Vacation Never Ends: Travel Chat

Colorado Weekend Trips - Get out there before summer is over

Last weekend was Labor day.  What happened? Summer is almost over.

There were so many trips I wanted to take when summer started and a couple of them worked out but not all of them.  I always feel like I have more time.  We are wasting no time this weekend we are going to Breckenridge for Oktoberfest .  We went last year by chance and loved it.

If you are looking for Colorado weekend getaways here are some other suggestions:

• Sand dunes - should be a good time of year, not too hot.
• Grand Mesa - they have lots of lakes and outdoor activities
• Black Canyon - phenomenal to see
• Steamboat Springs - the hot springs are fabulous
• Glenwood Springs - you have to stay in the old hotel there
• Grand Junction - I want to tour the vineyards.  I have heard that is lots of fun.
• Mesa Verde National Park - do the tours and hikes

Get out there and enjoy what's left of summer. Let us help you plan next summer so it doesn't slip away from you again.

Florida Family Reunion - Group Toe Picture

Our family reunion in Florida went was so good this year, we were super organized thanks to Travel Group Planner. I took a toe picture to make sure  I captured the feeling. 

The scene was everyone lounging around the pool drinking white wine, or juice for the kids, and eating some good food. Ahh family togetherness, isn't it beautiful.

I like to take Toe Pictures of my trips - my first blog post on this.

Playground in the Tampa Airport Terminal - Why didn't anyone else think of it?

Airlines recommend you get to the airport 2 hours before your flight so you can check in and get through security.  All that stuff has very rarely taken me two hours.  Despite that, when I travel with my kids we give ourselves the full two hours. 

The main problem with this occurs when it takes a half hour to get to the gate. Now what?  We have so much stuff it is hard to chase the kids around but you want them to wear off some energy so they can site on the plane for the next couple of hours.  Tampa International airport has a great solution, a playground in the terminal. 

We went flew in and out of Tampa last week.  We got to the gate with about an hour until boarding but not to worry, the kids played the whole time in a great little playground.  They ran, climbed, jumped, laughed, and they were ready to go sit for a the 3 hour flight.  Thanks Tampa, we are flying into this airport when we go to Florida!

Orlando Hotels - For Disneyland Stay

We are going to be staying in Orlando for two night in June so I'm looking for a hotel in the area.  I thought this would be pretty easy but there are so many to sort through and I'm just not sure which one is best. 

You enter in Orlando hotels in google and man there is a lot of junk.  Those are probably very competitive search words.  I am going to have to spend some good quality time sorting through the reviews and the availability. 

Well, here I go, wish me luck.  Feel free to email me with any good hotels in the Orlando area. I'm looking for a good Disneyland feel hotel.

Moms Relax the Rules on Vacation - I do!

I came across an article talking about how mom's relax the rules when the family is on vacation.  Kids get to stay up later, eat more sugar, sleep in late, swim in the pool, play in the snow, and get money to buy things. 

I know I'm guilty of all of these with my kids but it is mainly because I want to do all these things on my family trips as well.  The one exception is swimming, I prefer to sit by the pool reading a book to  swimming.  My mom had the same preference when I was I kid and I thought she was crazy!   I see that same confused look in my daughter's eyes when I tell her "Mommy's not swimming right now."

A picture of the house we will be staying at in June, can't wait.

Winter Park Ski School

I hadn't intended to review every ski school in the Colorado but here is another.  We took my three year old to Winter Park's ski school this week.  The best thing about every time I take her is, she loves it!

The check in process at Winter Park was really easy and it felt good to leave her there.  The kids seemed to wait around at the top of the tiny little hill for their chance to ski with the instructor.  The hill was bigger than Breckenridge or Copper so the instructor was with the kids the whole way down. 

So after three days in ski school she has made good progress for a 3 year old.  She has the ski boots down.  She  seems really comfortable on skis.  Each time I come to watch she gives me a big smile and totally wants to show off. 

I keep wanting her to do more skiing but she is so exhausted at the end of the day, I don't know if she could handle more.  We stopped to drink some coffee before heading home and she fell asleep right there on the table in Starbucks. 

Copper Ski School Experience

My daughter took her second ski school class this weekend.  The first was at Breckenridge.  The ski experience was about the same from what I can tell but Breckenridge's drop off process was by far better.  At Copper it took almost an hour and we had to stand in 4 different lines before we were able to get her up to school.  She was pretty hot at that time and starting to go a little crazy. 

At Breckenridge there was one line and they took care of the rest.  Their process took around 5-10 minutes.  I have some passes left at Copper so I will probably use their school again otherwise I would be enrolling my daughter at Breckenridge. 

From now on before we choose a resort to ski at I not only need to check if they take 3 year olds, some of the smaller resorts don't, but ask them what their drop off process is like.  An easy drop off process will make my ski day much more relaxed.  I started off rather frazzled.

Breckenridge Ski School

We took my daughter skiing for the first time this year.  We decided on Breckenridge ski school. 

Since she is three she didn't get a lot of ski time and I was concerned about paying lots of money when she wasn't skiing all day.  It turned out perfect.   Ski school is all she can talk about. 

I guess the experts know what they are are doing, go figure. I'm glad I didn't put her on the mountain for hours, she would probably never want to go back. 

The next things I want to try with the little one is a kids ski trainer and Copper Mountain Ski School.  A close friend of mine used a ski trainer with his kids and loved it.  This way I can actually ski with her.  Before we do that I want to try Copper Mountain ski school.

Exploring My Home Town - Lookout Mountain Nature Center

After my post about San Diego I decided to explore my own home town more.  Today we just wanted to get away from Denver today so we just decided on Lookout mountain.  I hadn't been there for years.  My daughter is two and half and we had a really good time. 

They have a .6 mile trail around the nature center.  It was the perfect distance for her she walked the whole way. It was a really nice nature trip.  We studied butterflies, pine cones, flying grasshoppers, rocks, bridges, and read all the little nature signs.

If you haven't visited the nature center at lookout mountain I highly recommend it.  I am going to try to find other trips like this for my family.  One attraction we are going to try in a couple of weeks is the Georgetown train loop.  I'm really looking forward to it.

Whitewater rafting for families

Colorado finally had a good year for snow, which was good news for the ski resorts.  The snow pack turns into snow melt, which is equally good for the water sports in Colorado. 

Here is an article about the good year for water from Summit Daily News: http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20050601/RECREATION06/50601057&SearchID=73283672323367

If you want to take advantage of the good water in Colorado or other areas in the country Raftingbuddy.com, has an article with good tips for planning a family rafting trip.