Saturday, May 31, 2008

Hello


Hello! My name is Jill. My daughter and I are very excited to be taking part in this swap! My daughter is 4 and is known as Nature Girl in the blogosphere since she is a true nature lover! We have plans to do some local field trips including several plays, movies, some local attractions and a few nature hikes. We'll also be spending a week in NY with our family in July. We're looking forward to making a special friend to take on our adventures. Of course we'll probably have to make two friends so mailing it off won't be so painful!

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Hi from Utah!

I'm Lisa and this is my 2 year-old son. We are really excited to participate in the swap! We don't have too many travel plans other than camping and a visit to Colorado, but we have plenty to do here! We live close to the mountains, and love to go there to escape the summer heat! We look forward to "meeting" you all!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Aloha from Oregon!

So this is us. Christel and Tay. And we're excited for this swap. Summer is always an exciting time for us. We love the warm weather and all that it has to offer. So let's get this started and have some fun.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Scamp from Tennessee


Hi! I'm Scamp, and I'm two years old. I live in TN and my Mama and Daddy are taking me to Gatlinburg (The Great Smokey Mountains) with my grandparents this year. We are gonna stay in a big chalet. I'm excited because me and my cousin Bubby are gonna have so much fun. You'll probably meet him later on. We get into a lot of trouble together. Anyway, we're gonna go swimming and probably ride the big Tram through the mountains. We might even meet Dolly (as in Parton) this year. It's gonna be great! I already wrote a post about this swap at Scamp's Place, so come on over and visit me there if you'd like.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Sign Ups Are OPEN!!!

Did you see the new swap sign up?  We are up to 5 people now!  Last time there was a big rush at the end.  This time we are hoping to have the maximum number allowed!  To entice you to sign up we wanted to let you know some of the things going on behind the scenes.  We have been chatting and thought it might be fun to have some giveaways this summer.  Sort of like a contest but with a random draw instead of judging.  We know with this group it would be too hard to judge.  Small prizes, but lots to keep you interested since this is a longer swap!  Plus having giveaways means extra mail!  So get your emails in, we are getting underway!
For full instructions go here, or scroll down.  

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Hi From North Carolina!

Hi fellow swappers! I'm Angi from North Carolina. I have three wonderful kids - youngest who is a precious 6yr. old boy, middle who is a sweet 11 yr. old girl, and smartie-pants who is a 13 yr. old teen. We participated in the Spring Swap and had a great time. The kids were very into it and loved "meeting" our swap family. Last week middle child asked if we were ever going to do it again and ironically enough - the next day I got the announcement of the Summer Swap. They are looking forward to it!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Little People on the Road Swap

(We are keeping this post to the top for new people looking for the sign up info. Please scroll down to read the new introductions!)

You are invited to join the Little People on the Road Summer Swap. We thought it would be fun to do a travel themed swap for summer. It is for kids between 2 and 10-years-old. This swap is going to be a little bit more structured than before, but still open-ended enough to allow for lots of creativity.

The guidelines are as follows (please read through everything before signing up—some things have changed since last time):

1) In this swap, you will purchase or make a new stuffed animal or doll (high-quality please) that will become your traveling friend. It would be fun to name the friend and even create a personality for it. (Thank you to Joy for suggesting a similar idea!)
2) You will then take the friend with you on your travels or if you don’t plan to make any trips this summer, show the friend around your hometown.
3) Document your travels with the friend by taking pictures of him or her in different locations and doing different activities. You can include your family in the photos or just feature the friend. You can also have your child take the pictures and document the travel through their eyes.
4) Make a scrapbook/journal with the photos to send to your swap partner. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate and you can check the swap blog for cheap and easy ideas. You can also feel free to post your own ideas!
5) Get a souvenir from your travels or hometown to send to your swap partner. You can buy something or collect something such as shells, pinecones, flattened pennies from those machines, etc.
6) Buy or create an activity for your partner to do on their next trip. (It would also be fun to include a CD with fun car songs or anything else extra that is themey.) Check the swap blog for suggestions or add your own.
7) Also, if possible, send a postcard to your swap partner while on vacation. It would be a fun way to help the children introduce themselves to each other.



Things that should definitely be included in your package (this is the minimum):
• A scrapbook detailing the adventures of the friend you chose, as well as the friend itself.
• A souvenir from your travels or hometown.
• A travel activity for kids.
• A note, either written by your child(ren) or dictated and transcribed by an adult.

The commitment for this swap is (read carefully new items added!):
1) Introduce yourself on the swap blog, you don’t have to tell your mother’s maiden name, just a hello and something like we are excited and we are a family of 3, 4, 20 or whatever you want to share, pictures are great, but not required. We are requiring that you do this before partners are made because we would really like to create a community among all the swappers, and this is difficult to do without everyone’s participation. Let us know if you have never blogged before and need any help posting to the swap blog. You will not be partnered unless you have posted. (the swap blog is www.littlepeopleswap.blogspot.com)
2) E-mail your partner introducing your family and answering a few provided questions within a week or two of being paired.
3) One package shipped no later than August 31, but you and your partner can agree on an earlier date, depending on when you will both be finished traveling.
4) Post a thank you to your partner, preferably with pictures, on the swap blog. (We can help you figure out how to upload pictures too. If you do not have access to a digistial camera feel free to still sign up.)
5) Keep us updated if any problems come up during the swap through e-mail (not on the swap blog). We want to make sure everyone has a great swap experience, but can’t help if we don’t know what is going on.
If you choose to do any more that is up to you. But this is the minimum.

To join in send an email to megandmag(at)gmail(dot)com
Cut and Paste the following into your email and answer the questions:
1. Name:
2. Number of Children, also are most 2-6 or 6-10 in age:
3. Month of Travel (or month you want to swap if you staying home):
4. Home State:
5. Who your partner was if you participated last time:
6. Blog, if you have one (we will put a link on the group blog):
7. Best email address to contact you:
8. How you heard about the swap:
9. If you are a listed author already on the group blog:
10. Are you willing to ship to Canada or out of the US:

The deadline to sign up is June 10th or when we reach 50 participants, which ever comes first. This time around we will try to match families according to what month they are traveling in, rather than by the age of the children. If you are from outside the US, you must be willing to ship internationally. If you are inside the US, it is not required that you are willing to ship internationally, but please let us know whether or not you are willing to do so. Also, please add our e-mail to your address book so that messages about the swap do not end up in your spam folder. We would love to have anyone willing, do a post about the swap on their blog, but, instead of listing the full instructions please link to where the instructions are posted on the swap blog and always remember to link to the original creator of any swap content.


Be sure to check out the swap blog to get to know some of the other participants and find links to their blogs, as well as get and share ideas. It is also fun to comment on other people’s posts. A good way to respond if you are the post author is to post a comment back in response to the same post.

After you sign-up for the swap, you will receive an invitation to the swap blog, if you are not already a contributor. If you are sitting out this round we will be removing you as a contributor but, that does not mean you can’t participate in future rounds.

Finally, remember to involve your kids in the creating of the packages, because truly they will have just as much fun sending a package as they will receiving one.

Happily,
Meg and Mag
(Michelle & Melissa and together here)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Teasers and Preview

We thought some of you might like a preview of the next swap. So we are going to give you a few hints.
Name: Little People on the road Summer Swap
Timeline: Over the summer
And you don't have to leave your hometown to participate, but you could.
Promise: Each family will have a new friend by the end!
So stay tuned. We are really excited to get underway!
Look for your invite later this week!
That's it for now, Meg and Mag

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

New Season, New Swap

Mag and I have been gearing up for the next swap. With June quick approaching we are ready to get things going. So stay tuned. Melissa picked the theme this time and it is great. We will post here when the sign up open and send out an email too! Hope the excitement begins to build!! Meg