Traveling and Family Vacations : We are here!

We started our adventure at 9am on Saturday morning and by 3pm we were in our room at Saratoga Springs Resort in Disney! My son was beyond excited and so was I.  We chose our room for a few very specific reasons.  1) it had a kitchen 2) it had a washer and dryer 3) we had two places to sleep separated by a door so that Aubrey's night feeding wouldn't disturb Trey or my husband. One of us had to have a full night sleep and energy to run on.

We decided early on that we would not be visiting a park every single day.  We needed down time and so did the kids.  We organized our trip months in advance along with our reservations for meals(which is a must for a Disney trip.  Reservations for character meals book up months in advance).  We sat down with a piece of paper and listed which park we wanted to be at on a particular day.  Next we scheduled our character breakfast, lunch or dinners.  We did not always have a scheduled meal and would write that down too.  Needless to say with a husband that is an engineer and my OCD we were very planned.  I believe this is super important when traveling with children with the note that plans change and everything must be tentative. For us, having a plan allows us to relax more and enjoy the trip.  We were not worried about what we were going to do for meals and where we were going to be when.

Our kick off event for the trip was a character dinner called Mickey's Back Yard BBQ.  We told Trey about it the second we were walking out the door of the hotel room.  He was so excited!  I was kind of worried about Aubrey getting over stimulated and freaking out but she was fine.  Trey on the other hand was extremely over whelmed.  The music was very loud and there was a ton of people moving in all different directions.  At first, he kind of shut down and stayed close to me then his brain needed to increase the intensity of a already very intense situation and he wound him self up.  He had a good time but at some point he kept asking to go to the bathroom and when I took him the second or third time I asked him if he was okay.  He flat out told me it was too loud and he did not want to re enter the BBQ.  So, we left. We had already eaten and he had seen Mickey so it was fine with us.  It was already around 9pm when we got back to the room so we settled in and went to bed.

First Character meet-up at Micky's Back Yard BBQ

The rest of the trip was equally as over whelming for Trey and I took notice of situations where the music was too loud or the situation was to intense.  We watched parades from a distance and would tell him to put his hands over his ears.  This helped a ton and he really enjoyed himself.

Watching from a distance with the best seat in the house

We are very lucky to have a child who doesn't ask for much so we never spent any money on expensive gift items(You already read the post where I pre bought items and packed them).  The one thing Trey asked for was a fan that squirts water but I refused to get it.  Well, to make a long story short we were waiting for a custodian to bring us a screwdriver to put batteries in the stroller fan for Aubrey for the 2nd time that day (note to self bring a screwdriver on vacation!) and the souvenir lady felt bad that it was taking so long and gave Trey the fan!

The fan!

Lets talk about NIP.  You all know I exclusively breastfeed Aubrey and I have to give a big thumbs up to Disney for this! They have air conditioned nursing stations in each park.  They are so nice! I met some wonderful women in the room and it was a nice quite place to let Aubrey relax and cool down and to give me 15 or 20 minutes to relax myself!

The nursing lounge in Magic Kingdom

I also nursed all over the place and not one single dirty look or rude comment! I became very comfortable with NIP on this trip and I never used a cover.  It was far to hot.  I did get a suggestion to get a A&A blanket in the nursing center.  I had never seen them before and now I really want one.  I did use my Undercover Mama so we kept it discreet.

All in All it was an amazingly exhausting trip filled with memories that I will never forget.  My son still talk about it a month later so I pray he still remembers it as an older child and adult. We already are planning our next trip to Disney.  We want to go for Halloween, Christmas and once in the summer to enjoy the water parks :)

My favorite family picture

Traveling and Family Vacations with Kids: Step two..Getting there!

I knew early on that we couldn't mention a single thing to our son about our up coming trip.  This is tip #1 Keep it under wraps.  I could have swore that we didn't say a single thing but some how he knew what was up.  Maybe it was the teachers at daycare or maybe we did slip up but he would occasionally say "I am going to ride on an airplane and see Disney". We would just laugh and say "Where did you hear that?" Or something like that. 

Well, morning of the trip we got up and ate breakfast and then called the cab company.  Once the cab was in the drive way we then told him that we were taking a ride.  That was it! Not a single mention of Disney or an airplane.  Believe it or not he was excited about something as simple as a cab ride.  Once we got close to the airport we finally told him we were riding an airplane.  I really wish I had the camera at hand because he was beyond excited.  I knew that he was going to be very excited and there are so many things that call out to a three year old to touch and experience. (This is tip# 2 )My way of dealing with this naturally inquisitive behavior of a three year old is to involve him as much as possible in what were doing. First Trey was allowed to help drag one of the bags to the ticket counter.  He was happy to yell out to the world "I am SO STRONG!"  Once we got to the counter he was able to help push buttons on the ticket kiosk.  His eyes were lit up with happy excitement. Then we had our first timeout. First let me say that I am not remotely afraid of what other people think about how I choose to raise or discipline my child (That is tip #3).  It is your child and if a timeout right in the middle of a busy airport is necessary then go for it.  Then it was off to security which was pretty easy due to the STROLLER LANE! Gotta love things like this.  Trey loved taking his shoes off and helping load things on the x-ray belt and walking through the metal detector.  Not that the security officers made us but there was no way he,Aubrey or myself were going through the x-ray machine. 

Finally, we were though security and then the fun part.  We announced to Trey that we were going to ride a train! He squealed and asked me where Thomas the train was.  I had to lie and say he was sleeping so that we avoided a 30 minute conversation as to why he wasn't there. He loved riding on the train to the concourse and finally we got to the plane and he literally spent the next 20 minutes looking at all the planes and being a very good boy.  I was very proud.

Next was the part I was the most nervous about....The plane ride.

We filed on to the plane and two things kept crossing my mind..1) I hope Trey is not one of those kids and 2) Aubrey is totally getting hungry.  Well, I am happy to report that Trey was NOT one of those kids and was pretty well behaved. He did find the airplane bathroom fascinating and kept flushing the toilet but our boredom busters worked amazingly well. I nursed Aubrey often on the ride and she slept most of the way.  I happen to feel very comfortable nursing in public and have no shame about it.  I do try my hardest to be modest.  I wore my undercover mama and that really helped.

Just to reacap..These are my bullit point tips for traveling with kids
1) Keep it under wraps : For your own sanity try not to tell them what is about to happen or every 2.3 seconds they will ask about it.  Let them know what you are going to do moments before it happens.
2) Children are naturally curious and want to touch and interact with their environment so let them but only on your terms.  Allow them to help when they can.
3)Don't worry about the disapproving stares of total strangers: If you need to do a timeout or a stern talking to then do it!  Your children need to know that no matter where you are your rules still apply.
4) Enjoy the ride! Getting there is and should be half the fun.  We are such a go-go-go society no one notices the fun in the little things such as a tram ride in the airport. To your kid this is an adventure so look though their eyes and enjoy the experience with them. 


Part 3 coming soon The Trip!

Traveling and Family Vacations with Kids: Step One Packing

My husband and I love to travel.  We were together less then 6 months when we took our first trip together.  We went to Jamaica.  It was the first time I traveled out of the Country and I loved it.  I had been happily bitten by the travel bug.  We even had a destination wedding in Ocho Rio, Jamaica.  We have regularly taken a vacation roughly every six months since then.  I truly believe that in a relationship or family you need to travel and vacation together.  It doesn't matter if it is a long weekend a few hours from home or across the globe it is great to spend time just the two of you or as a family.  You can create wonderful memories and reconnect as a couple or family.

This year we decided while I was still pregnant with our daughter that we would take a family vacation to Disney. I have to admit I was a tiny bit nervous to travel with a 3 year old and a 3 months old.  The whole thing kind of sat uneasy with me..How would they do on the plane? How do I keep two kids occupied? How do I breast feed on the plane? I decided to take it one step at a time and step one for me was packing.  I needed to make sure that we brought everything that we might need for two reasons. #1 the cheap person I am I hate having to spend money on necessitates on vacation and they always seem to cost 10x's more then they would at home. 2) My OCD : I really freak about not being prepared and I tend to over react to situations like not having what I need..I like to be organized and ready.

I started by using a corner of my bedroom to pre-pack about a 10 days before we left. I would place items that we would need as I thought of them in the "vacation" spot.   Some people might use a list but for me list don't work well.  I need to see the items in front of me.  Most of these items are things I knew I would over look as we pack essentials.  This pile included toys that I didn't want to buy at Disney.  We bought items at Disney.com on a deep clearance discount before we left.  I also purchased glow in the dark necklaces and bracelets.  This pile also had our fans, sunscreen, laundry detergent and a stroller cover for the airplane.

In the process of preparing I decided to add a pile in the kitchen of items to occupy my 3 year old on the plane and 45 minute ride to Disney.  I was dreading having "that kid" on the airplane.  I didn't want him to be to terribly disruptive to other passengers.  I also started training him early on about using our inside voice and soft touch, not kicking the seat ect...he has a sensory delay issue which makes this extra difficult.  He is not autistic but has similar issues.  He has difficulty processing incoming tactile or auditory information unless it is at a level 10. This makes him extra loud and he wants to touch everything! So, I packed items to help him.  Crayons: to color, a camera: he loves to take pictures and this feeds his need for phyical stimulation by touching the camera and auditory by the sound of the camera snapping the pic, Velcro : this was a life savor! the feeling of the rough and smooth sides of the Velcro coupled with the ripping was entertainment for 20+ minutes!

I set a deadline for packing. My deadline was 11pm the night before we left. I organized all the clothes on the bed by kid and parent..everyone had their own pile organized by outfit.  I also had to bring blankets, lovey's, laundry detergent ect...I brought almost everything to our bed to check, double check and recheck before packing.  Once I was satisfied that I had everything we needed it went in to the suit cases and a big surprise to me was that everything for my husband, kids and myself fit in 1 large suitcase, 1 medium and 1 small. 

So, the hard part was complete and we the next morning we were on our way! My next post will be about the tip and how much fun we had!