One of the fun things about getting ready for vacation this year has been planning the food. We're going to be in a lodge with a nice kitchen, and the girls and I are taking turns being responsible for meals. Since we don't *sniff, sniff* all live in the same state, we would ordinarily have done this by phone and email. But THIS year we have a new toy: GoogleDocs Spreadsheet. We made a grid with all the meals while we're together, along with times we expect to be eating out, and each of the four nuclear families filled in squares until everything was decided. Then below the meal grid we made lists of all the things we need, both for the meals and for laundry, trash, cleanup, etc. It's been so much fun! And who'd have known that Annie wanted to make Beef Wellington and Baked Alaska for all of us? Oh wait...no it was spaghetti and Texas Cake, but it's going to be wonderful...

GoogleDocs also has a chat feature built right into the app, so we can all get on and dicuss the changes we're making or ask each other questions. It's definitely the easy way to do a spreadsheet...Unlike Excel, GoogleDocs are stored on the web and so we don't have to email the changes back and forth and wonder if we have the latest version. The latest version is there instantaneously and I can see the changes the girls are making in real time (and of course instantly overrule them if I don't like what they're making LOL).

If you're familiar with Excel, Google will be a breeze. Even if you're not, it's very easy to learn, so jump right in there. And for the courageous, you can even import Excel docs into Google so you can collaborate with others...

So if you're doing a vacation or family reunion or church retreat or homeschool support group getaway, give it a try--it's almost as cool as the actual event!

Labels: Cool Stuff, Technology