Joyful Family Travel

We arrived at our campsite around lunchtime and were *very* pleased with the views behind our site (I highly recommend Site 48 at Signal Mountain!).  I put Joshua down for a nap while everyone else walked down to Jackson Lake and then we had some lunch at our site.  We then headed up to the Colter Bay Visitor Center and did a short hike.  We headed back to our site to make and eat dinner before attending a ranger program about bears.   The highlight for me was getting to experience the sunset behind the Tetons.  It was so beautiful and we surprised the boys with a blowup boat.  The water was warmer than expected - nothing like the small glacial lakes in the Rocky Mountains in which we had dipped our fingers and toes.  The scene was absolutely gorgeous and they looked adorable in their little boat with the incredible backdrop of the sunset over the mountains, but the reality of having kids means accepting the fact that even in that breathtaking bea...

 Rocky Mountain National Park - Days 6-7 After a late night and waking up at 4am eaten by guilt and needing a reset, I decided to rise early and take a walk in the campground at 5:30am.  There is a beautiful spot at the start of the campground with 180 degree mountain views and the early morning light lent a blue tint to everything.  The beauty of the mountains meeting me in my deep need of refreshment brought tears to my eyes.  I had some quiet time to pray and read the Bible. I was reminded that even David was capable of horrific judgment at moments and was able to get the reset I needed.  I was able to catch some glimpses of the sunrise through the trees as I walked back to the ampitheater area and enjoyed the big open space alone.  Then, I walked back toward the mountains and was in awe of the bright red colors that the first rays of sunshine brought to them.  I enjoyed the beauty for a bit before taking any pictures, so the best moments and color ...

  We drove to Chicago and had hoped to stop at Indiana Dunes for a couple of hours in the afternoon for some beach and swim time, but instead got there just as the sun set for a quick stop to run up the dunes.  In Chicago, we parked the travel trailer in a lot and headed to my aunt’s house around 11.  We were sad to have missed dinner with our family there, but very fortunate to have such a wonderful place to land after a long travel day.   Our full day in Chicago was absolutely perfect.  My cousin’s family joined us for a huge breakfast and our kids were able to play.  Then, they took us on the L to explore a little bit of the city.  We happened upon a little street fair and did some tie-dye, got to see the Bean and the fountains that squirt water out their mouths, ate food truck food, went to a great park, we enjoyed ice cream from one of their favorite spots, and then hung out at their home for a bit.  My dad spent the day with his sister ...

What’s an adventure without a few challenges?  We have spent months preparing for this trip, from being sure to get camping reservations at the National Parks the second they opened, to planning our itinerary, to spending late nights packing and preparing the trailer and we even brought our vehicle into the shop in April to get anything upgraded/fixed that might need it before our big trip. In life though, preparation can make things go more smoothly, but there are no guarantees that we won’t encounter challenges.  On this trip, we met our first challenge just a couple of miles from home and it made us all laugh- the plastic casing below the mirror that helps show the left blinker started to fly off.  We used some duct tape and fondly remembered a man who recently passed away and stories were told of his 5 week cross country trip taken over 50 years ago and his fondness for “100 mile per hour tape.”  It was a quick pull-over and then we were back on the road.  M...

Back in 2018, our family was preparing for an epic 2-week trip to Europe with 4 kids and I got a lot of comments and questions that showed how intimidated many people felt by family travel. There were questions about how to finance such a trip (because people know we aren’t a wealthy family and that we shop at Aldi and our house is cheaper than most of our friends’ houses). They also questioned our sanity in bringing 4 kids to Europe, 3 of whom still needed car seats or booster seats, and we got more than one suggestion to leave the 2 year old behind with grandparents so we could enjoy the trip. I thought it would be helpful to share some of our experiences and intended to write about our thinking, planning, budgeting, and experiences. Then the reality of 4 kids prevented me from doing that, so we found out we were having a 5th the day after we returned from that trip and it never happened. Then, I thought I’d have time this year when I took off another year from work with our you...