Embracing a Healthy Family: Top Ten Tips for Creating a Distraction Free Vacation

I love TwitterMom's contest and can't wait for the next one as they are thought provoking and fun. Alamo is sponsoring this great contest and you can join in!

It's been year's since we had a family vacation after all, before moving to Georgia, we lived in Hawaii so we had a vacation every day! We are planning a mini vacation sometime this month or next month before my husband deploys to Kuwait for a year.

Growing up, we didn't have the resources to enjoy a family vacation either so we made the most out of summers. Here are some ideas and tips to make a memorable vacation:

Plan a family fun night where the kids choose the a couple of games to play, if you have a small theater type popcorn, buy the really good popcorn and plan a dinner menu that the kids can choose and help cook. This is really a fun event for them and it keeps out all other distractions as you turn off the phones and shut down the computers.
Plan a fun filled day trip to some place local that takes one tank to get there. For us, this would be Stone Mountain near Atlanta. They have the circus coming to town as well as a great feature of making snow! That would be ideal and again, leave the phones in the car!
Plan a family get together at a local park or somewhere that has shelterhouses you can rent. Make it a pitch in and bring all the outdoor games with rules of no phones, no DS or portable devices.
If you have a pool, pool parties are always fun and no one will want to risk getting the gadgets wet. Create a theme whether it's tropical or the current movie du jour. Themes add to the fun of any party.
Plan a road trip to a great feature nearby. In Georgia, Savannah is just a hop, skip and a jump away! Visit the haunted district, the old plantation homes or just relax and enjoy the many things to do. Every area has a special place to visit that holds historical interests or other fascinating facts. For those in the midwest, St. Louis is always nice too!
Book a night at a hotel that has a pool and interesting places to visit. In Indianapolis, there is a hotel that has an inside. The Caribbean Cover has over 50,000 square foot of tropical areas that the whole family can have fun with. This would make a great vacation for those with kids who love the water.
Find things to do on the off hours such as bring along a scrapbook and start having everyone add what was special about the day's activities or the trip.
Make sure everyone has a camera or encourage sharing the camera to allow a unique perspective on every angle of the vacation. What you see as interesting, the children may see something different. It would make for an interesting vacation book later.
Just remember to make rules to be gadget free for the vacation. You can make a rule exception as some that work will need to touch base with the office so allow some flexibility so you aren't requiring others to sneak and feel bad.
Finally, turn off the phones! Only use as necessary! No Tweeting, no e-mails, no nothing but family time. As in number 9, make exceptions pending the urgency.