Ohio Family Finalists in National Magazine Competition

Nov. 10, 2011 - PRLog -- Columbus, Ohio – November 10, 2011 – One Ohio family is in the national spotlight as finalists in Parenting Magazine’s Family Road Trip Contest. The Clarke family of Columbus Ohio are the only family out of 10 representing the Buckeye state.

Decided by popular vote, the contest offers one family an all expense paid road trip vacation within the United States worth up to $15,000. Votes can be cast at the Parenting website [http://www.parenting.com/vote/meet-top-10-family-road-trip-finalists] every 5 minutes through December 1, 2011 with the winner announced announced on December 22, 2011 - just in time for Christmas.

“We are really excited for the opportunity,” David Clarke said. “Our family does everything with gusto so we are having a lot of fun with the whole process.”

Parenting Magazine’s 2010 road trip contest garnered more than 95,000 votes and significant local media coverage for several of the finalists.

“We’ve tried to be creative about gathering support,” Terreece said. “That has meant creating a Facebook page with news, updates and more information about us as a family, creating a flyer with a link to the site and a QR code for those with smartphones. We’ve also reached out to bloggers, businesses and local and national media. Everyone has been incredibly supportive.”

Clarke Family Contest Profile:

We are a fun-loving, outgoing family from Ohio. My husband David and I are writers and our three children – Olivia, age 7; Gabrielle, age 4; and David, age 2, are BUSY! The Clarke house is the house that visiting kids never want to leave. Maybe it’s because we have a high tolerance for crumbs and shouts of “Look at me!” or it could be the snack bucket and never-ending arts and crafts projects.

Our family believes a life lived with laughter is truly a blessed life. We use humor to conquer everything from discipline to parent negotiations: “Do you want to clean up the kid or the puke?”

It has been our family’s humor, faith and dedication to each other that has carried us through recent tough times, including the loss of parents and serious illness of our infant son. After all of that we can’t think of anything more fun than strapping up the car seats, and launching into miles-long versions of “I Spy.”

We already amuse/horrify passing drivers when our whole family, windows down, sings out-loud versions of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose.” And yes, our kids know all the words.

Media Interview and Information Contact:
Terreece M. Clarke: terreece [at] terreececlarke.com | 888.788.7443