Family Travel for six.

It's Summer Vacation Planning Time!!!

Most of my friends seem to either have 2 children or 4. Oddly enough it seems like there is a current trend in families now with 6 or more people instead of the old average of 4. Most of the hotel industry still has rooms that will "service" a family of 4 and I will try to find rooms for our vacations only to get "You exceed the room capacity by 1(or 2) persons". Sometimes it will even say I need two rooms. The challenge I've found is that I rarely see "ajoining rooms" anymore. I used to work in the hotel industry and at least one of them had many options for adjoining rooms.

Some of my friends and relatives say "Don't tell them how many kids you have and just get a standard room." I understand their point of view...especially since my oldest is 8 and in prior years the kids were all quite small and didn't require as much space as an adult. However, my conscience said that it went against integrity to omit the full truth of who is staying in the room to save a few dollars. I know that I can't force others to feel the same way as me so it has been hard to express my feelings and not sound like I am judging those who choose to do the suggested option. I would many times though call the hotel manager and find out what my options were and mention that my children were very small and see if it would be allowed. This would sometimes be ok at some places and not at others, but I felt better getting permission first...especially since many times the fine print says they reserve the right to kick you out of your room and keep payment if you break the rules etc.

So...in my searching online this year to find a hotel/vacation destination I stumbled upon a VERY helpful tool and realized that I am NOT alone in my feelings of hotels needing to help families that have more than two kids and not require them to buy a suite MUCH larger than needed or two rooms.

SixSuitcaseTravel.com has lists for every state and a handful of hotels that they have checked that will service a family of 6 at a reasonable rate (as well as many that will hold a family of 8). I felt that I had to pass this on because I used to search Hotel sites every summer for hours on end that said they had rooms for our size...but then got the standard that we exceeded the room capacity etc. and would either have to keep looking or start calling hotels individually.

One other thing I did was contact two people that worked for the Hilton companies (they seem to own or manage MANY different chains) and the lady that responded mentioned that she works for the Homewood Suites division and they have two bedroom suites for a reasonable price that would accomodate our family. I was impressed because they also have discounts if you stay for 5 nights or more and it was around $129.oo/night for a two bedroom king bed suite with two bathrooms, kitchen, and living room. I've paid more than that on a weekend for a standard king room with mini-fridge in La Crosse, WI.

Have a Great Summer Vacation and feel free to comment any of your travel finds, deals, or information!!

~Samantha~

The Lowest Common Denominator

What is “The Lowest Common Denominator”?

• Mathematics: In mathematics, the lowest common denominator or least common denominator (abbreviated LCD) is the least common multiple of the denominators of a set of vulgar fractions. It is the smallest positive integer that is a multiple of the denominators. (Wikipedia and not my forte, in fact I barely understand the language here. ;) )
• Figurative uses: (wikipedia)
  --The term is used figuratively to refer to the "lowest"—least useful, least advanced, or similar—member of a class or set which is common to things that relate to members of that class.
  --The phrase is also used to describe the most basic, least sophisticated level of taste, sensibility, or opinion among a group of people. This is most often used in criticism of art, products or media thought to be aiming itself at such a group, the implied complaint usually being that the subject has been simplified to appeal to a wider audience.
  --The third figurative use is to describe negotiations and agreements which only cover the points where everybody's previous positions coincide.

So, to clarify…I’m not talking about Math here. Math and I go together about as well as an iceberg in the middle of the Sahara Desert. I’ve never been very good with math and have always attributed it to two things. One--not my gift and two--circumstantial result of moving many times in my childhood and experiencing many different school systems and such. I feel like I have a mental block when it comes to Math and my brain is “not interested”. :)

About a month or two ago I had a strange dream. Every once in a while bits and pieces of dreams stick in my mind and I always wonder if they have some sort of application to my life. Near the end of one of these types of dreams I was walking up to an upper floor of a building. We could see the street below. It was a wide street and there was a truck moving an old house on it. We could see buildings around and there were two young (teen) girls sitting by a window looking outside. We were talking together about some situation that was difficult for them and that it was hard for them to pray.

I honestly don’t recall the details of the conversation in full, but I remember that part of my advice to them was “The Lowest Common Denominator”. That despite who or what they were praying about…if it was a person that they couldn’t pray for…or what ever it was…that through all the thick of it there was a Lowest Common Denominator that could bring everyone together in agreement. That maybe they couldn’t pray for a woman that they didn’t like right now, who maybe was very mean or doing bad things, but they could pray for her kids. That they might be protected, that they would find the Love of God in some way, that perhaps even God would use her kids to speak into her life. The discussion went on for a little while and then I was abruptly woken up by one of my kids wanting breakfast. I recall though that the phrase just stuck in my brain and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I don't know if I was meant to write about it, but here it is.

I think there are many times, if we are honest with ourselves, that we have or know someone that we have difficulty praying for. If we consider whatever the lowest common denominator in our relationship to each other is, it may enable us to begin praying through difficult situations or stressful conflicts with people we know, relatives, co-workers, etc. So, it’s easy to say(or think) “God wants us to pray for our enemies” or “God wants us to pray for everyone”, but many times I think there are people we may even intentionally NOT pray for because we say, “God hasn’t lead that person on my heart.” or I just don’t know how to pray for this person and put it off as long as possible. I know I’ve done that with at least one family member.

***I also believe that even if we don’t have a hard time praying for someone that the =LCD= factor would still apply.***

Matthew 6:6
But, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

*Looking for a musical video about Prayer, ran across a duet with Andrea Bocelli. I remember years ago seeing him on a PBS or TV special and loving his voice. He looks much older now.
I think if I heard correctly he is also blind. *If you want the Lyrics search the title in LyricZoo. The search bar is at the bottom of the site.

Andrea Bocelli & Heather Headley - 'The Prayer'