Happy Mardi Gras everyone!  My family experienced Mardi Gras for the first time over the weekend and we had a ball.  I know some of you are thinking, “You took the kids to Mardi Gras?  Isn’t Mardi Gras just a bunch of drinking and partying? ” Well, yes and no.

There is much drinking and partying, but as I learned, the drunkenness that outsiders associate with Mardi Gras is done by the tourists and others who use Mardi Gras as an excuse to practice the phrase “what happens in Mardi Gras stays in Mardi Gras.”   Mardi Gras is in fact a family celebration that is steeped in tradition, custom and history.  It takes over the entire city and everyone is in a celebratory mood.

There is celebrating–food and family parties by locals–and then there is celebrating by tourists (as in another word for getting fall-down drunk) . Because we stayed in a hotel on Canal Street, right downtown and near the French Quarter, we saw the drunken tourists in action.   We made the mistake of walking down a few blocks of Bourbon Street at noon and it was full on debauchery.  At noon!  Can you imagine what it’s like at night?   Here’s a shot of Bourbon Street from our hotel balcony.  Remember, this is in the afternoon.  As it got later, it just got more crowded.

As long as we stayed off Bourbon Street, the French Quarter shops and restaurants were fun to explore .  The balconies were decorated and people threw beads to the crowds below.  That’s my son in the right corner trying to catch some beads.

There are parades every day and every night and this is very much a family-friendly activity.  At night you have to watch the parades in the right place (away from the tourists) to avoid the drunkards.  We were invited to Mardi Gras by a family very much involved in the traditional celebrations and very well connected in New Orleans, so we watched the parades with them.  During the Bacchus Parade, we were in the mayor’s box, which was great because most of the marching bands stopped to perform there and King Bacchus made his toast to the mayor.  The king of Bacchus is Will Ferrell this year.  Here’s a photo and video of him toasting the mayor:

The floats are amazing to see, but you had better keep your head up or you might get beads flung at your head.   All the floats have riders that throw beads, cups, stuffed toys and if you’re really lucky, a coconut, to the crowd.    This is so much fun and my kids quickly caught on to the phrase, “Throw me something mister!” as they kept their hands up in the air.  One time I wasn’t paying attention and two strings of heavy beads clocked my knuckles – ouch!  These photos only show about an 1/8 of the beads we have.  I think we came home with about 10,000 beads and other throws.  What ever will we do with all that Mardi Gras booty?

No matter.  My kids had so much fun; they had never seen anything like Mardi Gras before.   Thanks New Orleans for showing us a good time!  Happy Mardi Gras!

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© 2012, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

For Spring Break this year my family and I traveled to the newly renovated Club Med Sandpiper Bay.  We’ve been to Club Meds before; this is an excerpt from another blog post that I wrote:

Club Med is one of my favorite family vacation spots because it is all-inclusive and there is so much for the kids to do (and so the parents get to have their own kind of fun). Because our kids are such different ages, it is hard to find vacation resorts with activities of interest to both of them. We have taken a cruise before and with my apologies to the cruising fans, we all hated it. Club Meds are perfect for us. The price is all-inclusive, the food is good and plentiful, the staff is fun and the destinations are sunny. The atmosphere is very casual, kind of funky and very international.

On our first Club Med vacation, my son and I went to Sandpiper, Florida when he was 4 years old. My husband couldn’t take time from work and I wanted a vacation that was easy to do with a four year old and a quick flight from New Jersey. By the second day in Florida we had a routine: we would eat breakfast together, I would drop him off at the Mini Club and I then I wouldn’t see him again until 5:00 p.m. My son made fast friends with several boys his age and had a blast doing all the activities planned by the G.O.s He played tennis, participated in Circus School, built sand-castles, tye-dyed a tee shirt, won a prize in a talent show and was in several theater productions. I had great plans for myself during the day: roller-blading, tennis lessons, circus school, maybe even some golf, but all I managed to do was yoga class every morning before I parked myself by the pool for the rest of the day. Sometimes I found my son at his activities and joined in, but mostly I enjoyed my much-needed time alone.

When he was six years old we went to Club Med in Punta Cana with my husband as well and again my son had a blast. My husband had a great time too playing basketball, working out in the gym and lounging by the pool with me (7 months pregnant). Punta Cana had a lovely beach, good food and a great pool. The G.O.s at that Club were just as fun as at Sandpiper.

Although we really wanted to go back to Punta Cana or try Ixtapa, Mexico, we couldn’t find any reasonable flights.   Sandpiper Bay is near West Palm Beach, Florida, just a short 90 minute flight from Atlanta; flights are plentiful and inexpensive.  For a last minute vacation, it was perfect.  We were also curious to see the new renovations.

I made a short video while at Club Med Sandpiper Bay so that you can see the renovations too:

As you can see, it’s a lovely resort and the renovations were extensive.  This is what I liked:

• There were many food choices.  While red meat and pork were plentiful for meat-lovers (that would not be me), there was plenty of seafood and salads as well.
• The adult only section in the restaurant.  Since my kids were not with us for lunch, it was nice to be able to sit far away from other people’s screaming kids.
• The adult only pool and hot tub.  No explanation needed.
• The “beach.”   It’s still on a river, not the ocean, but I can see a big improvement over the old beach.  They made it wider and brought in more sand.  The effect is very relaxing and soothing for lounging, if not for actually getting in the water.
• The Mini Club.  This is the primary reason to visit a family Club Med.  You don’t get that level of activity and engagement with the children anywhere else.
• The Teen Club.  It’s a brillant idea to have a place for the older kids to congregate and meet other kids.
• There was so much to do: tennis, golf, basketball, sailing, volleyball, pool games, circus school, trapeze, dance lessons and several exercise classes.
• Or there was nothing to do.  There were plenty of comfy places to lounge: in the bar, outside the bar, at the beach or at one of the 3 pools.
• The White Chocolate Bread was still at every meal and still delicious.  This is a Club Med staple and worth every indulgent calorie.

This is what I didn’t like:

• The restaurant doesn’t do “theme nights” anymore.  Now there is international food at every meal, but it was nice to have French Night or Italian Night.   The restaurant used to decorate to reflect the country and the food was elaborately displayed.  My son (at the age of four) tried frogs legs on French Night.
• The renovated Family Club Room: the way the kids’ bunk bed cubby is configured, it makes the whole room chopped up and claustrophobic.   The bathroom is tiny and there is no lid on the toilet (I was sure something was going to fall in there).   Next time we will spring for the Deluxe Family Room with a real bedroom for the kids and 2 bathrooms.
• The bar was very far from the adult pool.  By the time you got a drink and walked all the way to the pool, the ice had melted.
• The towel exchange window was basically in the parking lot, far away from the pool or beach.  It took me 2 days to find it.  It just doesn’t make sense.
• I have mixed feelings about “feel” of the renovation.  While it is very nice and modern, it feels like Miami.  This is a criticism of the new Club Med in general because I could have been at any American resort, vs the old Club Med, which was very funky, crunchy and distinctly not American.  Remember, I used to be a G.O. back when Club Med still had bar beads as currency and no phones or televisions in the rooms.  All the G.O.s wore pareos and no shoes.  Now they wear golf shirts and shorts.  It’s very different and I prefer the old Club Med ways (but with the updated amenities).  Only old school Club Med vacationers can appreciate this criticism, everyone else will like the Miami vibe.
• With the exception of the Mini Club and Teen Club staff, I found the G.O.s to be just “meh.”  They were not as engaging as G.O.s should be.
• There was no boutique.   Club Med has wonderful boutiques; I have gotten some beautiful pareos in the past.  I don’t know if they are going to add one at a later date or not, but I found the lack of a boutique baffling.

Despite my grievances, it was a great vacation.  My kids had a ball.  My daughter was in the Mini Club everyday with the other 8-10 year olds, the Manatees.   The Mini Club opened at 8:00 a.m., but we usually dropped her off about 9:30 a.m., after leisurely waking and eating breakfast.   She played all day and then we picked her up at 5:00 p.m. only because the Mini Club closed at that time–she would have stayed all night.   This was her first time at Club Med and I knew that she would love it; she’s very active and she prefers being with kids rather than adults.  As you can see from the schedule, the kids are busy all day:

I was a little more worried about my son.  The Club has a teen lounge, Latitude 27, but kids this age come and go as they please and it’s up to the kid to decide how much they want to be involved.  Luckily we met Wren, the G.O. in charge of Latitude 27, as soon as we checked in so my son felt comfortable checking out the lounge.   By the second day he had found a gang of friends to hang with in the lounge and around the Club.  He ate breakfast with us and then he was gone for the rest of the day.  Sometimes we happened upon him playing water polo or sailing on the river, but he was having too much fun to notice.

With both kids occupied all day, my husband and I had rare time to ourselves. We exercised, sailed, ate lunch together–in the adult only section of the restaurant–and laid around talking.  We never, ever, ever get to do that for days on end.  It was fantastic.

The song attached to Club Med’s new campaign is addictive and perfect for dreaming of sunlit skies and sandy beaches.

Listen.

I can practically feel the fruity drink in my hand.  Aaaah….we’ll be there again soon!

© 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

We are having a ball in South Carolina; today I captured our time on Folly Beach.  My poor husband was determined to fly a kite.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Stepping off the plane, New Mexico was a shock to our senses.  Immediately we noticed the clean, fresh smog-free air.  The weather was sunny and warm, but not humid and stifling like in Atlanta.  And the sky….we could see for miles!  My kids could really play the game “what shape is that cloud;” something that is hard to do living in a city like we do.  The architecture also was different from anywhere else that we had been, starting with the airport and continuing into Santa Fe.  Driving around Santa Fe’s commercial district we were surprised to see familiar stores looking very un-familiar as adobe buildings.  We screamed out the window and pointed: “adobe McDonald’s, adobe IHOP, adobe Starbucks, adobe Target!”  Once we left the commercial area, all we saw was desert–which we expected—but as it gave way to tress and mountains the higher in elevation we climbed, that was less expected.   All of it was beautiful and so different from the canopy of trees that makes up Atlanta’s landscape.

We vacationed in New Mexico because we were fortunate to be invited to Jane Fonda’s ranch, which has quite an interesting history.  Besides Jane, our housemates were her daughter, grandchildren and their father.  And I can’t forget Jane’s constant companion, Tulea.

The house is amazingly beautiful. (more…)

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I recently spent 3 nights at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, Florida.  As I have posted before, my family has enjoyed a couple of different Ritz-Carlton resorts over the last year, but this was my first time at this particular location.

Did you know that you can book vacation packages on the Ritz-Carlton website?  I booked my flight and hotel as a package for considerably less than if I had bought them separately.  The only drawback to this arrangement is that the reservation is paid in full at the time of booking and is non-refundable (however, travel insurance is an available option for purchase).  I was emailed my travel documents; it was all very straightforward and easy.

A short flight from Atlanta, a 30 minute taxi ride from Miami International Airport, and I was in Key Biscayne in no time.  Check-in was not so pleasant as my room was not ready (at 4:00 p.m.) and the desk clerk seemed confused and unsure about her duties, but at least my wait was nice in the opulent hotel lobby.

Finally I made it to my room and while it was very nice and newly renovated, it was small and dark; I wouldn’t be spending much time in this room.  No matter, I had come to Key Biscayne to be on the beach anyhow.   The bathroom, by contrast was a very nice size with a separate shower and bathtub and nice bright, lighting.  I had requested a balcony and received one; it had a “bay view”—the bay being way off in the distance—so it really was a view of the front of the hotel.  Since I wasn’t in my room but to sleep, I didn’t sit on the balcony at all.

(more…)

© 2009 – 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.