DISNEYWORLD – The Magic Kingdom : The Pilgrimage for kids below six

DISNEYWORLD – The Magic Kingdom : The Pilgrimage for kids below six
If you have a child or NOT you must visit the Mecca of Disney, Disneyworld Orlando Florida, once in a life time.
When I wanted to take my 3year 10month old daughter I was told many things as she is tooo small, she wont remember, take her when she is older …. older or not DISNEY has something for all ages. My husband the sceptic, didnt make it any easier he said listen to what others have to say, we shouldnt go now, we will go when Sarrah is a little older.
We went my husband and daughter made their first visit together one post forty and one almost at four, and we all had a good time … apart from a few glitches. Do let me know if you have actually managed to have a holiday that went smoothly.
Disney actually managed to meet all our needs, my husband was transported to his school days of rock and roll in Epcot's England, my need for thrill and speed was met at Animal Kingdom's Himalyan Expedition and Sarrah was able to meet all the characters she had up until now seen on her favourite TV shows.

Magic Kingdom Must tries for your kids:
 Kids below six years boys or girls will most defintely enjoy meeting the characters:
Mickey Mouse and friends, Winnie the Pooh and gang, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Cars, Phineas and Ferbs, Buzz and Woody from the Toy story, All the lovely Princesses.
Kids six and under will enjoy Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom most so even if you miss Epcot and Hollywood Studios its fine.
STAY :
We stayed in a standard room at the disney resorts, with access to the monorail, buses, and boat to ferry us across to the theme parks, and downtown disney.
The resort also has rooms with self catering kitchens or kitchenettes, and you could attempt to cook after an entire day at the park. And these rooms are more expensive.
I would suggest you stay at a moderate disney hotel which is around $200 per night.
 FOOD :
The Disney meal plan that we had, gave us one sit down meal, one quick self service meal, and a snack per day per person. This plan suited us fine. We were able to reserve sit down meals once a day with different characters at different parks, resorts and restaurants. You can book meals upto 180days in advance and they do fill up fast.
These character meals were the best part of my daughters day and she actually ate.
But you could buy snacks and fruits from a store outside the parks and carry it with you inside, which will turn out cheaper. Food in the Parks are really expensive if you have to pay for it.
We bought a crate of packaged water 24 bottles for $4 and there are water fountains all over the parks. So dont buy water at the Parks.

We did lunch with Winnie the Pooh and friends at the Crystal Palace.

Funnel cakes, tea, coffee and soup at the Sleepy Hollow Refreshment stand.
And a breakfast of New York hot dogs and corn dogs from Casey's Corner
Cinderella's Royal Table was completely booked.

My Picks for attractions for 2-6 year olds at the Disney theme park  Magic Kigdom:
Would easily require 2 days.

1. Walt disney world railroad – Train ride around the park. (Main street USA)
2. Jungle cruise - a boat ride through the Amazon with make believe elephants, hippos, and cannibals. (Adventureland)
3. The Magic carpets of Aladin - Fly on Aladin's carpet, children will love controling the lever to make the carpet go up and down. (Adventureland)
4. Country Bear Jamboree - 5 country grizzly bears put up a show to make you laugh my daughter  loved it. (Adventureland)
5. Its a small world – figurines of people and animals from around the world their differences and similarities all performing and mesmerising you as you float in a boat (Fantasyland)
   
   
   
   
6. Peter Pan's Flight – fly through the night sky in captain hook's ship and be a part of neverland (Fantasyland)
7. Mickey's PhilharMagic – A 3D movie with Mickey and Friends, or should I say 4D. (Fantasyland)
8. Prince Charming Regal Carrousel – A gigantic carrousel the entire family can ride together on horses and carriages.
   
   
   
   
9. Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – A ride into Winnie the Pooh's greed for honey his dreams and his fears, and meeting all his wonderful friends of the Hundred Acre Woods. (Fantasyland)
10. Mad Tea Party – Rotating and Revolving cups and saucers, not for the light headed like myself.
11. Under the sea : Journey of The Little Mermaid – the story of the little mermaid as you sit in clam shells and enter the world under the sea.
12. Dumbo the Flying Elephant – Sarrah loved this ride and rode this and similar rides more than 10 times. Dumbo flies with the help of a lever that the child can control and make Dumbo go up and down. If the line is too long they have an air-conditioned circus tent which is an awesome play area for your kids to cool off run around and make some friends.
    
    
    
    
13. Casey Jr. Splash N Soak station – a water play area where children can cool off while you give your feet much needed rest. Carry an extra pair of clothes, underwear, and a small towel, you may wish to carry swimwear.
14. Tomorrowland Speedway – no real speeding a make believe F1 circuit with magnetic driven cars which dont go over 20km/hr if you are lucky u might get a faster car which will go at 30km/hr.
    
    
    
    

Other Entertainment that you should not miss at the Magic Kingdom.
Do not miss “Celebrate a Dream come true parade”, “Move it, Shake it, Celebrate it, Street Party”, “Main Street Electrical Parade (night)” at Main Street USA make sure you plan ahead and find good place usually close to the exit/entrance.
“Wishes Night-time spectacular”, and “Dream Along with Mickey” at the Cindrella Castle which is gorgeous and truly spectacular.

My Favourite Adult rides:
Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
You and your partner or spouse can stand only once in line for the rides and tell the ride incharge to give you a fast pass while one parent goes for the ride the other parent can wait with the children. Once you finish the ride you can give the fast pass to your partner who will not have to wait in line. This is called the Parent swap.

The Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique

Our little doll got all dolled up with hair, make-up, sparkles, the dress, wand and tiara, all for a lot of money, which is not worth it but there are lot of princesses at the park.

By Taherreh Jalali-Dashti of Sunburnt Adventures N Many More

Financial Planning for kids by Taherreh Jalali-Dashti

Financial Planning for your children
Now that you consider making a financial commitment to your child's future, make sure of four things:

1. Early investment
2. Informed investment
3. Liquidity and receivability of the funds when you/your child needs them the most.
4. Teach your children to be intelligent about their money

1. Early Investment :
   According to most people early investments for children mean investing within the year of birth of the child.
   However, in my books it means as early as you have the funds to do so. It really doesnt matter how much or how little the investment kitty is, its just good to invest as soon as you can afford to.
   
   
2. Informed Investment :
   
   There are loads of investments in the markets for children and it is not necessary that best investments be those that have the word CHILD or CHILDREN or any of the other synonyms in them.
   The best investments have government backing, for example the public provident funds (PPF), Life Insurance Corperation (LIC), UTI bonds, post office investments (especially kisan vikas patr). All great trust worthy, and you can be sure that you will get your money when they say they will give it.

• LIC needs another blog dedicated to it. The point I would like to make here is Unit Linked Insurance Policy (ULIPs) are not great investments for children. And as far as you can an individual should buy insurance for the literal use of insurance, that is to protect life. LIC has policies that require a one time payment, and other policies that you can pay premiums, once a year, quarterly or monthly. Sums can be assured so that you can plan to receive money at times when your children will need the money the most, for example, for college, marriage, to buy a house, set up a business, or travel around the world.
• Mutual funds can also be a great buy, and you can choose to buy them as systemic investments (SIP), choose the growth or dividend options. Contrary to popular belief (popular belief encourages growth options in mutual funds), I prefer the dividend options so that you can use the dividends you get, to reinvest in newer and cheaper funds or other instruments of your choice later.
• Fixed deposits are extremely good investments if you are confused about the various investing options and would rather park your money somewhere safe before you decide what you wish to do with it.
• If you are courageous you can wet you financial appetite in the stock market, but you would have to dedicate time and effort to study the market trends and place your bets. If you are lucky you can get very very lucky and if you aren't you should leave immediately.

• Real estate is another great investment, but requires a large capital, maintainence and a lot of your attention. Real estate should be purchased cheap so you can expect great returns. You may not be able to sell your property when you need the money. But you can give the property on rent and make some pocket money, while the investment grows.
• Gold in the form of jewelery is a great investment, because its on the spot cash when u need it, be it a saturday or a sunday or any public holiday, or jewelery can stay as jewelery and be given as gifts to your child when they are more mature. Gold Exchange Traded Funds are also available but I dont recommend them as they have the same hassles of buying and selling as mutual funds and equity stocks.
  3.     Liquidity and Receivability :
  The most important for Children's financial planning is Liquidity and recievablity at the time when you might/would need the money for your children. Therefore, while studying the various investment instruments, make sure you know how you can receive the funds at maturity. Make sure the process of liquidity and recievablity of the sum assured is stress free and has limted paper work and red tape 
  4.    Teach your children to be Intelligent with money :

• You can start with candy, whenever you give your child candy give them also a box to keep it in. Tell them they can have some candy and save some candy in the box for the next day. You can also ask your child to share some candy with siblings or with you and their father. So, basically you are teaching them spending, saving and sharing of wealth.
• For older kids you can give them pocket money once a week and make a box with four compartments, label them as spending, saving, tax, and sharing. Get your child to put some of their pocket money in each compartment.
• You could buy a piggy bank get your child to fill it up then break it together and take your child to the toy store to splurge so that your child can understand the concept of saving. You can convince your child to share the toys he/she buys by giving away to a toy library, daycare center, playschool or orphanage, so he/she undertsands the concept of sharing.

Most people advise you not to put all your money in one basket while investing, but Warren Buffet didnt become a billionaire because he diversified. Invest early, consistently and at low prices for highest returns.

by Taherreh Jalali-Dashti of Sunburnt Adeventures N Many More

Sunburnt Adventures N Many More.... Banana Walnut Muffins a great School tine snack.

My daughter has a mind of her own she knows what she wants for her snack everyday so tomorrow is banana muffin day, we made it this evening.   You can make these yummy healthy muffins a day in advance and it tastes good even the next day. Involve your child in the making process so that she will enjoy eating the snack in her snack box. 
Sarrah brough the bananas, mashed them, added the sugar to the dry ingredients, tasted all the mixtures to make sure it was good at each step, and then spooned the ready mixture into the cupcake molds.
And ofcourse ate the first muffin when it was ready.
Ingredients:
I havent given any measurements as I usually work on guesstimates, so it would not be accurate.
Sugar
Eggs
Maida
Baking Powder
Baking Soda
Butter
Cinnamon powder
Vanilla extract
Nutmeg Powder
Salt
Bananas
Walnuts
Method:
Preheat oven at Gas Mark 5 or 375F, during the preheating process you can roast walnuts in the oven while it is preheating.
Mix dry ingredients maida, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder, sugar, salt.
Mix eggs, butter, vanilla extract, bananas (mash, leave a little chunky), and roasted walnuts (crushed coarsely). 
Fold dry ingredients mixture into egg-banana mixture.

Spoon the mixture into the cupcake molds and bake for 20mins in the preheated oven. Ready muffins, served warm or at room temperature.

Pack in the snack box the next day.
Have a nice snacky day. 

My top 10 picks of Applications for kids 2-4 years for iPhone and iPad

Sunburnt Adventures N Many More - My top 10 picks of Applications for kids 2-4years for iPhone and iPad

My Top 10 Applications for iPhone and iPads for kids 2 to 4 years 

Some of the best Applications for the iPhone and iPad are for free if you get to them first. So be vigil. My daughter loves these games and has learnt a lot of what she knows through these. These games have great interface which kids love and interact with on their own.( Pictures have been included at the end of each description)

1. Ben the Tractor : This one teaches little ones to help farmer Johnny find and collect 10 sheep from the pasture to the corral, so that they can be sheared for their wool. This little application also introducers other farm animals in a pet friendly way so that kids will remember.                  
2. Smart Baby-My first Sentences : This is one of the programs you can use which will build your child's vocaulary and helps in pronunciation through phonetics, so you dont need to spend money on sending your kids to phonetics or reading class just use this iPhone/iPad application.             
3. Jumpstart Preschool : The little bunny magician teaches your little one, alphabet recognition, number recognition, shapes, colours and associations all this with the magicians want for drama and exageration.                    
4. Counting for kids : is a counting game which teaches kids to count using wild jungle animals and the little girls voice that they use for their application even has an Indian accent pretty cute and very smart. Kids 2 - 4 years love animals and this game uses animal love to get kids excited about numbers and math.                   
5. Kids Songs HD :6 rhymes played using different transportation devices which little ones get really thrilled about. The rhymes are as follows, Row row row your boat, I'm a little teapot, Hickory Dickory Dock, Old McDodanld, Wheels on the bus go, If you are happy and you know it.  The smile on your kids face will be well worth the iPhone/iPad playing the ryhme over and over again.                              
6. Monkey Lunchbox : Is a great application it has puzzles, number counting, alphabet recognition and memory games for kids all these using fruits, so not only does your child learn school related stuff butteaches them to eat fruits by emphasizes and drawing their attention to fruits.                     
7. Monkey Maths : Is the sister application of Monkey Lunch Box but gets more into the math aspect, it touches upon addition, subtraction, finish the pattern, sketching numbers in the sand, and join the dots to help the baby turtle find its way to the sea.   
8. iXylophone :  A music application, a virtual xylophone that your little one can tap and hear it ring.  It also has a list of select songs that it can play for you and your child can watch and hear the differences between the major and minor C.  This application is really advantageous if your child is enrolled in a music class.                                
9. Lingu Pingu : The two penguins one speaks english and the other french, there are different scenarios where you can hear the name of objects, animals, vehicles in english or french, its a great application for the multilingual.       
10. Color Monster : A super game to keep the kids busy when you go to eat out at a restaurant, its a big coloured monster sitting with a bowl of fruits infront of him, he keeps changing colours and asks you to feed him the fruit which is the colour of his choice, and if you feed him the wrong colour he will burp it out.                                        

A New route to weight loss ... BODYMEDIA

Well, there are two ways to optimum weight loss:

1. DONT EAT
2. BodyMedia a device that helps you track your steps, counts your calories, records your sedentary, moderate, and vigorous excercises and helps you stay on the path to total fitness and as an addtional bonus you get to loose weight.

Remember when Kareena Kapoor was a size zero and she said she ate everything, well that is true!

CALORIE COUNTING

A friend of mine who is a registered dieticien and works and plans dietary needs for senior citizens, confirmed the theory. She eats bananas, peanut butter and yogurt everyday and yet maintains her sexy figure. She gave me a diet plan too it said I could eat 1700calories everyday keeping in mind that I had a sedentary lifestyle with moderate excercise (i.e. housework). She added that I should make make a habit to count my calories (i.e. the calories that I eat), and now that is all possible using BODYMEDIA because it can give you the calories for every single cup of tea you consume with or without sugar, the chana-singh you pop into your mouth without thinking.

PEDOMETER

A very well endocrinologist I know once told me that if one wanted to loose weight they should make sure that they walk 10,000 steps a day. Now, on average a person walks about 2500 to 5600 steps per day. A pedometer helps you count your steps you can generally clip it to your waist or belt, parallel to your left or right leg. The pedometer must be caliberated intially by taking the first 10 steps and measure your stride.

Now most phones have applications that do the job, of counting your steps and they are quite accurate. You can buy it from anychemist and its quite cheap approximately Rs.1500 or you can pick it off eBay or Amazon or IndiaMart for much less.

BODYMEDIA

The all in one tool to stay fit and of course loose the pounds. This gadget basically counts your calories, your steps, your workouts, your sleep and helps you set your goal to fitness. It inspires you to change your lifestyle and makes you conscious of the calories you eat. It has a software that you would need to buy for your laptop, which is free for the first 3 months. However, the phone version of the software is free for the iPhone and androids.

At the end of the day you can get a tally of your calories burned and calories consumed, and ventually figure out what suits you best.

So you could eat the peanut butter, bananas and full fat yoghurt if you workout on the treadmill atleast an hour a day! DISCOVER YOUR OWN FITNESS POTENTIAL 

Sunburnt Adventures N Many More .... Jelly Cakes and Kisses on the lips

Sunburnt Adventures N Many More ....

Jelly Cakes and kisses on the Lips by Taherreh Jalali-Dashti

My daughter has been asking me since the past few days to make her cookies for her school time snack, like most mothers I just didnt get around to it until today. Yup, I know its SATURDAY!!! 

So as a bonus I told her we'll make Jelly cakes.

Sarrah and I set out to buy the only ingredients we didnt have at home and that was desicated coconut and Rex Jelly/Jell-o-.

Just in case you want to bake with your child/children here is the recipe for my Jelly cakes:

Ingredients:

I havent given any measurements as I usually work on guesstimates, so it would not be accurate.

Sugar

Eggs

Maida

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Butter

Milk

Vanilla extract

Jell-O-

Dessicated Coconut

Wheat Bran

Oats

Method:

Beat Sugar and butter till creamed, add eggs and beat, sift Maida, Baking Powder, Baking Soda into mixture until wet and dry ingredients are completly combined.

Add the milk, vanilla extract and stir. Add wheat bran and oats, do not stir.

Make Jell-O-, leave at room temperature.

Grease the cake pan or cupcake pan.  Add one spoonful of batter in each cupcake holder and bake at 375F or Gas Mark 5 for 15mins.

Remove cakes from oven dip into semiformed Jell-O- the roll in the desicated coconut and serve, if your kids are not already full with licking the batter. Makes for a great snack with a cold cup of milk, or hot cup of black coffee.

Kisses on the lips

Thats what my daughter asked me about yesterday.  Since the past few months my daughter has been observing people kiss on the lips, the telly, movies, cartoons and some real life too. She never mentioned anything to me up until yesterday, but has tried to kiss me and her father on the lips and we have never had the courage to address it but did have the ability to prevent it and say, "DONT DO THAT".

Yesterday when she came up to me and said, " mummy, but that boy was kissing that girl on the lips in the movie, SNOW. And you told we that I was not allowed to do that ...." I was a bit startled and amused. 

So I thought and replied, I told her that in some cultures it was acceptable to kiss on the lips (as we traveled to the states this summer, and she saw a lot of lip locking), however, it was not acceptable in our culture and once she became older like her father and myself then she too could kiss on the lips. In the mean time should anyone try to kiss her on her lip she should come and tell her father or myself.