Travel with Kids - Babiekins Magazine

Railway Adventures

Our family story is one worth telling and intentionally crafting!

We, as parents, cultivate a family culture every day through the decisions we make—How we respond to our children, what we expose them to, what we repeatedly strive to teach them, the attention we give them; and the opportunities we provide for them.

A huge piece of our family culture we strive towards has become getting out together and adventuring. We want our kids to grow up knowing that being in our home, with our family—is WONDERFUL. They will spend the rest of their adult lives living independently from us: Until they leave the house we want to cultivate cohesion together. The cohesion being a catalyst for rich discussion, precious memories, and a firm sense of belonging.

Sometimes our adventuring manifests itself simply: a new park or place to walk and explore. Other times we take advantage of unique local attractions, museums, and experiences. A handful of times a year we go on a trip someplace entirely new—Usually within driving distance.

This past weekend to celebrate our biggest fella’s 5th birthday adventure (a tradition from my family growing up over birthday parties), we traveled on the SAM shortline railway out of Americus, Georgia.

Our day trip took us to the hometown and boyhood farm of Jimmy Carter. We not only got to delightedly watch the rustic fall florals and fields pass rapidly from the train window, but got a hands on peak into important American history.

They learned and explored, my husband and I learned and explored, and we spent the day soaking up unplugged, rich time away as a family. The pictures provide but a glimpse of the treasured memories now tucked away in each of our hearts.

Follow more of Caroline and the Hurdt family adventures on Instagram!

Yoga for Littles

By Gaylin Howbert, Contributor Leave a Comment

Whenever we publish a sponsored post, we’ll let you know with the hashtag #ad — like this. This simply means we were either compensated for our time in exchange for the post, or we were given complimentary or discounted products, but we were not required to write a positive review. As always, all opinions are the author’s own.

It has been proven that the art of Yoga has many benefits for adults and children by helping to relieve any anxiety , improve concentration, helps with strength/flexibility, and is overall a fun exercise activity to do ! Lana Katsaros created a beautifully colorful deck of cards called, “Yoga For Littles”, to help children learn the art of yoga in a fun way ! Each card has an illustration ( drawn by Alison Oliver ) of a yoga pose with it’s name, the timeframe of how long the pose should be held for, benefits of the pose, and the directions on how to correctly do the pose. As a parent to an almost eight year old with a pretty large amount of energy I put these cards to the test with our son and a little buddy of his. First may I commend Lana for making this deck of cards light weight and travel friendly since it was easy to pop into my beach bag and take it outdoors to give it a go. The children were fascinated by the funny names of some of the yoga poses and absolutely loved the illustrations which they found very helpful on how to properly execute some of the poses. I must be honest there were a few tumbles from trying to balance which resulted in giggles and giving the pose another try which ended in success. We spent about 20 minutes on the shore doing yoga and it was an excellent way to get in some exercise, enjoy nature, and learn some facts we did not know about yoga. This deck of cards would be perfect for a child with any energy level and a very helpful way to get in any PE during online class , some wiggles out, or ideal for heading on vacation ( which is when Lana came up with the idea while traveling with her own family) and letting your child release some energy in a very healthy fun manner !

How to Purchase : Yoga For Littles Card Deck

Boardshorts: Seaesta Surf

Toys for the Road

By Gaylin Howbert, Contributor Leave a Comment

These past few months have been a different experience to us all but if there is a positive that has seemed shared among most it is that simplicity is appreciated. Moments of calm with loved ones and unplugging from technology to take in the beauty of the world around us has been a comfort.

The sudden halt of what felt like the world slowly spinning and days no longer flying by has allowed our family to take a breath and enjoy playing games indoors together. It was during this time of us using our imaginations when we grew a love for Candylab Toys uniquely beautiful products.

Our son has always been fond of planes, trains, and automobiles. The fascination of how they work, where they can take you, and their different models + sizes seems to add a certain sparkle to his eyes as he contemplates these thoughts. Candylab takes a different approach than other brands when creating their products to add whimsical details and bright colors that only fuel a child’s imagination in the most beautiful way. Practically any car model that one could hope for they have created using natural materials with a midcentury aesthetic. The sizes vary but are easy to play with and as a parent who does enjoy a well styled space they go along with any home style perfectly. As if the race cars , drifters ( toy trucks ) , food trucks, really the selections seem endless of vehicles to choose from was not in itself wonderful they also have created stackable buildings. A day at the beach can be dreamt up with their Malibu Beach Tower and their Woodie Redux which has a magnetic top for a Waimea Surfboard to sit on top. From the coastline to the desert with Motels, a Toll Booth , and Drive In for stops along the way Candylab has created a little wooden world for littles to enjoy.

Wooden Toys // Candylab Toys

On Island Time

By Gaylin Howbert, Contributor Leave a Comment

Days spent soaking up the sun’s rays. Salt dried on the skin from early morning surf sessions. Forests full of tall trees that have seen much now are blanketed in vines that hang from their branches covering the earth. Deep midnight blues turn to shades of turquoise into translucent as the ocean comes to kiss the sand. This is island time where the Tradewinds fill the air with the sweet fragrance of plumeria blooms. The days are warm and end in a dramatic watercolor like painting in the sky of bright pinks, oranges, and purples to say , ” Aloha “, to another day.