Mom Life with Adrienne

Today I am linking up with Shay and Erika with How We...Wednesday. 

In January we discussed New Years Goals and Resolutions. 

In February we talked about Taking Care of Ourselves

In March we talked about How We: Mom Fail and Live to Discuss.

(yeah I missed a few months)

Today we are talking about How We Plan Our Summer Vacation.

I have always loved traveling. I grew up going on family vacations with my parents usually by motor home, other times we rented houses, condos, and stayed in hotels. I always dreamed of traveling the United States and the world so much that I decided to become a travel agent in hopes of planning wonderful vacations for others as well. Unfortunately the company I worked for had unrealistic expectations, with no assistance and things didn't work out. I still plan my own vacations and dream of many more. 

Here are some tips and insists into how our family currently plans our summer vacations:

1- Agree on a Time and Taking Time Off 

This is an easy one for me since I am a stay at home mom. Brian is self employed and able to adjust his schedule as needed and if he has a closing or inspection that needs done while we are gone he has partners to help him out as well. Since I have shared parenting of Aubriella I discuss possible dates for our vacation with her father so they don't conflict with anything he has planned. So far this has never been an issue. 

2- Destination 

With our being kids so young still (2 and 6) Brian and I decide where we are going to go. We have ideas where we want to visit, most places with kids, some without. We look at it realistically what there is to do with kids our ages, out timeline, price.... Once our kids get older we will take their ideas into consideration. Right now if we ask Ella where she wants to go it is either Disney World, or back to Michigan to see her cousin named Ella. We are planning Washington D.C. and more educational vacations once they get older to be able to understand and enjoy it. 

3- Budget/Save

We are always putting money away for vacations and an emergency fund. How much we have saved is a huge factor on our vacation. I would love to do a Disney Cruise but know that isn't currently in our budget. We also put all our change in our Disney Vacation Fund container that we made a few years ago. I will roll it all and cash it in before our vacation to use for souvenirs. We don't pay for our vacations by credit card. The kids also only get so much spending money the whole trip, usually they have birthday money or Christmas money that they use. 

4- Prepare

Research, research, research. No matter where we are going I always have some kind of plan in mind. I come up with ideas of places to eat, what to do, where to go, etc. Brian is also very involved in coming up with ideas. For this upcoming Disney trip I read an updated Disney with kids book since so much changes so often and different ages and different heights mean different things we can and can't do. 

Disney for Ella's 5th birthday left Austin at home 2016

5- How Far in Advance

Sometimes we plan spur of the moment as in a few months in advance other times we plan a year in advance. Our vacation for this summer is already booked and we have already started talking about where we want to go next year. When we went on our mini vacation with the kids to Pittsburgh over Spring Break, we literally booked the hotel the night before and decided when we woke up at the hotel what we were doing that day, but had ideas in our head. 

Bucket List (random order)

- Disney Cruise

- Alaska

- Las Vegas

- Niagara Falls

- Nashville

- New Orleans

- Florida (not Disney)

- Caribbean Cruise

- Hawaii

- Mexico

- Punta Cana

- Washington DC 

What is on your vacation Bucket List?