Yes, unbelievably I'm finding out that now, or even prior to now, is when you have to start planning summer vacations when you have a family. Especially certain types of vacations. I have thought a lot about finding a rental cabin on a lake in WI (not far from here) to go to every other summer. We would go to the same cabin where we could swim in the lake behind the house, get to know other people going at the same time, etc. Kind of like camping, but without dealing with the tent and having some comforts of home, especially on rainy days. I found a couple great, reasonably priced, cabins that were exactly what I was looking for, but then realized you needed to really make these arrangements before now for the upcoming summer and you needed a hefty security deposit as well as half the week's rent, sent in a check, no credit card reservations or anything. So, long story short I decided to put that off for one more summer.

On our "off" summers then I want to begin going on some other vacations. We visit my parents in Florida usually at Christmas and in the summer. While I LOVE going there, and the kids do too, I also want to be able to go back to some vacation spots I've been to or some I've always wanted to go to. One place I've been that I've wanted to return to was the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area of Tennessee. I loved it there, such beautiful mountains, and lots to do. As Olivia calls big hills here in IL mountains, I really wanted her to see some "real" mountains! So, I found an awesome!!!!! cabin on Bear Mountain for an extremely low price! We will stay 6 nights in a cabin with two bedrooms, two baths, a loft area with two full beds, a hot tub, in a secluded section of the mountain with gorgeous views - all for around $450!!! I've been researching attractions in the area and found some great deals and things the kids will love. Braeden and Little One are free for almost all and Olivia gets a pretty good deal. We are renting through http://patriotgetaways.com/ if you are interested at all. I'm so excited!!! Braeden keeps saying, "I so excited about the mountains!" (His words exactly, I did not write this grammatical error!) :)

Well, as if that wasn't cool enough, while we were in FL over Christmas I happened to mention that Little One will be the same age this summer as Braeden was when my parents and I took them for four days to stay at a Disney resort and go to the parks. We had sooooo much fun and the kids loved it!!! My dad said maybe we should do that again this summer? I pushed it away as too expensive (we had a friend of mine who works there help us out last time with admissions and hotel costs) and just a nice idea. Next time I spoke with them on the phone they were talking about how my mom has ALWAYS wanted to stay in the Contemporary Resort (the one the monorail goes right through as you go into Magic Kingdom) and maybe we should look into that. Well that would be even more expensive as even with the discount last time we stayed in one of the lowest priced resorts. I loved it though and it was so great. Anyway, the next time we talked my dad had spoken to someone with AAA where they belong and booked a five day stay in the Contemporary, looking out onto Magic Kingdom, with a five day parkhopper pass for each of us, AND the meal plan where you get one "grill" item from a vendor each day, one "treat" each day such as popcorn or ice cream, as well as a sit down meal each day. Some of the character meals are included in that, and we are booked to eat breakfast our first morning there with Mickey and friends!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Unreal. And my parents are so generous. I asked for a total that I could save and pay for, my dad says, "Oh treats at the park would be good." !!!!