Let's travel with Little Passports {review}

Growing up I remember dreaming of traveling the world, perhaps that is why I loved History and Geography so much. I remember as if it were yesterday looking at maps in my geography book and thinking where I would travel to when I grew up. It is most likely why I chose to study International Business in University and took German during High School and French in University. I've had the opportunity of traveling, maybe not as much as I dreamed of when I was younger but nonetheless I've traveled. I've experienced cultural differences and learned history by traveling the actual place. 

As parents we want our children to learn about the globe, learn about different cultures and travel to other countries. We feel that travel opens up so much conversation and the experiences you have through it are unlimited, fun and help you become a better person because when you travel you get to see what you read in books. 

This is one of the many reasons why when Little Passports contacted us to see if we were interested in collaborating with them to review their product we were very excited. We had read many great reviews about them, we'd seen their advertisements on printed magazines and we had visited their site to learn more about them.

When we first opened the Little Passports package we knew we'd find a suitcase, a very cute sturdy cardboard suitcase in a bright blue color that would hold information to the country chosen for us. When the kids saw the country chosen for us was Brazil they were beyond excited! You see through the past month my family and I have been living, eating and breathing soccer well more like the World Cup it probably had to do with the fact that we currently live in a soccer country: Costa Rica and that here everything revolves around soccer. If you were to ask my 4 year old about soccer he would say he loves Neymar and that he wears #10 on his jersey and is from a beautiful, colorful country called Brazil.

As soon as we opened the suitcase we saw a world map for the kids to pin the country we were learning about, souvenirs from Brazil which was a  photo of a red uakari monkey and an amethyst still in its natural state, a passport for the kids to "stamp" with the sticker of our chosen country,  a letter from a boy and a girl named Sam and Sofia explaining how they got to Brazil and what they saw during their visit and 2 boarding passes containing different codes to access fun activities and games from the Little Passports site.

The passport is not your usual passport, this passport is special and unique as the inside pages contain several questions to talk about with your children and make this a fun family activity in which everyone participates. Our 8 year old enjoyed asking us questions contained in the passport such as: "Ask your parents to name 3 countries they have visited or would like to visit" it was a great way to start the conversation on travel and where we'd love to travel again or would love to travel to for the first time. We then turned the tables around and asked the kids where they would travel to and our 4 year old said with excitement "Brazil!" he truly wants to visit Brazil and after reading about the animals they have and the culture and listening to Brazilian samba music he is even more excited.

When we were finally at a computer with internet access we logged onto the Little Passports site to "board" for our travel to Brazil, the site has activities in which you learn about the world and the specific country you were mailed. We learned that the wildest river in the world is the Amazon and that Capoeira is a martial art in which you can't use your hands and you dance to the different rhythms. We also learned that the capital of Brazil is Brasilia and not Rio de Janeiro. 

The wildlife in Brazil is colorful and exotic with toucans, macaws, jaguars, colorful frogs, anaconda and endangered red uakari monkey among many many more animals that can be found within Brazil particularly in the Amazon River Basin.  

There is so much to do in the Little Passports site, not only have our kids been visiting the site often but I have been on it too learning about Brazilian culture and I learned that the Brazilian dish "Feijoada" is a delicious stew of pork and black beans served over rice with fresh orange slices. I already searched for the recipe to try it out soon. 

I asked my 4 and 8 year old what they thought about Little Passports and they both responded by asking me when the new suitcase would arrive. That's how much they liked it. 

Little Passports is a subscription program that can be purchased for 3, 6 or 12 months. The first month you receive a package called "The innovative explorer kit" in which you will receive a suitcase, a letter introducing Sam and Sofia and their magical scooter. You will also receive a wall-sized world map to track Sam and Sofia's travels, an activity sheet and a collectible boarding pass with a secret code to access games in the online boarding zone. There are two types of subscriptions: World Edition and USA edition.  

Little Passports is a San Francisco based company and was founded by two moms that wanted to create a fun way for kids to learn about the US and other countries. My family agrees that they achieved making it fun, specially with the two characters Sam and Sofia that are also kids and children can easily relate to. This is the perfect gift for children ages 4 and over, it is also ones that keeps giving as it promotes having fun while learning and inspires you to travel. If you're on Pinterest, you should follow them as they share all about traveling with children, school lunches from around the globe, culture, festivals and much more! 

Disclosure: We received an explorer kit to facilitate our review. All opinions and images are 100% my own. 

Expat life in Costa Rica, one year later.

Family, friends and even readers ask me how easy was it to make this move; I am going to be honest and tell you it wasn't an easy transition. We grew up with the privilege of having the best of two countries just a quick drive away: Mexico and United States, moving here certainly had its culture shock and not to mention location shock all at the same time. However we were always positive about our decision to move and did a great job sharing the enthusiasm with our kids. 

Before our move we had a talk with them explaining that due to work we were moving across the continent to a new country and searched online everything about Costa Rica in fact we have a pinterest board with places we wanted to visit which now also includes our adventures living here. They were so excited that our then 7 year old began planing our move:

Yes, she's something alright. She had two different routes planed out: one via NorCal directly to Costa Rica and the other making stops along the way visiting family and friends. Personally I would've loved the visits to family. 

So much has happened in this past year.

A year ago this past weekend we said our goodbyes to California, we packed up essentials for a month in one sunday afternoon and when the movers showed up at our doorstep they packed and loaded up our entire home into a container to be shipped overseas to Costa Rica. It's unbelievable that this weekend marks our first year anniversary since arriving in Costa Rica, a new life, a new home, a new chapter in our family's book.

We arrived, lived in an extended stay hotel for a month it certainly was lots of fun and though we were mostly out and about searching for the perfect new home, schools and car I enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to clean and the nice breakfasts in the morning that I didn't have to cook and their warm water pool. 

After just a few days of arriving here I was already driving {something that takes lots of skill AND courage!}. We moved into our new home, slept in 4 twin sized mattresses in one bedroom and made the best of it, our belongings arrived 10 days after we moved in and we unpacked it all in just one day! 

Our new house was now a home and we were beyond happy to see the comforts of home, having a chair to sit on now or tv to watch, the kids' toys ready for them to play with them and above all I was ecstatic to sleep in my own bed. I remember the kids' faces as they came home from school and found their bedrooms setup just as they'd remembered them with all their belongings seeing pure joy in their faces. 

We learned through them that you can be anywhere in the world and adjust, accept and appreciate the differences. 

By October we were finally settled into our new lives, everything was smooth sailing until our car broke down. In Costa Rica during rain season having a car is a MUST, for me personally having a car was my way to escape when my feelings would try to come out and I would feel homesick. I would just jump in the car and drive off to explore while everyone was in school or at work. 

The holidays came and with them our first guests arrived, my family visited for 3 weeks and at the end of their visit we had the worst that's happened to us as a family happen: my husband was admitted into the hospital and underwent life threatening surgery, 9 procedures later he was recovering wonderfully. His parents visited and we had all the love and support from all our new friends and neighbors. We also felt all the love from back home. 

Trying times for sure! I felt like I was going to break down, but as the saying goes "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" and that was true. With the love and support of family and friends I overcame a nervous breakdown and stress. I learned that I am stronger than I give myself credit, I have so much strength in me. I kept it together and 1 month later life was getting back into its new normal. 

Who would've thought I would celebrate my 35th and 36th birthday living in Costa Rica? 

We've been through a lot, fun times and not so fun times but still I wouldn't change any of it. Today as I sit here writing I realize how much I've changed, we are just a few weeks away from our first trip outside of Costa Rica and back home and yes I'm beyond excited but my long shopping list from the US has been significantly reduced. Remember all those things I said I couldn't live without? Well guess what, I've been living without them for a year now even the ones my family brought me when I asked them they are still in their original closed package. 

This past week as I was talking with a friend who just arrived 5 months ago, she was distressed over the cultural differences and I was just smiling and saying what another friend had told me last October: "Relax and enjoy life, you can't change the way it is and you won't change it". Funny that was me just a few months ago, trying to adjust and understand the culture. 

As my own mother says: "you're the outsider, you're the odd one out here and it's ok because you are just temporarily here so just enjoy the ride and adapt to change". Well mom, you were right {as always} I have to embrace my cultural differences and sometimes our language barrier and accept it for what it is. Even our kids have, so why wouldn't I? 

Here we are a year later happy, healthy and rediscovering ourselves. 

Here's to another year in Costa Rica and living the "Pura Vida" lifestyle. 

Here's to continuing to enjoy our adventures and learning about life. 

Here's to enjoying all the green scenery, the rain, the thunder, the lightning and power outages.

Here's to one year down, two to go. 

International Cottages {House of Pacific Relations}

We love Balboa Park in beautiful San Diego. It's fun, a great place to learn and there is always something going on. We lived for twelve years in San Diego and would frequently visit Balboa Park, I'd say we were there for at least every other weekend and sometimes even during the week. 

Beautiful gardens that are well kept, wonderful Museums filled with great exhibits, fantastic theaters and that fabulous outdoor Organ Pavilion -where we enjoyed several summer concerts. Then there is the House of Pacific Relations which were founded in 1935 and include 32 different nationalities!

These Cottages are amazing! We took advantage of a Sunday afternoon and Adventure Girl and I headed to Balboa Park. After we enjoyed a beautiful live Organ concert, and ate some sandwiches we walked across the street to take a self-guided tour of the International Cottages.

What exactly can you do at the International Cottages?

They are there to share a little piece of each participant country, each cottage is decorated according to the culture and you learn about that country's history and their traditions. On the particular Sunday we visited they were also offering tastings of traditional snacks from each country. You can also enjoy live music and dance performances on the lawn in the center of all the cottages. 32 Nations are represented, to view a list of the participating Nations please click here.

The house of China for example had a young lady writing your name in traditional Chinese lettering with ink and special pen in hand. This was fascinating to everyone. She did it with such grace and ease.  Adventure Girl learned about their traditions, their holidays and they have a mannequin dressed in traditional attire. 

The house of Israel was fascinating to me, it had just been updated to reflect a traditional home in Israel with cinder blocks that are visible on the inside and lots of marble on the walls and floors. It was also interesting to learn the pomegranate is an ancient symbol due to King Solomon basing his crown design on the "crown" of a pomegranate. 

One of my favorite houses was the house of Sweden it had a Pippi Longstocking doll on display as well as some Viking history. On their chimney mantle there was a unique candle holder that caught my attention, it looked like a true Viking vessel. 

The Irish Cottage was beautiful and very lively too! They had live music and there was even some dancing. 

We also visited the House of the United States, which paid tribute to all the brave men and women of the armed forces. Outside of the house they were selling hot dogs and chips. 

The house of Finland was very modern,  colorful and sleek. 

The House of Denmark had a table setup with Legos where children could play. 

The International Cottages are open every Sunday from 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m and admission is FREE. The are refreshments that are served for you to enjoy, they accept donations for these refreshments. If you plan on visiting between the months of March - November make sure you are there by 2:00 p.m. to enjoy their lawn programs, for exact dates and nations performing visit here

For updated information you may also find them on Facebook