My oldest is 9, so my answer isn't for sure.....but I'm thinking NO, until they are much older. Maybe like 16 or 17. But we'll see at that point. Hotels are not safe places, in my opinion.

I just can't understand when a parent (grandparent, loved one) sees a child get hurt and basically tells them to suck it up. Love and compassion! Where is it???? I couldn't do that to my child. There's a kid on my child's soccer team....she fell down one time during a play, got kicked, and began to cry. This is a child that I don't see cry too often in the games. The father didn't even go over.....basically told her to get up and stop crying. Wow.....kid must feel really loved.

I'd be very leery. Although, I said I'd never buy a mattress on Craigslist.....but then the Ikea bunk bed system that I'd been eyeing at Ikea for years came up for sale locally on CL for $85. I couldn't pass it up! It came with both bunks, two mattresses, mattress covers, slats, and canopy. It was in great condition.....I bought it. No issues. I did wash the mattress covers in very hot water!

Suburban. We went from a mini van to a Suburban and I seriously LOVE my Suburban. Lots of space, plenty of room for luggage, higher off the ground.... I can't see myself ever going back to a minivan. We bought ours used....a year old.

I immediately think Ellie-awn-uh....which is the one you said you were going for, right? I'm so excited for you!!!!

I'd like to see Tom with Mary.....however, I'm not sure that he's "elegant" enough for her. I liked Matthew much better than Gillingham. The whole Rose storyline seems like it is just thrown in and serves no purpose.

We believe that God is basically like a friend and we speak to him as a friend....no rote prayers, but something different each time. It varies by person and day.

And Anna/Elsa are currently in Norway.... Their wait is usually hours long.

This can be SO varied. Do you want to see everything in each country ? Each shop? The films? The scenery unique to each country? A few countries have small rides. My kids love Maelstrom in Norway. Will you want to meet characters? Some are unique to their countries and difficult to find elsewhere . Marie in France, Belle and Beast near France, Mulan in China, Snow White in Germany. Will your child want to get their stamps at each Kidcot Station? Or do the Kim Possible scavenger hunt? You could briefly hit the countries in a couple of hours....or the entire day.

Barrows sneakiness drives me batty!!! Always stirring up trouble.

She needs to tell Bates! Let him have a go at the creep! Yes, very glad to see Mary smiling again! It bugs me how little they have to do with raising their own small children. Seems both Mary and Tom rarely see their babies. But I guess that's the culture then.

Love the mommy/daughter lunch idea! I think we'll do that! I might even make it a picnic instead.... That way she may feel even more comfortable discussing things with no listening ears in close proximity.

I think that I can try to head this off without giving her reasons to be anxious about her body. I already casually speak to my girls and mention how beautiful they are. Sometimes we'll be talking about things and I tell them how God never makes mistakes in the way he creates people. We all look different but everyone is beautiful. Some are fat, some are thin, some have freckles, some don't, some wear glasses, some have red hair, some may be missing an arm, some may walk with a limp.....none of that matters. So I speak to them about it on that sort of level.

Thanks everyone! I think I will just monitor things and speak to her when I feel it is necessary. I do want to speak with her soon about puberty, periods, etc because you never know when those things are going to begin. So I don't think I'll just give her the book to read.....I'll pick and choose which parts to read to her. She does know that some people judge others by their bodies. We've talked about beauty pageants, etc and how you should never judge whether you like someone just based on how they look.

Our situation is probably a bit different than most. Our nephew came to live with us when he was 16. He's now about to turn 18 and a senior in high school. He's doing the virtual school online. He's always had very good grades, but this year he's begun to slack off. A little background....his mom never really monitored him. He's a GOOD kid, but he's always had WAY too much freedom with internet, going where he wants, doing what he wants, playing whatever video games he wants, no one to monitor phone usage, etc. So when he moved here, we gave him more freedom than what we would with our own children (thankfully, they are much younger so this does not present an issue). We allowed him such things as having whatever video games he was used to playing (mainly first person shooter games), allowing internet in his room (we'll never do this with our kids), and keeping his phone with him at all hours of the night. We figured that if we suddenly took all these things away from him, then the combination of that and moving two states away (leaving his school, church, friends, etc), would be a lot for a teen and it would all backfire. Like I said, he really is a very good and trustworthy kid....in spite of his background. We've also allowed him to be mostly in charge of his schooling in the online virtual school. DH checks his status and grades every morning, makes sure he's doing his assignments, etc, but for the most part my nephew in charge of this. He's always been in charge of his own schooling before, it just wasn't a virtual school before he moved here (and the virtual school was his choice.....he didn't want to go to the public school here). Here lately, he's begun to slack off though. During "school hours" he'll play video games, take a nap, surf the internet, practice guitar, practice card tricks. etc. He's far behind in a certain subject (because he doesn't like the assignments) and he only has a week to catch up before the semester ends. DH has spoken with him several times about this. Nephew becomes angry, says DH is nagging him and that the assignments are stupid and pointless. DH tries to explain that in life, sometimes things may seem stupid and pointless but you have to do them anyways. DH is wondering if we should have been "harder" on him.....like taking video games away during the daytime in hopes that this would take away distractions so that he can better focus on schoolwork, etc. I think this would have backfired (again, because of the combination of the freedoms he is accustomed to having and having to be uprooted to move here when he was 16, etc). Yes, with my own children, I will not hesitate to use this sort of method if needed. But I think that we have to deal differently with nephew. I think that we've done just fine in how we've handled it, but DH is second guessing it. I believe that we've done what needs to be done. DH has talked to nephew about it, stressed the importance (in a non-nagging way....I've listened), and reminded him about the assignments several times in the last few weeks.....stressing to him that if he cracked down, he could catch up. Nephew has still put it off. The semester is coming to a close and DH is worried that he could fail....possibly causing him not to graduate. I feel that if he fails, then he fails. He's nearly 18 years old and if he chooses to fail the last half of his very last year, then that's something that he chooses to do. You can't hold his hand and make him do his schoolwork at nearly 18 years old. Nephew wants to join the military after this. If his commander tells him to do something, he can't choose not to do it because he thinks it is stupid and pointless. Do you think we've handled it well or would you have been "harder" on him? This is honestly the only issue we've had with nephew.

In April, my oldest DD will turn 10. I think we're going to make the "double digit" birthday a big deal in our family. We haven't really had any "big" parties before this....mainly gatherings at home, etc. So we're doing some special things for turning 10. Among them, giving 10 gifts throughout the day on her birthday, ranging from small to bigger. I thought that since she's turning 10, some of them can be "growing up" gifts. I have a copy of The Care & Keeping of You by the American Girl company that I've been holding on to. I thought about giving her this. However, as I looked through it, I realized that it deals with things that have probably never even crossed her mind. We've managed to keep her quite sheltered through homeschooling, monitoring her TV/media usage, and friendships. This is a GOOD thing and something that we've strived to do. Some things she's probably never thought about......body weight. She's thin. But she's probably never given a thought to the fact that girls look at their bodies critically. She has some freckles. In the book, there's a section about freckles and that you shouldn't think you look funny with freckles. She's probably never given her freckles a second thought! I don't want to hand her this book, have her read it, and then begin wondering and second guessing herself as she looks in the mirror, or wondering if freckles really are strange....when she never has before! She's my sports minded tomboy so I can honestly say that I'm pretty sure she's never thought about these things. So I'm wondering if I should give her the book or not? I don't want her to start thinking negative things about her body that she's never thought about before. However, I do like other aspects of the book....introducing what will happen during puberty, personal hygiene, nutrition, etc. These are things that she does need to know about. I could tell her, but I'm sure the book probably states them in a very kid friendly way. **ETA....I ask this because I know there are SO many girls that have body issues. I have always stressed to my daughters that what a person looks like is NOT important. It's what's on the inside. I never want them second guessing how God created them....that's why I don't want to introduce it into their minds if they've never thought it. I know it will come at some point....I just don't want them thinking it so young.

Have him do any read alouds. Or do a project with the kids. Get him interested in a great TV series....one with 5 or 6 seasons LOL. Get him a stack of great books. Does he have any hobbies? Writing? Painting? Teach him to coupon and he can save you money on groceries, etc. It takes a lot of online time and planning.

Blackfish aside (because I'm sure every theme park has it's dark secrets, as well as zoos), We went to Sea World a few months ago. My Disney loving girls were bored and asking to leave. The animal actors show was decent, as well as the kids play area, but it definitely wasn't up to Disney standards. We did Universal on that same trip. We've done it quite a few times before too. Islands of Adventure is good for thrill ride lovers. If you don't like fast rides then it's kind of boring with the exception of wandering through Harry Potter World. We'd still rather go to Disney, as we usually do.

Yes, I do believe Legoland will only appeal to kids in a certain age range.....I'm thinking up to about 10 or 12 , depending on the child. We went 4 months after it opened and experienced no problems. My kids were 4 and 7 then. They are now 6 and 9 and still begging to return. We probably will this year.

There's plenty to do for 10 days! Disney is much more than just four parks. With ten days you can take your time going through each park instead of rushing. If you really want to do neatly everything in each park, it will take more than one day per park. There are two water parks, Disney Quest, Downtown Disney, and two mini golf courses outside of the parks.....the water parks or Disney Quest could take up most of a day. Some people (like us) take days "off" in between park days. On our days off we swim, go on a hayride at Ft Wilderness, explore each resort (they are all different with their unique decor), go shopping, etc. There are big golf courses for golfers. If we are camping in Disney's campground we'll walk trails, go to the playground, relax, take the kids to the campfire singalong and movie at night. There are tours....you have to pay extra and make reservations of course. There are fishing excursions, Segway classes, parasailing, or horseback riding. There's boat rentals. We've rented "water mice" which are mini boats to scoot around the lake in. You can ride bikes on trails or cruise around the large resorts in a family size surrey bike. There are character meals and dinner shows. There's the electrical water pageant on the lake and fireworks each night. There's pirate yours for kids. Or, if you want to go offsite, there's other amusement parks, shopping at outlet malls, tourist destinations, Medieval Times, Green Acre Farms. Really, the possibilities are endless. We've done a variety of things on our many trips

Oh....also, go off season. With homeschooling, I love that we can go offseason. Less money, less crowds, less wait times.

This is our second year in AHG. My girls enjoy it, but the cost does seem to add up. I have two girls in it, which doubles the cost. In a few years, if we stay with it, I'll have three girls in it. I've considered quitting, due in part to the cost. But for now we are sticking with it. It's a wonderful program though.

One of the pp's mentioned Legoland.....Legoland is AMAZING. It's not on a grand scale like Disney, it's smaller....but my girls absolutely LOVED Legoland. It's a good hour drive from Orlando though.

We've huge Disney fans and have probably been about 40 times. Here's my advice......Go to MK as many days as you need until you feel you've done all you want to do. For some, that could be one day. For some, three days. It has, by far, the most attractions. And if you have a child who is timid about thrill rides, he'll be able to do nearly everything in Magic Kingdom. You will want to skip the mountains....and possibly the Haunted Mansion (although it has never bothered any of my three girls). But that's about it. My kids have been doing everything but the mountains since they were an infant (and they hit the mountains just as soon as they hit the "tall enough" mark). You are going at at GREAT time of year....it's just about my favorite month to go crowd-wise. MK is my favorite park by far, as well as that of my kids. Every parade and fireworks show is awesome, so you won't want to miss any of them. Basically, see everything that MK offers :) For a second park, I'd hit Animal Kingdom. The jungle treks are fun to walk, the gorilla and tiger enclosures are amazing. We love the safari ride, looking at the Tree of Life up close, etc. My kids do love Everest and Kali River Rapids, but those would probably be too much for your son. The Finding Nemo show is great. You'll want to see Festival of the Lion King....it's an AMAZING show. The Boneyard is a place your son might want to spend a while...it's a neat play area. When we do Hollywood Studios, it's for a few reasons....mostly character recognition. If your son isn't into movies/characters, you might can skip it. My 9 year old DD LOVES Star Wars, so this is the place to be for that. All three of my girls love Disney Junior....so we go to see Sofia the First, Doc McStuffins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake, etc. They love the Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playground and the Toy Story Mania ride. Those are our main stops there. Epcot is the least loved of my kids. Not that they don't like it because they love all things Disney, but it is the number four park on their list. I will say that if you do Epcot, it takes two days to sufficiently see everything. Spend one day in Future World and one day walking the countries. My girls do love the Innovations and Innoventions, where they have all sorts of interactive virutal games, create and ride your own rollercoaster, etc. When we hit Epcot, we spend a lot of hours in these places.

We need help naming our new puppy! We get to bring him home in about 3.5 weeks. It's a little black male lhasa poo mix. We went to visit him today. DH doesn't really care what we name him and our 2 year old doesn't either. So it's up to me and my two older daughters, 6 and 9 years old. Do you know how impossible it is to get a 6 and 9 year old to agree on a name? We're about to put them in a hat and just draw LOL! But I would *really* like to make this something that we all agree on. If it has to come to that, then I'll do it. But I'd like this to be a family effort where everyone comes out happy and no one runs off crying LOL. All names must be approved by me.....I've vetoed things like Darth Vader, Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and Rancor. Can you see a Star Wars and My Little Pony theme here? LOL Some names in the running.....Dash and Casey are liked by DD6 and I, but not DD9. Ty and Cole are liked by DD9 and I, but not DD6. I like Sven and Fox, but no one else does. DD9 likes Buddy but no one else does. Soarin' is iffy by DD6 and I. Luke (Skywalker) has been considered. Some things to consider......I don't like common names (no Blackie, Smokey, Midnight, or Shadow just because he's black). No Fido, Rufus, Benji.....too common and obviously a dog name. We LOVE Disney but have been through all the obvious movie names. I like UN-obviously Disney inspired names.....kinda like a secret nod to Disney that most people wouldn't notice. For example, the name Casey on our list is in relation to a hot dog place in the Magic Kingdom called Casey's. Soarin' is a ride in Epcot. Our other dog's name is Chase, chosen by my husband 14 years ago when we got the dog as tiny pup. Other dogs close to our family are Dakota, Brandy, Peanut, Roxy, Cheyenne, Marley, Biscuit, Aurora, Chinook, Rebel, Lincoln, and Vienna.....so all of those are out. Any suggestions that meet our LONG list of criteria? LOL. Seriously, this is more difficult than choosing my children's names LOL! The only person who had to agree with me on that one was my husband. Now I have to have more people agree....and these are people that do not compromise well LOL!