I BEG you not to leave your space heater on all night!! I'm also uncomfortable with placing a blanket over the heater, even when you're awake (which in my case doesn't last long in a recliner). What if it shorts or catches the blankets on fire? Last time I looked, electric blankets tend to have warnings about leaving them on for too long or when asleep. Saving money and resources is commendable. IMO, however, it's not worth losing your life or home. If you want to keep a space heater on when you're up and about, fine. But do yourself a favor and do the central heating thing at night. One more thing--do you have power outages often? What would happen if your house was at 51 degrees, and then there was a power outage preventing you from using your space heaters? Starting off that cold, you'd be down to freezing conditions a lot quicker than if you started off warmer. It's really easy to install a programmable thermostat. This allows you to have the house chilly when you're not home or asleep, and then warmer when you're up and about. It saves money and hassle--no more remembering to lower the temp.

I just noticed your post - guess they're there by now??? Well, was going to suggest maybe a campground with a tent (or two). (Or, hide the kids in car, get a cheap hotel for two adults, bring air mattresses or sleeping bags, & make sure the kids are QUIET! LOL!) Well, it's probably too little too late. My son graduated from a "tourist trap, college town" several years ago. His graduation was going to be in June, and as it happened, it was the same weekend of "Fathers' Day", AND all schools were out - people getting early start on vacations. I did research on internet (new to me at the time), and got the free maps/books from auto club. I found NO hotels for less than $200.00 per night, and most were booked anyway! I did some local shopping, and found an 8' x 8' tent for $50, TWO sleeping bags for $20 each, a "queen sized" air mattress with a foot pump for about $30 or $40, and a cmaping lantern for about $20 or so... Anyway, I spent just under $200 on "gear", found a very nice campground @ about $11.00 per night. We spent 5 nights / 6 days there for about $500.00. That INCLUDED GASOLINE in the car for an approximate 1400 mile trip (plus the extra wandering we did along the way), PLUS, we STILL HAVE now a tent, sleeping bags, camp lantern... I took old bed sheets, blankets, pillows, towels...(I can't throw ANYTHING away - LOL!) We had a wonderful time!

We have two kids and are departing soon for a trip to Europe, we will be in the south of France for two weeks and in Holland for one week. In the south of France, we are staying in a house that is located in the Luberon. I drew a circle around the town we're staying in and basically researched the towns within a one hour driving radius. We are then flying via Ryan Air to Holland and staying in an apartment in Amsterdam. The house we're staying in in the south of France is a relatively simple place. My kids are older than yours, but we've made it a priority to pack books and simple arts activities they can do. I expect to buy a jigsaw puzzle. We are bringing a deck of cards, an IPod and a Nintendo DS. There is no TV or internet connection at the house. We've talked to the kids a lot about flexibility. The biggest hassle with the electronic games, is that yes they have the advantage of being small and light, but they need a variety of chargers and power adapters to work with the European electrical current. Radio Shack had the highest prices around, Best Buy was better, but believe it or not, I found electrical equipment in the men's section of Marshalls where they sell things like um, power golf ball washers and the like. I also have purchased and wrapped small items for the children to receive at various times through the trip. Little clay kits from JoAnne bought on sale, they like these, and they cost about $2 each. Calvin and Hobbes books collected from garage sales for about 25 cents each. I sleep mask and ear plugs set, two bucks on sale at KMart. I assemble these and wrap them before we leave -- unwrapping the 'gifts' makes it even more fun for the kids. Oh, crayons and paper are another must. I had my daughter down load a lot of young adult books on CD onto her eye-pod and got an ear phone splitter so two kids can listen to the books on tape on the same Ipod player. Ideally, they'll listen to these in the back of the car while my husband and I talk or listen to our own music up front. We enjoy having down time while we're away, and plan on doing only one 'big' touristy thing a day. When traveling with kids, I like to have a sort of big picture plan, with info about all the sights available in a specific region, but like to play it by ear on a day to day basis, being responsive to people's moods, energy levels, health, etc. I also know in advance that I want to show them certain things, as in categories of things, like in the south of France, it'll be something like one cathedral, one abbey, one art museum, etc. I have a child whose into nature so we've made sure to research natural habitats and will probably get him a book so he and his sister can identify bugs and birds while we're there. I've also taken out library books on the countries we're visiting and left them lying around the kitchen table and we've done some casual thumbing through the pages. I don't force it. I just try to get them thinking a little, and looking at pictures really does that. It's important to remind them that travel is fun but it's also work and some days may be challenging for them. Oh, one more thing, we bring addresses for their friends so they can write postcards. I also take pictures of their friends and keep them stored on the digital camera so they can scroll back and look at the pictures when they feel like they're missing the kids back home.

My sister-in-law, her husband & their 4 kids are visiting Legoland next week from out of town. They are looking for budget lodging near Legoland. Anyone has any suggestion on that? Thanks in advance!!! sincerely, mcook