Vacation Ideas

We'll be going to the Quarterdeck on Gull Lake next year. You can rent cabins right off the beach or rent the Villa which is also off the beach. They do have a playground and other activities you'll all enjoy. In the Villa you have one big room so kiddo's and adults are together.

http://www.quarterdeckresort.com/

We went to the Cook Islands (Rarotonga) when our daughter was almost one. It was great because we did not make any plans - we got a great room that was right on the beach so that when she was having a nap one person could go swimming and the other could sit on the balcony and read and at least still be "at the beach". She loved it because it was nice and warm and safe and she could swim and see the fish etc - it was soooo relaxing. We didn't stay in a resort with child minding etc as we wanted low key and not too touristy - but the place had a restaurant so most nights we could order something nice and sit on our balcony and enjoy the sunset with a nice drink and some dinner.

L.,
Have you thought about Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard...that whole area of the east coast is cool and family friendly. There are beaches, seal watches, whale watches....etc.
Lot's of plaes are right on the beach so while she is napping, sleeping you and your husband can enjoy the view.
Best of luck!
C.

We went to Colorado for a wedding last summer with our (then) 15 month old son. I was 6 months pregnant with #2 at the time. We opted to make it a vacation, and stayed for a full week. It worked out for us that my sister-in-law (favorite Auntie - single, no kids) was in Colorado for a conference so she agreed to hang with us for the week and play "nanny" a little bit.

It was great. He was easy to fly with (we opted to buy him his own seat), and rented a car. We also used a service called "Babies Away" to rent a crib for the condo we stayed in the weekend of the wedding. It made things much easier.

Our activites included alot of hikes... drives in the Mt.'s and general relaxing. We spent some time in Boulder, some time in Denver, the wedding was in Steamboat and we spent one day in Breckenridge (sp?).

Anyway, it was a fun vacation, and having a helper really helped me as I was pretty tired with the pregnancy and altitude. We did do a lot of driving.. which was the only hard part for our toddler at the time.

Good luck!
J.

L.,
We, too, used to take much more adventurous vacations. (Our last trip before kids was the Ecuadorian Amazon and the Galápagos Islands.) It is, however, a different kind of fun to vacation with kids and it won't be that long before we can take them on some bigger adventures. (Machu Picchu planned for summer 2009 - kids will be 6 and 4). Incidentally, my husband stayed home with our first for two years, too.

This is what we have done since they were born with pros and cons:

1. When my eldest was 9 months old we went to Abaco, Bahamas. Stayed at the Bahama Beach Club.
PROS: It is a relatively small island and you feel like you have the beach (rated one of the top in the world) to yourself. You can tool around in a golf cart to most places. It is VERY kid friendly. There is a spit near the resort that lets you walk out in ankle-knee deep water for about 200 yards. It is the safest beach for kids I've ever been to - despite the fact that there are no lifeguards. This place is REALLY quiet. We were there 10 days.

CONS: It is VERY expensive. The airfare is expensive. The food is ridiculously expensive. It is VERY quiet.

2. When eldest was 18 months old we went to Newport Beach, California. (Newport Beach Marriott)

PROS: It was close to EVERYTHING! We went into LA, drove to San Diego (San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park), walked along the tide pools, shopped Laguna Beach, went to Disneyland, etc. There was a lot to do. We were there 14 days.

CONS: The Newport Beach area is the famous O.C. - quite a bit of it is high priced. Our condo was large and fully equipped, so we bought groceries and ate breakfast in the condo every day. There were no down sides, really. It was a great vacation.

3. For the past two years my parents have rented houses in the Estero/Bonita Springs area of Florida for March. The kids and I have stayed 3 weeks - my husband has joined us for 10 days.

PROS: The house has a pool in the lanai. For the kids, nothing else matters. We've been to several spring training Twins games. The beach is fun. The Instent (sic) Beach Tent has been indispensible. It is fun to rent a pontoon and tool around the Thousand Islands near Naples.

CONS: It's really too far to drive to Disney for just a day. We wouldn't have done this unless my parents were there.

We don't know what we're doing this year yet. I would like to take the train to Glacier National Park.

K.

Last summer we traveled with our 18 month old. We choose a resort in Florida that had beach front but also a kids pool. We spent much of our time in the kids pool and it was a great activity for him plus we could relax and soak up some sun at the same time. Lakes and oceans can be overwhelming or scary for the little ones. I think a pool is a must with a 1-2 year old and if you can find one with a zero depth - even better.

We took our 21 month old & 6 year old to San Antonio and it was fun. It was easy to find great places to eat with kids and there are lots of things to do. If you daughter likes Animals there are lots of choices besides Sea World including a Safari drive to see more exotic animals. And there's always the Alamo.

We stayed at the Hyatt Hill Country Resort. They are right next to Sea World and only a few minutes drive from the Riverwalk/Downtown. It's not a low cost hotel but there are lots of pluses for the money. There are lots of things to to do only steps from your hotel room - bike on trails, pools, golf, etc. On some evenings they put up a large screen on a lawn outside and show movies. The hotel also has a kids club that does activities with your kid so you can get some one on one time with your spouse or hit a round of golf. There is also had a laundry room where you could do laundry for free. A big bonus when traveling with young kids!

Last December we got an AWESOME deal to go to Montego Bay, Jamaica and we took our son. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Sun Spree Resort. It's about 8 minutes from the airport by shuttle. It was very kid friendly. While people say you shouldn't take kids in some other places in Montego Bay, we stayed on the resort and it was great!! It is a very comfortable atmosphere. The resort isn't super fancy, but it's comfortable, clean, the workers are very nice, there are ton of choices for kids to eat (it's all-inclusive), it's tropical, the pools are great and the beach is beautiful!! They have a playground and a child care service. We went in December and it wasn't very busy, which was great!

I have taken my two kids (2 and 5 now) to Mexico for the past two years. We go to Zihuatanejo. This year we stayed at Villa Mexicana, which is bare bones basic accomodation. It's clean and it's on the best beach! We had a blast. They have a children's pool about 2 feet deep. Last year we went to an all-inclusive in Ixtapa, also nice but the beach was not as nice. Mexico is a very family oriented culture and children are cherished! Strangers were helping me at every turn. It makes it easy to travel with little ones!

Mexico or a Cruise

You can use their childcare services and still have time for yourself, relax, and still do things as a family