{"id":156,"date":"2007-05-21T17:24:51","date_gmt":"2007-05-22T00:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/famille.org\/?p=156"},"modified":"2007-05-21T17:24:51","modified_gmt":"2007-05-22T00:24:51","slug":"my-family-vacations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/famille.org\/?p=156","title":{"rendered":"My Family Vacations"},"content":{"rendered":"

So it’s just under two weeks until we leave for Disney.  First, I want to give you an idea of what our "day at rest" is like.  This is our down day:<\/p>\n

– Breakfast at Boatwrights, 7:50 AM
– Swimming until Lunch.  Lunch at Disney Studios (forget which restaurant)
– Laundry & more swimming
– Horse-drawn carraige ride at the resort
– Dinner at Planet Hollywood (in Downtown Disney)<\/p>\n

So a lot of people have called me crazy, because I’m going to:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Drive from Chicago to Orlando with three kids<\/li>\n
  2. Spend eight days and seven nights in Disney World<\/li>\n
  3. Spend two days and one night in Universal<\/li>\n
  4. Drive home to Chicago<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So what’s in it for me?  Here’s the story.  I work very hard.  Some of you know who I work for, as a general rule I don’t mention them here.  So most of the year, I’m working 50-70 hours per week (including weekends) and in between that I spend as much time with my family as possible, usually a couple hours a night and the weekends.  All of our time together is rushed, and going anyplace is a battle of wits – keeping the kids under control, quiet, and focusing on their activities or meals so we can move on to the next one.  <\/p>\n

    Not during vacation.  We go to restaurants, and they either adore our children or we go elsewhere.  Hotels either have a pool, or we go elsewhere.  We don’t rush.  We relax – yes, WITH the kids.  They may be running around, but we sit back and enjoy watching them.  For once.  We don’t hurry them, or ourselves.  And we generally don’t worry (too much) about how they behave (within reason).  <\/p>\n

    If all this relaxing and taking it easy seems to contrast with my previous posts about how much planning goes into a family vacation, let me explain.  We (mostly I) plan, so that we *can* relax.  I have the money planned, in fact I’m overbudgetted enough that I don’t have to worry about whether that Pirates of the Carribean sword is in the budget or not.  And even though we have a schedule, we actually plan<\/em> for a lot of time to sit around and enjoy ourselves.  <\/p>\n

    For instance, road trip:<\/p>\n