Author: Terumi

Terumi Pong is a Seattle-based family travel writer and mom of twin teenage boys.  She loves coffee and pastries, shopping local and looking for greener ways to live.  She is also known as Scout's mom (Scout is a 5ish pound little black yorkie-poo)

Something Old and Something New: thinking about bridges

June 1, 2013

The Skagit River bridge collapse last week made me think about the way we get to places and how much I take these structures for granted.  We crossed that bridge so many times between Seattle and Vancouver when I was a kid and it was very eerie to see it with a great big gap […]

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staying at the nabalam in isla mujeres mexico

Isla Mujeres with kids and no whale sharks

May 31, 2013

Where can you go with Atlanta as your base?  I couldn’t believe Cancun was only a two hour flight away.  You can practically walk to Florida.  And all the Caribbean Islands are just a hop away too.  (As a west-coaster I got a little bit envious about how many fabulous places were so close on […]

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Deep Sea Diver and a really wet Folk Life weekend

May 30, 2013

The guys are absolutely in love with Recess Monkey since we saw them in concert at Teatro Zinzanni last year and we were recently sent their new album, (their 9th!!! by the way!) Deep Sea Diver to check out.  The tunes are really catchy and I know I’ve heard them sing one of them called […]

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When you make the recipe on your bubble bath bottle

I love stuff by Philosophy and I’ve probably bought a small fortune in their company over the years from face wash and shower gel to creams and eye makeup removers.  One of my favorite things about their products, other than the fact that they seem to work pretty well and seem ‘good for you,’ is […]

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Georgia aquarium with kids

Two stars and a wish for the Georgia Aquarium

May 29, 2013

As with all our trips, we are always excited to see animal friends on our travels and at the Georgia Aquarium I had a mission: a co-worker had told my husband that you can actually swim with whale sharks on Isla Holbox and Isla Mujeres in Mexico and the hubby wanted me to take the […]

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Kids’ Tillamook Yogurt Review

I got an email about a month ago about Tillamook wanting to send us some yogurt for review.  My guys (all of them-the hubby included) eat yogurt almost every day for breakfast and one of our favorites is Tillamook so of course I said yes.  (And I’m starting to realize that these are two 4-year […]

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Picking a hotel in Altanta with kids

May 28, 2013

Normally, we rent a car when we holiday so it doesn’t really matter where we stay, but this past trip in Atlanta I knew I would be doing a lot of adventures with the kids on my own while the hubby worked all day so I didn’t really want to have the burden of trying […]

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A coffee shop in Atlanta with Washington roots

May 27, 2013

A few weeks ago we were sitting in a lovely restaurant in Atlanta after a long red eye flight and the hubby thought his coffee tasted really good. He made a note of it just in case it was roasted in Atlanta and we had time to stop by. Imagine our surprise when we found […]

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hiking with kids near seattle

If you’re looking for kid-friendly Seattle hikes

Long before the kids, the hubby and I used to like to hike around Seattle, and now that our kids are a little older, we’re having fun exploring trails with them too and we’re always looking for kid-friendly Seattle hikes.  With kids you have to be a little bit more choosy when you plan your […]

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Global Entry: A Trusted Traveler Network

May 24, 2013

I’m lucky that the hubby keeps up with passport and international travel news.  We’ve had a Nexus card forever and it’s saved us hours going back and forth to see family in Canada.  Recently he heard of the Global Entry program and it sounded like a great program to reduce time in airport lines when we travel […]

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Stickers are a mom with a preschooler’s best friend (most of the time)

May 23, 2013

I keep tons of stickers on hand.  They are great for adding extra pizzazz to crafts and they’re so handy when you travel as long as they don’t get stuck on windows or other things but I’m usually stuck in the middle of the duo so it’s easy to keep tabs. The hubby recently bought […]

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Happy Anniversary Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum

May 22, 2013

I’m on the Chihuly Garden and Glass mailing list and when I saw it was their first anniversary this week I couldn’t believe it’s already been around a year and I haven’t visited them yet.  My mom and dad were in town and up for some touristy things so we decided this would be a […]

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Thank you Martha

May 21, 2013

There are some days when you get that type of epiphany where you know you’ve learned something that you’re going to keep with you forever.  Today that magic came from goddess Martha.  Thank you for the One-Pan Pasta recipe I found in your latest magazine.  (The one I have that’s covered in drool because the […]

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An inexpensive and adventurous way of getting to the airport in Seattle

May 20, 2013

Sitting at the bus stop near our house I got a text from my neighbor that went something like: “omg my hubby just saw you at the bus stop-we could have totally given you a ride to the airport!!” And as much as that was so totally sweet and we probably looked ridiculous sitting there […]

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Zoo Atlanta post-rain

May 19, 2013

One thing I’ve learned about going to zoos is that some of my best days have been on rainy ones.  You tend to linger a little longer at exhibits that are indoors that you might blow past on sunny days, the animals often behave a little differently and there are far fewer two-legged animals wandering […]

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Choose your carry-on items wisely

May 18, 2013

Tip #1: do not bring a table as a carry-on. Of course this is not my table.  I’m perfectly happy with the just over 8.5 x11 size tables we get in my regular airplane seats.  But if you were thinking of bringing a table with you on a flight I can tell you for certain […]

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Three reasons you need a car in Atlanta if you visit with kids

May 17, 2013

I wish I was telling you about car rentals because you need them to see all the fabulous toursity sites in Atlanta.  Yes, you’ll want a car for some of those too.  But we only rented one for a little while during our trip to Atlanta last week and I wanted to make sure we […]

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visiting costa rica with kids

Memorable stay in Costa Rica (Arenal Observatory Lodge)

May 16, 2013

If you are looking for an amazing affordable place to stay in Cost Rica, the Arenal Observatory Lodge is a place we’ve been twice and we we totally fell in love with it each time.  The first time we went it was years ago when Arenal still roared through the night with explosions.  We were […]

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Eating fish while watching fish (Downtown Denver Aquarium, Colorado)

May 10, 2013

Usually this kind of thing would freak me out.  Eating fish, while watching fish.  (Eeew!  Totally morbid!)  But, I’m the one who made the reservation because I so badly wanted to go to the aquarium in Denver last year when we were there for a family wedding and this was the only way we were […]

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A weird book my guys like (Books for boys)

May 6, 2013

I like books with stories that have a clear beginning, middle and end, but my guys get drawn to books that explain things.  They love this one by Richard Scarry called “What do People Do all Day?” that has these random tales about animals building roads and the bread making process and how someone got […]

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