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Third Culture Mama

Raising bridge-builders

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air travel

Creative

DIY for Cross-Cultural Families: 8 Lightweight Gifts

December 11, 2017December 11, 2017 Third Culture Mama

There are so many clever DIY gifts out there on the internet, but I’ve been on the lookout for DIY, lightweight (weigh less than 100 grams), and upcycled gifts you’d […]

Transition

The not so warm welcome home

November 22, 2017November 22, 2017 Third Culture Mama

The following is a sequel to my last post on our recent trip to America. In that article, I shared how we all went through some adjusting, after being gone […]

Education

World-schooling… without the camper van!

September 9, 2017September 12, 2017 Third Culture Mama

There’s a LOT of buzz in my circles around “world-schooling”.  While definitions differ, most people use the term world-schooling to talk about using the world as your school. World-schooling families […]

Travel with kids

A simple tool to help young kids remember their travels

March 7, 2017May 2, 2018 Third Culture Mama

Our tired stroller wheels wobbled from side to side along the uneven cobblestone of the Muttrah corniche. My cousin was leading us across the busy street towards the fish market […]

International Move

Keeping the family afloat

June 10, 2016November 15, 2016 Third Culture Mama

We uprooted our life just one week ago. That’s when we moved our family of five from city life in the United States to a small village in France. Wow. […]

Transition

Big news for our family

April 27, 2016April 30, 2016 Third Culture Mama

In case you’ve caught word, friends, the rumors are true. In just five weeks from today, we will move our little family of five to a village in France. It’s […]

Review

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

January 23, 2016January 25, 2016 Third Culture Mama

I jumped right into All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, the fifth of Maya Angelou’s seven part autobiographical series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In this installment, Angelou writes about […]

Third Culture

6 tips for TCKs returning “home”

January 18, 2016January 19, 2016 Third Culture Mama

The move to my passport culture, a country I hadn’t lived in for 20 years, was littered with pain and grief. I felt the physical ache in my heart as […]

Review

Freefall to Fly

November 3, 2015November 5, 2015 Third Culture Mama

A few months back, I wrote a review of the novel Americanah because of its rich layers and interwoven themes: Immigration, The Third Culture, Cross-cultural living. Books must really be of […]

Travel

When kids aren’t a distraction to your calling…

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015 Third Culture Mama

I plucked up the courage to leave my chaotic and needy small humans to invest into my future at Influence Conf this month. The time away was such a gift […]

Multicultural

“They’re gonna hate you for it”

July 16, 2015July 17, 2015 Third Culture Mama

I have been grateful for so many encouraging comments and emails about traveling with small kids, multilingualism, and cross-cultural living on social media. Then, almost out of nowhere, this one […]

Travel with kids

Adventures in China with small kids

June 25, 2015June 27, 2015 Third Culture Mama

Not so many Western families travel to China with young kids for a vacation. That was the first thing that struck us as we flew to Shanghai a few weeks […]

Travel with kids

“H” is for…Humility

June 5, 2015October 21, 2015 Third Culture Mama

“I’m going to China, where are you going, Grammie?” Ayo asked last week as if nothing were. I didn’t think much of it at the time but it really marked […]

Schooling

The school question

February 26, 2015June 19, 2015 Third Culture Mama

Over the past couple of years, as parents of older kids discussed preschool, my eyes would glaze over. We have time, and we won’t be living in the United States […]

Travel

France & Greece

June 15, 2014November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Returned from Europe. Two kids on jetlag. Ayo 26 mos, Délice 5mos. Tall Mountain leaves for long trip to Asia. Kids use it as an excuse not to sleep at […]

Cultural Reflections

The iconic American cookie

March 20, 2014November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

I was driving the hubs to the airport the other day when I noticed this hotel shuttle with a gargantuan chocolate chip cookie on the side… The branding person inside […]

Travel

Fun times…

November 18, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

  Just a few random photos from our travels (France + UK). The final pic is of Ayo and his second cousins in the UK. Ayo is 20 months old, […]

Musings

Tia Camp

November 7, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Well, girls, I am pretty sure I am the luckiest pregnant mama out there. My sister-in-law, a.k.a. “Tia”, recently declared she would be taking Ayo one day a fortnight in […]

Motherhood

Flying alone w/ 19 month Ayo

October 20, 2013November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

This cozy Sunday afternoon found me catching up on Pam’s witty blog about air travel with a toddler over here. I beckoned Tall Mountain to come over and read her […]

Cultural Reflections

This just happened…

October 17, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Hi there, We just returned home by airplane and our tube of SunnyBaby SPF 30 squeezed out into our suitcase. I am wondering how best to wash the lotion out […]

Travel

NYC Chinatown and CMoM

October 7, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

It turned out really helpful for us to fly into New York with one whole family day to figure out public transportation before Ayo and I were left to explore […]

Pregnancy

Pregnancy 2.0

August 15, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

In case you haven’t gathered from various social media sites or missed the subtle change from “child” to “children” in the blog description, I am 21 weeks pregnant with bébé numéro […]

Travel

Cupcakes & hotdogs

July 7, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Today was the first day I have felt like myself again following another gruesome trip over the Atlantic. The airplane didn’t turn back this time, but we missed our connection in […]

Travel with kids

Sleeping baby bubbly

June 19, 2013November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Last night was jetlag night number 5 and Ayo slept through! Hooray! I am not sure if it had something to do with this being the fifth night or based […]

Flying me crazy!

June 18, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

It is hard to believe that this is Ayo’s fourth trip to France in less than a year. He is such a fortunate toddler and he doesn’t even know it! […]

Travel

Mexico at 14 months

May 13, 2013November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Three loads of laundry are piled up next to me and bright colored toys are strewn all over the first floor. I had to step over a sippy cup and […]

Creative

A new way of seeing things

April 6, 2013November 24, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Ayo’s room is undergoing a bunch of little changes. Here is the latest of them. I have had the vision for something like this since about November, but I only […]

International travel with baby

December 14, 2012December 17, 2012 Third Culture Mama

It’s hard to believe that Ayo has been on 16 flights in the last six months. I’d say that flying with him is definitely getting easier as we learn how […]

Cultural Reflections

Living in the tension

November 30, 2012November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

Well, on Monday, we flew over to Europe again. I had to remind myself what was in our suitcases as I pictured them still having the contents of our last […]

Baby

Our quick trip to Brussels

November 9, 2012November 23, 2014 Third Culture Mama

We are back in France after a short trip to Brussels for the European Parliament film screening. We flew on low cost EasyJet, which is Tall Mountain’s new least favorite […]

Baby jetlag

October 29, 2012November 2, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Well, as uneventful as the flight was, baby jetlag has been pretty bad for the past three nights. At 3.5 months Ayo had no issues at all adjusting eight timezones […]

A few trip photos

October 27, 2012October 28, 2012 Third Culture Mama

As stressful as it is to prepare for a trip like this with a baby, our travels couldn’t have gone better. We’re so thankful. For my two mama friends traveling […]

Autumn 7.5 month packing list

October 24, 2012November 25, 2012 Third Culture Mama

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow, we get to fly to Geneva. (Sorry robbers, we do have guests staying in our home.) We’re in that last minute packing frenzy for […]

Los Angeles at 6.5 months

October 3, 2012November 25, 2012 Third Culture Mama

We made our way to Los Angeles on Saturday. Tall Mountain had to be in the area for tonight’s screening of his newly released documentary film. We have also been […]

Our journey “home”

July 20, 2012August 13, 2012 Third Culture Mama

As terribly hard as it was to leave mamie and papi and “the most beautiful region of the most beautiful country in the world”, we had a wonderful trip home. […]

A 24 hour blur

July 5, 2012August 13, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Ayo got to see the Rockies, the Statue of Liberty and Geneva’s Jet d’Eau in 24 hours. That was kind of fun. Less fun was to discover we had no […]

Packing list (for 3.5 month old)

June 30, 2012November 25, 2012 Third Culture Mama

Tall mountain and I try to do most of our travel with carry-ons. We like to bring only what we need and are known for packing deep into the night […]

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