Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Santa Claus Quotes



Christmas happens only once a year, but it it one of the most fun times of the year! Writers have said a lot about the Christmas holiday (and everything that goes with it). Celebrate Christmas with these quotes from famous authors like Charles Dickens and Walter Scott.

"Sing hey! Sing hey!
For Christmas Day;
Twine mistletoe and holly.
For a friendship glows
In winter snows,
And so let's all be jolly!"
- Author Unknown

"There are three stages of a man's life: He believes in Santa Claus, he doesn't believe in Santa Claus, he is Santa Claus."
- Author Unknown

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus."
- Francis Pharcellus Church

"I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys."
- Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
- Charles Dickens, "A Christmas Carol"

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveller, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home!"
- Charles Dickens, "The Pickwick Papers" (1836)
"Christmas isn't a season. It's a feeling."
- Edna Ferber

"I do like Christmas on the whole.... In its clumsy way, it does approach Peace and Goodwill. But it is clumsier every year."
- E.M. Forster

"Fail not to call to mind, in the course of the twenty-fifth of this month, that the Divinest Heart that ever walked the earth was born on that day; and then smile and enjoy yourselves for the rest of it; for mirth is also of Heaven's making."
- Leigh Hunt

"Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart."
- Washington Irving

"I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

"I hear that in many places something has happened to Christmas; that it is changing from a time of merriment and carefree gaiety to a holiday which is filled with tedium; that many people dread the day and the obligation to give Christmas presents is a nightmare to weary, bored souls; that the children of enlightened parents no longer believe in Santa Claus; that all in all, the effort to be happy and have pleasure makes many honest hearts grow dark with despair instead of beaming with good will and cheerfulness."
- Julia Peterkin, A Plantation Christmas (1934)

"Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign."
- Christina Rossetti

"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more."
- Dr. Seuss

"A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year."
- Walter Scott

"To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year."
- E.B. White, "The Second Tree from the Corner" (1954)

"Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.

"And the more you spend in blessing The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart's possessing
Returns to you glad."
- John Greenleaf Whittier

"Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus."
- Francis Pharcellus Church

Related Articles
Christmas
Quotes for Christmas
Famous Christmas Quotes

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE OUT THERE!!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Physical Therapy And Kids

There are many reasons as to why children may need physical therapy. It could be because they have cerebral palsy and they need physical therapy to help them move their bodies easier or perhaps they broke a leg, or they may have weak muscles somewhere in their body. Even those with brain injuries may need to see a physical therapist since the brain has a lot to do with the functioning of muscles and knowing how to do things such as sit, walk, and roll.

There are a number of different conditions and injuries that require http://www.source1medical.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.326/.f) physical therapy in children. There is even one such condition called Jumper's knee that becomes a problem for a lot of children and adolescents. If the child complains of tenderness and pain around the bottom of the kneecap, then this might be the problem. Kids who are involved in sports tend to have this problem during growth spurts. A physical therapist may use heat and ice as well as ultrasound to gain control over the pain and any inflammation. The physical therapist also works on strengthening the knee and creating a balance through exercises such as posture exercises.

However, children are always severely spraining ankles, breaking legs, arms, hands, and feet. They may pull something somewhere or tear a muscle during physical activity. All of these incidents call for some kind of physical therapy whether short-term or long-term. Physical therapy is important in children who have injured a part of their body because an injury can actually stunt growth, so it is important to make sure proper growth is inhibited by creating proper alignments and balances within the body.

Equipment
There are different types of equipment that may be used with children who are going through physical therapy. An example is a safety belt that prevents the child from falling down or stumbling when they are learning how to walk. Crutches may also be used and the child and parents will be instructed on how to use them when the child encounters such obstacles as stairs. Children may also be required to wear a safety belt while learning how to walk on crutches so they do not injure themselves further.

Other types of equipment include:

Walkers made just for children that help them learn to walk.
Toys such as balls, swings, benches, and slides. Toys are an important tool because it encourages the child to work their muscles through fun.
Steps, incline mats, and hurdles can create a great physical environment for a child because these objects encourage them to climb and jump.
Many of the different types of http://www.source1medical.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.89/.f) physical therapy equipment that is used promotes physical activity in some way. Then there are others types of equipment that is used in reducing pain and inflammation and helps restore a balance within the injured area. There seems to be a little something for every situation for every single age, whether it be devices to help a child walk or to rehabilitate a muscle that has been torn. With sports becoming so intense nowadays, sports injuries are very prevalent and a physical therapist is required for the healing process. Then again, children are born with conditions that physical therapy can provide relief for. That is why it is important that the proper equipment be available to help these children.

Source 1 Medical provides http://www.source1medical.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.89/.f) Physical Therapy Equipment designed for children and adults. We provide Child friendly Pediatric http://www.source1medical.com/s.nl/sc.2/category.326/.f) Physical Therapy Tables and Furniture.


There are different types of equipment that may be used with children who are going through physical therapy. An example is a safety belt that prevents the child from falling down or stumbling when they are learning how to walk. Crutches may also be used and the child and parents will be instructed on how to use them when the child encounters such obstacles as stairs. Children may also be required to wear a safety belt while learning how to walk on crutches so they do not injure themselves further.

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Best Buy Gift Card

I stumbled upon this story about best buy gift card scam and i thought i want to share with my friends the story. Just as a precaution incase it will happen to us one day.

It was my birthday a couple of days ago. I’ve gotten well past the point where I make a big deal out of it. Still, it is nice that others recognize the day. It is pleasant that someone else lets you know that they are happy you were born. It’s also nice to get presents. So, it was my birthday and my wife got me a couple of presents, which was nice. She got me single cup coffee maker that brews coffee right into a travel cup, so I can kind of grab and go. She also got me a $100 Best Buy gift card, and that is where my adventure begins.

I used to love Best Buy. I went there often to buy CDs and other products because they had the best deals. They also had a tendency to have the largest selection. Since the advent of the Internet as a shopping venue, however, I find that Best Buy no longer has the best deals. I also don’t like having to deal with the crowds in there at Christmas time. The nearest Best Buy store to me is also quite a bit further away than other big box stores I could go to. But all that didn’t really matter today because I had a $100 gift card and I was going to go spend it on something I wanted, something fun. I was actually going to go shopping for myself. I got in my car and headed to Best Buy.

I arrived at Best Buy and grabbed a little hand held shopping basket. I wondered what there was that I would want for less than $100. I saw some digital cameras, but any that I wanted were more than $100. Besides, I already have a digital camera. I saw some digital camcorders, but they started at well over $200 and I don’t have the extra money to spend on something so frivolous at this moment. I saw a nice pair of binoculars for about seventy five dollars which I thought about because my telescope broke a while back, but I took a pass on it. I walked around the computer section for a while, trying to get a feel for the newest in that technology, but nothing caught my eye and there were certainly no deals that jumped out at me. I settled on the old stand by, CDs and movies. I went down the aisles looking at the Rock CDs, as those were what I was interested in. I picked out about five CDs, including Death Cab for Cutie, The Killers, a couple of old CDs from the Cure that I had never replaced from when my house burned down, and some other CD that I can’t remember. I then went to the movie section to look for something that might interest me. I found a history documentary on Hitler and the occult and some other movie. I wanted to get as close to a hundred dollars as possible. When I had picked out what I felt was enough I proceeded to the cash register.

I waited patiently in line as the cashier finished with the customer in front of me. I said hi to the cashier and asked her how she was doing as I like to do when in that situation. She told me she was fine and we continued to make small talk as she rang up my merchandise. The total of my purchase was $91.51. I felt OK with that and handed the cashier my gift card. I told her I wanted the remaining balance in cash. She told me she couldn’t do that. I asked her why not and she informed me that they couldn’t give cash back for a gift card. I insisted that someone had given her cash for that card and that I should be able to recover the cash I wasn’t spending. The manager quickly became involved. She told me that they could not give change for a gift card unless it was less than five dollars. She told me that if I had the receipt from the gift card that I could get the change from it. Can you imagine? Does anyone give someone a gift card and then give them the receipt to? How ridiculous does that sound? I changed tactics and told her I didn’t get up that way very often and did not want to return to her store to spend what was left on the card. She told me that I could go back now and spend the remaining money. Now my ire was raised. I saw their game. People get these gift cards and then are forced to spend almost the entire amount at the store, and I’m sure that the store hopes the consumer will spend more than what’s on the card. I could feel my face getting red. I grabbed my merchandise and walked out the store.

I was a few steps out the door when an idea hit me. If they weren’t going to give me the $8.49 change for the card, which should not have been that unreasonable a request, then I wasn’t going to give them any money at all. I turned around and went back in. I didn’t need the junk I had bought. Besides, I could probably get it cheaper somewhere else. I would return it and get my money back.

I went to the return counter and told them I wanted to return everything I had just bought. I told them I wanted cash for the merchandise. They would not give it to me. They would only put them money back on the gift card. Again, a manager got involved. This manager had a badge that told me he was a “hiring manager”, whatever that meant. I told him what was happening and that I refused to spend any of my money at his store. He told me that he would have liked to have given me cash for change but that Best Buy had a contract with American Express and that the agreement stated that they would not give change for more than five dollars. I told him I didn’t care about his excuses and that I wanted the money back for the card. He told me I needed the receipt, that if it was bought with a credit card that money would be returned to the card, if it was bought with a check then a check would be sent to me, if it was bought with cash than I would receive cash. The other manager, who had come over to observe the proceedings, said she had told me the same thing. I explained to her that she hadn’t, that she didn’t say anything about a contract with American Express. She told me that she had told me about not being able to return money without the receipt. The point was moot. I was going to have to get the receipt from my wife, who had been thoughtful enough to buy me this gift card which was now turning into more problems than it was worth. This certainly wasn’t the best customer service I had ever experienced.

I really doubt that these people cared about what was going on here. I can’t help but believe that those workers simply saw me as some butt hole out to give them a hard time. I doubt very much that they could see this from my point of view. I figured it this way, that someone had given them money to buy the gift card and had given me the gift card to use like money at their store. They were going to get their $100 cash for the card no matter what, so they should be able to give me the change. If what I was told by the “hiring manager” is true, then American Express really should have no business telling Best Buy how to best serve their customers. Personally, if it were me, I’d find someone else to handle the gift cards or do it myself if some corporation like American Express was putting such stupid restrictions on my customer service. If I had only wanted to spend ten dollars at their store it seems to me that it would be ten dollars more than they would have had otherwise. What harm would it do Best Buy to give change for a gift card no matter how much or how little one spends when using it? It seems to me that too many people probably just accept these restrictions, don’t question them, and so like sheep we just spend the money at that store even when we can’t find anything we really need or want. We really have become materialistic zombies wondering about the aisles of the big box stores buying junk to try to fulfill our empty lives. I found myself, as I traveled home now light all that merchandise but still in possession of the $100 gift card, thinking that I really didn’t need the stuff I had bought and that the money could be better spent elsewhere. I found myself thinking that all I was doing was acquiring meaningless junk anyway. Certainly there was more to life than acquiring material goods. I began to wonder if this episode was going to bring me some kind of spiritual epiphany.

I got home and fortunately my wife had the receipt for the gift card. If she had thrown it away I guess I would have been stuck with the card and I would have been forced to spend the money at Best Buy. It seems to me that that policy is also a little unfair. I took my son with me when I returned to Best Buy. I gave the manager the card and the receipt. He then asked me if I had the credit card which had purchased the gift card. I told him no, that it had been a gift. My son noted “Hence the name gift card.” Quite an astute observation from a thirteen year old, even if it was beyond obvious. I told him he had said all I would need was the receipt and that had he told me I needed the card I would have brought it. I ended up having to call my wife to get the credit card number. I then explained to the “hiring manager” that I knew he didn’t care, but someone higher up at Best Buy should. I explained that they’d had $91.51 in their pocket and that money had been lost to them simply because they refused to give me $8.49 change. Not only that, I told him, but I had given Best Buy gift cards as gifts in the past and I would no longer do that. In addition, my wife, who also thought the policy of not giving back change was silly, would never again buy a Best Buy gift card. I also told him that I would write about this episode and people would read about it. And so I have. In the end, the money was put back on my wife’s credit card and she gave me $100 dollars cash I can spend anywhere. I don’t know where I’m going to spend it, maybe I’ll hunt down some deals on the Internet, maybe I’ll take my family out to dinner. I’m sure I’ll make good use of it. As for a spiritual epiphany, it never happened, at least not yet. But I do feel better now that the episode is over and I've kept my promise to write about it. In fact, I feel strangely more empowered with $100 cash in my pocket than I did with flaccid piece of plastic good at only one store in my wallet.

I got this story from : http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/22349

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Planning A Successful Family Reunion



A family reunion is a terrific way to keep in touch with your distant relatives. It can be a lot of fun to visit with family members that you haven't seen in years, and if you have kids of your own, it's a great opportunity to teach them about their heritage.

Planning a family reunion is a lot of work, however. Tracking everyone down, finding a time that works for everybody, choosing a location, and planning the food and activities is a tremendous undertaking. If you have a large family, you'll want to start laying your plans a year or two in advance.

One of the most difficult parts is choosing a time when nearly everyone can attend. People's lives are hectic and sometimes they can't easily escape their jobs. But with today's Internet technology, it's easy to communicate by group email and work out a convenient time for everybody.

You will need to choose a good location for your family reunion. The size of your family will be a big factor in where you hold your get-together. If someone has a large backyard or a big spread out in the country and is willing to host the event, this can be ideal. Another alternative is to hold it in a park where you can reserve a section for your group.

What's for Dinner?

Next on your checklist should be the food. Eating is always an important part of any family get-together, and you need to look at what your choices are to feed everyone.

Start by getting in touch with a representative of each family to collect their ideas and preferences, and then get general agreement on what you'll be eating.

Probably the easiest solution is to cater your family reunion. Of course, that can get very pricey and it might be impractical for some budgets.

A barbecue can be a pleasurable and low-cost way to feed the gang. Ask each family group to bring their own BBQ grill, and everyone can cook and eat together. And people can prepare the food that they enjoy the most. This is the ideal way to please everyone.

If you like, you can ask everyone to chip in some money to purchase drinks and snacks. Assign a side dish to each family and have a potluck.

Fun Family Reunion Activities

After everyone has caught up with each other's lives and eaten their fill, it's time to get everyone moving. Having some fun activities planned is essential to a successful family reunion.

Your plans should include some sports and games that are fun for all ages, such as softball or volleyball. Another great idea is to hold a family Olympics with prizes and ribbons. Team up different age groups to keep it fair.

You also want some activities targeted especially to the children to keep them from getting bored and unmanageable. If you have lots of room, consider renting an inflatable play structure for the day. Set up a coloring area, and bring lots of outdoor games for them to play such as croquet, badminton, and horseshoes. Organize a sack race and candy toss.

With careful planning, your family reunion will supply enough memories to last a lifetime, or at least until the next gathering!


*By Ashley King the editor of the Family Section at http://www.i-knowhowonline.com/ i-KnowHow | Information for Life, where you'll also find ideas and tips for hobbies, home and garden, personal finance, technology basics and much more.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

7 Things To Enjoy Doing With Your Family

When was the last time you had great fun with your family? Family is always the most valuable thing in life, so stand up and plan to have fun with your family.

Going to the zoo is definitely my number-one pick for family activities. Other than visiting animals, most zoos nowadays have rides that you can enjoy with your family. Bring your own snacks if you want to save some money. To add some fun, let your kids be the photographers for the day (buy a disposable camera if you don't want your kids to break your expensive digital one) and you might be surprised by how creative your kids can be.

Having a picnic at the park is also a good activity for your family. Even though you might not be really keen on outdoor activities, you can still enjoy your time by playing together after having your lunch. For example, you can play lawn games or bring a horseshoe game for your family. Afterward, you can enjoy your private time chatting with your sweetheart and let your children play on the playground themselves.

Visiting the nation's capital would be your choice if you want to go on a trip with your family. Learn more about the history by visiting historical sites. Immerse yourself into the world of history together with your family. History creates topics for you and your children.

A treasure hunt is a popular activity among children, so going hunting with your family is a nice choice. You can train your kids by asking them to be the person in charge who can hold the treasure map and make decisions. However, they still need your help for driving them around. It would be more fun if you can make some pit stops for ice cream or snowcones along the way.

Create a video clip with your kids. Make your family the characters in the clip. You may talk about your family life in the clip, about yours interests or even to create a drama. Accompany you kids to write a script and create a mini-movie together.

Doing some yard work together can also be a fun quality time for your family. Plant the flower and mow the lawn with your kids. After a day of hard work, you can all sit back and enjoy a barbecue at your beautifully cleaned backyard.

At bedtime read to your young kids and read with your elder kids. Try to maintain a good reading habit by reading with your kids. Not only can you relax from the busy work day, you can also improve your language ability, create topics with the kids and get your kids more creative by reading fiction. Think of your own list of things to do with your family. You will enjoy the laughter and joy with your family.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Gender Selection : The Ultimate Choice



Children are a great blessing to their parents, and a gift to mankind. Being childless is a curse that many families bear in silence, especially around family gatherings and holidays. It is very important to appreciate all children for whom they are, regardless of their sex. Nevertheless, many couples regard the gender of their next child to be very important because they would like to balance the sexes of their children.
Did you know that to a great extent you can choose the sex of your next baby? There are certain techniques that may help you so that you will not be limited to having children of one sex. If you are concerned about the sex of your next child, this article will provide you with important information.
The following are common misconceptions about factors that influence the sex of your next child:

• Eating or avoiding certain foods will not make a difference.
• Having the female reach orgasm first has no influence.
• The depth of penetration at the time of ejaculation does not matter.
The following are factors that may in fact influence the sex of your next child:
• Position at the time of intercourse may slightly influence the sex outcome Couples who conceive during intercourse where the male enters his wife from the rear approach (“doggy” style) have a slight increase in bearing a son. In conceiving a daughter, the position of the couple at the time of intercourse does not seem to matter at all.
• The most successful results of gender selection over the last 20 years have been the obtained using albumen gradients for sperm selection of sex. Using this method you will have a child of the chosen sex 70% of the time. This relates to a 40% increase over the normal rate of having a boy or a girl.

Determine gender or gender selection

The sex chromosomes determine the gender of a child at the moment of fertilization. If the egg is fertilized by an X bearing sperm the child will be a daughter, and conversely if the egg is fertilized by a Y bearing sperm the child will be a son. The ratio of genders at birth is 51% males to 49% females. This ratio holds true for the human species, as proven by many studies.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

A Live-in Nanny Or Live-in AuPair Could Be The Solution Your Family Needs



The Nanny is so far my favourite tv program. the only comedy that can make me laugh and i love nanny Fine! She's so stylish and supportive. But i'm not going to talk about her, i want to talk about a live in nanny or AuPair. Read this!

Childcare is not only expensive but can be hard to come-by. Often, childcare centres have waiting lists, and you could find yourself limited to the days you can choose from, which could limit your work choices. There is an alternative to enrolling your children into a childcare facility that could not only be convenient for you, but could ensure you have childcare and babysitting whenever you need it, and give you some freedom back to live life how you want to. An Au pair or Nanny could be the solution for you and your family.
Taking on a live-in Nanny or live-in AuPair is a growing trend across the globe, and where once upon a time, only the wealthy could afford one, it is now a more commonplace scenario for less wealthy families. With the cost of childcare ever increasing, and with more and more families needing to put their children into childcare to be able to gain a second income, sometimes there is no real advantage to paying hundreds of dollars per week per child, just to earn a few more hundred dollars for the family. You expend more energy and take on more stress and the benefits are not always clear if you are not able to make a decent income once the childcare costs are factored in.

When you have a live-in Nanny or AuPair, the cost is greatly reduced as you provide accommodation and food for your Nanny, and in return they offer childcare and even home help whenever you need it. You could include duties such as laundry and cleaning in the job description, and find yourself with even more time to enjoy your life and your family.

There is a growing trend now, where families take on short term nannies or AuPairs, who are travelling and would like to stay in your city for a period of a few weeks to a few months. You can meet and connect with these nannies online, and make the arrangements you need to, before they even arrive. Perhaps you only need vacation care for the summer holidays, or would like someone to stay with your children while you go away on business. There are many scenarios where taking on a short term live in AuPair or Nanny could be beneficial to you and your family, without the cost of it breaking the bank.

By using an online facility to connect with someone who would like to come and stay with you, is not only a very cheap alternative to paying an expensive agency to find someone for you, but you meet these people yourself online, can converse with them and get to know them before making a decision about whether this person is right for your family dynamic. With many AuPairs to choose from, from all over the world, there has never been an easier way to find the right person for the job, and for your family.

Taking on a short or long term live-in Nanny or live-in AuPair could just be the solution you are looking for to meet your childcare needs without it costing you a fortune. Take the time to have a look online and be amazed with the difference it can make to your life!

source from : http://www.populararticles.com/

Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Gift Basket for Faraway Family Members



I know very well what it's like to have family who live far away. When I was growing up, my grandparents and aunts/uncles and cousins lived across the ocean. When I had my own kids, their grandparents and aunts/ uncles lived on the other side of the country. Now that my sister has 2 small children, the youngest of whom I've never met, this being far away has hit me again. How can we show far away family, especially when children are involved, that we want to be close and stay connected?

We could design a gift basket for family members who live far away, just to say we care. We would put into it several mementos that make the distance between us seem smaller.

If we have young children, we could send grandparents a digital picture frame. In case you're wondering what a digital picture frame is; it is a device about the size and shape of a picture frame that has a LCD screen. The screen displays multiple photos in a slide show format, and it connects to the Internet via the phone line to download new pictures and information to display. You use your computer to upload photos to a website and every day the frame uses the phone line to connect to the website and download any new photos. This is an ideal way to send digital photos of the family to grandparents who lack a computer and/or the skills to use one.

We could also include a DVD, or a video depending on the equipment we and they have, of some recent activity; perhaps our child scoring a goal at soccer or performing in a recital, or even just a family picnic or something like that. Photos are great, certainly better than nothing, but they just don't show you what the child is really like as well as video does. They don't give you as much of a feeling of being there as a movie does. We could also include a tape (either audiotape or videotape) of our child giving the recipient a special message.

Of course we could always send regular photos too. One idea to make a photo special is to cut out the shape of the children (the important part) and have it glued onto a plastic block so that it stands upright by itself. Another idea is to frame the photo in a magnetic frame that is suitable for the holiday so that it is easy to put on the fridge. I have one on my fridge right now that is a heart frame for Valentines Day. You can often get these at places like Target. We could include a picture the child has drawn or painted, or even a small thing the child has made himself if the child likes to do crafts.

Of course, most of these ideas are not just for children and grandparents, although I know that the time when you feel the farthest away from your family is when either you are a child away from grandparents, or you are away from a small child, especially a grandchild. These ideas can be applied to any faraway family members. When family members move away is when they most need to know that we're thinking of them. A gift basket would be a great way to reassure them of this.



Source: Free Articles

Friday, October 1, 2010

Best time to visit Disney World


It's not just about the crowds...

In choosing your time to visit Walt Disney World, you want to balance four factors:

•crowds
•weather
•park hours
•and special events.
Some choice times for Disney World vacations are mentioned at the bottom of this page. But first let's consider these four factors. You might change your mind about the best time to visit!

For starters:

Extended Park Hours & Special Events
Yes, the busiest times of year are crowded, but they also have benefits: extended hours, plus special parades etc.

During summer, the Magic Kingdom theme park is often open until 11 p.m. or later; during Christmas and New Year's, it will probably be open until midnight, and Epcot until 10 p.m.

Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Disney's Hollywood Studios are a lot of fun after dark, and you'll often find a special night parade, fireworks, and/or shows that only happen when the park is open late. For ex., during a visit we made in June, day-time crowds were intense but night-time in MK was delightful: no wait for rides, fireworks at 10, and at 11 pm, an extra Spectral Parade. Peak periods do have their benefits.

As for special events, many people would consider Disney Christmas -- with spectacular lights and festivities-- a "best time to visit", despite the crowds. Star Wars Weekends in June and the Epcot Flower and Garden Festival in spring (with free Flower Power concerts) are other fun times.

The calendars for individual theme parks at the Walt Disney World site show park hours. For special events by month, try this calendar at AllEarsNet.com.

Weather
Expect plenty of heat and humidity during summer, which sounds horrendous with small kids and long line-ups... But for many rides, line-ups are under shade or in air-conditioned areas; plus, you can take coping measures. Ride a "wet ride", to cool down. Leave the park in the afternoon, then return for night-time.

Summertime often brings thunderstorms; the rain rarely lasts long, and cools things down. Bring plastic ponchos, or buy the Mickey poncho on the spot. Hurricanes are rarely a problem, because Orlando's inland.

Crowds- Busiest (and Least Busy) Times
Also affecting best times to visit is visitor volume: i.e. when are the parks least crowded and most crowded? For example, the end of April, after Spring Break, has moderate attendance; January and early February, and fall months, have low attendance.

Resort Prices: also in the mix about "When to Visit Disney World" are the seasonal prices for Walt Disney World Resorts. Count up five different "Seasons": Value, Regular, Summer, Peak, and Holiday Season. Sample dates: Value Season, January 1 to February 13, August 3 to October 1, November 30 to December 18; Regular Season, March 30 to May 21, October 2 to November 29; Summer Season, May 22 to August 2; Peak Season, February 14 to March 29, and Holiday Season, December 19 to December 31.* (These are sample dates only; and there are variations even within the seasons. See details.)

Best bets for When to Visit Disney World

Disney-philes have praised the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas as a top time to visit, with the parks decorated for Christmas, but not much crowds. Seems like too many people are in on the secret, though; Mousesavers' authors have reported heavy crowds. Be aware, too, that the Magic Kingdom closes early some nights, and weather may be too cool for the water parks. Still, this remains a recommended time for enjoying the park decorations before peak season.

Other recommended times:

•January, after school starts back after the holidays
•late April, after spring break, until Memorial Day; and you can enjoy free concerts, with name bands from the sixties and seventies, during Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival
•late August: many schools in the southeast are back in session, and crowds are typically less. Also, resort prices drop somewhat. Watch out, though, for earlier park closings!

source : About.com: Family Vacations