It’s been way too long since I have put one of these together! Yes – we are just starting to think about what we will be doing for vacation this year – and I have yet to get this one posted! The kids are involved in more activities – and I am spending a LOT more time just carting them around! Summer Vacation So we finally had a proper vacation this summer – and although we didn’t do quite as much as I was hoping – we did manage to get out, do some things & have some fun! My ..read more

Can you turn a bully into an ally or friend? Most people might be satisfied just to stop bullying when they, or someone they love, is a victim of bullying.  When we recently encountered bullying with one of our children, we aimed a little higher and strove to help our son turn a bully into a friend once again. Bullying is a widespread problem that affects people of all ages and backgrounds. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), around 20% of students in the United States report being bullied at school. And that’s just the ones who ..read more

FREE printable word search puzzles for you & your family to enjoy for Christmas! We created these word search games from scratch – using Google sheets. They offer some words that are easy enough to find for little kids, and others that are much more challenging to find – even for adults. We enjoy seeing who in the family can create the hardest, most creative and overall most fun word search puzzle! We usually all compete to see who can solve each of them the quickest. So get into the Christmas spirit & give them a shot! We hope you ..read more

In a former life (before being married with kids) I was quite the traveler.  However, it has been many years since I have been able to really plan a BIG trip where we/I set out to see a lot of places and do a lot of different things.  That is what we did this summer!  Upstate New York is a wonderful place to explore & adventure! We went to Niagara Falls & rode the new electric Maid of the Mist, we went to the Rochester Museum of Play, I showed the kids Saint Bonaventure University & Syracuse University, and we ..read more

Nobody likes investment losses – however, they are a reality that investors must occasionally face when investing.  The objective of tax-loss harvesting is simply to use any unrealized losses that have been incurred to improve the overall tax position of the investor.  This might seem a little counter-intuitive – in that I am suggesting that a LOSS can help improve an investor’s overall tax situation.  However, consider this – if an investor has an existing tax liability and an unrealized loss on some investments – why not use that loss to offset some of that tax liability?  ..read more

Daily Price Comparison of The Poconos WaterParks: Great Wolf Lodge vs Kalahari vs Aquatopia. Which is the Cheapest & When? Which Poconos Water Park is the Best Value? The Poconos are a great place to go for some water park fun – with Kalahari, Great Wolf Lodge & Aquatopia all being within about 10 miles of each other. Between the 3 resorts there are a total of almost 2,000 rooms. So that gives you some opportunities to get a good deal at the place of your choice. We compared the cost of all three Poconos waterparks for every night of ..read more

Funny Story about our “Best Poconos WaterPark” Post The other day we met up at the park with some out-of-town friends. Let’s just call them Kate & Justin. Kate was telling me that they were doing some research to decide what waterpark to go to in the Poconos area. They wanted to determine which waterpark was the best for their family. They found this really helpful post – that only after reading it – did she realize it was ours from this blog! Last year that post got over 22,000 views and the corresponding comparison chart post we did also ..read more

A bear market is typically defined by a market that is down 20% or more from recent highs. As I write this, we are in a bear market, with the S&P 500 index down over 21% and the NASDAQ down over 28%.* No one likes losing money – but you need to remember that, in all likelihood, this is just a temporary market decline, and that the broader market has always recovered. That is not a guarantee that the market will recover now or in the future – but rather a simple observation that, in history, it always has recovered ..read more

So I remember, distinctly, when we had our third child (Annie, now 10) – that people told me that we were going to be busy in the years to come. Well, I can tell you – they weren’t lying! And to boot – we had a 4th child (Sophie – now 5) – just to make sure that we wouldn’t have any idle time! Kevin, Nick & I went on a road trip together at the very end of last quarter – too late to include it in the last newsletter. We went to Kansas City for a work-related conference ..read more

All kids SHOULD have a basic understanding about how the world around them works! (As should adults) If they understand how these things work they will feel empowered, more inclined to think scientifically, more in control, & more comfortable in their surroundings. People who understand how things work are also more likely to troubleshoot problems with such items much more effectively – maybe saving themselves some frustrations & money in the process! As they say – knowledge is power! I challenge you to work your way through this list. Before you watch something on TV – come back to th ..read more