My husband and I were planning to spend August in Vermont at my parents' vacation home (we live in Houston and need to escape the heat and humidity) but my parents just sold the house. So, my dad called me today and asked me to try to find a house/villa to rent for a couple of weeks - anywhere. We want to find someplace relatively easy to get to from the East Coast so that other family members can come for a few days. Was thinking London, Costa Rica, Wyoming, Napa . . . I love planning trips so this is going to be fun. Any ideas welcome. Just remember that with a tiny one, we want a home base and would do day trips from there.

If you're looking for a relaxing, stress-free vacation, I would stick State side with a 7th month old - even if you have a baby that travels well - going through security and customs with all the baby stuff, plus your own luggage, tickets, passports, lines, taking your shoes off while holding the baby, etc., is not much of a vacation for mom - its also harder to go back and get the favorite stuffed animal at a hotel or villa in a foreign country and still make the flight home. Changing flights in the U.S. is somewhat less stressful.

I've vacationed with the Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins when my children were as young as 2 months old at beach cottages/resorts on the Southeastern Coast - Kiawah, St. Simon, and loved the combination of privacy, beautiful quiet beaches, nice pools, natural surroundings with near-by restaurants with fresh seafood, golf, fishing, horseback riding, etc.

If you're not a beach family, check out the great mountain retreats in Vermont, West Virginia, North Carolina - many realty companies have websites where you can check out rental opportunities -

Babies grow up fast and you can always do Europe and the Idaho rafting trips when the kids are potty trained. Save the Napa and Costa Rica tours for your anniversary when you can leave the kids to visit with the Grandparents -
while these destinations can be family friendly - needing to change a diaper or console a sleepy baby during the winery tours in the countryside, or on the beautiful tropical beach, take a lot of the romance out of a vacation at these destinations.

Just my thoughts - have a blast!

London is too far to go for a few days and Costa Rica weather is in the rainy season in the summer so I would not go there. I would consider the mountains of North Carolina near Ashville as that is a city with a bit to do/see nearby of the Maine coast as it is cooler there. You said a criteria was to escape the heat and humidity. Perhaps a place in Colorado would fit the bill also.

What do you like to do -- are you a beach person or a mountain person? Do you want to be near a large city or out in the country where you relax and do nothing and go hiking etc? You need to give more information here.

After clicking on your name, I discovered an old post from you when you were 39 weeks pregnant and wanted to get your family here for delivery - now I am insanely curious if you decided to round them all up for your delivery or how their travel plans went.

I have similar advice to this situation as I did to your delivery one. Do you really want to run a bed and breakfast (and lunch and dinner) for "other family members can come for a few days". All depends on how helpful your family will be - and you will know from their post-delivery visits.

Planning travel is fun - and now you have a new wrinkle in the planning that has nothing to do with air connections, hiking availability, etc. That is baby logistics - ease of getting there, access to at least mini-kitchen, equipment.

I agree, stay in US (if you venture outside US, your baby needs a passport - get it now and make sure you read fine print on State Dept website as both parents and baby need to present themself to passport clerk or follow certain other rules).

Outer Banks of NC might be nice if you like beaches.

If you like New England I would think you would love Maine. You can rent some wonderful cottages on the coast or even on a lake or mountain.We have used cyberrentals for several years. ...all sizes and price ranges.

The Hamptons on Long Island have loads of vacation rentals. Folks can fly into JFK (and get the Hampton Jitney from there if they don't want to rent a car). You can also fly into Islip MacArthur airport (ISP). People can take daytrips into Manhattan if they get bored of sun, sand and pool.

Also plenty of other vacation type options if the NY area.