigation, there are several applications which are easily available in the market and that too free.

Navigation applications and other uses of smartphones are also used by the kids and youngsters too at a very extreme level. Care should be taken of your kids so that they don’t misuse the service provided by the navigation applications. As we all know every coin has two sides if any modern inventions not used properly and for genuine and known reasons can also prove a curse to you.

PS: I am participating in blogchatter A2Z challenge and today’s letter Is N ,so our articles is related to Navigation  application.

Migration

Migration means moving from one place to another. Like humans, migration is done by birds and even animals, the reason might differ. We human beings migrate with the intention of settling permanently or temporarily in a new location. We migrate often over long distances and from one city, state or country depending on our wish. People may migrate as individuals, in family units or in groups.

It is in human species, even if they have everything, we always desire to have more and to fulfill them people migrate.  Does migration can always prove beneficial….? No, not in all the cases, it affects you and all our relatives in an intense manner.  Yes, it can be beneficial as in if you are very much interested to see and settle down at a new place or have to earn more money but when it comes to staying at your own place with all your relatives, it fully becomes impossible.

Doesn’t migration involves a lot of risk factor..?  Yes, it does because when you are deciding to migrate to some other country, you have to make sure you complete all legal allegations of staying there.  The list of things you have to face when you decide to migrate:

  1. You should be mentally and physically ready to experience and face new challenges in life and should be confident in your decision to migrate.
  2. You should be strong enough to settle down at a new place with new people and new surrounding, etc.

If you have kids, migration from one place to another affects the kids a lot. Once you decide to migrate along with you even the kids have to start their life in a completely new way, with a new place, new school and with new people. They have to leave everything behind just to be with you. So, you should always think about all the circumstances before migrating.

BlogchatterPs: I am participating in the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge and hence today ’s letter is L and my today’s topic is migration with kids.

 

Lakeside night camping with kids

The Scorching Summer heat is on the boom, everyone wishes to have changed and finds the way to beat the heat. I call out everyone who is looking for a unique way rather than visiting the same places everytime, here is an amazing way out for all the travelers looking for something special and for the new experience. It is a night camping at lakeside under the calm and serene sky. In the last month, I with my daughter went to the most famous and untouched location of #NIRVANA. We had a mesmerizing experience with tent stay, Bonfires and Star Gazing.

It was a place away from busy city life, it was a place free from pollution, a place with mindblowing ambiance, a place where you can relax and discover nature at its best,  a place beneath the sky, a place where you can dance to the dhinchak beats with a campfire and acoustic music.

For my daughter Angel, it was her first experience, which turned out to be a memorable one because after returning back from that place almost every weekend she is asking me when we will go back to #NIRVANA place. We enjoyed the scenic beauty of the forest around a campsite. She got a chance to know about flora and fauna present around. The lake water of #NIRVANA was clear and view of several small lakes was very enchanting.

We started our day with the beautiful sunrise, where the sunrays were directly coming on Angel’s face which made her feel refreshed and had a very beautiful morning. After having breakfast we tried the water sports available there, among which kayaking was the best. Some of the local people were busy doing fishing, Angel got a chance to see how people do fishing, which was a new thing for her.

After that, we participated in the number of adventure and other trekking activities. In the evening we saw a beautiful sunset with different colors, with every passing minute Angel’s desire to see and know about new things was increasing. After having dinner the musical night with beautiful songs started under a campfire. After a tiring day when we went to sleep, she was amazed to see a sky full of stars since it was her first experience to see million of stars together.

It is not necessary to visit the same place there are several other options like Bhandarada lake, Pawna lake, Bhivpuri lake etc where you can visit. There are many options to do at Lakeside like you can enjoy doing photography, you can also teach your kids how to make tent house, etc. Camping in the outdoors especially at Lakeside with kids observing the divine beauty of nature can be a relaxing and insightful experience.

blogchatter

Jet Skiing with kids

Jet Skiing is generally any type of personal watercraft used mainly for recreation. Many people are crazy about water sports.  They love enjoying at beaches and enjoy the water sport rides a lot. Are you among the one who loves water sports? If yes you should not miss the Jet skiing  ride.

Jet SkiesJet Skiis in Maharashtra are available at Alibagh beaches, Goa and also at Kerala. If you are planning a vacation with family especially with kids and finding hard to choose any destination then you will be happy and satisfied enough if you select any of the above-mentioned places.

In the Jet-skiing rides, one can also take their kids with them, the only thing is you should make proper preparation and planning before going for water ride and should always position your kids in between two adults if they are very young. Jet skiing with kids will be very enjoyable with great experience.

Jet Skies While taking your kid for jet skiing there are some rules which should be followed. The coast guard available at the beaches will guide you completely.  A kid should be of at least 18 pounds and should fit properly in the personal flotation device of water sport.

Jet SkiesA kid should be positioned between two adults, the kid may want to sit in the front to feel the splashing waves but you should not be allowed them. Even when your kid is seated in the middle still the speed should be kept slow and controlled, your kid will definitely have a thrilling experience being on Jet skies.

You should have the proper practice of swimming in-case you or your kid goes into the water. You should be active enough to react to an emergency situation. While traveling on jet skies assume you kid goes overboard, among the two adults one should inform the driver to stop the engine and the other one should jump in the water, knowing about the boat traffic and other dangers in the water. Then swim your kid head above the water so that the kid is visible and then help him/her to reach back to the watercraft.

Jet Skies “Precaution is better than cure” is the famous saying, you should always take proper precaution and handle your kids with proper care to avoid dangerous situation to happen.

JPs: I am participating in the #BlogchatterA2Z challenge and hence today ’s letter is J and my today’s topic is Jet Skiing  with kids.