What I hate more?

That I am the only one who cares to do it.

Months before planned trips I am scouring websites looking for the perfect place to stay at the perfect rate and the perfect time that matches up with every other perfect part of this trip.

Maybe that is what I hate?

The image that travel is perfect and I am somehow responsible for making all the stars magically align so that nothing could possibly go wrong?

Family vacation planning around here starts with me presenting the family with 3 options all carefully laid out on a spreadsheet with a cost analysis and breakdown of the pros and cons as I see it. No where else in my life am I this obsessive.

I think it is because the average family vacation is such a huge investment of both time and money. We only get one spring break a year so deciding how 4 very different people are going to enjoy that time together and how much money we will invest in that is a huge decision to me.

Please tell me I am not the only freaky parent that feels responsible for planning the perfect family trip?

Once the family picks from options A, B & C the real nitty gritty planning begins. I scour website reviews, ask questions on facebook or twitter, talk to friends over lunch and then I pull all this into a proposed plan which is then rediscussed as a family in which the kids roll their eyes and ask one question: will they get their own rooms? There has to be a pretty compelling reason for them to sleep in the same room, like staying at the Yacht Club at Disney. Otherwise that alone can be a deal breaker. All Bob wants to know is how much it is going to cost. Anything over 5K has to have a pretty compelling reason, like at least a week at sea with all the food and drinks included.

Once the final approval process begins I really start agonizing over if I found the right place, literally freaking out before hitting the reserve button, going back and checking reviews to make sure the last guests didn’t find bedbugs. Then I push the button, reserve the perfect vacation and walk away….for another 10 minutes. Visions of the hotel where I had to literally go and buy new sheets for the week  because it was so bad dance in my head.

The only thing that makes this process easier on me is staying at a place where a real friend of mine has stayed. Someone I can call up or Facebook and really trust. Sadly, that doesn’t happen often so I rely on websites where I feel like I can trust what is being said. It goes without saying that Traveling Mom is one of those because the writers are my friends and I am the Director of Social Influence there. The other place I love is Trip Adviser because I feel like I get the little details there that are so important.

What are your go-to resources for planning the perfect family trip?

I am always looking for new travel planning resources that help me strike a healthy balance between my crazy obsessive planning ways and just trusting and winging it so if you have a good one please share it in the comments. Residence Inn just opened a new Family Travel Talk Forum that I joined due to a campaign they have running with Traveling Mom. I have never stayed at a Residence Inn but I can tell you I am super impressed with the number of fans they have among my friends and trusted sources. On checking them out I found they have everything my family requires: lots of space, kitchens, pools, and a budget friendly price point. Carter will be down for the count most of this summer healing from a surgery but I am going to poke around in their group and see if someone can help me find an easy get away for the family in July.

I want to thank Residence Inn for sponsoring this post in which you all got to learn more about my creepy, quirky, neurotic ways and for sponsoring this weeks #TMOM Twitter Party. Every week you will find me chatting away on Monday nights at 7pm MST with some really funny and awesome moms & dads that travel. This week we will be talking about Finding Balance on Vacation and there will be some nifty prizes from Residence Inn, with a grand prize of a $400 giftcard and 2 $200! God knows I hope someone has some good tips for me because it ain’t easy!

The post Does A Perfect Family Trip Exist? And Why Do I Obsess Over It? appeared first on Mom Off Track.

So, now that we know Carter could make the transfer with someone else loading his chair into the car…what else?

6 Things I Loved About the Chevy Traverse

1. It’s Got Style. I love the body of this car. It looks less like a minivan and more like sports coupe. The crystal red color of the one I test drove was fun and I loved the way it made me feel like I wasn’t driving a “grocery getter”.

1. It’s Got Pick Up. This little baby has some get up and go with 288 horses under the hood making driving it fun and less of a mom chore. I like the way having that power feels under the pedals.

1. It’s Got Room. The Traverse seats up to 8 people and has a Smart Slide feature that makes getting into that third row a little easier. With the third row down in this car we were able to fit 6 overstuffed suitcases and a non-folding wheelchair. That’s pretty impressive.

1. It Will Keep You Charged Up. The backseat has electrical outlet that I was able to plug my iPad charger in, keeping my iPhone charged quicker than any adapter could. If you have the typical charger the cord is long enough to reach the front seat just fine. It was great for my son’s DS charger as well. I was surprised this Traverse did not have a USB port so having the regular outlet really saved me.

1. It Keeps You In Touch. One of the first things you notice when you get in the Traverse is the huge 6.5 inch color touch screen MyLink display. At first it is pretty intimidating but within a few minutes of playing with it I had the Bluetooth hooked up to my iPhone, the satellite radio going and the navigator all set.

1. It Makes You Feel Safe. Hands down one of my favorite things about a Chevy is the ability to have OnStar integrated into the car. I love OnStar so much that it was the number one consideration in our car choice for Connor. In addition, this car feels heavy and solid. It has available All Wheel Drive which is important in places like Denver, where I live. Side curtain airbags and rearview cameras added to my feeling that we were safe and sound driving an unfamiliar car across Florida last week.

My family really enjoyed our week in the Traverse. It was stylish, fun, and comfortable. My boys are all over 6’3” and none of the three had issues with head or leg room. There is a seat height difference of about 10 inches that needs to be considered for any mobility challenged passengers.   My son, who is a full-time wheelchair user, had very little difficulty transferring into the Traverse but if you think your family member would have an issue with this, please check out the reasons I bought the Ford Flex a few years ago. The Chevy Traverse is a car I would buy if we were in the market now without hesitation, and absolutely in the crystal red. If you are reading this because you too may be shopping for a vehicle that will work for a wheelchair using passenger, please check out the video below and see if this transfer is possible for your situation.

The post How Does the Chevy Traverse Work With a Wheelchair? appeared first on Mom Off Track.

You get to skip most of the lines.

That’s right, when there is a 90 minute wait for Toy Story Mania, wheelchair users roll happily past to a private loading area where they usually get on in less than 10 minutes. Want to know an even bigger secret? If there are no other chair users in line, Cast Members have been known to let you ride over and over to your hearts content.

Why?

The answer usually comes down to logistics and a little bit of sympathy. Most ride vehicles have to come to a complete stop and it takes quite a bit of extra time for a wheelchair user to transfer themselves. The process isn’t pretty and usually involves having a family member lift them into and off of the vehicle or completely strapping down the wheelchair. Instead of stopping the ride each time a chair user wants to load, making everyone in line miserable, they have a separate loading area. Once loaded they send the car into the regular track line, limiting any down time to the ride and the typical passenger experience. Most Cast Members who see what a family goes through to get their loved one on the ride are kind enough, if they can, to let them get a few chances at it while they are on.

I made this video at Disneyland a few years ago if you want to see how this separate loading area works.

While we know it really isn’t done for the pure benefit of the chair user, most of us families consider it a perk. Hey, we don’t get many so we will take it.

Except it isn’t so much anymore. Everyone and their dog (literally) have figured out this one small benefit we had. And they want in on it, all but ruining one of the few things we had to brag about. Year after year we have experienced longer and longer lines in the wheelchair entrance. You would think there was an epidemic of people becoming chair users. But no, because its seems the second these people get out of line they are miraculously healed as they run to push their rented wheelchair to the next attraction.

It happens all the time.

And frankly, it ticks me off.

And it ticks me off even more when the cast members working the lines don’t do anything about it.

But what ticks me off the most is that they can’t do anything about it. Due to the ADA and the age of political correctness we live in, they literally have to accommodate anyone claiming to need it without questioning them and with a smile on their face. They may not be able to cry bullcrap to this but I can. And I do.

It’s complete and utter bull.

We got in line at Kilimanjaro Safari in Animal Kingdom with a family of 5 in front of us. My mouth hit the floor when she argued with the Cast Member that she had to have the wheelchair car for her stroller because she didn’t want to wake her baby up. She was quite upset to find out that while the safari cars can lock a wheelchair in safely, the baby would have to be held on the ride. The poor Cast Member gracefully listened to all her whining while trying to explain that she wished she could help but it just wasn’t safe for the baby. The way she went on I expected the baby to have all kinds of tubes and tanks attached to it. Nope. From all accounts it was a typical, healthy baby. Why does this woman have a guest assistance pass in the first place?

You can’t even come up with a scenario like an invisible disability for that one. The 2 month old could have cared less about the safari ride. Why isn’t one of those parents taking the older kids through the regular line if the baby needed a nap? I’d love to know what they said at Guest Relations to get it. The sad fact is that Guest Relations can’t even ask why people need them anymore. They can ask what accommodations they need but can’t ask why. I long for the days when you needed a doctors note to get one of these. The note didn’t have to explain why and violate your privacy. But it was an added step that made it a little more difficult for people to game the system.

I understand that there are plenty of people that invisible disabilities that need shorter lines, or cooler places to wait. I have Lupus. Most people seeing me in the parks probably would never guess. Kids with autism and plenty of other things need accommodations. Carter is autistic as well. We get this. We also get that people book their trips a year out and someone breaks their leg 2 weeks before the non refundable trip. I am not talking about any of that.

What I am talking about are the people that deliberately game the system and the fact that nothing can be done about it in the name of political correctness.

It’s wrong. It’s insulting. And it’s bologna.

If you don’t have a disability in your everyday life, you don’t get to suddenly develop one in line at Disney. Unless your disability is being an inconsiderate jerk. In that case you probably are afflicted in your everyday life and just don’t realize it.

PS–don’t ask me what was up with the dog. All I know is that the “service dog” was in the wheelchair line and then got on the ride in his little purse. I wonder what his high score was?

The post If You Don’t Have a Disability in Your Everyday Life, You Don’t Get To Have One In Line at Disney appeared first on Mom Off Track.

Those tricky leprechauns somehow turned all the water in our faucets green this AM! The toilets flushed green water, too!

It was a big mystery for a while but then the boys started to figure bits and pieces of it out. They guessed that the Leprechauns must have put green paint or something in the faucets. After a lot of fun and teasing I brought out the fizzy tablets from Steve Spangler that does this.

Leprechaun Water Photo From SteveSpangler.com

They had fun mixing the colors…Carter did not know that yellow and blue make green…I just assumed he learned that in Kindergarten (maybe he was absent that day, lol). Connor remembered back to 4th grade where I taught him chromatography and made black with the primary colors. Thank you Leprechauns for the fun color reminder and for leaving us extra fizzy tabs to play with!

Leprechaun Tricks: New Ideas

A lot has changed since 2008 but my love of Steve Spangler Science hasn’t. Seriously, great company, great people and no I don’t work for them but I do sneak things out of their office quite a bit, like mannequin heads, but that is totally another story for another time. Funny that the original part of this post was written long before I lived in Denver and knew them personally.

Steve assembled a great team of Leprechaun Specialists here to give you some more ideas.

Honestly, I have a funny feeling this is going to be the only Leprechaun trick that happens this year. The boys still look forward to a little goofiness for them.

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For all my friends having darkness in their lives I hope for you some fairy magic comes soon….

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