Cold wet weather and babies aren’t usually a good mix, hence so many beach vacations for families with tiny tots. But your vacations needn’t be confined to warm or mild weather: in addition to the usual stroller covers, we’re seeing more and more options for carseat covers and carrier covers that keep baby warm – and close – as you brave the elements. These are great to have along when you’re traveling and want or need to be free from the stroller. Keep your options open by having a cover of every kind on hand so that you can be out and about no matter the forecast.

Sasha’s Infant Car Seat Rain & Weather Shield: The clear cover of this PVC weather shield keeps baby safe from precipitation and wind in milder weather, but allows him to sightsee too. The ventilated cover also absorbs up to 67% of UV rays, according to the manufacturer. $32.99 at elitecarseats.com.

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Okay, a little late, but Friday’s Web Roundup just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Why are we late? Because we’re traveling – and we’re sick, and it stinks that sickness doesn’t know to stay away when you’re on vacation. We have all we can handle keeping our 3-year old entertained and dealing with a newborn. Below, some sites we’re finding particularly useful this week…

• CBeebies is a special site for the BBC’s younger viewers in the UK, and similar to the Noggin website in the US, it has great games based on the preschool cartoons it features. Add it to your arsenal of sites to entertain tots and preschoolers.
• Older kids with homework assignments to complete on vacation may appreciate Fact Monster’s Homework Center, which features a wealth of info in subjects like geography, math and history. (Although if they’re traveling so much, they should really have the geo down pat…)
• If you’re traveling in the Caribbean or Latin America (as we are) anytime between June and November, you might want to bookmark the National Hurricane Center’s website, which reads the weather patterns on that particularly disastrous weather occurrence; you can see updatesup to hourly when things are really jumping. Sign up for emailed updates and keep track of who’s causing the latest trouble out there.
• Coloring.com has pictures to color and the whole thing is done online, so no need to be near a printer (unless, of course, your prince or princess wants to print out the masterpiece…)
• Finally, in our bid to leave you with a laugh, check out this letter exchange between a hotel and one of its guests on hotel soaps. Supposedly true, it’s pretty funny. We don’t know which hotel this is or we’d tell you to steer clear…

Electron photograph of rotavirus particles
courtesy of Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Also in today’s NY Times Travel section, an article about hypoallergenic rooms.

In a dual-purposed bid to help allergy-sufferers and stand out from the crowd, many hotels are now offering hypoallergenic rooms. (We’ve stayed in and noted many hotels that are offering special scents in the lobbies and rooms, and it had occurred to us that there might be some people for whom that must be awful.) Brands like Hilton, Wyndham and Millennium are rolling out hypoallergenic rooms in different locations across the country, sometimes devoting several floors to the allergy-suffering traveler.

While the trend may claim to help those who can’t tolerate the plush down pillows that beckon most travelers to their beds, this movement is also, in part, an attempt to rise above the flatscreen TVs and WiFi access that are now considered de rigueur by savvy travelers. And with a recent Conde Nast Traveler article noting that even 5-star hotels had rooms awash in germs, it might not be only the chronic allergy sufferer looking for a cleaner room.

There are currently no standards in the industry for creating a hypoallergenic room, and some of the methods hotels are using seem more designed for marketing purposes than actual allergy treatment or germ removal. Still, some travelers have noted a difference in the air quality of their rooms, and say they are willing to pay the premium that hypoallergenic rooms often command in order to have a sneeze-free stay. For those that don’t need to go to such lengths but would still like to fight the germs and nasty habits of those-who-came-before, check out the end of Conde Nast Traveler‘s article, which has several helpful suggestions on how to make your hotel room less of a health hazard.