Just Simply Holly

With just one week left until the kids head out to spend a month with their sister, I decided to check some of the local travel sites just to see if they had any last minute deals on travel. Yes, I know, I’ve talked about this quite a bit already, but dang it, we haven’t been without kids for almost 17 years and we haven’t went away in even longer than that. So I think we really do deserve to take some sort of mini vacation, even if it is for only a long weekend!

I was quite shocked when one of the online travel sites that I checked out last night had a 3 night Vegas trip for $249 per person that included a really decent hotel! I also found a 4 night package to Orlando for $247 per person, but I’m just not sure if I want to go to Florida in July, ya know? But were trips that had to be booked by July 1, which I can’t do right now. If we do something like this it’s absolutely going to be booked last minute, with just a day or two notice, if that. So I have a feeling, as it gets closer to the dates that we want to travel, I might be able to snag us up something within the prices we wanted to pay! I’m NOT giving up! LOL

I’m sitting here this morning watching the news and listening to all the reports about the insane gas prices and how those prices are going to affect travel over Memorial Day weekend. It’s so sad to think about how bad gas prices are going to affect peoples travel plans this summer! Even airlines are raising flight prices to reflect the never ending raise in the cost of fuel!

They had a person on the news segment giving tips about how you can still travel over the summer, but that you really need to shop around and find the best travel deals possible rather than just packing things up and going. They said that by planning in advance, even by just a week or two, you can actually end up saving yourself several hundred dollars. They also said that many airlines are going to offer substantial savings for the last minute travelers so that they can fill the seats on a plane rather than flying it with empty seats because each empty seat on a plane in flight actually costs the airline money.

I’m not sure what we’re going to be doing this summer as far as travel, other than my trip that’s coming up in a few days and the kids spending the month of July with their sister on the East coast. The month prior to the kids leaving will be spent getting them ready to go and when they get back it will be time to kick in and get them ready for the next school year. Hopefully we can fit some sort of small family outing in with them and I’m also hoping that my husband and I can get away for a weekend while they are gone!

I’m still hoping that we’ll be able to get in a “real” family vacation at some point this year. Or plans for Florida ended up getting scrapped because of bills and finances, and it really bummed everyone out!

I seen an ad online for Branson Missouri that showed a beautiful sunset over a lake and I just HAD to click on it. I have to say that I’m quite impressed with all that Branson has to offer! I knew that it was best known for all of the entertainment options that are available, but since I had never really checked it out well, I had no clue of the other options that are available.

For instance, I honestly did not know that Branson was in the heart of the Ozarks, one of the most beautiful and scenic areas in the United States. I also did not know that Branson was home to one of the award winning Stone Hill wineries, and I found the story about how the winery reopened in the 1960’s totally fascinating!

Add to those things the fact that it boasts some of the most beautiful scenery in the US, AWESOME parks, museums, and caverns as well as a HUGE outlet center, and you have yourself a vacation spot that has something to please everyone!

Branson is now at the top of my list of places to go when we do finally have the time and finances to take a much needed family vacation! If you’ve never checked into Branson and are weighing great vacation locations, you really need to check it out! I’m sure you’ll be as surprised as I was! Well, I guess I shouldn’t say surprised, I just honestly did not realize it offered so many awesome options!

After you read this, you will realize that I am a VERY boring person…LOL! Today was the kids’ last day of school until March 31, they officially started spring break. Well, techincally my daughter started it yesterday because she was off school sick today. And before you ask, I forgot to call the doctor today, but tonight she doesn’t have a sore throat, so I’m pretty sure it’s just a bad cold and nothing more. We’ll see how she’s doing in the morning though, if the sore throat has returned, then I will call her doctor.

So, back to my spring break plans. Since we have so many pets, going away just is not going to happen, period. It would cost too much to kennel the dogs, even if it were only for a couple of days, and hiring someone to come into the house to check on them, let them out and feed them isn’t a possibility because of the fact that at least one of the older dogs likes to chew up things that shouldn’t be allowed. So since I know that getting out of Dodge isn’t an option, I’ve decided maybe the kids and I could do some around the house projects and get a few things taken care of that I’ve been on my husband to do for a while now. The kids aren’t the best at helping with housework, but the love to help me with projects. I don’t know what the difference is, but I’m not going to complain!

One of the smaller projects I have in mind is painting the back bathroom and getting the opaque tiles for the ceiling that will allow the light to come through from the light fixtures that are already up there. Replacing those isn’t something that I care to take on by myself, I’m not good with wiring things most of the time…LOL! But if I can get those tiles, we’ll be good to go without having to spend money replacing the actual fixtures!

Since we’re finally at the stage where using the wood burner daily is necessary, I’m going to move the desks and furniture around out here in the family room so that we have better access to the sliding glass door. That’s the main door that I take Sage outside through and right now my desk is in front of it, and it’s not the easiest thing to try and hold her and open the door, then squeeze through behind my desk….LOL! But since we don’t have to worry about the wood burner running 24/7, I now can put one of the desks over by it without having to worry that it’s too warm and/or too dry for a computer to be near. I also think that I’m going to take the one recliner back out to the living room and bring the small couch/loveseat back out here. I wish this room were just a little larger or that I hadn’t of agreed to take the GINORMOUS corner entertainment center from my sister. With having no choice but putting the TV in a corner, I only have 2 options of where I can put it since the other two corners are taken up by the wood burner and the sliding glass door.

So, there are just a few of my boring Spring Break plans. I know the kids were looking forward to the Florida trip that we had been planning, but that simply wasn’t in the cards. But I’m also not planning on the whole week being work filled, I’d like to take the kids to the zoo one day and I HAVE to take my daughter to the mall as well, she’s got some Build a Bear cash that’s been burning a hole in her pocket since Christmas…LOL! And since neither my son or husband like going to the mall, it’s a girls day out kind of thing for she and I to enjoy!

We’re basically midway through January, which means we’re about two months away from our first major family vacation. We still haven’t decided 100% for sure where we’re going and yes, I know how bad that is. Part of me really wants to take the kids to Disney so they can experience it! But another part of me just wants us to head off to a place on the beach and be beach bums for a week…LOL! It’s also been suggested to me that I look into travel health insurance so that in case something happens while we’re on vacation, or we can’t make our vacation when planned, we’ll be covered!

As we’re nearing the close of 2007, we’re getting closer to our first “major” family vacation. I haven’t spent much time getting things ready for vacation, but I realize that I really need to start thinking about it and getting things ready. We need to get the dogs to the veterinarian for check ups and shots and their 2008 licenses before we’ll be able to take them to the kennel they are going to stay at while we’re gone. I also need to pick up the travel gear that we’ll need, including at least 2 travel bags, possibly even 3. Since most of our family vacations have involved camping, we’re used to packing in tote containers and not travel bags, so we only have 2 nice sized bags. And somehow I don’t think the airlines would be too happy with us if we packed in totes….LOL!

Thankfully I have been making lists of things we need to do and we need to pick up from the store, so at least I have some of it organized. But something tells me I need to get in gear because the next couple of months are going to go by very fast!

As my husband and I were talking about our upcoming Florida trip the other night, we came to the realization that there just is no way we are going to be able to spend a week with my sister and her husband. They are both very argumentative and confrontational and that is NOT my idea of how I want to spend a weeks vacation. So, although the thought of a rent free condo is appealing, it’s just not going to happen. We were looking forward to this as much as the kids were, so we’re going to go forward with it on our own. I’m already looking into the different accommodation options that we have including  very nice Condo Hotels close to the beach, and more.

Yup, if you haven’t been paying attention to my countdown ticker at the top of the site, that’s the amount of time until we leave for our Florida vacation. I know it’s still quite a while away, but I also know that the time between now and then will go by quickly! I’m also not sure if I told you this or not, but my one worry about taking this vacation is that it would mean that I would miss a week or more of school. Well, it turns out that our dates for the condo happen to fall on the same days that I’m off school for Spring break! Can you say YAY!!!!!!!!!!

We’re less than 6 months from the time that we leave for our vacation in Florida. I still haven’t gotten a 100% confirmation from my sister as to sharing her condo with her family, so I’ve started looking into a couple of different things, including Orlando vacation rental properties. I’m amazed to find out that vacation rentals like this are usually less than paying for a week in a nice hotel, and I think this will definitely be a better option for us for our vacation!

Since the Big Game was last night, my countdown to that event is now over.  But now I have an even bigger, and longer, countdown going!  If you haven’t noticed, up at the top of the screen is my countdown ticker that is counting down the days until we leave for vacation!  Although we’ve taken some family vacations in the past, this is our first “big” vacation.  Previous vacations have usually been camping trips within a few hours of home, or a weekend away at Cedar Point.  This vacation is different because we’re going all the way to Florida!

My sister and her husband own a time share “thing” (not exactly sure what to call it), and are getting a large condo in Orlando in February and have invited us to come and share the condo with them for a week.  We’re undecided yet as to whether we’re going to fly or drive it.  If we fly we’ll end up sharing a rental vehicle with them unless we want to pay full price for one of our own.  Which will put us in a situation where if we want to go somewhere we’ll have to either watch the time, or take a total of 8 people along.  If we drive, although it’s a heck of a long drive, it will give us a little more freedom as far as where we can go and what we can do.  Plus if my sis and her hubby end up feuding we can always take off and do something in our own.

No matter what we end up doing I’m very excited about being able to take this trip!  I’m looking forward to taking the kids to Disney World and to the beach.  They’ve never seen the Ocean before and I can’t wait to see their reactions!  So watch my countdown ticker!  If I remember right today is 6 months and 5 days until we leave!  YAY!!!!