Southwest Airlines Mommy Blogger - Flying with Baby

by: Elizabeth Sedway, Famplosion.com

Who knew...even Southwest Airlines has their own mommy blogger. Jessica Turner is the resident Mommy Blogger for the airlines. Her guest blog posts and video blogs focus on traveling with her baby, tips she discovers and family-friendly activities to experience around the country. When she isn't traveling, she enjoys spending time with her family, working, blogging and scrapbooking. She and her husband, Matthew, live in Nashville, Tenn., with their 10-month-old peanut, Elias, who is currently into everything!

Among Jessica's posts is, 'How Not to Go Nuts When Flying with a Peanut'. 'Peanut' is Jessica's Southwest-friendly term for kids. Get it? In this article, and the accompanying video below, Jessica outlines truly helpful hints for parents flying with babies. Every parent has struggled with this process; most of us learned how to do it 'the hard way'. Thanks to Jessica, moms today don't need to muddle their way through.

Famplosion offers thousands of current family activities for families. Many of the cities serviced by Southwest are included among the cities covered by Famplosion. Here are some examples: Austin, TX, Chicago, IL, Columbus, OH, Dallas, TX, Detroit, MI, Houston, TX, Indianapolis, IN, Jacksonville, FL, Los Angeles, CA, Nashville, TN, New York City, NY, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Phoenix, AZ, Sacramento, CA, Salt Lake City, UT, San Antonio, TX, San Diego, CA, San Francisco, CA, San Jose, CA, Seattle, WA, Reno/Tahoe.

New Year's Eve in Nashville

by: Elizabeth Sedway, Famplosion.com

Nashville is singing out 2009 and playin' in 2010.  Starting at 7:30p, at 1st and Broadway in front of the Hard Rock Cafe, join in the free street party fondly named, Bash on Broadway.  Performing live at the event will be:  Rodne Atkins, Tommy Sims & Friends, with special guests Marc Broussard and Johnny Lang, The Dirt Drifters and Gabe Dixon.  As midnight approaches the crowd with await grand fireworks and the 'Guitar Drop'.  Similar to the 'dropping' of the crystal ball at New York City's Time Square, Nashville lowers its revered symbol, the guitar, as midnight approaches.

Families looking for a more active New Years Celebration?  In Murfreesboro come on down to the Skate Center West for the 'New Year's Eve Late Night Skate'.  From 7:30p until 2:00 skate and celebrate all that 2009 was and all that 2010 will be for you family.  Party includes: Admission, party favors, slice of Perky's Pizza, soft drink, and a glowstick

Christmas in the Nashville Area

by:  Elizabeth Sedway, Famplosion.com

Who doesn't love making a gingerbread house during Christmas? Did you know that the spice ginger can be traced back to Europe during the 11th century. Explorers came back from the Middle East with the spice ginger. It quickly became popular, especially in Germany. Nuremberg, Germany is reportedly the gingerbread capital of the world.


This Sunday, at the Viking Cooking School in Franklin Tenessee, on December 20th, from 2p to 4p, families with children ages 7 years and older will have the delightful opportunity to make a gingerbread house together. Event organizers say:

Have fun creating royal icing snowmen and majestic holiday trees adorned with premium sprinkles, sparkly decoratifs, and colorful sanding sugars. Your gingerbread house will come alive with candies, gumdrops, peppermints, sprinkles, cookies and more. Start a family tradition that will carry on for generations.

This holiday event and many other Christmas family events in the Nashville area can be found on Famplosion.com. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year from our family to yours.

Postscript:  Our sincerest sympathies go out to our friends at the Nashville Zoo.  This week Kiba, the African Elephant passed away.  Kiba was a source of delight and education for Nashville families for many years.

Father - Daughter Date Night

by: James J. Ackerman, Famplosion.com

On two separate occassions, my wife has traveled overseas for a week or more. While it is common for me to be out of town, it is very uncommon for my wife to be away. When she's away, the whole dynamic of our household changes. I have to be both father and mother to our teenage daughter; a solid reminder of how much my wife has on her plate.

While I will never compensate for her absence, I have truly enjoyed time with my daughter, Lily. One of my most cherished memories will be taking our daughter out on "dates". Dads of teenage girls, I highly recommend this.

On date nights with my daughter, I have a three goals. The first is to expose her to culture and art. The second is get her comfortable around adults. And lastly, I want her to experience what it is like to be treated like a lady, so when she is really dating someday soon the bar will have been set good and high.

On our first date, I took Lily to a concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center , where we saw a wonderful jazz concert. While she enjoyed the concert, I think she most enjoyed being in such a beautiful place and having a grown-up night out.

On our second date, which was just a few weeks ago, we attended an evening exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. The exhibit featured several pieces by Georgia O'Keefe which my daughter loves. As we toured the gallery, I saw how well she responded to the art and what she liked. She made good observations and had brilliant questions too. Her favorite was an O'Keefe painting of a sunflower. We didn't stay too long; long enough to enjoy the art without feeling the need to really study it too seriously. Again, I could see how much she enjoyed a grown-ups night out. We ran into a few people we know, like our next door neighbor, who commented on how beautiful she looked.


Famplosion is a great resource for finding fun things to do with all of your kids, no matter what age.




To add your own activity or event to Famplosion.com, click here.

Thanksgiving in Nashville

by: Elizabeth Sedway, Famplosion.com

Thanksgiving is all about blessings. As we count our own blessings this year, we also have the priviledge of sharing blessings with others. The Salvation Army in Nashville is looking for volunteers to serve a Thanksgiving meal to those that need it the most. Contact Matt Vamvas for details: 242-0411.

With Thanksgiving dinner under our belts, Nashville turns its holiday sights to Christmas with all sorts of yuletide events over the four day Thanksgiving holiday.

At the Belle Meade Plantation, families can celebrate a Victorian Christmas. As you tour the mansion you will become a guest of William and Annie Jackson, as they host a holiday celebration. The mansion will be lavishly decorated in Victorian finery in honor of the occasion.

At Gaylord Opryland celebrate A Country Christmas. Enjoy the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, including the fabulous Radio City Rockettes. The Opryland folks say it best

We’ve got Louise Mandrell’s "Joy To The World" Christmas Dinner & Show; entertaining cruises aboard the General Jackson Showboat; our Winter Wonderland area featuring Photos with Santa; our Holiday Craft Show and Hall of Trees; Carriage Rides; Brightest Star Christmas Fountain Show; and nearly 2 million Christmas lights. It’s everything Christmas and all at Gaylord Opryland!

Enjoy these and many other holiday events over the Thanksgiving weekend in Nashville.

To add your own activity or event to Famplosion.com, click here.

Best Ghost Tours in America

by: Elizabeth Sedway, Famplosion.com

Do you believe in ghosts? Even those that don't, admit to loving a good ghost story. Here at Famplosion.com, we've searched behind countless creaky doors to find the 'Best Ghost Tours in America'. Featured here, are just a few of the chilling ghost tours listed on Famplosion. To see a list of ghost tours by city, click on the city names in this article.

In Nashville, there are a number of ghost tours to enjoy with your family. Nashville Ghost Tours, an event suitable for all ages, is a comfortably paced ninety minute walking tour of 'the shadow-filled streets of downtown Nashville'. At Hermitage, the one-time and maybe present home of Andrew Jackson, guests of all ages are invited to have a frightfully good time. Tour former President Jackson's plantation at night, and enjoy Tennessee ghost tales

Like Nashville, San Francisco offers countless grim, grinning ghosts of their own. Families with children 8 years and older, can go on a real guided ghost hunt. The one mile walking tour 'in a safe quiet neighborhood on tree lined streets with fine Victorian architecture' is lead by an experience story-teller.

Also for families with older children, the Winchester Mystery House, offers the 'Flashlight 'Ghost' Tours. Each Friday the 13th, and around Halloween, guests roam the rambling halls of this unique home, aided by nothing more than a souvenir flashlight.

The 'Not-Too-Spooky Halloween', at the Habitot Children's Museum in Berkeley, California, is likely to be more to the liking of families with children 6 years old and younger. While paranormal encounters are unlikely at this event, kids are invited to arrive in costume to play miniature golf in the infant-toddler garden graveyard and to conduct experiments with slime in the Art Studio. Paper ghost will fly in the wind tunnel and Halloween stories will be recounted in the 'Witch's Tent'.

The RMS Queen Mary, docked in Long Beach, California, offers a number of chilling potentially paranormal experiences. Beginning in the dark of night on October 16th, guest can brave the perils of the '15th Annual Halloween Terrorfest'. Families with kids 12 years and older can, if they dare, experience the 'Shipwreck: 15 Days of Terror', described by previous survivors as 'terrifying mazes located both on and off the haunted vessel'.

At Lake Tahoe, visit the former haunt of the charismatic 'Rat Pack', the Cal Neva Resort. Take a private guided tour of the Secret Tunnels below the resort:

Learn about Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior, Dean Martin and Al Capone's more private moments as the Cal Neva staff takes you on an historical tour of time gone by. See where Marilyn Monroe slipped away with political favorites and spent some of her last hours overlooking this Lake Tahoe resort from its rustic cabin decks. Don't forget to ask about the paranormal activity that still exists
today!

In Salt Lake City, guided ghost tours take a two hour guided tour by a professional storyteller, as you travel by bus to the great "haunts" of the City. Learn about the ghosts who reputedly dwell in these historic buildings and cemeteries.

Seattle also has some great ghost tours--including one at the world-famous Pike's Place Market.

To add your own activity or event to Famplosion.com, free of charge, click here

A time for serving

A few weeks ago, my family went to a friend's house to help pack food bags for the homeless. We assembled maybe a couple hundred bags with food, socks, toothpaste and brush...basic stuff for folks who could really use these things. Once packed, my 4 year old son and I went with our friends downtown to hand out the bags. A couple hundred bags went in less than 20 minutes walking around downtown San Francisco. We even came across a family in need with a kid about the same age as mine. My son gripped my hand tightly as we walked around a tougher part of town. He didn't say much then, but a couple weeks later, completely unsolicited by me, he asked when we were going to go hand out some more food. It made an impression, and I have a feeling that impression will be a lasting one.

Today, we had a great phone call with the Salvation Army in Nashville. The idea is to list in Famplosion the many opportunities to serve the community which the Salvation Army provides. They serve in powerful ways some folks who really need a helping hand. I'm excited to find more opportunities to serve in the other cities we cover, and get them listed in Famplosion under the Service category. If you know of opportunities such as these in your town, please list them here and let me know about them! It's been said, you make a living with what you get and a life with what you give away.