Category Archives: Vacations

Large Family Friendly Hotel

For vacation this year, we decided to head to Cheyenne, Wyoming and take in some of the history and nature there.  My son and I researched hotels and came across a Days Inn that offered exactly what we were looking for…

A reasonably priced Family Suite!

So many we had researched only offered a connecting room and it was always double the price of a single room.  So, if one room was $90, putting up my entire family was going to end up costing $180.  That is NOT reasonable in my budget-minded opinion.

However, this Days Inn Suite boasted 2 sets of bunk beds, a hideaway couch, a King bed and room to move all for less than $130.  Couple that with a military discount or other discount and you have a super deal!

The suite consisted of one HUGE room with a King bed, a couch that makes into a bed, 2 chairs, a dresser, TV, and refrigerator and another bedroom area attached with 2 sets of bunks, a dresser and a TV.  (There was another suite that we considered that was set up with 2 Queen beds and 1 set of bunks, but the idea of 2 sets of bunk beds won out.)

The oldest 4 slept in the extra bedroom and the two younger children slept in the main room with us.  It was no trouble finding a place for the playpen where Garin sleeps and Micah slept on the pull out couch like a king!

A wonderful hot breakfast was included in the price of the room (which saves a ton of money, but you should have seen their faces when we hit the dining room!)  There was a nice pool, laundry facility, and great customer service.

And, we had the cutest bell hop ever!

The only 2 things I would have changed is adding another bathroom to the suite (there was only 1, but thankfully, there were two sinks – one in the bathroom and one in the main room) and more washers and dryers in the laundry area.  We had to do laundry and ended up doing it all night long one night because the railroad workers who were staying there had taken up the one washer and one dryer available during the daytime hours.

And for those of you with pets, the hotel was pet friendly.  We saw a lot of dogs while we there.

We were so impressed with our stay there and will definitely continue to look for Days Inn (and hopefully more family suites) from now on.

Have you found any great hotel rooms for large families in your travels?  Be sure to share about it in the comments so other readers can benefit from your insider knowledge!

On Vacation We Stayed at a “Modern” Motel

I had an OB appointment yesterday and I’m a little tired, so rather than a real meaty post I thought I’d give you a chuckle with our stay in a small town motel advertised as “modern.”  It became a family joke (don’t you love those kinds of memories) and I thought some of you would get a kick out of it.  (I promise I’ll be blogging soon about the really awesome family-friendly hotel we stayed at on vacation.)

Here are a couple of photos of our modern motel experience.  This motel shall remain nameless because while we will probably never stay there again, it did create some great family memories!

First off, that chair is broken…no one was allowed to sit in it.  The television didn’t actually work and we were afraid to turn on the AC just in case it shorted out the rest of the room.

There was another room attached to this with another bed in it.  We slept 3 of the kids in there.  They had a fan.  We did not.  Oh, and the windows could not be opened.  At 6:30 in the morning, my son woke me up to ask if he could open the door.  I said yes.

This was the bathtub.  It scared me.

This is how you turned on the bathtub.  My kids were fascinated.

This is the front door of our modern motel and the most endearing quality of our stay.  It made me want to pull out a lawn chair and have a seat on my “porch.”

Oh by the way, the train was yards from the modern motel.  It went through several times a day and night.  Thankfully, the kids were so tired they didn’t even notice.

After this experience, everywhere we went we looked for “modern” motels.  It was a hoot!

So, what “interesting” family vacation memories do you have?  I imagine some of you could majorly one-up me on my “modern” motel experience! ;)

Week 24 – A Vacation

Our family took a much needed (and rather different for us) vacation the last week and a half.  Instead of our usual mountain getaway, we ended up doing the hotel and educational museums thing.  It was actually really nice for this pregnant mama considering someone else made my bed and fed my entire family breakfast!  (I’m planning to write a post about one of the hotels we stayed in for the simple fact that they were super large family friendly and the price was a good deal considering some of the others we had looked into…but that’s for another day.)

We took in a fabulous zoo, tons of historical sites we’ll be learning about in upcoming school years, and did a lot of hiking.  Here’s a photo of me at the zoo (it was quite chilly that day, thankfully!)

The woman who took our tickets at the zoo was a little surprised by how many kids we had and she said the nicest thing to me…”You are one young looking mama!”  Made my day!

There was another large family there and all the little boys were dressed in red.  I almost dressed my boys in red that day to keep better track of them, but it was too cold and they all were going to have coats on anyway, but it made me smile to see another “matching” family.

We were at a higher altitude and I did notice I was thirsty all the time and easily worn out.  I also had to apply chapstick constantly!  It was so funny to come down in altitude the day before we returned and suddenly feel totally normal again.

I also ate better than usual on vacation.  The main hotel we stayed at had a hot breakfast and I packed sandwiches and good things to eat for our day trips.  So glad I finally learned to take a cooler along on vacation!  I feel so much better when I’m not snacking on junk throughout vacation!

I don’t think the ticker changed last week (was still a papaya), so it was fun to see something different this week…

BabyFruit Ticker

The New Seating Charts!

This week’s Welcome Home post is going to be rather logistical in nature as I show you our brand new seating charts!

Yes, that IS excitement you hear in my voice, because now my answer to some of the most petty of squabbles is,

“See the chart.”

Every year for vacation I make a Van Seating Chart scribbled quickly on a piece of paper as we are leaving the house.  Every day, the older children rearrange themselves so that all get the coveted front row seat where they can chit chat with Mom and Dad and sit by the baby.

Why I thought I needed to ditch this method of arrangement once vacation was over, I have no idea for it really is a great way to keep the van squabbles at bay.  So, this past week after hearing one too many times,

“The front row in mine!”

and hearing 4 other voices raised in protest, I decided it was time to give the Van Seating Chart a permanent place in our home.  Ahhh, so much nicer!

Now, you might notice, that two of the children do not move…ever.  Garin is always in the front row because he is the current baby and in a car seat I don’t feel like moving over and over again.  And until the new baby arrives, Micah will also be staying put in the second row.  After baby gets here, he’ll be in a booster and I will change the seating chart to reflect his ability to move about the cabin.  This means a couple of the children never sit by each other, but I’m hoping they aren’t too bothered by it and can hang on until the new baby is here.

Now, for the other seating chart I put together:

For years, we have followed a very streamlined meal time, but seating has always been an issue.  Everyone wants to sit by Daddy and often the seating arrangement that naturally happens leaves two toddlers sitting together with no one big enough to help them pass food.

Once again, I was tired of hearing,

“I’m sitting by Daddy!”

and then a squabble over who sat by Daddy last time; however, I knew from experience that trying to change where children sat every single meal was NOT a good idea.  It was entirely too chaotic, so I couldn’t do what I had done with the van seating.  My compromise was to create a seating arrangement by season.

Each child has an assigned seat for an entire season with the two toddlers sitting smack dab in the center of the table on either side so they are never left stranded together fending for themselves.  My seat and Daddy’s seat never change.  We sit together so we can both work at filling plates and passing them.

I am VERY pleased with the results!  It also helps for the times when I fill the plates from the kitchen and send my helper out with the plates because they know precisely where to put each plate.

Awwww, bliss!


Have Kids, Will Travel…Overnight

Staying overnight with a lot of children can feel a little crazy at times!

So, I told you how I travel alone with all the kids.  Now to answer how we handle overnight trips.

I learned long ago how to pack on the fly.  My husband is spontaneous and I rarely get much warning.  I’ve had a lot of my in-real-life friends ask how in the world I manage to throw together an overnight trip on a moment’s notice.  The answer is, I’ve done it so much, it is second nature.

Here’s a basic rundown of how we pack, what we pack, and how we make staying overnight somewhere as painless as possible!

Packing (half the battle):
We’ve packed a multitude of ways over the years, but the basic idea has stayed the same.

Daddy has his own bag.  He’s had the bag since his military days.  He likes it.  A lot.

I have a large duffel bag that I use for myself and the baby and extra diapers. It is falling apart, but it still serves the purpose!  I pack my things on one side and the baby’s things along with extras on the other side.

The girls have a bag or they have separate small bags.  They each purchased a tapestry bag at a store in Branson in a couple of years ago that can be used for shorter trips when they don’t need to pack many things.  Otherwise, they share a larger duffel bag.  Since there are only 2 of them, each girl gets a side of the duffel bag as her own.

My oldest son has a backpack.  Since he’s gotten older and bigger, he’s gone to his own backpack, much like his daddy.  When there were fewer boys, he shared the boy’s large duffel bag with his brother.

The two younger boys share a bag or backpack. They are small enough that a backpack works for them on short trips.  Longer trips require them to use the bigger boy’s duffel bag.  Since extra diapers are in the diaper bag and my duffel bag, they don’t need a lot of space.

Occasionally, we pack all the children’s things in individual plastic sacks inside one ENORMOUS duffel bag.  This is especially helpful when a grandparent, who is not familiar with what things belong to which child, will be caring for them.

We also pack a laundry bag similar to this one:

I usually pack 2 jammies (in case of accidents) and 1 outfit per day we will be gone unless we will be at a place we can wash, then I will pack 2-3 outfits and expect to wash.  The children who are old enough to pack themselves are required to check in with me to show me what is in their bag.  I neglected to do this a couple of times and sorely regretted it!

In the back of the van we have a stroller, baby slings/wraps, and a jacket or coat for everyone.  We also have a lap blanket for each of the children, courtesy of my mother-in-law.

I talked about packing snacks and things for the trip in these posts, so I won’t rehash that:
Have Kids, Will Travel…Alone
What to Pack for a Family Day Trip

Staying Overnight:
If we reach our destination at night, everyone but my husband and my oldest son stay in the van until the room is set up.  That way those who are asleep will have the best chance to STAY asleep.  They set up the room for us (even if it is at Grandma’s house), so I can shuffle children in as quickly and quietly as possible.  Sometimes if it will be really late, we try to stop somewhere and jammy-up during the last leg of the trip so they can go straight to bed with the least amount of interruption.

If someone has to take the floor, we usually leave that to the little ones.  Sometimes we have sleeping bags with us or we make palettes from blankets that our host family provides.  If the place we are staying does not have a playpen, we will bring our own.

If possible, we keep all our family members as close to us as we can. That way, if someone gets up in the night confused by their surroundings, they don’t have to search too far to find mom and dad.

Try your best to keep the mess contained. Keep all the bags in a central out-of-the-way location and keep everything IN the bags as much as possible.  I have a travel toothbrush holder made from a handtowel that we keep in the bathroom along with my makeup bag and my husband’s dopp kit.  If the bathroom vanity is too small to accommodate these things, they need to go back in the bag too.  A place that looks less cluttered up tends to create less stress.

Delegate chores. Yes, it might be vacation, but mama will end up doing all the work while everyone else rests if you don’t purpose to delegate chores in your environment during your stay.  Even for short stays at Grandma’s, you would do well to assign them with places to tidy, dishes to wash, etc.  We all make messes.  We all clean them up.  We all enjoy our stay. :)

Departing for Home:
When I had all littles, departure day usually meant I would shoo everyone out with Daddy while I tidied up.  Daddy would swoop in and gather all our gear, load it, and do a once-through the house/hotel room/cabin to make sure we had packed up everything.

Now that we have older children, I delegate someone to keep the littles corralled and then assign the rest of them chores to help get things packed up.  At the very last I send everyone out to load up into the van while Ty and I do a once-through and finish up any last minute things.  From there, I go to the van and my oldest son comes in to help haul gear to the van.

No matter how you slice it, you or your husband will need to do some sort of final check.  Don’t forget under beds and behind doors!  We try to leave no trace…no small task when you have a large whirlwind of a family!

Once again, I turn it over to you!  Got any great travel tips?  Share them here!

And while you’re at it, go check out this blog:  Live the Adventure!  She has some great travel tips! (she also has a ton of homeschool field trip ideas if you are looking for an edu-cation this summer!)

Have Kids, Will Travel…Alone

I had a couple of readers ask about traveling with all these kiddos.  Those of you who know us in real life, know we travel A LOT. Some of you think we are slightly crazy.  Some of you KNOW we are. ;)

While I prefer to go places as an entire family, there are times when life necessitates I go places with the entire family…minus my husband.  Now according to my brother, THAT does not mean I am ALONE, but according to me, it does.  (My blog.  My definition. ;) )

I’ve blogged before about Packing for a Day Trip, but what about a longer trip that involves an overnight stay?  How are things different when I am traveling alone?  How do we, as a family, keep things sane when we stay somewhere overnight?  This post and the next will try to answer those questions for you.

So, this is Part 1…
How I travel alone.

Simple answer:

I don’t.
(That is, unless I have to.)

So, now you know the truth.  I am a wimp.  I don’t even like to go to the grocery store alone!  But just last week, I had to go out of town with all the kids in tow.

I’ll admit, for the first few miles I seriously considered turning around and coming home.  But, I pushed past that feeling (which is really an odd place for me to be since I used to travel a lot with all the kids by myself.  Oh wait, that was when I had fewer children…could that be my hangup?)

I’ll tell you it does help tremendously to have a big kid along!  Bathroom breaks, stops for food or drinks, and staying awake during a long afternoon of driving are made 100 times easier with a big kid sitting next to you!

So, here’s a quick rundown of how we travel…

In the van:
Sometimes we have a cooler with drinks and food in it.  I wasn’t that well prepared this last time, but I must admit when we do this, it is a huge help!  Think easy and tidy.  Cheese sticks, vanilla wafers, beef jerky, water bottles, and the like.  You can also throw a wet washcloth in a zippy bag in there.

ALWAYS assign a bigger kids to sit next to a smaller kid.  We do not really have enough big kids to go around, but I’m happy as long as the toddler and baby are taken care of.

Each child has personal property they are responsible for. Sometimes I allow a backpack they can fill with whatever they want.  Sometimes they can only take 2 things with them on the trip.  This is usually dependent upon how much room we have.  No matter what, they are responsible for the care of those things and the tidying up of those things. (The toddler and baby are at my mercy when it comes to toys…or whatever they can bum off an older sib ;) )

Everyone knows to quiet down when mama says QUIET.  If I am in heavy traffic or high winds or some other tense situation, I need as much quiet as they can muster.  My oldest helps to enforce this.  I’m not mean about it, just matter of fact.  If you don’t obey, there are consequences that come later like no treat when we stop or a toy taken away.

On the road:
Everyone takes the restroom breaks…even if they think they don’t need it.  We sometimes do this altogether, but most of the time, I take the girls in and then when I come back, Blake takes the boys in.  Everyone has a buddy no matter what.  No one…not even mama, goes in alone.  This is something I learned from some friends of ours.  Doing things in pairs is just plain safer.

Avoid getting caught unprepared. My purse holds 1 diaper for each child in diapers as well as a small case of wipes.  I keep a small amount of cash, a pen and paper, and other random things in there.  That way, I can grab just my purse when we go in somewhere, rather than lugging in the diaper bag as well.

Try to do the bulk of your traveling at nap time.  Need I say more?

Play games.  We love travel games and it keeps me awake and the kids calm.

I think one reason our family likes to travel so much is because we actually enjoy each other’s company!  Half the battle is you own attitude.  Conquer that, and you’re sure to have a better road trip!

Now, it’s your turn!  When you travel alone with all the kiddos, what kinds of thing do you do to make the traveling easier?