Just finally getting around to writing this trip report. Yes the kids were surprised with this one again although it was a lot harder since we were pulling a trailer, sort of hard to hide it. But Marc Jr was here for his last week of summer vacation and we had the girls this weekend too so Kriss and I decided to plan a surprise trip for the kids. We booked a room on Expedia (link in the right column) and got an awesome rate on a 2 bedroom at FantasyWorld Club Villas that was a few miles from Disney. I am the first to admit that we are WAAAY spoiled by staying on Disney property all these years and yes our first impressions were not of excitement, but we probably wouldn’t have been able to do this trip if it weren’t for Expedia. The room was a little small for 6 of us but fortunately my parents decided to go with us and were able to get the same rate and Marc stayed with them right next door. It was a 2 story room that seems to have been partially refurbished recently (it looks like they have been doing it gradually based on reports on Expedia) with a kitchen, living room, and complete bathroom downstairs and two bedrooms, bathroom, and washer/dryer upstairs. Read more

What an awesome trip we had this year, I think our best family trip yet. The large family ones seem to be improving each year, probably due to us knowing more how to handle things and the kids getting older. This year we really slowed things down, partly due to finances and several kids only having a few or no days left on their tickets so we only planned one big commando park day. Read more

Alyssa seems to be hitting new milestones more often. She’s outgrown a lot of the “kid” things and is liking spending more time by herself in her room even. She’s also starting to wander into the world of spicy foods which is huge for someone that doesn’t eat mustard or ketchup on a burger or would even try anything Kriss or I tried to get her to eat. She and I tear up hot wings regularly now at Hooters and she’ll even add extra hot sauce to her ranch to dip in. Most nights at the supper table it’s a race to the fridge to see who’ll get the hot sauce or spicy BBQ sauce for whatever we’re eating that night.

This turned out to be probably the best family trip we’ve had. The kids were good, the weather was good except for one day, everything just seemed to flow nicely without any issues that usually occur at least once when you stick a family of seven in a car and spend a week in central Florida in June. Read more