Last weekend I was in Las Vegas. It was a girls trip. We lived there for 12-years so it wasn’t your typical Vegas vacation.  I went in to surprise one of my very best friends for her birthday. My Mom tagged along and my cousin drove in from California. It was a low key, girls weekend.

As I was getting ready to head to the airport, Melia (4) was asking to go with me. She wanted to jump in the car and ride on the airplane. The last time she was there she was about 18-months old. Las Vegas is where she was born. She is dying to return for a visit.

Normally when I would travel for work, I would tell her that I would call her every day. Then I would tell her she will have fun with Daddy. This time, I told her we would do something special. We were going to send each other pictures.

Melia is always fascinated with my phone. When she gets her hands on it, she is thumbing through my photos or taking hundreds of her own. When I call her while I’m traveling, she is rarely interested in talking. So I figured why not send her photos to stay in touch. Let her see what I was seeing. Give us something to talk about.

My husband’s phone became the conduit. He got texted photos of the flowers at Bellagio, the hospital where she was born, the Hi Roller, my plane, Fremont Street, and even Olaf & a Minion on the strip. The best part for me was seeing what she chose to text. I got to see her swimming in the pool, lounging in the sun, her dinner, and a picture of the baby (Sienna – 11 months).

Our photo experiment ended up being a lot of fun. Each night when I spoke to her, we actually had something to talk about. Something more than the typical, “What did you do today?” We talked about the photos. What we picked and why. It was a great way for her to feel a part of everything. Like she was there. I got to see what she was up to while I was traveling.

How do you stay in touch with your kids when you are traveling?