As I posted last week, we love photo cutouts.  My family will drop everything and demand to have their picture taken if they see a photo cutout.  By your comments (which I appreciate so much!), I have found that we are not the only family!  I would love for you to share your photo cutouts with me!  If you are willing to share, email me (jennifer at twokidsandamap dot com) the picture, where it was taken, and permission to put the photo on my site, www.twokidsandamap.com.  I am thinking there might need to be some sort of contest involved!!  I will let you know if I come up with some details!  If you would like to sponsor the contest with a fabulous prize, please let me know! 

So today, I am dreaming of those playful moments when my kids find a silly cutout…whether it be an astronaut at the Air and Space Museum, Mozart in Salzburg, the Mannequin Pis in Brussels, or the mermaid at the Nauticus.  Those silly moments and pictures to remember them remind me why I travel with my kids. 

Stop by Mara’s at Mother of All Trips to see what everyone else is dreaming about today.

Here are quick links to the wonderful recommendations from Trekaroo families and those of local Floridian bloggers and Orlando aficionados. They’ve been there, done that, and now they’re giving you their inside scoop by jumping on board the Trekaroo KidsMobile Blog Carnival when it stopped in Orlando.

• Top Activities for Kids in Orlando, Florida – voted by Trekaroo parents
• Top Kid-friendly Hotels in Orlando, Florida – voted by Trekaroo parents
• 5 Tot-friendly Restaurants Favorites at Disney by Two Kids and A Map.
• Disney Hotels for Tweens and Teens by Travel with Teens
• Top 5 “Must Do” Walt Disney World Attractions with Teens by Disney Everyday.
• Free and Low-Cost Activities in Orlando for Preschoolers by modernmami
•  Water Parks in Florida – Cheerio Family
• More Disney, Less Waiting – A review of RideMax – Li Er Hanson

Other Resources for Walt Disney World and Orlando, Florida

• All 71 Activities for Kids in and around Orlando, Florida
• Kid-friendly hotels in and around Orlando, Florida

Next stop, Memphis, Tennessee – Jump on board the KidsMobile!

The Trekaroo KidsMobile is a blog carnival with a twist. It’s designed to provide a unique opportunity for mom and dad bloggers to be featured on Trekaroo while 1) expressing their unique point of view 2) getting a web of link exchanges. Join us for one of our next stopovers.

It doesn’t have to be a cutout to grab their attention…it could just be a photo op!

Romance at Disneyland – This mama knows the importance of traveling as a couple and leaving the kids at home too!

Carnival Cruise Line’s Onboard Activities for Kids - My husband and I have been on one cruise and it was pre-kids.  This article points out some of the kid-friendly activities. 

A Road Trip with Children Experiment: Eat While You Drive. Stop to Play - Love this!  This is what we do when we road trip.  We usually pack a lunch and then when we stop at a rest stop or other stopping point, the kids have time to play and are ready to hop back in the car for another 3-5 hours!

Travel Mamas has great deals too!  Right now if you book through Travel Mamas, you can get a great deal on the Nickelodeon Suites Resort!

 Head over to Travel Mamas to see my guest post, Family Friendly New Orleans on a Budget.  We have gotten our New Orleans budget down to about 300-350 dollars for a weekend and that even include gas and hotel! 

Follow My Mardi Gras Experience to read what other bloggers are saying about Mardi Gras 2010.

Shannon Hurst Lane lives in Louisiana and blogs about New Orleans often.

I really loved reading Guy and Girl Travels take on New Orleans.

Here are some of my other New Orleans posts:

• The Insectarium – New Orleans, LA
• Beignets at the Cafe du Monde
• Thirteen Things to do in New Orleans with Small Children

See what other travelers are dreaming about over at Mother Of All Trips!

It has kept me indoors, searching out tissues and trying to breathe this dry winter air.  Ok…I am being dramatic.  But seriously, I am COLD!  After three days of being in the house with three kids under the age of 9, I finally decided it was time to go.  Of course, the weather was supposed to get yucky again so we tried to find a place indoors and close to home since I (and the rest of Suffolk County apparently) am not used to driving in the snow.  Hurricane-esque rainstorms, yes.  Snow?  No.  After doing some searching I found that although the Children’s Museum of Virginia in Portsmouth is closed for another year due to renovations, Andalo’s Clubhouse is open near the Courthouse Galleries. 

The visit costs $5.00 a person.  Adults have to pay $5.00 as well.  I have no problem paying full price for a full blown children’s museum, but paying here was equivelant to having to pay to play at an indoor bounce house where adults don’t play anyway.  I don’t really agree with it but I paid my money nonetheless to sit on a bench while my kids ran around and played!  We only stayed about an hour.  Despite the fact that I was annoyed that I had to pay $20 for the visit, the kids really did have a blast.  The eight year old loved reading and trying the few science exhibits.

 The little ones enjoyed building castles in the block section. 

Much to my surprise, they totally skipped over the pretend grocery store setup.  There is a separate room for children three and under but we also skipped this section.

Stay tuned because the next few posts are going to be about our other Virginia adventures including Williamsburg, the Yankee Candle flagship store, and several of the area museums.

Yellowstone – If you follow this link, you can read all of the articles that she wrote about Yellowstone.  We had traveled there about two years ago but we were there with two little ones.  I particularly liked reading the similarities and the differences from both of our trips. 

Driving Lessons Give New Meaning to Travels with Teens – I liked this because I can’t remember where we were going, but I remember that feeling when we went on an extended trip and I (with a brand new license!) finally got to drive the family for a little while.

Best Trips – This page has a list of the recommended best trips with teens.  There are some great vacation spots!

As part of Travel Blogger Tuesday, leave your own one favorite blog link!  I can’t get into Simply Linked right now because of password issues, so we are going to try Mr. Linky!

For this week’s Photo Friday, I am sharing a picture I took yesterday on our flight up north.  My daughter and I are on a little trip together through the Suffolk, Norfolk, and Williamsburg area for the next week or so.  We are having a blast together as is evidenced by this picture!

I will be doing some live blogging as we explore the area and will catch up when we get home.  Some of the adventures on our agenda include the Nauticus, the Virginia Living Museum, the Historic Triangle, Norfolk Botanical Gardens, and much more.  Of course if it snows as they are predicting, our agenda might change!

Be sure to stop by Tuesday for Travel Blogger Tuesday where I link to one of my fellow travel bloggers.  I am having so much fun getting to know the many different travel bloggers through their sites and forms of social media that I love to share them with you!  I would also love for you to participate and leave a link to your own one favorite blog post from the week. 

Travel around the world without leaving your computer by visiting Photo Friday at Delicious Baby!

It took me a second to realize what it was in that form!  Can you tell what it is?

Does this help?

Here is a hint!  Everytime I drive past one of these fields I think of two things:  1) Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind and 2) marshmallows!

Doesn’t that kind of resemble a big fluffy marshmallow?!?! 

Yup…that is cotton!  To learn more about the cotton process, take a look at this downloadable .pdf file Cotton: From Field to Fabric.

Stop by DeliciousBaby to see where everyone is traveling to this week!