When people have kids in school, they have no choice but to schedule vacations around the school schedule, which is, Christmas break, winter break, spring break, and two months in summer. It sucks because everythig is more expensive during those times, and everything is more crowded during those times, but if you have a kid or kids and you want to take vacations with them, that’s what you have to do.
Last year I went to Florida in February and I chose to drive because I didn’t want to deal with airlines’ shit and overcrowding, cancelled flights, etc. It’s more time spent to drive, and probably not a whole lot cheaper because I rented the car, but I would have had to rent the car once I got down there anyway. I like driving, when possible, because you leave when you want, with flexibility due to the weather, and you stop when you want, and you just throw all your crap in the car like a big closet and you go.