How to have a dream family vacation under $1000

A month from now, we will be taking a much needed (non-work, non-family related) trip.  Here's the plan:

We are going here for 5 days:

We are staying here for 7 days:

And hopefully visiting this place too:

With these people:

Here's how it breaks down:

Flights for our family of 4: $400 (total!!)

                  

2 bedroom villa for 7 nights: $279

5 day Disney park hopper tickets for the family: FREE

Rental car: FREE

Babysitting: FREE

Food: ?

TOTAL: $679 (not counting food/souvenirs) 

I know, you are all thinking "WHAT?!?!?"

Here's how it happens:

There is a regional airline called Allegient Air that happens to fly direct from South Bend to 4 or 5 places. 2 of those places are in Florida. They are SUPER cheap fares and most I've seen are $100 or less each way. We got tickets for the 3 of us (Donny will be lap sitting) for $50 each way. Plus tax it was about $400. You should totally check out where they fly. It's a lot of random places but you can score big time if they fly near you. 

Our accommodations are at a time share resort. We love timeshares. We have stayed at many over the course of our marriage and are experts at taking advantage of their deals while saying no thanks at their presentation meeting. In case you don't know anything about timeshares, most time share resorts will offer discounted rates, vacation packages, park tickets, prizes, etc. if you attend a 90 minute presentation where they try to coax you into buying a time share. As long as yo are good at holding your ground, these are an awesome opportunity. We only do ones where you get what they are offering on the day of the presentation or before. We do NOT do ones where they give you a complementary vacation you have to book. The problem with those is that they are rarely when you would want to vacation (random weekdays) and come with lots of small print. For the most part, they sound too good to be true but they aren't!! We haven't ever gotten ripped off. To qualify, you need to make a certain amount ($60,000?), must own a credit card, and must attend the meeting with a spouse. On this trip, we are getting a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa with full kitchen, patio, washer/dryer 2 miles from Disneyworld for about $79 a night. We are sharing the cost with my parents who will be staying there, too, bringing our half to $279.

Because my husband has an awesome job with lots of perks, we got 4, 5-day parkhoppers for free. This is the whole reason we are taking this trip. We were offered the tickets and planned the trip around that. Because both kids will be under 3 still (Josie turns 3 the day we leave), we only needed 2 of the 4 tickets. They expired that week so we needed to find someone to go with us to use the other 2. So, my parents are coming too!!!! I'm not going to lie. We are mostly excited that we will have help with the kids so Kevin and I can actually enjoy ourselves, relax, and go on rides we want to go on. We are excited to have their company as well, and I know they are excited to have lots of time with the kids. By the way, he got the tickets because he has been invited to change out part of the set on the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster ride. Aerosmith is one of his artists and they are putting a new drum set on the ride setup. He gets to go backstage which is pretty cool.

Because of all the traveling Kevin does (he's in China for 10 days as I write), he gets tons of hotel points, flight miles, and other travel perks. We will be using hotel points (Hilton?) to get a minivan for the week. I love free stuff, especially since work pays for all the travel and we get the perks!

So there you go. We just have to pay for food and whatever extras. Since the room has a fully stocked kitchen, we will just be getting groceries and cooking for ourselves. That should save a lot.  I am SOOO excited to spend some of that money on romantic dinners with my love while the babies are with my parents.

I am counting down the days till we leave. We never take trips just to take a trip. Living away from family means all our vacation time is spent visiting family or attending family events (or having a baby!) This year there is no baby and we are staying home for Christmas, so we have extra time. Can't wait till Kevin has worked for the company for 5 years. Then he gets an extra week vacation!

I know you are jealous. : )

Movie overload!!

I haven't been very good about taking pictures lately. So, instead, I present to you more movies than you would ever ask for. They are ridiculously cute, though. I know grandparents will love them : )

My kids are so sweet to each other. Josie is always encouraging Donny and he worships the ground she walks on. He says several words these days and "Josie" is one he is always saying. In fact, if I take too long to come in and get him from his crib, he sometimes stops saying "mommy" and starts calling out "Josie!!"

Donny's big thing lately is feeding people, as you can see in the video. The face he makes is one he does ALL the time. He does it when he's feeding people, surprised, or when he knows he will get a reaction.

Oh, and it wouldn't be a video I filmed if it didn't have a part where I try to get the kids to do something and they refuse to perform. Oh, well.......

(sorry the video's a little dark)








At least a couple times a week, we have Family Dance Party. It's the kids favorite time of the day. We turn on music and well, dance!! We usually do it in the kitchen, which is why the music is soft in the video. Normally, it sort of turns into a mosh pit and someone gets trampled (Donny) and it always ends with Josie requesting that mommy and daddy dance together. That's my favorite part. Anyway, this is just a snippet of a quick dance party (minus mommy). I know The Cure is an odd choice (or awesome choice) for music but Josie looooooves "The Caterpillar Song."









And here they are having a jam session to "The Caterpillar Song" with a surprising ending!










The is one of Donny's most awesome tricks. HILARIOUS!!!!!

(Also, this was before I buzzed his hair. It was out of control here and looking quite scraggly!)









He is the most giggly and snuggliest baby EVER!!! And oh, that thumb sucking!!










By the way, since everyone is asking, yes he CAN walk and takes steps when he wants to. He has chosen to continue crawling for the time being. It won't be long though.......