Win a 7 Day Stay at Diamond Resorts

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You can Win a 7 Day Stay At #DiamondResorts | Family Vacation Time! (Check out below for details.  This is part of a promotion by Travelingmom.com)

 Vacation of a Lifetime

 As a stay at home mom planning a vacation for a family with toddlers does not always seem like a vacation at all.  It can just seem like more work.  Planning a vacation not only can be exhausting but a budget buster too.  But now, years later, I wouldn't have traded our week at a Caribbean getaway for all the money in the world.

You have probably seen the commercial with a 5 or 6 year old girl sitting in the driver seat of a car as her dad gives her driving instructions.  This is just crazy. No one would let a 6 year old drive the car.  But then the camera flashes to the reality of the situation and the girl is actually a teen who is old enough to drive and it becomes clear that even though this girl is old enough to drive her father still sees her as his 6 year old darling child.

This has been my life this entire year.  

It is almost June and a number of our friends have kids graduating from High School this year. We are in between graduations. We have two kids who have already graduated and two kids still in high school but they are getting closer to graduation faster than I think I am ready for. The carefree days of childhood have passed and our conversations have changed from who would win if Batman fought Superman to who would win if Batman fought Superman and what am I going to do after High School Graduation.

When the kids were little we took a trip to the Caribbean and stayed at an all inclusive resort.  This meant we just had to get there and once we arrived there would be no more charges. Meals were included as well as entertainment. It was fantastic. But it was not easy. When you have four kids it can be a challenge just going to the local grocery store let alone go on a long distance vacation.

When we got there we immediately realized that everything was going to be ok. The place was set up for kids including a ping pong table and pool with a waterfall. We could spend our time just focusing on the kids and what they wanted to do and didn't have to worry about planning out activities.

We had only been there a couple of days when it occurred to my husband and I that we were also being able to relax and enjoy ourselves. Our two youngest kids were not really “swimmers” yet. They definitely could not swim in the deep end on their own and so they splashed around in the shallow part of the pool with their waterwings strapped to each arm. But our daughter was determined to swim because she wanted us to take her picture underwater with the waterproof disposable camera. By the end of our vacation she had it figured out and she was swimming on her own.

I didn't think about it very much at the time but now more than 10 years later she will still tell everyone that she learned how to swim in the Caribbean. Our son will tell you about the chameleons and how cool it was that the ants built up wild little mounds on the sidewalk when it rained (and it did rain). This trip really inspired our kids to love travel and now they are great travelers. Each kid has their own memory of that trip but the biggest and best memory was that we were all there together on a grand adventure.

TravelingMom is giving away a 7-day vacation for a family of four at a Diamond Resorts International® property of your choice!

Choose between Florida, Cabos, Las Vegas or Hawaii:

Win 7 Day Stay at #diamondresorts summer dream vacation

Prizing Details:

ONE randomly drawn winner will receive one (1) week (six nights/seven consecutive days) vacation accommodation for up to four (4) people at one of the following Diamond Resorts International® resort locations:


If you are on Twitter or Instagram be sure to follow the hashtag #TMOM to jump in on the conversation and dreambuild for your next vacation with us.


* This is part of a sponsored campaign by Travelingmom.com.  All opinions and original stories are those of Stayathomemom.com. 


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