Paris Mountain is a state park in Greenville with lots of options for hiking and biking. What I like about this park is the closeness to Greenville as well as the great parking near almost every trail. So, if you're hiking with little ones, it's easy to get right on the trail. The park is beautifully maintained and near the entrance there is a short one mile hike for the small ones around a lake filled with wildlife for kids to enjoy.

Sky Top is near Flat Rock, NC. It's only about a 45 min. drive from Greenville, SC. Every October, you'll find families picking apples, having picnics, and drinking apple cider slushies. (Trust me, buy an apple cider slushy and you'll have a happy ride home.) Sky Top has a fun play area for young kids with a playhouse and swings. They also have a bamboo forest that the 7-12 year olds love. This is definitely a great spot to take the family.

The Biltmore Estate is much more than just a house. There is a beautiful farm named River Bend that is excellent for smaller children. And as we learned they even offer many hands-on activities for them. To learn what activity and the time, Biltmore suggest calling the day you're planning your trip to find out what "might" be available. They also have a winery where children can take part in stomping the grapes the traditional way. Be prepared with an extra pair of old clothes.

For the family with kids over 12, they offer Segway tours. This is a lot of fun. Take a look online for everything else offered, including horseback riding and bike tours.

When you go, realize that little kids will quickly tire of the monstrous house. My suggestion is don't plan to take a guided tour, instead go at your own pace.

We've stayed at Disney's Grand Floridian and so when we checked in here we were unbelievably disappointed. Yes, this has an entirely different theme and I was excited for that, but the problems lay elsewhere. When we got to our rooms, they were dark, old and simply depressing. My mother's room, which adjoined ours, had door handles that were falling off. The concierge, who is there to help with dinner reservations, etc, was unbelievably unhelpful. He kept looking at me with a blank stare as if trying to hurry me along so that he could go hang out with his friends. I'm sorry, but for the money we payed, we were over and over again disappointed. This was far from a magical Disney experience.

We stayed here a couple of years ago during the beginning of October. We only had two children then and they were 3 and 5. The hotel is beautiful, clean and simply magical for families. When staying at one of Disney's resorts, you get to enter parks earlier than others or stay later, depending on the day. This is great with younger kids, especially when the park opens earlier. We'd get to the park when it was still cool and not at all crowded. Then we'd head back around lunchtime, take naps, enjoy the fabulous pools and then take off again (refreshed!) to another park.

When staying here, you use the tram to get to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. You're there quickly and there's no bother with having to park and then hike the great distance with little ones in tow (especially convenient when leaving). Or you can opt for the ferry to take you to Magic Kingdom which is also a lot of fun. We took this over to the Ft. Wilderness side where we ate one of the best and cheapest meals while at Disney. When we returned at night the staff left our room as if Tinkerbell herself had dropped by. Our kids' stuffed animals would be placed around in different places and the tv would be playing softly one of Disney's stories for bedtime. Be sure if you go that you ask for a room where you are able to see Cinderella's castle at Magic Kingdom, because then you can watch the amazing fireworks display at 9 every night. If not a room with a view, you can walk down to the beach and watch from there. Truly one of the best places to stay when at Disney. (Trust me, we've tried another one of their resorts - there is a huge difference.)