DH and I got married in Nc State’s arboretum. 
It’s so nice here. I’ve never stayed in the bubble but have a hard time swallowing the cost after staying places like this.
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Great pics!
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I agree with this wholeheartedly, I think not driving when you have kids is more exhausting than driving. My husband just zones out and stares at the road. I change the iPad shows and provide snacks and provide different snacks and pick up the snacks that fell on the ground and change the show and get one kid to stop touching the other kid and change the show and point out that they can reach their own drink and change the show and change the show and change the show.
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Wow!!! This resort is awesome!!
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What a fun day!
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I am so spoiled. I haven’t had to worry about that for so long that I forgot what it was like. My kids are 30, 27, and 18.
Good news is that problem goes away.
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I just want you to think for a moment about taking those road trips without any shows … How did our parents do that?
In 2003 we traveled to China to adopt our second daughter and brought #1 with us. She was just over 3-1/2. We borrowed a portable DVD player and some DVD’s. I honestly don’t know what we would have done without that.
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When I was a child, my parents would split us up into two cars when driving cross-country. My dad usually took my brother and my mom would take my sister and me. Mom always said that she could handle any two of us at a time. She also was very strict. When she did take all three of us, she told us that if she had to stop once for arguing/fighting, all three of us would get a paddling, no matter who was involved. She said that all she ever had to do was slow down, and we would shape up. This was back in the late 60s and early 70s… different time and place.
We stayed pretty entertained by playing the alphabet game, license plate game, and other kinds of games like that. My kids are old enough that they didn’t have to be entertained by me during trips. I was an avid fan of making sure my kids could entertain themselves.
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I am the youngest of four by a lot! I am 10, 11, and 13 years younger and as I grew up it usually just me. We were constantly driving up and down the state (CA) in the car and the only entertainment I had was reading or sleeping. Unfortunately I get car sick if I read. So for me road trips bring back horrible memories. I have always loved flying, but DH hates it (well he hates traveling in general, but REALLY hates flying). So to date my boys have never been on a plane.
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Proof I swam with them.
Playground that’s closed. 
Mini golf! And it’s free! We’ll be doing this for sure.
And the only pool we didn’t make it to today.
We’re back and everyone has showered. Girls are playing Minecraft. Dinner is almost ready. I think we’re going to watch Star Wars episode 5 tonight. They had seen 1&2 but like 2-3 years ago. In preparation for SWGE we need to get them ready so we did episode 4 a few days ago.
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What did they think? In particular, DD6? We keep debating the age at which we should show our kids the originals…
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It looks so great there!
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How many pools are there? Wow
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DD6 was fine with it. That’s why we’ve waited so long…it’s hard to let the older ones watch it and not let the youngest, and 6 seems about good. DH says that episode 3 is a little intense so I think we’ll wait on that one.
I think 5? Two lazy rivers with pools, two pools with slides, a splash pad, and I think there was a small pool next to one of the lazy rivers that we didn’t actually see, but there was a “pool entrance” sign.
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In my experience, the biggest obstacle is attention spans! My DS8 is finally old enough to pay attention to the films and so will be watching them with us in our annual marathon leading up to the holidays. He has never been able to stick through more than half a film at a time, especially the original trilogy (since it’s a little slower paced). But nothing concerning for young kids, IMO. I’m perfectly comfortable having my 3 and 6 year-olds in the room while watching.
That said, Solo is a bit more intense so I might preview that one before showing it to kids.
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We would do long stints at night. DH used to be fine with that (his job was over night). He would stop at a rest area for a nap while all of us were asleep then continue on. For Disney, we would leave after dinner around 8 and get there around 8am. DH was a bit cranky that day but we always made it a short park day. He would nap through dinner and eat our left overs when he woke up.
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I guess I lucked out. My kids are surprisingly good at entertaining themselves for the most part. In the car, they normally read/look at their books, listen to Disney music, or look out the windows. We chat about the day, plans for arrival, etc. I’ve actually thought about doing the drive this year instead of flying, but 24 hours of driving seems a bit much even for me.
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We didn’t buy an iPad until our oldest was 4.5. So we did multiple transatlantic flights and long road trips with…nothing electronic. I am so grateful for the iPad. We’re very strict with screens at home but on travel days I’m like, “Here ya go. I have a portable battery charger when the battery dies.” DD10 and DD8 will listen your books but DD6…I dunno what it is but she is a major pain in the car, lol.
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