Weekly Column

A rich archive of weekly “Taking the Kids Columns” in newspaper syndication since 1992

Families & Groups | Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Parks & Outdoors | Weekly Column

On a fall getaway when they’re too little for school
ByEileen Ogintz October 5, 2008June 29, 2023

Sure you have to drag a diaper bag (not to mention stroller, car seat and a generous supply of Goldfish) everywhere you go, you haven’t had a full night’s sleep in you can’t remember when and the dire economic news makes you wonder how you’ll ever pay for preschool, much less college, but then there’s the bright side — travel-wise, anyway. While everyone else is up to their ears in carpools, homework and soccer games, you’re free to get out of town.

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Beach Vacations | Families & Groups | Parks & Outdoors | Weekly Column

WATCHING SEA TURTLES NEST
ByEileen Ogintz September 28, 2008July 7, 2021

By Eileen Ogintz Tribune Media Services The beach is pitch black, except for the light from the stars dancing across the sky. The ocean waves…

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Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Weekly Column

TO AMSTERDAM
ByEileen Ogintz September 21, 2008July 6, 2021

By Eileen Ogintz Tribune Media Services I’ve found vacation nirvana for teenagers and it’s a place parents will like just as much as teens do….

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Getting There | Weekly Column

HITTING THE AIRPORT VIP LOUNGES
ByEileen Ogintz September 14, 2008July 6, 2021

Pancake, the much loved blue bear, seemed right at home among the oh-so-serious laptop-toting business people. So did his 4-year-old owner, Colin Blodgett. Colin, Pancake and Colin’s parents were awaiting their flight from London to New York in British Airway’s expansive $60 million Executive Lounges in Heathrow’s new Terminal 5

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Cruises & All-Inclusive | Destinations | Disney | Families & Groups | Weekly Column

A new-style adventure by Disney — no mouse ears
ByEileen Ogintz September 7, 2008July 7, 2021

We sniff the strong perfume that even kids used, since they bathed so infrequently (servants just once a year) and learn that even though royal children had servants to do everything for them (even brush their teeth), they didn’t have a lot of time to play because they were expected at court (sitting quietly for hours). Still, our gang decided they’d rather be royals instead of servants.

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Lodging | Weekly Column

OPTING FOR DIFFERENT KINDS OF LODGING
ByEileen Ogintz August 31, 2008July 5, 2021

Searching out those markets and meeting the locals who shop there is all part of the charm of renting a flat in a strange city or a villa in the countryside. We sleep with cherubs over our bed and hear the noises of a city neighborhood — a baby crying, a couple jabbering in Italian and music playing.

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Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Weekly Column

A trip to Costa Rica designed for teens and tweens (and one little sister)
ByEileen Ogintz August 24, 2008July 14, 2021

After a morning of white-water rafting (and plenty of water fights) on Costa Rica’s Sarapiqui River, and a first-rate burrito lunch made by our raft guides at the river’s edge, we stop in the small town of Horquetas, about 10 minutes from where we are staying to visit an elementary school. Some 270 kids attend the ill-equipped school, which is so overcrowded that children must attend split sessions. The students mug for our cameras and giggle.

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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Food and Dining | Lodging | Parks & Outdoors | Weekly Column

TO AUSTIN, TEXAS
ByEileen Ogintz August 17, 2008July 14, 2021

All around Lost Pines were other families determined not to miss one second of vacation fun — floating in the lazy river, watching the kids on the water slide or in the baby pool, saddling up for horseback rides or bike rides around the extensive property (405 acres and an adjoining 1,100-acre nature park!), playing “golf” with preschoolers on the lawn and watching them on the playground nearby.

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Families & Groups | Getting There | Weekly Column

SURVIVING A ROAD TRIP
ByEileen Ogintz August 10, 2008July 6, 2021

What the kids don’t get is that driving for hours with a couple of antsy children (not to mention sullen tweens and teens) is no fun for parents either — especially not when we’re paying record prices for gas. Still, millions of us — 20.4 million just over the July 4th weekend, AAA reports — are hitting the road with the kids this summer.

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Backyard Vacations | Destinations | Families & Groups | Parks & Outdoors | Weekly Column

TO VERMONT — IN SUMMER
ByEileen Ogintz August 3, 2008July 14, 2021

The steep climb up the slick rocks — 770 vertical feet — doesn’t phase them, nor scrambling without footholds or squeezing between two boulders. “Hard but fun,” a trio of 9-year-old boys declare, as they race ahead. “Definitely worth it,” their older sisters add, as they trail close behind them.

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