Speaking of vacations- how about young, large-ish families?

[Guest]

I'm trying to figure out an affordable vacation that's doable with twin babies and 3 other young kidlets. We've camped with one baby before and that sucked, so two is out of the question. I guess I'm lazy, entitled, and stupid. I'm also finding that with 5 kids, we can't book online anywhere. They say there are too many of us. We're really supposed to book 2 rooms when a room with 2 queens would be just fine? (We have kids that are 10, 7, 4, 1, and 1).

[annewandering]

I actually found that camping with a bunch of kids is a lot easier than finding rooms. It was so much more fun and the kids could just have fun instead of mom worrying about them destroying buildings.

[Guest]

We want to get sleep, if possible, and we've never had luck getting the little ones to sleep when we camp. I love the outdoors and enjoy camping. Just not with very young children.

[annewandering]

lol its really amazing how we are all so different isnt it. :)

[Suzie]

Get any sleep? If I was in your shoes and I have a set of twins who are 1 year old I would be more concerned about whether I can keep breathing.

[Guest]

Do you ever have my number, Suzie!

[Bini]

How about renting an RV and touring parts of the States? My family has done this a few times and it was a blast! There are various RV sizes, so it'd be easy to find something that would accommodate your family. The neat thing about RVing is you can stop at an RV park or you can stop at a campsite and do the whole camping thing. You cook your own meals inside the RV, just like at home. But there's just so many activities you can drive to in an RV and do during the day, you're really free to do whatever you want. If you'd like smaller transport to tour around in and site see, then tow a vehicle and park the RV during the day.

[rameumptom]

Many state and national parks have cabins to rent. Often they do not care how many people are in the cabin, just that it is paid for. You could also rent a RV, and camp in style along the way. Again, no one cares how many sleep in the RV.

[Dravin]

I was gonna come in to say camping, but 3 or 4 would probably be the youngest I'd spring for a single family* extended camping tripe. Honestly at that point I'd be more inclined to do a fun day rather than a vacation. Take everyone to an amusement park or something. It's only a day so it's more manageable and you don't have to worry about accommodation so much. That is unless you don't live a reasonable distance from an amusement park. Though you may be able to make use of a KOA camp ground, not as a method of camping but simply having someplace to sleep at night.

*We used to get my folks, grandparents, and a couple sets of aunts and uncles and go camping. It allowed the little one load to be shared particularly as you got older cousins involved.

[applepansy]

We want to get sleep, if possible, and we've never had luck getting the little ones to sleep when we camp. I love the outdoors and enjoy camping. Just not with very young children.

You're going on vacation.... with five children... and you are expecting to sleep? ok! I wish you all the best with that.

Oh a more serious note: As around in your ward? Does anyone have a vacation home/condo they would be willing to rent?

btw, I rarely camp anymore. We only camped with the kids as they were growing up. I really remember the trips where I was pregnant and throwing up as we drove over dirt roads. Then when we started building out house we ended up with nowhere to live and camped for SEVEN full weeks. The kids were 15, 12, 9 and 6. I work really hard now to avoid sleeping in a sleeping bag. LOL

[beefche]

I think you should invite grandma/grandpa over for a visit. When she and grandpa arrive, give them a credit card and the keys to the house and tell them to enjoy their personal visit with the kids for a week. Then you and hubby go find a secluded spot and hide out for a week. See? Vacation for everyone!

[Guest]

My favorite vacation is always renting a house on the beach for a week. I love just waking up to the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean without getting out of bed. And the kids somehow calm down a whole lot after just an hour or two of building sand castles.

Now, what is funny about this is that I live only a teensy-weensy 15 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean... so yeah, I drive a short distance from the house to vacation. Which is kinda neat for when we forget some important vacation stuff like... I don't know... the karaoke machine.

[Bini]

My favorite vacation is always renting a house on the beach for a week. I love just waking up to the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean without getting out of bed. And the kids somehow calm down a whole lot after just an hour or two of building sand castles.

Now, what is funny about this is that I live only a teensy-weensy 15 minutes from the Atlantic Ocean... so yeah, I drive a short distance from the house to vacation. Which is kinda neat for when we forget some important vacation stuff like... I don't know... the karaoke machine.

Sounds wonderful, Anatess. But OP specified "affordable" and most beach house rentals are pricey. You're better off staying at a family-friendly hotel (like Holiday Inn or such) and spend a day at the beach.

[Guest]

I've actually looked on Craigslist in the vacation rentals section and a beach house isn't a lot more expensive than a hotel. RV rentals around here are even more expensive, which I thought was weird! We actually want to go to the ocean. I have a daughter who is fascinated with sea life. It's about a 10 hour drive, though. I wonder if my babies could hack it.

Edited: I also see that there are yurts for rent in some Oregon Coast state parks, if you reserve them far enough in advance.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Eowyn

[Guest]

I think you should invite grandma/grandpa over for a visit. When she and grandpa arrive, give them a credit card and the keys to the house and tell them to enjoy their personal visit with the kids for a week. Then you and hubby go find a secluded spot and hide out for a week. See? Vacation for everyone!

Funny, I asked DH to run away with me last time his parents were on the way over. He said no.

[SoCal_Counselor]

I have got young children. One of the things we have enjoyed is going to different sports events. We have a AA baseball close to us. Those games are fun to attend as they are family friendly. The seats in the outfield consist of just grass, which is great for the kids to run around. Not necessarily a family vacation, but it could be something to do on a vacation.

Instead of an RV, or camping, how about a pop-up tent trailer that you can pull behind your vehicle. They are much more comfortable than sleeping on the ground in a tent and much more budget friendly than an RV. We often use reserveamerica.org for good camping reservations.

[Gwen]

We prefer camping too but most folks I know think we are crazy when I say we go camping with all of ours.

I second the cabin rental option. It gives you the park environment of camping but with the comfort of a building.

beach house rentals and such can be affordable if you get off the big ticket locations, it's also nice to avoid the major tourist traffic.

As for hotels when we really need one we just lie about the number of kids we have..... I know it's wrong to lie but I'm not breaking the family up over a one night stay. If we were to get a hotel for more than a night (which we've never done lol) then we would get 2 adjoining rooms. However, our kids are getting older and that's more logical than it was a few yrs ago.

I also suggest going places like nauvoo.... other than food and where to stay everything was free. That was very affordable fun for our family.

Another thing we do is find an attraction within a couple of hours (for us it's the zoo or science center) and buy the yr membership passes. It cost about the same as one day visit and then it's free the rest of the year. It's far enough away that you can't go all the time so it's a treat but close enough you can plan mini "day vacations". We alternate the locations. A lot of such places are part of a group and you can get in to many places free (or discounted) on the same membership pass. Make sure you know which they are and then when you do travel you can plan around those for even more free fun.

[Guest]

Sounds wonderful, Anatess. But OP specified "affordable" and most beach house rentals are pricey. You're better off staying at a family-friendly hotel (like Holiday Inn or such) and spend a day at the beach.

Beach side hotels are actually a lot more pricey than a beach house rental in coastal Florida... and all you get is breakfast if you're lucky. If you add a kitchenette to that hotel you're talking even a lot more money. Eating out for a family of 5 is at least $30 bucks per meal, that's $60/day.

You can rent a 2 bedroom house oceanfront for $600/week, cheaper in the off-season (that small sliver of time after the snow-birds leave and before the summer tourists arrive). That house sleeps 6, you can rent by the day or by the week, and you can bring your pets. And it's a house - complete with kitchen and all the pots and pans and plates and spoons and forks and comes with laundry machines and most have beach toys like boogie boards and such and even xbox and the like.

Of course, if you're landlocked, you might have to fly there...

When we had our sons' baptisms, we rented a 6-bedroom 3,500 square foot oceanfront house for $1,750 a week. We had my husband and 2 kids, my parents, my in-laws, my brother's family of 5, my brother-in-law's family of 5 in that house. That's 18 people. We split up the rent, so it came up super cheap for a family vacation. There were 5 TVs in the place so all the kids didn't have to fight over who gets to play the games, watch a movie, sing karaoke, etc. There were 4 bathrooms too plus an outside shower so nobody fought over the bathroom. The kitchen was humongous. We held the baptism in the huge living room, we pushed all the furniture to the side and set up the folding beach chairs that came with the place and we had enough seating for all the ward members that attended. We walked the short distance to the ocean to perform the baptism ordinance and the older folks who has a hard time walking on the sand stayed on the oceanfront balcony of the house and was able to witness the baptism in comfort. Both baptisms were definitely the best vacations ever.

We also rented a cabin in Townsend, Tennessee at the foot of the Smokey Mountains. Now, that was super fun too! A ward member owned the place and let us stay for $50 for 5 days in the winter (off-season, most of the attractions, like the white-water rafting, caves and ziplines, were closed and the bears were in hibernation). No pets allowed though. They rent that place in the on-season for $600/week. It's a 2-bedroom with 2 sleeper sofa's so it sleeps 8. It's super fun there too, even in the off-season. Just walking around the natural vistas of the mountains is well worth the trip from Florida!

Edited April 12, 2012 by anatess

[Guest]

Now, if we're talking pricey... there's the Disney Cruise that I've been soooo wanting to do. Just don't have the money to do it. It's the awesomest thing for little bitty kids under 3 years old. Normally, the 3 and under crowd don't really get much out of a vacation...