Recently I had a terrific question in the comments of one of my posts asking about how I kept up with blogging while on vacation. So I thought I’d share a few tips for blogging on vacation that I’ve learned along the way.

1. First, if you plan to blog during vacation, make sure the places you are staying provide free Internet service.
2. Before going on vacation, have a few posts written and ready to publish ahead of time.  Guest posts are great for this, like this one on 5 Ways to Keep Kids Reading This Summer.  I had the title, post, pictures, tags, and all the SEO information filled out for each of the posts so all I had to do was hit publish the day I wanted the post up.
3. Along with having your posts ready and waiting, remember it’s okay to cut back on the number of posts that get published when you’re on vacation.  I decided on 2-3 posts/week while we were gone, and I had a calender reminding me which post to put up each day.
4. We all know that social media takes up A LOT of time.  My advice?  While on vacation, focus on just one or two social media platforms — preferably the ones that drive the most traffic to your site.
5. For Facebook, take advantage of the option to schedule posts ahead of time!  Don’t know how?  Once you type in your status update, look to the bottom left before you hit “post.”  There should be a clock icon.  Click on it and choose when your status will update.  I came up with 2-3 different status updates each night to be posted the next day at various times.  I have my FB status go directly to my Twitter account, so I was actually posting to both each day without having to actually go to Twitter.
6.  On vacation I decided not to do any blogging business during the day; I wanted to soak up every moment with my kids and my sister’s family.  (After all, they had driven all the way from Iowa to surprise my parents!)   That left the time in the evening once the kids were asleep to publish posts, do a little social media, check email, and link up places.  (I tried to limit my work to one hour or less each night, which meant email didn’t always get checked.)   Thankfully, quite a few of the family-friendly places I link up with have their link up parties up the night before.  At home I link up with the rest in the morning, but on vacation, I worked only at night, so these were skipped.

Guess what I discovered?

I was working smarter, for less time, and still getting a decent rate of traffic!

Best of all, I was able to thoroughly enjoy our vacation and visit with my sister’s family without feeling like I had to update Facebook, write a new post, or other blog business.

If you plan on blogging while on vacation, remember, it’s a vacation!  Have a great summer, everyone!

Keep the kids busy on vacation with these ideas:

• Survive a Hotel Stay with Kids
• Screen-Free Travel Tips for Kids

The post Tips for Blogging on Vacation first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably realized we are on vacation right now.

Last week we were at Disney World for a few days.  When we first made our Disney plans, I had originally planned on surprising my daughter with dining with the princesses.  At almost $200 for the four of us, I quickly changed my plans — especially when I found out we could see the two she REALLY wanted to see for FREE.  (And FREE is better than $200 any day!)

Our second day at Magic Kingdom I got a couple Fast Passes right away to see Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel over at Towne Square Theater.

Then my princess and I headed over to ride her favorite ride a second time — the new Under the Sea ride.  I surprised her afterwards by heading to Ariel’s Grotto.  “I wonder what’s in here,” I said, after I saw the wait time was just 15 minutes.

And 15 minutes later….…she was meeting Ariel and showing her her new charm necklace — full of Disney princesses.

Then we ate lunch and headed back to meet the other princesses.  (Definitely do the Fast Pass here — the original line we stood in said an hour and NEVER moved; then I realized we could Fast Pass it.  We waited only 20 minutes that way.)

Of course, my little boy didn’t want to see princesses.  For him, Lightning McQueen is the ONLY Disney character worth seeing.

Thankfully I was able to grant his wish by staying at the Art of Animation Resort — where they have a pool that is surrounded by the Cars characters.  The Art of Animation Resort is actually made up of 10 different hotels…  The Cars pool was the one furthest from us, so I brought his umbrella stroller…  We zoomed over to see Lightning McQueen at least 4 times during our stay, and took pics EVERY time.

Currently we are at the beach (MY dream come true).

Today we took a break from the sun and sand to see a few animals at the Jungle Gardens, where my daughter had one more wish fulfilled….Yes, that is my preschooler with “Tiny”, a Royal Ball Python around her neck.  I’m not sure, but I think she was almost more excited to hold the snake than she was to see the princesses…

This week, I am thankful for each dream we’ve had come true this trip.

What are you thankful for this week?  Leave a comment, or, if you have your own thankful post, come and link up with us!

The post Thankful for Dreams Coming True first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

This week I am thankful for the safe arrival of ALL my family when we met up in Georgia with my sister and surprised my parents on our trip to Disney World.

And I am THANKFUL we are not driving any more!  After almost 1,000 miles, I am ready to be out of a car!  (And so are the kids!)

Normally I do a Thankful Thursday link up.

I am sorry, but there will be no link up this week.  It will be back next week!

The post Thankful Thursday – June 13 first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Happy Thursday!

If you have been a reader of my blog for long, or if you follow on Facebook, then you know I love Thankful Thursday posts.  There is just something about looking at the positives from the week instead of all the negatives.

This week I am extremely thankful that my husband agreed to my wish to share the magic of Disney World with our kids this summer.

Going along with that, I am thankful that not only will my daughter’s princess dreams come true, but that as I was flipping through a magazine this week I came across and ad for a hotel in Disney that has all the Cars movie characters.   That means not only will our daughter get to eat with the princesses on our Disney trip, but we can head on over to the hotel (we are already booked at a cheaper one) and our son can see all his favorite Disney characters — FREE.  I can’t tell you how excited I was to discover that.    (Originally I thought those characters would only be available at the Hollywood Studios park, and with just 2 days to visit the parks, we weren’t planning to go there.)

I am also thankful this week for the free yoga class at the library.  (Libraries rock!)  My husband saw the sign about it a month ago, and I was excited because unlike the classes at our YMCA, it was at a time I could get there and back before the kids’ bedtime.

I really didn’t think I was going to make it this week because of the amount of tears and drama that erupted 10 minutes before I needed to be out the door, but my husband assured me they’d all be fine, and I grabbed my shoes and seldom used yoga mat and headed out the door.  It was nice to have that hour to myself, and I look forward to next week.  (Hopefully there will be a lot less drama involved before hand.)

Now it’s my favorite part…

Take a moment to think of what you’re thankful for this week and share it in the comments!

Linked up at Black Tag Diaries, Lovely Little Whimsy, The Fontenot Four, Loved and Lovely

The post Thankful Thursday — January 17 first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

“Every little girl dreams of being a princess,” at least that’s what I’ve heard.

Me?  I don’t ever remember wanting to be a princess.  When I found out I was expecting a little girl, all those “princess” onesies and itty-bitty pink and purple outfits that said something about “princess” drove me nuts.  I actually took a few back that I got at baby showers.

I did NOT want my daughter thinking she was some princess and everyone should do whatever she said.

I never imagined the world of Disney princesses and all the frilly stuff that goes along with it.  I never expected my daughter would be into dress up, tiny little princess dolls, and all the things that go along with the world of princesses.

But here we are.

It’s taken me 5 years, but I think the princess thing is starting to win me over.

Yesterday morning I did something that put a smile on my face for the rest of the day.

I made reservations for our summer vacation.

That in itself can be exciting, especially when we still have quite a bit of winter left to face.  But that’s not why it brought such a silly grin to my face.

I’m talking Disney.

The most magical place on earth, or so they say.

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend a day in Disney when we went to Florida two years ago.

My daughter hasn’t stopped talking about it.

This time we are staying in the park for a few days.

Two years ago she was in awe when she saw the princesses dance on stage at the castle.  This year I want to give her more.

Life is too short.  Awful things happen when we don’t expect it.  Or maybe I’ve just become soft in my old age.  Whatever the reason, I want to watch her face light up when I pull out one of her princess dresses (which I plan to sneak into the suitcase) and tell her she gets to actually EAT with the princesses.

I want to see every smile, hear every giggle, and watch the magic through her eyes.  Just thinking about it brings that stupid smile to my face again, and I admit it, even a tear or two come to my eyes.

Last time we went we didn’t have a lot of time, and we didn’t have a plan.  If you’ve been to Disney lately, what suggestions/tips do you have to help make our trip magical?

The post Princess Dreams first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.

Hello, all the way from Peoria, Illinois, where our family has met up with my sister’s family — at the half-way point between our homes.

An hour and half into our trip, when we stopped at our first rest area with the kids, I wasn’t real sure we would all make it.  OneDaddy and I saw a Fed-X truck and were REAL tempted to ship the kids back home…

But a quick chat with our oldest about how many hours the trip was going to take, and how, “Are we there yet?” wasn’t getting us there any faster, and then letting the kids run off some energy, helped.

We also ate lunch there and watched this big buck out in the field — he stayed there the entire time we were at the rest area. 

I’m happy to say things got A LOT better when we got back in the car!

Crayons, stickers (definitely stickers!) and paper were a huge hit, so were the water pen books I had packed.  Those 2 items alone kept them busy for an hour.  (Want some other ways to keep kids busy while traveling, check out this previous post.)

We were going to stop after a couple more hours of travel, but the rest area we were going to stop in was closed.  Turns out it was a blessing — the next one had an awesome playground at it!

The kids got to play, and so did Mommy and Daddy.  Yes, that’s my husband, climbing on the playground equipment with his little girl.  Just another reason I love my husband!

At that point we were supposed to only be an hour from our destination….  I won’t go into details, but I will say we drove up and down the street the hotel is on at least 4 times before we stopped and called for directions.  It’s one of those crazy streets where the numbers go down and then they go back up… So we thought we had driven past it, but actually hadn’t gotten there yet.

Make any sense?  Nope, not to me, either, but the hotel staff gave us great directions and we did finally make it.

My sister has been keeping the kids busy with crafts this morning (bless her!)… But I think we will be hitting the pool soon.

Have a terrific Saturday!

The post Hello from Peoria! first appeared on There's Just One Mommy.