Anonymous wrote:7 night southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan: St. Thomas/St. John, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.

So much fun!

Private boat or land tours on each island. Amazing beaches. Great snorkeling, historic landmarks, turtles, stingrays, tiny island inhabited by hermit crabs, etc. Kids ran around the ship with friends, water slides, minigolf, basketball, etc. Excellent service, decent food, fun shows, and very relaxing.

I know DCUM hates cruises, but I have to say it's a fun and relaxing family vacation.

What cruise was that?

Anonymous wrote:My husband, two teenage kids and I just returned from a week in Scotland. It was so amazing! We flew into Edinburgh and were there for two days then rented a car and drove to some really amazing places. Our favorite was Isle of Skye. My kids loved it! I am sitting here drinking coffee and trying to get ready for work. It's good to be home but I miss Scotland already.

Sounds amazing! Could you please post your itinerary and more details? Thanks!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spent two days in Vegas (I was actually surprised how my much kids liked it/how kid friendly it was) and then did Zion and Bryce Canyon for the rest of the week. It was a lot of fun and so, so gorgeous (I had never been to the southwest except Phoenix for work once) but in hindsight I think I’d wait 2-3 more years for this trip because I overestimated the stamina of our 7 year old- there were a good number of times that the rest of us (me, husband, 11 year old twins) were wanting to keep going but our daughter just didn’t have it in her. Lesson learned.

Can you let me know how much time you spent in each location? Was that a good amount of time? Did you like doing the trip during spring break in terms of weather? Thanks!

Whoops - I saw you posted the itinerary already - thanks!

No problem. Re: weather. The weather was GLORIOUS. Super sunny, upper 60s/low 70s each day. I was actually concerned it'd be too cold but it was just perfect. I think probably the best time of year to go, weatherwise.

Caribbean cruise out of Tampa. My kids wanted to sit in the cabin all day and watch TV. Oh, they also showed interest in ordering room service but otherwise couldn't care less about the cruise activities. Sigh.

Two adults and a 8 year old. It was great!
Flew into Vegas (boo!), rented a camper van (Cool!), drove to see Hoover Dam (wow, amazing engineering project), drove to Valley of the Fire (Cool!) Zion (crowded but cool!), met up with Grandma (not cool), We camped out at the Zion campground (very crowded but ok), then drove to Bryce (Amazing), then the ride from Bryce to Kodachrome Basin state park was really nice. Kodachrome is really cool. We did the local trails around there. Hikes gave you a really good view of the red sandstone mounds, so cool. The campground has one of the best hot shower ever in any campground we've been to. Then, we drove the scenic byway that crosses more mountains.

so much more to see in Utah. Can't wait to go back and see the Grand Staircase and the other national and state parks in Utah. I used like WOW and Cool and Amazing a lot on this trip. The landscapes are incredible. The people are-well, it was sparsely populated. The tourists are annoying sometimes. Some young adults play loud music on their hikes-really annoying and climb on things they shouldn't climb on.

I didn't even have my cell phone with me so everything was absorbed through my eyes, not the cell phone.

Can't stand Vegas. They made it so you don't see daylight there. My legs hurt more from walking 4 blocks in Vegas than hiking for hours on the nature trails. Even the Angels Landing at Zion was easier and bearable than walking in Vegas.

We just came back from a great trip to California! 5 nights/4 ski days in Tahoe. Then we drove to San Francisco for 2 nights. My 2 kids behaved fairly well (they definitely enjoyed ski days more than city days). I found that I get super stressed about constantly shelling out money...parking, restaurants, museums, Uber's, etc....it definitely affects my enjoyment level. Maybe I'd be a good candidate for an all inclusive vacation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was vacation worth ALL THE LAUNDRY????

I have my doubts...

Seriously, I ran washer all day Saturday after we got back. Didn't help that my parents arrived that am, 2 hours before I was expecting them.

I just do laundry on vacation every couple of days. (Stay in condo/Airbnb) I prefer that to large suitcases full of laundry at home. Instead we brought home all clean clothes except the last day’s clothes and pjs.

+1 Allows us to pack less (we are pretty good at packing a for a week in a roll-on even if we have to pack for cold and warm temps).

We wash when easy but when not we make do and still take just carry ons.

Went to Las Vegas for four days with my two best friends, no kids or husbands for once.

It was AMAZING! But we're all moms with toddlers, and ended up going to be every night by 11:30 pm. I was up by 5:30 am everyday (due the time change and good night's sleep.) So I got to wander around Vegas by myself each morning, which was pretty magical. We saw J Lo (spectacular.)

I was so happy to see my toddler this morning, and probably won't be upset by her daily 6pm tantrum/meltdown for at least two days. Woot!

Anonymous wrote:7 night southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan: St. Thomas/St. John, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.

So much fun!

Private boat or land tours on each island. Amazing beaches. Great snorkeling, historic landmarks, turtles, stingrays, tiny island inhabited by hermit crabs, etc. Kids ran around the ship with friends, water slides, minigolf, basketball, etc. Excellent service, decent food, fun shows, and very relaxing.

I know DCUM hates cruises, but I have to say it's a fun and relaxing family vacation.

That was my favorite cruise out of 6 of them! Love being in port so much!

Woodloch...had a great time, and got a deal at Travel Zoo for about half price.

We went to Lake Placid. We had an awesome time. Drove up from Northern Virginia. We rented a cabin last minute through Airbnb. It had a hot tub, which was key. We skied 4 days at Whiteface. We visited all of the Olympic sites. We cross country skied two days. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. Kids are 8, 6, and 3. Highly recommend if you are a decent skier. Whiteface is definitely not a beginner mountain. Oh - and the snow was fantastic as well as the weather.

Definitely learned a lot about ski vacations. Like it is not possible with the ages of our kids to ski two days in a row. We had a rest day after each ski day.

7 night southern Caribbean cruise out of San Juan: St. Thomas/St. John, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia, and Barbados.

So much fun!

Private boat or land tours on each island. Amazing beaches. Great snorkeling, historic landmarks, turtles, stingrays, tiny island inhabited by hermit crabs, etc. Kids ran around the ship with friends, water slides, minigolf, basketball, etc. Excellent service, decent food, fun shows, and very relaxing.

I know DCUM hates cruises, but I have to say it's a fun and relaxing family vacation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We spent two days in Vegas (I was actually surprised how my much kids liked it/how kid friendly it was) and then did Zion and Bryce Canyon for the rest of the week. It was a lot of fun and so, so gorgeous (I had never been to the southwest except Phoenix for work once) but in hindsight I think I’d wait 2-3 more years for this trip because I overestimated the stamina of our 7 year old- there were a good number of times that the rest of us (me, husband, 11 year old twins) were wanting to keep going but our daughter just didn’t have it in her. Lesson learned.

Can you let me know how much time you spent in each location? Was that a good amount of time? Did you like doing the trip during spring break in terms of weather? Thanks!

Whoops - I saw you posted the itinerary already - thanks!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was vacation worth ALL THE LAUNDRY????

I have my doubts...

Seriously, I ran washer all day Saturday after we got back. Didn't help that my parents arrived that am, 2 hours before I was expecting them.

MINE IS ALL STILL IN THE FRONT DOORWAY OF OUR HOUSE. Ugh.

Anonymous wrote:We spent two days in Vegas (I was actually surprised how my much kids liked it/how kid friendly it was) and then did Zion and Bryce Canyon for the rest of the week. It was a lot of fun and so, so gorgeous (I had never been to the southwest except Phoenix for work once) but in hindsight I think I’d wait 2-3 more years for this trip because I overestimated the stamina of our 7 year old- there were a good number of times that the rest of us (me, husband, 11 year old twins) were wanting to keep going but our daughter just didn’t have it in her. Lesson learned.

Can you let me know how much time you spent in each location? Was that a good amount of time? Did you like doing the trip during spring break in terms of weather? Thanks!