Vacation (Week 3 blog)

This week I chose to write about vacationing. For most people, planning a vacation is exciting and fun; not the case for me. Let me give you a little background.

I grew up in St. Louis Missouri. My mom and dad' passion was going to the river almost every weekend. I hated it. I really hate sand, didn't like the muddy water, and didn't like the fact that I could never bring a friend. As a family we never went on a "true vacation." It was just the usual trip to the river (30 min away), or maybe we would go to the lake (3 hours away). There was no Disneyland, or Six Flags, or New York. 

Six years ago I somehow saved up enough money to go on my own family vacation to Hawaii. OH MY GOSH! It was amazing. I cherish the memories of that special time with  my family. Since visiting there, my daughter has decided that she now wants to go to college there. (Expensive, but an excellent way for me to visit her and the island)! So basically, I've been on one "true vacation" in my entire life. 

Here I am again, I have a little nest egg of money saved up, but don't know where to go. This is why vacationing is complicated for me and my family. (More background....) Me and my boyfriend aren't very outdoorsy. He doesn't swim, I don't like sand and the salt water makes my skin itch. My kids are completely opposite. They love the ocean, snowboarding, would love to go camping though they've never been. Basically they like just about anything adventurous. Having said that. How do I figure out an affordable vacation for the week of July 3rd thru July 9th that has plenty of stuff for everyone to do? Hawaii was great. There was so much to do and see. My boyfriend ended up getting in the ocean to snorkel with his giant life preserver on  so even though he can't swim he was willing to try. I can handle the sand for a while and maybe a little ocean water, but I want something else to occupy my time as well. 

We've tossed around a few ideas, but none of them seem "good enough" to all of us. The Grand Canyon sounds nice, but I'm physically not up for that (2 bad knees), the kids weren't thrilled with the idea either. A cruise would be nice, but none of us wants to be stuck on a boat and it can be pricey. All of us would LOVE to go to Atlantis, but it's $19,000! HELP SOMEONE!!!!!! PLEASE~!!!!~!!!!!!!!!!