2024 was a roller coaster full of adventure and also some memory-making done at home! People are often impressed that our kids travel “well” but we’ve been practicing and training for years! Please don’t try it and struggle and think you’re not cut out for it. šĀ I’ve read a few articles and books this year about being intentional with your time, energy, and money. Although travel is such a big part of our life, it is still just a part. We have full-time jobs and kids in several sports and activities. We are fortunate to be able to show our kids the world and even though they would often rather be home with their friends playing switch, I’m hopeful they recognize that more than the travel itself, finding space for joy and prioritizing it is something I hope they take with them into their future and adulthood.Ā Ā
My sweet Ellie still skips everywhere and loves playgrounds with monkey bars more than anything else. Even at 7, she knows she can still sometimes success in being carried by being cute. She has found a newfound love with ice skating with some school friends, and mom adds ice skating in faraway places to as many trips as possible.
My Carter logged several hundred hours of reading time in 2024 (8 in one day!), is becoming a fierce competitor at board games and soccer. I’ve started getting him more involved in the trip planning process and now Ben has multiple people in the family asking for trips!
Iāve highlight our year and have listed out our travels and posts from the previous year below. For more ideas, check on our 2021, 2022, and 2023 recaps!
January
We started our year in Austria! For Christmas break, we did an epic trip through Germany and Austria for Christmas markets and New Years celebrations. We based ourselves in Munich, Salzburg, and Innsbruck, with side trips to Nuremberg, Oberndorf, Berchesgarten, and SeefeldĀ This big trip to Europe over 2 weeks was full of pretzels, gluwhein, schnitzel, castle visits, cave slides, music, snow hikes and more! Such a memorable adventure.
We also did quick weekend trips to Pensacola to visit family and Dallas to visit with a few friends in the city. We always love spending time catching up and hitting a few favorites like the Perot science museum or the zoo.
February
We did a big house remodel in the beginning of the year and tried to ease up on our travel for a little bit (Can you even tell?) Ben and I took a quick overnight trip to NYC for a once in a lifetime John Williams concert conducted by the legend himself.Ā
March
For spring break, we tried skiing for the first time as a family! Wooo! We took a trip with neighbor friends up to New Hampshire and the Loon Resort. Everyone took lessons and did surprisingly well. We are planning on another ski trip in 2025!Ā
April
In April, we ditched school and work for a day and drove up to Southern Indiana to witness the totality of a solar eclipse. I don’t think we’ll become eclipse chasers but it was definitely worth it if you’re within a quick distance or have never seen one. We also did a weekend trip to Chicago, one of favorite cities for a quick trip. So many cool museums (Bonus, if you have another science museum pass, they’re free!)Ā
May
If you’ve been following along, or checked out other years in review, you’ll see that we do a lot of repeat trips to our favorite people. In addition to Chicago and Dallas, we try to take a yearly trip to North Carolina! While Asheville is a fantastic city worth visiting, we usually visit the nearby small town of Waynesville, NC where our friends live. They have the cutest market on main street, worth a visit!
June
We have family who live on Oahu and love to mix our family-focused trips with some fun just-us family adventure and resort time. It had been several years (decades!) since Iād visited Kauai and the island was a perfect blend for us of adventurous beautiful hikes and resort pool life.Ā
July
July was a busy month! We did a 4th of July visit to Dallas and Frisco, a Louisville weekend for a kid’s triathlon, and wrapped up our summer with a trip to Merida!
Our kids attended a half-day Spanish camp that we absolutely adored. This was such a fun experience for the kids to interact with other world travelers and expand their world. They played games and did art and wrote stories in Spanish. They did a few family activities and it was such a cool spot. We are definitely planning to do this again. They have programs for kids, teens, and adults.Ā
While the kids were at camp, the parents were remote working. Lame. But weāre very fortunate that we could do so as we would not have been able to take this 2 week trip otherwise. During weekday afternoons, kids would hang out at the house or if parents were available, cut out early from work to go on some adventures!
August/September
In the fall, our 2nd and 4th grader started their school years! And I took on a new role as PTO president. No one is surprised that I overcommitted yet again.Ā Busy school year and sports schedules meant we were a little big limited to weekend trips. We took a quick trip to Raleigh NC on one weekend before soccer weekends started. It always feels like a silly thing to say when I say that some of our trips are not really trips in a traditional sense. But truly on some of these trips, we don’t do top things or big adventures butĀ we just enjoy being with our friends, eating pancakes, playing games, or doing puzzles. When we talk about being fortunate to travel as much as we do, we are so lucky that we can mix these quick flights to friends in with our bigger farther yearly adventures
October
For fall break, we joined some neighbor friends for a trip to Joshua Tree National Park. Whenever thereās a school break, I love to plan a bigger trip! (Really, whether thereās a school break or not) We visited some family in LA, enjoyed some resort pool time in Palm Springs and did a day of hiking at Joshua Tree.Ā
November
One of the things Carter asked at the beginning of the year was if we could try to stay in town more often in the Fall so he wouldn’t miss out on Nashville activities. We enjoyed weekly soccer and he also did a few science programs at Vanderbilt. And Ellie enjoyed being an only child and some chill time with just parents.
At the end of the month, we did a quick one day trip to Dollywood and our big Thanksgiving trip. We had an amazing time in the United Kingdom. We spent a few days in Edinburgh, took a bus tour to the Scottish Highlands, and wrapped up our trip in busy and historic London.
December
Because I never turn down any reason for a trip, we did a quick weekend trip to NYC to see the Rockefeller tree and visit some NJ friends. And for Christmas break, we spent 2 weeks in Hawaii visiting family on Oahu. Memory making with grandparents is always a treat. (Itinerary ideas pending!)
And thatās a wrap for 2024! Big plans for 2025!
