Would you do this?

[disneymom3]

As I mentioned on another thread, DH is working long crazy hours for the next couple of weeks. We go through this about every two or three months just due to the nature of his job. Not a big deal, we get through it, though as Pop Daddy pointed out to me, I need to hire a sitter and go out for a drink!

At any rate, DH is strongly suggesting I take the kids on a trip. Destination of choice being Orlando. He has several reasons for this in addition to feeling guilty. Well, he is making several up, is more like it. One that I like is that he wants me to go down there to see if my allergies are any better. They have been pretty imobilzing for the month of June since we moved to this city 4 years ago.

Okay, I am rambling--remember I have been alone with the kids all week! So, I would need to drive down there. We have done this drive a lot and no way would I drive through the night as we normally do, but I am quite confident we could make it in three driving days with one long, one in between and one fairly short. I have found a nice offsite condo for an affordable price. We would do WDW a little bit--how could we not ? We would go to the beach and DH wants me to look at houses to get an idea of area and price as someday we would like to move down there.

I have three kids. They are 4, 6 and 9 and they all travel well. The money is there and if we don't spend it, it will simply fill our savings account a bit more.

Or we could stay home and go swim at the Y a lot and spend a lot of time at the library. Oh, and hiriing the sitter

What do you all think?

 

[Pop Daddy]

long post

 

[disneymom3]

Are you following me?

 

[golfgal]

With the price of gas these days, you might be able to fly for less then you can drive. You might want to check into that. As for your allergies, they have been HORRIBLE this spring around here. This is as bad as they have been for the past several years. Are you doing allergy shots or anything to alleviate your symptoms?

My BIL has had horrible allergies all his life. He moved out to Seattle a few years ago and has never felt better. We all figured he would be back in a few months but when he got out there and could actually breath, he isn't coming back.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Looking at houses is easy..go to Realtor.com. No need for running around unless you are serious. This is from someone who moved to Texas from Missouri last year.

As an allergy sufferer, go get allergy tested and take meds or get shots if you can.
That is something that will plague you forever...I did shots for 3 years. Saved my life. I used to be "immobilized" too. Now I just suffer like the rest of the population.

With 3 kids? I would fly and rent a car.

 

[Poohnatic]

I would fly, too.

My DH and I would do the 15 hour drive twice a year but that was two of us splitting driving duties.

As far as moving down here, most of my allergies are better, but the mold allergy has made my nose permanently packed. I'm starting allergy shots as soon as the new insurance kicks in. Other than that, everything else healthwise has improved since moving here!

Suzanne

 

[Evil Queen]

I say go for a nice long vaca. Drive and find places to stop that are touristy (is that a word?) along the way.

Spend a few days in WDW, spend a couple days just looking at houses. Take down a few numbers of some realtors of houses you see you like. You can call them when you get home, takes pictures too of the houses to share with DH.

See how your allergies do. I'm a Floridian, who lived 8 years in Nashville, both places cause my allergies to act up, as well as my DS10 son's.

My parents moved to Florida many moons ago, due to my sisters asthma, it did help a bit.

 

[EthansMom]

Personally, I wouldn't want to take care of three kids on my own on vacation unless I had no alternative -- it just wouldn't be restful for me. Could you wait and use the money to go on vacation with DH later this year? If so, that's what I would do.

Are the kids out of school yet? If so, can you get them into summer day camp? That would give you a break and give the kids something entertaining to do.

For my DS4, I space out his summer camp to break up the monotony of summer. This year, DS4 has preschool till mid-June, then two weeks off (at home), then three weeks of summer camp through the rec center, then a family vacation to the West Coast for a week, then two weeks off (at home), then one week of day camp at the local children's gym, then one week off (at home), then he starts grade school. Day camp through our rec center is only $15 per week for 2.5 hours each day and through the children's gym is $115 for 4 hours each day.

If you do go to WDW, I agree that flying might be the way to go.

 

[Libby X 3]

I would so go. When my husband can't vacation and is working alot- I go with my daughter on trips without him. We make some special memories and he does what he needs to do. His busy season is in the summer so we frequently travel in the summer without him. We take family vacations when he has less busy times of the year. Go for it. I would think about flying and renting the car when you get there though.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I would fly and rent a car--I'm not into the long drives by myself. Or I would find a location closer to home where I could vacation. Either a place to park myself and hang out or more of a road trip. One of my kid's favorite trips was when I brought all 4 of them into PA and we did a few factory tours (Herr's potato chips was their favorite) and went to Dorney Park. The kids were about 3, 9, 12, and 15 at the time and we had a lot of fun for several days. Another trip that we went on as a family was to Pittsburgh--they all enjoyed that. Wherever we go we always have to include an amusement park and if it's the summer months, a water park. If my DH is along and there's MLB, we have to go to a baseball game.

 

[disneymom3]

Thanks for the feedback guys. The allergy thing is more of a joke--not that they don't drive me crazy, I just thought it was funny that DH used that as one of his reasons I should go. I do take allergy meds, but have had to change each year we have lived here as they just keep getting worse. Yep, next step is an allergist. Can I say that I really hate shots? The weird thing is that we used to live only like 20 miles away and they really weren't that bad. They are just seasonal by the way so it's just June that they are really bad.

I have to say, I was assuming that airfare would be pretty bad, but I did find a nonstop on NWA for $243 pp tax/fees included. Hmmmm.....Or if I fly in late at night, it would be $10 less each person. Don't think that is worth $40 though. I think I would still have to rent a minivan though as the kids all have to sit in the back and two of them are in boosters/carseats. The rates I am coming up with for those are well over $300 for the week. Yikes.

So, a lot more of you would do this if I were flying, huh? I am thinkin'.....


Oh as far as going on a vacation with DH in the future, yeah we will do that too. We are all going on a family trip to Yellowstone in Sept. The kids are out of school because we homeschool and summer camp kind of stuff around here is going to be hard to come by to get all of them in something at the same time with an age range of 4 to 9. The timing of this trip would get us back before they start swim lessons.

So, we could go to the beach, we could go to a water park, spend a day at the resort and the pool, maybe two days at WDW parks....this might work.

 

[Quinn222]

I'd fly too. Do some research on places like mousesavers. I've heard of people getting vans for under $200

 

[smilingmouse]

If you are still thinking about flying you might want to look at Sun Country's prices if you are flying out of MSP. Sometimes, their prices are quite a bit lower than NWA's.

 

[MAKmom]

Thanks for the feedback guys. The allergy thing is more of a joke--not that they don't drive me crazy, I just thought it was funny that DH used that as one of his reasons I should go. I do take allergy meds, but have had to change each year we have lived here as they just keep getting worse. Yep, next step is an allergist. Can I say that I really hate shots? The weird thing is that we used to live only like 20 miles away and they really weren't that bad. They are just seasonal by the way so it's just June that they are really bad.

I have to say, I was assuming that airfare would be pretty bad, but I did find a nonstop on NWA for $243 pp tax/fees included. Hmmmm.....Or if I fly in late at night, it would be $10 less each person. Don't think that is worth $40 though. I think I would still have to rent a minivan though as the kids all have to sit in the back and two of them are in boosters/carseats. The rates I am coming up with for those are well over $300 for the week. Yikes.

So, a lot more of you would do this if I were flying, huh? I am thinkin'.....


Oh as far as going on a vacation with DH in the future, yeah we will do that too. We are all going on a family trip to Yellowstone in Sept. The kids are out of school because we homeschool and summer camp kind of stuff around here is going to be hard to come by to get all of them in something at the same time with an age range of 4 to 9. The timing of this trip would get us back before they start swim lessons.

So, we could go to the beach, we could go to a water park, spend a day at the resort and the pool, maybe two days at WDW parks....this might work.

To fly you are talking $972. Gas alone will cost you at least $500.00. Then you have the wear & tear on your car. If you need to stop for the night both ways you can add $200. DH always says people forget to take into account the miles you put on your car. Then there is the ride to think about.

 

[disneymom3]

To fly you are talking $972. Gas alone will cost you at least $500.00. Then you have the wear & tear on your car. If you need to stop for the night both ways you can add $200. DH always says people forget to take into account the miles you put on your car. Then there is the ride to think about.

Actually, I am estimating $500 for the gas like you say but $400 for the hotel. Without DH I will only stay in a hotel with indoor corridors. I know that is a little higher than I need to estimate but not much. The Hampton Inn we stayed at in IL on the way home the last time was $94 inc tax. So that does make flying a better deal. I am just quite surprised as historically we get pretty high fares here.

I have checked Sun Country and they are a lot higher. Mid $300 range for RT. I have found that a lot lately. Same experience for our trip in Sept.

 

[MAKmom]

FLY. You also loose 4 days of your life when you drive, anything can happen.

 

[miss missy]

As I mentioned on another thread, DH is working long crazy hours for the next couple of weeks. We go through this about every two or three months just due to the nature of his job. Not a big deal, we get through it, though as Pop Daddy pointed out to me, I need to hire a sitter and go out for a drink!

At any rate, DH is strongly suggesting I take the kids on a trip. Destination of choice being Orlando. He has several reasons for this in addition to feeling guilty. Well, he is making several up, is more like it. One that I like is that he wants me to go down there to see if my allergies are any better. They have been pretty imobilzing for the month of June since we moved to this city 4 years ago.

Okay, I am rambling--remember I have been alone with the kids all week! So, I would need to drive down there. We have done this drive a lot and no way would I drive through the night as we normally do, but I am quite confident we could make it in three driving days with one long, one in between and one fairly short. I have found a nice offsite condo for an affordable price. We would do WDW a little bit--how could we not ? We would go to the beach and DH wants me to look at houses to get an idea of area and price as someday we would like to move down there.

I have three kids. They are 4, 6 and 9 and they all travel well. The money is there and if we don't spend it, it will simply fill our savings account a bit more.

Or we could stay home and go swim at the Y a lot and spend a lot of time at the library. Oh, and hiriing the sitter

What do you all think?

I would be gone already! I love adventure and I would sooo go!

Can you find someone to go with you? A pal? If not, I would go, I would just keep saftey first in my head. I say GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

[Connieh]

Hello,

I would stay on the disney property rather than rent a car. The money you save from the car rental can be used toward a stay at the All Stars resort. This way you use disney transportation for all transfers. And definately fly down rather than drive.

Connie

 

[disneymom3]

Connie--I was going to stay onsite, but the only thing available for those dates is Fort Wilderness cabins and I don't want to spend that much. I could split it between af couple of places but there was one night where nowhere had rooms and the other two were three nights at Allstars and three nights at AKL or WL.