Family Vacations

[3kidzforme]

Have you taken family vacations w/ the kids? fly or drive? site see or just relax? What type of site seeing?

We just got back from Southern Texas. We went to South Padre Island ~ lighthouse, swimming in the Gulf, museums, Corpus Christi to the Texas State Aquarium, Brownsville to the zoo, crossed over into Progresso, Mexico and did some relaxing. My grandma lives down there so we spent the week at her house & took her along on our tourism.

We went to Oregon over Christmas ~ visited OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science & Industry), went up to Mt Hood, sledding, drove out to the coast w/ the 2 older kids and did some historical site seeing (it's a big Lewis & Clark part of the country). While at the coast we went to an aquarium & fed the seals.

[abbey]

Sounds like you had a lovely time Mary.
Good to have you back x

I am glad you had such a great time. My daughter is going to be 5 this year so we plan on starting our yearly vacation. The first place we are going to home. ( Chicago) I want her to expierence all the museums and everything now.. I know she will remember them.. Her memory is better then mine..

[3kidzforme]

Ya know Susie ~ that's what's so interesting. My 3 yo has told everyone that he went swimming in the ocean. Even my fiance's son who is 8 months older was so excited to go swimming in the ocean ~ he asked all the way there if we were going there right now.

Isaach, my 3 yo, remembers everything! He'll even hide something and when we can't find it, we ask him if he's seen it and he goes straight to it ~ he hid our dig cam memory cards one day and went back to them 3 days later when we got home from our weekend trip (that's when we realized they were missing).

Kids are something else aren't they.. lol

[minks]

Kids can be taken anywhere for a vacation as long as you feed their brains and entertain them. I have taken mine to fun places like disneyland and sea world, and Jamaica and to local small towns. They just need to be kept ... "thinking and amused"
I was taken all over the west when I was a kid and am forever grateful to my parents for filling my brain and keeping it active as well as making things fun.

[David813]

I LOVE the word "vacation." It's the "Family" in front that bugs me! I yearn to travel 24/7, but with kids? NO THANX!! I remember my now 20 yr. old son on a short trip to the Ozarks in '94. Unreal. The whining, screaming, arguing, headaches, nausea and expense was a nightmare. Send me off to Prince Edward Island by myself for 3 months and I'll be in heaven.

[robinseggs]

That is terrible David! LOL....well -if he was crying, whining, screaming....you were trying to do the wrong things in the wrong places. My mom and I were just discussing this very thing YESTERDAY! How ironic. We both agreed that there are people that take their kids on trips for the kids and there are people that take their kids on trips for themselves. For example, last year we took our 3 young children to New Orleans for spring break. Some people I knew raised their eyebrows...("New Orleans w/ kids"??!) but what they don't realize is that there is a wonderful children's museum in N.O's. and ferry boat rides, an aquarium and the kids LOVED riding on the city's breezy streetcar system getting a great view of all of the city and lovely homes. During the day Jackson Square was a lot of fun and we did the Ripley's Believe it or Not museum. Sure, I would have LOVED to stroll through the French Quarter at night/dine out on the town and have a few drinks w/ my husband, but by 8 pm most nights we were up in our room after a long day out, watching kids movies/eating carryout or room service in bed! In contrast, some people I know took their kids on a 14 day cruise to Alaska on a ship that wasn't very kid friendly and when they got home they complained about how awful the kids had been! They said they dreaded the next family vacation yet the following spring they packed up for a 3 day train ride up north to go see some statue museum that the husband had always wanted to see!

I am not saying you didn't take your kids to all the fun places...I am sure you did Disney, amusement parks and aquariums....it is just that traveling with kids should be fun and if it is not, then something is wrong or needs to be adjusted.