If you have a 4th grader, then you know that this is the year they learn about their own state’s history. Here in North Carolina, our kids are asked to do a report on the NC lighthouses that dot our coastline. Our daughter was assigned the Bodie Island Light Station on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, just one of the gorgeous NC lighthouses. She spent a couple weeks researching its history and creating a 3D diorama of the lighthouse for her class project....

Over the last decade, my family has made at least one beach trip every year all along the East coast. Sometimes we’ve stayed in an oceanfront hotel, sometimes we’ve rented a beach condo for the week. We’ve enjoyed our experiences both ways. To help you decide between a condo vs. a hotel for your own family beach vacation, I’ve outlined all the major deciding factors I’ve used to make the choice for our family....

Choosing the best restaurants for your Disney vacation can be such a stressful part of the vacation planning. The dining budget will be a significant part of your expense for the trip, so you want to be sure that your meals are delicious and as enjoyable as possible. If you’re planning to visit Magic Kingdom during your next Walt Disney World vacation in Orlando, Florida, you’re probably wondering which restaurants should top your list....

With all this focus on getting the perfect vacation shot, today I want to share something even more important: It’s ok to not take ANY pictures during vacation. What would things look like if you didn’t even bring your big fancy camera on vacation? What if that cell phone didn’t leave your purse? Last summer we took our family to Tybee Island just outside Savannah, GA. We traveled with both of my parents for the first multi-generation family trip ever....

Whether you’re planning a day trip to the beach and want to pack plenty of snacks to bring along for the ride or you’re planning to spend an entire week at a beach and want fun snacks for your hotel or beach condo, there are some important things to consider before you head to the grocery store. You’ll want to make a list of the best beach snacks so you don’t have to waste a single minute of your family vacation worrying about grocery shopping!...

I believe that most moms tend to publicly share only the pictures of their kids looking all sweet and innocent and cute. Happy smiles facing the camera. All posey-posey lovely. Any real parent knows the behind-the-scenes truth: Behind every sweet photo of your kids is probably 20 – 40 “real” shots of them goofing around before you finally got “the one.” As time passes and I look back through the pictures on my phone, I realize that some of those sweet and silly “outtakes” are totally the pictures I love the most....

Every single morning, I drive my teenage daughter to school in the wee hours of the morning. As most sleepy teens do, she loves to wake up just minutes before we have to run out the door. Over the last couple of years, I’ve perfected our breakfast in the car routine with a list of easy to grab breakfasts that won’t slow us down as we head out the door....

When we’re packing up the car for a day at the beach as a family, there is always room to throw in a few essential beach toys to keep us all entertained. As newbie beach goers, we used to wait till we got to the beach town for our visit and then stock up on overpriced, utterly flimsy, plastic junk at the local beach shops. After just a couple visits, we soon figured out we were better off finding better priced and better made items online at home and making room in the car for them....

Here in Charlotte, fall doesn’t bring cooler temperatures. It is often mid-November when I realize fall is almost over and it never really “felt” right. A couple years ago, I got into the habit of marking my planner for putting up the Halloween decorations on October 1st even if it is 90 degrees outside! When I heard about THE GLOW coming to Charlotte, I thought it would make the perfect kick-start for our fall season this year....

While we live in Charlotte, NC, we are considering schools both in and out of state. My girl is the oldest child and wanted to keep her radius of schools in a relatively tight distance from home but as most parents of juniors know, the college application playing field competition is at an all-time high. We decided to open up our hunt so she applied to The University of Alabama during their free applications week....

This summer my oldest daughter and I are hitting the road to visit college campuses throughout the south east. While we live in Charlotte, NC, we are considering schools both in and out of state. Since my daughter is excited to attend a university with a vibrant school spirit and hopes to participate in marching band, we had to add Clemson University to our list. I’m sharing all my tips and tricks and a peek inside the tour to help you and your student navigate a college tour of your own....

If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the many Disney family vacations we’ve taken over the last decade, it’s that your kids will never fail to surprise you. It wasn’t until I tried to take our kids to see the Disney fireworks that I realized how anxious the huge professional display of fireworks makes them. We watch fireworks every 4th of July at home, but they all pale in comparison to the epic Disney fireworks performances every night in the theme parks....

Planning a trip to Italy? Or perhaps you just want to explore Italy from home as part of a homeschool geography, history, or cultural study. These non-fiction books on Italy cover a broad range of fascinating topics that bring the Italian vistas right to your front door. When I’m reading up before a big trip, I always start with a few classic travel guides to get a better sense of the area I’ll be visiting and the landmarks I want to add to my itinerary....

We ended our afternoon by taking the tube over to Covent Garden for a last round of shopping but ended up spending more than an hour just sitting on a bench watching the street performers. I have to admit, of all the research I did, the most helpful sources of information were from real families who shared their experience in London on travel blogs. Reading through Jessica Turner’s notes about her family trip gave me a realistic sense of how much you could squeeze into a day with your kids....

It is no surprise that a Disney family vacation is going to be quite expensive. With constantly rising prices for park passes, hotel stays, and transportation, often the real shocker is just how expensive dining at Disney can be for a family. But never fear: Smart Disney vacationers know how to make their Disney dollars stretch far with a few clever tricks. When you know how to eat cheap at Disney World, you know you need to plan ahead before you go....

But just because everyone speaks English doesn’t mean there are a few things that could trip you up. It is still a European country, after all. And things are fantastically different than what you might be used to at home. Here are the top 10 things I think you should know before you visit Dublin. Northern Ireland is not the same thing, Ireland and Northern Ireland are two separate countries....

Taking your family to a National Park this summer? Whether you’re off to see the Grand Canyon, the Redwood forest, or Yosemite, take the time to teach your kids just how special these places are before you go. While the time you spend together as a family out in the glorious nature of the parks will be impressive on its own, exploring the idea behind the creation of our National Parks system will bring even more meaning to the trip....

I love taking my kids to children’s museums and for years I’ve wanted to bring them to The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. There’s just something about that crazy two-story dinosaur outside the building that sparked an insatiable case of curiosity. When I routed our Epic Road Trip route from North Carolina to Minnesota and saw that we’d be passing Indianapolis not just once but twice, I vowed to finally make this travel bucket list item happen....

Earlier this week, the girls and I were invited to a special media event at SEA LIFE Aquarium in Charlotte to meet the Octonauts Captain Barnacles & Kwazii. We have adored this show ever since it first debuted on the Disney Junior Channel and I’ve been surprised by all the creature facts the girls have picked up over the few seasons it’s been on the air. The Octonauts is a perfect tie-in with the aquarium since several of the creatures the team encounters have a home at SEA LIFE....

Timing Tips for Your Reservation What is the Restaurant Like? Restaurant? What restaurant? All we could focus on was our amazing breakfast and the adorable Disney characters who kept stopping by for a photo op! The dining budget will be a significant part of your expense for the trip, so you want to be sure that your meals are delicious and as enjoyable as possible. If you’re planning to visit Magic Kingdom during your next Walt Disney World vacation in Orlando, Florida, you’re probably wondering which restaurants should top your list....