Family Briefs

Don’t you love reminiscing about a wonderful family vacation? I think our favorite trip every year is our family trip to Orlando. When Rylan and I got together to talk about some of the things that made this year’s trip successful, we decided to share the stories with you.

Of course, I had already shared some information about surviving the parks in posts like this one on snacks and this one on some of our favorite rides. And, I know I’ve talked about our trusty stroller that makes managing getting to and around in the parks SO much easier in at least one or two posts!

The information we got from using the TourGuideMike.com website proved invaluable, and we will definitely be using his site again, and again! Anything that adds to the enjoyment of the Disney parks is a winner in my book.

I hope our conversations provide inspiration for your family travels this summer!

I’ve had laryngitis at least 3 or 4 times since last summer, and I’m struggling with a bout of it again. What are you supposed to do when you’re a mom and you’re sick? You can’t write down your requests to your children because only one of them reads and he ignores my verbal requests already (why add insult to injury). You can’t use sign language (aside from the fact that you don’t know sign language, they wouldn’t understand it and probably wouldn’t “listen” anyway).

One trick I found that actually has worked best this time is Read the rest of this entry »

I’m going to begin this post with a little preaching to help you put your mind in the right gear to truly enjoy the magic of Disney. PLEASE don’t spend your day dragging your kids from one ride to the next in an attempt to get it ALL done in the short time that you are there on vacation. I know it’s easy for me to say this because we go every year and, anything we don’t do this year, we can do next year. Not everyone has that luxury. You will enjoy Disney SOOOOOO much more if you let your kids help plan the trip and try to do only the rides that are most important to them. We see so many kids in tears being pulled along by their parents to get the most out of every dollar and minute. That’s not what it should be about. O.K., I’m done preaching :). Read the rest of this entry »

More ideas from our Disney trips . . . . I’ve seen several families taking picnic lunches into the park, and that’s a great way to save money. The extra effort required to pack a lunch the night before plus the extra “luggage” it requires just hasn’t seemed worth it to our family. We try to limit ourselves to our trusty double stroller that folds up umbrella-style (made by Maclaren), a backpack (with all our snacks and water bottles), and a diaper bag. We try to keep the load light, because whatever we have will seem immense by midnight (and that may include sleeping children)!

We eat all our meals in the park, but there are several tricks we have to make this a little easier and less expensive. Read the rest of this entry »

I hate that I’ve been away from my blogging for so long, but we were on our annual trek to Orlando; I spent a week preparing, a week away, and now a week catching up. I’ve really missed being able to blog and I’m glad to be back at it!

While we were at Disney World, I decided that I would share with you some of our experiences and tips that helped us make it through the parks. Getting you and your children through the rides and shows with your sanity in tact can be a challenge, but hopefully some of these ideas will help you make it through with fun and finesse! Read the rest of this entry »