Category

Parenting

5 Things You Should Bring On Your Family Holiday

Taking a break from everyday life can be good for the whole family — but what if it doesn’t feel like a break? What if you come back from your holiday needing another one? You can’t control everything, but you can boost your chances of actually getting a breather by packing some key essentials. From speeding up travel times to keeping an eye on kids who like to wander, we’ve got you covered. (Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash) Essential travel documents You’d be surprised how many[...]

Why My Kids Love Vienna

Last month we were lucky enough to travel to Vienna, Austria. I honestly wasn't too excited to visit Vienna, I'm not the type of "traveler" that enjoys seeing things that every American comes to Europe to see. (Make sense?) I like to be the person telling the stories of the "unknown land" I guess that's one reason why I loved Bosnia so much, it's not a big American tourist spot, and it makes telling my traveler stories that much better.  We arrived in Vienna, after a short 3-hour drive from Salzburg.[...]

Parenting in Slovenia

When we first moved to Slovenia in December 2016 one thing that Tyler and I noticed right off the bat was Slovenians have the most well-behaved children and dogs! I'm not even kidding; I had to search hard one day to see a screaming child after many days of realizing that my children were the only ones screaming, not listening, and a total train wreck. I set out to figure out what they were doing right and what I was doing wrong. Below you will find what I've concluded from my research.They aren't helicopteri[...]

Part 1: Nolan’s First Week of Slovenian School

When I was in Monterey, we had a WONDERFUL group of Foreign Area Officers' spouses. One of the HOT TOPICS was where to send your children to school. Do you send them to QSI (International School), or do you send them to a school in that country? (Full Immersion) It seemed to me like many moms in class were a little leery of sending their children to an entire immersion school. I'll admit, I was scared of the unknown as well. However, when we got to Slovenia, I realized that the international school was a tad[...]

Jet Lag and Small Children

Jet Lag is a REAL thing! It doesn't just affect sleeping, it affects eating, your mood, and how you generally feel. Combine that with a two-year-old that's already on an emotional roller coaster, and you get a hurricane of emotions. Let me paint you a picture. (Night 1) At this point, I have not been to sleep in 30 hours, and Tyler may have had 2 hours of sleep. We both decided to keep the kids up and pretend as tho it was a regular day without an 8 hour time change. This strategy worked for Nolan (our 4-yea[...]

How I Survived Flying with Kids

Let me start off by saying I SURVIVED!! I have had serious anxiety about flying with my children. It's not that my children don't behave; it's the fact that they are two and four and can be very unpredictable when they are off their schedules. I thought I would take the time to write what worked and what didn't. Hopefully, this helps all my momma friends who might be experiencing that same anxiety. /*! elementor - v3.18.0 - 29-11-2023 */ .elementor-widget-image{text-align:center}.elementor-widget-image a[...]

The Adventure Begins…

Hello! Welcome to Brittany McAnally (Website/ Blog). I have been working on this website/blog for way too long! With the BIG move to Europe (Slovenia), I thought I should put my butt into gear and work on it. I thought this would be a GREAT way for our family and friends to keep up with our travels worldwide (we're super excited). I also thought this would be a GREAT way to help other FAO (Foreign Area Officer) spouses understand how our IRT (In-Region Training) went. You should also note that this blog is m[...]