Keep the vacation

We're big on taking vacations in my family. We try to go on at least one trip as a family each year, even if it is somewhere close. Kids can't tell the difference and they have just as much fun traveling 100 or 1,000 miles from home. The part they like is getting their parents' undivided attention and spending time together.

We've sort of made a tradition out of visiting Disney World every few years, but I'm not sure how many more Disney vacations are in our future. We went about a year ago and now that our family consists of four people, the expenses were higher. We realized after a couple of days, however, that the children's meals were the best deals in the parks and the resorts and we ended up buying them for the kids and the adults for the remainder of the trip. We try to live very frugal, and it is so hard to pay $4 per meal, per person every day. I kept reminding myself that we were on vacation in order to justify the high cost.

There are many places to visit around here, we have never been to Hot Springs, Little Rock, or even the Buffalo River area. Just because the economy is in hiatus, people still need vacations to reconnect with their family and escape from the stresses of everyday life. We just need to keep it simple and keep it close to home for a couple of years.