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51

Timestamp: 2009-05-18 01:09:59 UTC

Elizabeth!

She said…

“i’d love the georgia book…we’ve moved 12 times in 10 years and we are NOT military ”

Congrats Elizabeth, look for an email coming soon!

One of the great things about being a military family is that you move, a lot. One of the bad things about being a military family is that you move, a lot. Actually, I like moving because it gives me a chance to clean out and de-clutter my house every two or three years. It has also allowed my family to live in a variety of places and visit many parks, museums, and attractions.

The hard thing about moving all the time is that you are always new to the area. We try to ask around for the best places to eat, shop, visit, and take a field trip or a day trip. Sometimes we stumble upon really great places and other times we wish we would have known more about the place before we arrived. We just never know. I also have a habit of spending hours (literally) on the internet researching places I have heard about to make sure it is something our family would enjoy.

Last week I got my hands on the book Kids Love Maryland. As I read through the book I kept thinking to myself, I wish these travel guides existed when I started my journey as a Navy wife 16 years ago. This book is a complete travel guide for the state of Maryland. The state is divided into geographical sections, and activities, as well as dining and lodging are highlighted for each area.

For each attraction, museum, or park there is a review given (with kids in mind) as well as information regarding hours, location, admission, phone number and web address. Many of the places listed have free admission which is great when families are trying to save money this summer. What I like best about this book (other than the web addresses) is that the authors George & Michele Zavatsky, have actually visited these places with their children. These are first hand reviews by parents!

My plan is to mark the pages of places I want to visit with post-it notes. Then I am going to hand the book over to my children and have them find some places they would like to visit. This book is going to become my handbook for the rest of the time I live in Maryland. I am already amazed at how many wonderful, educational, and free places there are to visit in this state. If my husband would let me I would have every weekend booked until the end of the year!

Not only have George and Michele traveled extensively throughout Maryland, they have visited many other states as well and have written twelve other travel guides. They have offered to giveaway one Kids Love Travel book (of your choice) to one of my readers! I was so excited when Michele offered to give one of her books away because I know you will absolutely love it!

Even if you are not a military family these books are great for anyone wanting to explore their state or planning a summer vacation. You will save time by using the Kids Love Travel book as your guide. I know many families cannot afford a summer vacation this year, but you can take fun day trips to places that are free and these books can help you locate the best places to visit for your family! These books are also excellent resources for home schooling families looking for fun, educational field trips to incorporate into their school year.

Here is how you can enter. Head on over to the Kids Love Travel website and check out all their travel books. They also have activity books for kids to work on while traveling and other fun stuff on their site. Leave a comment and let me know which Kids Love Travel book you would like to win. For a second entry twitter about this contest. You can also follow Michele on twitter @familytravelmom. Each of those things earns you another entry, but you must leave a separate comment letting me know you did them. The contest will end on Sunday, Cora time.

This post is linking to Talk about Tuesday and Things I Love Thursday.