I have a confession to make:  I love books.  Seriously.  I *love* books.  If I have a single vice outside travel, it’s books.  I read about a new novel or non-fiction book on Salon.com or NPR and immediately order it.  I get lost in bookstores – for hours.  I read like it’s going out of style.  My family jokes that I like books better than I like any human person.  They may well be right.

And my love of books transcends the written word.  I love the feel of books – their weight, their smell, the sound heavy-papered pages turning in a good hardback.  Even their physical being entices me in a way I just. can’t. resist.  I might even say they get me a little hot.  We avid readers are weird like that.

So, you know, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of a wireless reading device.  I love books.  BOOKS, darn it!  If I wanted to read on a device, well, I’d just get on my laptop and surf on over to the New York Times website or  Texts from Last Night.

But then I got my hands on a Kindle.  And I find that my life will never be the same.

I’m a bit ashamed to admit I love it.  I do.  I love that it’s small and light and so easy to carry when I’m on the go.  Instead of dragging 3 hardbacks in my carry-on bag, I can now carry 1,500 books on my little Kindle and never run out of reading material on the plane.  I love that I can immediately feed my addiction.  If I read about a book that tempts me (like, for example, hearing all the recent buzz about Rebecca Skloot’s “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”), I can just turn on my Kindle and have it in seconds as opposed to waiting weeks for my order to appear in the mail.  Sometimes it’s available for the Kindle before it even hits the stores.  And in terms of price?  With costs about half of what you’d find on bookstore shelves, if you are a reading addict like me, the Kindle is very cost effective (outside, you know, of it being so, so easy to order a book on whim).

But one of the best parts of the Kindle for me?  I can order up books for Chet as well.  Instead of having to carry the entire collected works of H.A. Rey to lands unknown, I can download a few books for him to peruse on the plane.  And for older kids, there are literally thousands of children’s chapter books to choose from.  It’s a total win-win.  (Except, of course, they’ll want to hog the Kindle, greedy munchkins that they are).

I still love books.  And I will still buy them – it’s an addiction I have no qualms about feeding.  But for my sordid, somewhat embarrassing reading purchases (Sookie Stackhouse novels, anyone?), magazine subscriptions and for my travel time, I believe I’ll be using the Kindle for a long time to come.  It’s a traveling-Mom-and-avid-reader’s dream come true.

There are days I look at Chet, so close to turning 5, and can’t believe he was once small enough to reside inside my belly.  I can’t help but feel a little nostalgic.  And then there are days, usually when we’re traveling and he’s loudly whining, “Carry me, Mommy!” just as we reach some steep climb that I feel more than nostalgic.  I feel desperate for days long past when I could strap his tiny butt into a Baby Bjorn and go.  Or you know, get his Dad to do it.

This photo of Chet is in Istanbul.  He’s happy as a clam, being carried around the city in that Baby Bjorn.  It’s a classic photo – and one used in an essay I wrote about the magic of traveling with a baby in Istanbul.  But these days, instead of being reminded of why I love to travel with kids, this photo makes me long for days when I wasn’t responsible for carrying a 35+ pound boy and his enormous backpack full of junk up any incline greater than 2 degrees.  And maybe more importantly, given how much has changed in just the past few years, it makes me wonder about what traveling with a surly 14-year-old Chet might be like…Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes.

Like most families, my family has plenty of strange habits.  I devour Jane Austen fan fiction by the pound, my husband subscribes to cooking magazines but does not actually cook, and my daughter collects business cards.  My son seems to be bucking the trend so far, but then again he’s still little.

One thing we don’t do, however, is obsess over trains and planes.  Apparently it’s not uncommon though, particularly with the short set.

Got a plane spotter in the family?  (and the politically correct moniker is “aviation enthusiast”, by the way) Have we ever got a gift idea for you.  Behold the PLANE SPOTTER!  A laminated, full-color 12-panel card that teaches users how to tell a DC-10 from a 747.  It features a reference guide to seating configurations, a NASA co-written “How Do Airplanes Fly?” section, and a handy “Parts Department” that will  explain which parts do what.

You can thank us later.

Call me unimaginative, but I’ve never done much more than ski on a family ski vacation.  Oh, I’ve occasionally dragged a saucer to the top of a hill for a bone-jarring ride down or relaxed for five minutes in a hot tub (if the kids haven’t made it tepid with snowballs), but that’s really it.

Then last weekend the kids and I traveled to Keystone Resort in Colorado as their guests and discovered just how many ways there are to enjoy snow.

Maybe your family never tires of world-class skiing and snowboarding.  If that’s the case, knock yourselves out.  If—on the other hand—you like a little variety in your family ski vacations, consider Keystone.  Here are five winter activities in and around the resort that my kids are still talking about:

1.  Dog sledding

Our wild and wacky (but very safe) 1-hour dog sledding tour through the Middle Fork of the Swan River with Good Time Adventures was the undisputed highlight of the trip.  A snowmobile-riding guide tows a small passenger sleigh (for those waiting for their turn to drive), and the team of Siberian Huskies follows behind towing a one-passenger, one-driver sled.

Kids as young as three can drive the dog sled and everyone gets a turn.  Dress in layers, bring a camera, and get ready to laugh so hard you’ll wet your snow pants as drivers fly off the dog sled into the soft, safe powder at regular intervals.

2.  Tubing!

Tubing at Adventure Point offers all the fun of sledding without the annoying hiking up the hill.  The slope is big, the sound track is disco, and the conveyance back up the hill?  A magic carpet-style conveyor belt.

You must be 42″ tall to ride.  There are five completely separate collision-proof lanes, and linking up is permitted in the first two.  If one of your kids balks after only one run (as my youngest did), you can retire to the warming hut to wait for the rest of your group.

3.  The world’s tallest snow fort

Before or after tubing, stop by the castle-style Kidtopia Snow Fort at the top of Dercum Mountain.  Good luck tearing your kids away from the maze, tunnel, drawbridge, lookout tower, ice throne, and snow slide inside this igloo on steroids.

It’s probably not a bad idea to throw some glove and boot warmers and snacks into your backpack.  You could be here awhile.

4.  A hilarious fondue dinner

You’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to Bavaria at Der Fondue Chessel where highlights include cooking your own dinner raclette-style, gorging yourself on a chocolate fondue dessert, and performing the chicken dance right at your table to the musical stylings of The Austrian Guys (don’t ask me why, but it feels perfectly natural).

If your kids are picky eaters, they’ll be able to get by on the bread, apples, strawberries, and pound cake that come with the various courses.  The whole experience takes about four hours from door to door.  Dress in layers—it gets very hot in there!

5.  A horse drawn sleigh ride dinner

On our last night we snuggled under blankets and tried a horse drawn sleigh ride dinner at a historic homestead in beautiful Soda Creek Valley where we listened to a guitar playing cowboy named “Handsome Dan” (no, I am not making this up) and chowed down on western fare.

Dinner was beef barley soup, biscuits, a choice of entrees, and apple pie a la mode.  The food and atmosphere were fine and cozy, but frankly secondary to the countless stars and 2,000 pound draft horses that hauled us out there.  If you need a break from adrenaline, this relaxing dinner tour will hit the spot.

A major travel controversy has been  sparked this week by a blog post entitled, “US Airways Hates Families and Kids”.  They probably don’t, but that’s beside the point.

If you’ve taken more than a handful of flights with your kids (especially award travel), this has probably happened to you:  you buy your ticket (or redeem miles), and then find out you can’t get seats together.  Maybe you even knew your seats sucked going in, but figured you’d get preferential treatment as a parent traveling with young kids.

If only it were so easy.

So now it’s the day of your flight.  You’ve called customer service a bunch of times, but you’ve still got seats sprinkled all over the plane.  What should you do?

1.  Forget the ticket counter

The agents at the ticket counter can’t help you any more than customer service could.  They’re just looking at an extremely uncooperative seating chart.  Keep your powder dry for the gate agent.

2.  Be the first one to the podium

When the gate agent shows up, be the first one to approach him or her.  Politely explain that you’ve already checked bags , but that you don’t feel comfortable boarding the plane and rolling the dice that someone will be nice enough to trade with you unless you’re within at least a row or two of your kids.

If at all possible do not cry or make threats.  You can ask to speak to a supervisor, but it probably won’t change things.

3.  Ask about seat upgrades and/or paid priority boarding

United has Economy Plus.  Southwest has EarlyBird Check-in.  All planes have business class.  Could your family sit together if you paid more?  Maybe.  In a perfect world you wouldn’t need to, but unfortunately we don’t live in that world.

I was on a United flight from Denver to San Jose two days ago in which the first 14 rows (those with extra legroom and extra price tags) of the plane were virtually empty while the flight attendant was forced to reorganize things in the back to accommodate me and another family.

4.  Be realistic

If you’re traveling with two parents and two children, don’t expect to sit all together.  If the gate agent manages to get two pairs of seats for you, take them and be grateful.  Yes, it’s a pain to share snacks and entertainment from 15 rows away, but you can make it work.

5.  Bring cash

On a flight from San Francisco to Hawaii two years ago (a notoriously oversold route that’s tough on families without good seat assignments), we had four very bad seats—no two were together.  I brought four crisp $50 bills, and was planning to bribe or shame people into switching seats with us if necessary.   Luckily the gate agent hooked us up, so it didn’t come to that.

So, should you board a plane with spread out seats if you’re traveling with kids and hope for the best?  Only you can answer that question.  I wouldn’t.  Can you board the plane and get off if things don’t work out to your satisfaction?  I don’t honestly know.  Any flight attendants out there want to weigh in?