I Really Should Have Learned to Juggle

In the 6th grade I had someone start to teach me how to juggle using 2 items.  Once I got that skill down, I was supposed to learn how to do 3.  Well, I am very good at juggling 2 things but never made it to the lesson on 3 things.

Of course for those of you that know me I am a multitasker.  I can usually keep up with several things at once.  But it is convincing my mind to focus on one thing that can be the trick.  I have to settle the voices that want me to jump from thing to thing and just focus on something simple.  This afternoon I played basketball in the driveway with Jason while the girls were in the house.  I had to focus on that one thing and not worry if I needed to change laundry or if Kirsten and Katrina were doing what they said they would do (they didn't - but they did try on their Halloween costumes - but that is something else entirely.)  I had to focus.  And I am glad I did even if I'm still not too sure about what those two girls were doing.

So maybe it's a good thing my juggling skills are limited.  Sometimes I need to just focus on what I have in my hands or who is in my line of sight.  I am a mom of 5 kids and I work outside of the home as well as in it and have other irons in the fire.  And I'm not the only mom to attempt juggling.  I hope we all can have a moment of focus this week and that it is good.

The Beginning of the Blog

 So here it goes - My name is Denni I am a mom of 5 kidlets (AKA "monkeys") and I live in Northwest Arkansas.  My husband and I are both pastors and we have found since we were married that no one was going to hand us family time.  And now that we are family of 7, we plan our trips out 6 months to a year in advance.  And by "we", I mean "me".  My husband will freely admit he is the last one packed and jumps into the van in time to leave for our vacation.  So I get asked some questions about us traveling and I thought I would share how we do this with others who may be trying to brave a family vacation.

Plan ahead - Decide where you want to go ahead of time and set a budget.  Once you have dates set, make sure you let your work know so there is no surprises that you wanted that time period for vacation.

Research - There are a lot of ways to save on your vacation.  One is to use a points system.  We stay through one chain of hotels and earn points for each stay.  After a while, we have enough to get a free night.  Typically these stays are one night on our way somewhere, but a free night came in very handy when we got rained out on a camping trip!  You might also have a credit card that earns you travel points.  We are also timeshare owners and vacation in Branson every even year (is it 2 hours from home.)  Timeshare companies will be happy to give you a discounted stay if you will take the tour and hear the sales pitch.  You are under no obligation to buy, but you do need to tour to get the rate.  You can check it out through my promotion here or 888-608-9570 and use code 3401195434.  They have several resorts in popular destinations (Branson, Orlando, Myrtle Beach, etc.)  I have found that you can research online but get better deals if you call and talk to a person.  And we love staying in a condo for vacation so we can have washer/dryer, kitchen, and elbow room!  On that note, this ends the sales pitch from me.

Traveling with kids - We have now traveled as far east as Orlando, Florida and as far west as Newport Beach, California.  Here are some things that are helpful:
 - ID bands for kids with names, contact information and any medical information.  3 of my kids have drug allergies and they each have something that emergency personnel might need.   

 - Color coding days works well for keeping track of everyone without being matchy-matchy.  For example, we will say that Monday is red or pink day, Tuesday is blue, Wednesday is yellow or green, and Thursday is purple or grey.  If I can't find a kid in a crowd, I simply look at what I am wearing to remind myself what the color is and it helps me find him/her quickly.  Yes, they are usually standing right behind me.  I know from experience that when a parent can't find a child, they usually panic and can't remember what color their child is wearing, so this helps as a reminder.  Another unexpected bonus is that it makes group photos look better, too!  This is our family on the edge of the Painted Dessert last summer.  Oh, and we also had my mother-in-law on the trip (8 in an 8 passenger van with a hitch rack!)  And, yes, she even followed my crazy color coded idea!  (That is her with the kids.)  We were trying to take a picture with the Hollywood Sign in the background.

 

- Food can be one of the things that robs a trip of its fun funds.  When we are on the road, we stay at hotels that offer a free breakfast.  We plan ahead by stocking up a cooler than plugs into the back of our van and can keep lunchmeat, cheese, fruits, veggies, and other lunch items cool.  We pack another bag with the rest of our lunch items as well as plastic cups to put each persons lunch items in (fruit/veggies on the bottom and sandwich wrap on top.)  We only allow kids to have water while we are traveling, so some bottles of water in the cooler are helpful and they have their own water bottles to drink from.  When doing any sort of an activity, check ahead to see if you can bring your own drinks and food, and what is/is not allowed.  We have found that while many parks won't allow for rolling coolers, a soft cooler is allowed.  You can put it in a locker on site or we still bring an old umbrella stroller and push our items around in.

- Coupons and bargain deals are out there.  Last summer when we drove out to California I signed up for Groupon in the Los Angeles area and we were able to do the driving tour of star's homes for a great rate.  I also found an online coupon for a discount on a whale/dolphin watch boat.  Since our youngest daughter loves dolphins but had never seen one in person, she loved the dolphins dancing in front of the boat and we saw more whales than the boat's captain expected.  Everyone enjoyed the trip. Just because the memories are pricelice doesn't mean the trip has to be high priced.  You can also research where there are kids eat free deals for the area and pickup a local coupon book or clip coupons from the Sunday paper.  Doing research for Walt Disney World led me to their youth education program and found out that if the kids did a class in the morning, we got deeply discounted tickets.  Yes, we got something extra at Disney and it saved us money.

 - Use apps to save, too.  My husband has an app that helps him find the best deals on gas wherever we are at. Look around and see if the restaurant where you are eating gives a coupon code if you sign up for their text service.  We travel with our cell phones, so we might as well put them to work for us.

I hope this helps you to at least think about having a family vacation!

Off to chase the monkeys!
Denni