100 small things: 2016

Happy New Year!

I love the new year, it's one of my favorite times of the year, and I don't care how cliche or naive that makes me.  I like the way it feels like a fresh start, if only because I get a new planner.  I like the framework it puts in my mind around all of our holidays and traditions.  I like how it feels like one door closing while another one opens to potentially new possibilities; at the bare least another year older and wiser.

So I get giddy and weird and inspired around the new year and annoy my husband with questions like, 'but what big dreams do you have for this year?' to which he replies, 'babe, I want to do what you want to do.' which is one of the the reasons we work so well together - I envision the big dreams and then he makes sure they happen (by either actually doing them or giving me the space and support to do them)

so anyway, 2015 has ended, and with it my time frame for working on my 2015 100 small things list.  After the whole year, I ended up with full completion of forty-six items, which isn't even half - but surprisingly, feels like an incredible success.

Because what that means is that in 2015, I accomplished 46 new things that had been bumbling around in the back of my subconscious for quite some time.  My 100 small things list gave me inspiration and motivation and deep down, I'm a nerd that loves crossing off items on a list, so it works for me.  You can see my final checked list from 2015 here.


Since I really did find inspiration and joy in creating, completing and tracking my 100 small things list last year, I'm going for it again this year.  There were lessons I learned and applied to this years' list (for example two family dinners at our house is incredibly more reasonable than 12!) and also items that have been recycled to this years list from last year because I still really want to accomplish them.  There are things that are BIG in size, but are meant to be taken in small doses all year (ie. 'small things').  Some of them are an experiment (how will my attitude/life be different if I intentionally increase my outdoor hours? or intentionally add gratitude journaling into my nightly routine?) and some of things that I've been meaning to do and just haven't carved out the time.

So here she is - my 2016 100 small things list!
drum roll, anyone?

2016 100 Small Things

1. 1000 hours outside

2. Join Blogging for Books

3. Make five reusable alternatives to things we currently throw away

4. Surprise five friends with dinner (freezer meals/pizza for no reason)

5. Create a Beer Olympics Planning Toolkit to sell on etsy

6. Create an etsy wholesale account for The Hunting Daddies

7. Try Blue Apron

8. Finish the first section of Buddhism for Mothers

9. Figure out the kids' bedroom situation

10. Playroom solution!! Built-ins framing window, toy containers/declutter/etc

11. Read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover with Brandon

12. Pay off two loans

13. Run in three races

14. Try Zumba

15. Create & finish 2015 family yearbook

16. Experiment with a new creativity outlet that I've otherwise avoided 

17. take each kid on an individual 'date' with both parents

18. visit Austin, TX with our family

19. officially complete our wills and last testaments

20. Read twelve (new to me) books

21. upstairs/staircase carpet makeover

22. have a mortgage discussion with the bank just to understand better

23. Konmari three rooms (our bedroom, bathroom, walk-in closet, laundry room)

24. watch five documentaries

25. 30+ miles with Bullet in a month (as many as you both can!)

26. Make enchiladas with my Mum

27. Make homemade pierogies with Gigi

28. Build a hope chest with Dad

29. Have Pap teach me how to drive stick

30. Sew matching jammies for the girls with Mimi

31. watch fifteen TEDx talks

32. attend at least three Vision2025 meetings

33. get my hair highlighted

34. visit Ligonier Beach

35. visit Flight 93 Memorial

36. host two big family dinners at our house

37. ride a real rollercoaster (bonus if I can get one of the kids to come with me!)

38. makeover our mailbox

39. 'finish' the basement bathroom

40. do a garbage bag/donation bin run in the attic

41. read Harry Potter & the sorcerer's stone aloud with Greyson

42. help plan the YIFC path of the flood cheer rally

43. volunteer in Greyson's classroom

44. participate in five FSC-Jst volunteer projects

45. set up 'TED like talks' at CV for students

46. SCF weekend/girls weekend 

47. AKT playdate:  Richmond, VA

48. visit five (new to us) local spots

49. Blogpost about visiting Johnstown with kids

50. update my blog tabs

51. reinstate the days of the week at home activities with the girls (Make Something Monday..etc)

52. Create 5 gallon emergency kit

53. Laundry room solution !? (kids' coats/shoes/junk)

54. hang our bat house

55. visit Ohiopyle

56. add all babies' birthstones to my mother's ring

57. design my 3/4 sleeve tattoo

58. eat one meal a week at our dining room table

59. put someone's hair in rags!

60. finish 52 weeks of 'currently' posts about our ordinary weeks

61. make a gratitude journal part of my nightly routine again

62. re-read The Alchemist

63. take a babymoon with Brandon (however 'small')

64. potty train Violet

65. participate in Screen Free Week 2016

66. draft The Hunting Daddies children's book (Rudy Buck)

67. Organize the upstairs hallway closet ?!

68. celebrate our pets' birthdays

69. organize a 'Playground Crawl" with YIFC

70. grandma & kid trip to a city

71. BUY A MINIVAN!

72. write 100 blogposts

73. add at least two videos to our The Hunting Daddies youtube channel

74. get professional The Hunting Daddies photos taken 

75. finish my blog Kids & Safety series ?!

76. teach Grey and Gem to ride bikes without training wheels

77. get camera professionally cleaned

78. organize the kids' hand-me-downs

79. buy four new fish! 

80. camp in the backyard

81. send Raph (our WorldVision sponsor child) four packages

82. finish the 'Mum visits Costa Rica' photo book for the kids

83. create a cell phone 'holding dock' for our house

84. add more kids' books to our Easter collection

85. ask teenagers to babysit (neighbor girl, cousin)

86. massive clean out of my email and unsubscribe!

87. create 'family' cookbook with photos

88. add child security settings to the iPad

89. make crepes

90. watch a manual settings camera instructional video on youtube

91. get in contact with my Costa Rican host family

92. work with B to set up a monthly 'writing retreat' for myself alone (!)

93. teach B how to french braid

94. get my eyes checked and make some real choices (contacts? glasses necklace chain?)

95. start CVAA intramural league

96. have a monthly family game night

97. screen free wednesdays!

98. get blood work checked/physicals (me &B)

99. create yard flower arrangements for our table

100.  create 2017 list!

Unplanned extras: 

-added additional Valentines' Day books to our kid collection

-Tab got a part-time substitute teaching job as a Spanish I teacher
-Brandon got a new job!
-met our new financial planner and made positive changes towards our future and planning
-got a new pet:  Spike the hamster
-give the blog template a mini makeover

Are you dreaming big this year? Are you settling in and cozying up with the things and people you love most?  I want to hear about what you hope to do this year! 

100 small things - three quarter year check in

At the start of the year, I set out to complete 100 small things to help direct my focus towards living intentionally. The list is one part practical (things that just plain need done around here) and one part hopeful (things that will help me be the kind of person I hope to be someday).

So it's three quarters the way through the year, and I've now completed 35 tasks! Here are the new ones to add to my previously completed list at the quarter year check in and my half year check in.  I'm really going to push to finish up at the very least half of my 100 small things before the year is up!

#5 Run/Jog at least 30 miles in a month (August): Bully and I put in 30+ miles within the month of August!  It was much needed for the both of us and we were able to get in even some 2.5-3 mile jogs in on the weekends.   

9. Take Kids and Grandmas to a city (July): for the first year ever, we set out to a different city than NYC and headed southeast instead to Baltimore this year.  We had a great trip, you can read all about it here. I'm even more excited to continue to explore new cities all together in the years to come!

#12 Host an 'art gallery' opening for the kids (July/August): This task took a whole month long as we slowly worked on different kinds of art projects (painting, mosaics, 'pottery/playdoh' spin art, etc) and then displaying them for about two weeks as our family and friends visited to check out our work.  I introduced the kids like 'visiting artists' and they were so proud to show off their work.  Our gracious family members put up such a fuss over all their projects and even asked to 'buy' some pieces for their own collections.  It was a really fun event and I hope we can do it again in the future so that Violet can participate too!

#16 Buy plastic cups (September): this sounds like such a silly task, but it's needed done forever.  We only have grown up glass cups and they are just too dangerous for these little hands always trying to steal our drinks!  So I finally picked up some plastic 'grown up' glasses from Walmart to stock our cabinents.  They've done well for us in the past few weeks and I'm so oddly comforted that I don't have to stress about them getting accidentally broken by kid hands.

#19 Finish our 2014 Yearbook (August): finally! finally! finally!  Only took me eight months (har, har) but it's done and we all love it.  The kids request regularly to go back and look at all our fun adventures and memories from last year.  Grey is starting to understand how the yearbooks work now, so when we are visiting somewhere and I'm taking pictures, he has asked, "Can you put that picture in our next  yearbook?!" 

#22 Create the pet paw print frame (August): I used a regular black stamper and got a three pane picture frame and wrestled each pet to get their paw print cleanly put on the inserts.  It turned out really cute (Lola's little  print looks so tiny in comparison to Bullet and Trixie's!) but Trixie whacked the frame off the nail on the staircase (how ironic) and went tumbling down the steps and shattered.  I still have the paw prints, I just need to replace the frame.  Yeesh, zoo crew for real.

#25 Camp out with the kids (August): the kids were thrilled to spend a night camping out in our yard with Brandon.  They roasted marshmallows before bed and then Brandon cooked breakfast over the campfire the next morning.  

#34 Finish the patio on the front and side (August/September): I'm so happy in the way that this project turned out and incredibly grateful that we had so much help and guidance to do it ourselves.  You can see the whole reveal and before/after here.

#44 SCF weekend (June/September):  my sisters and I have an annual get together weekend that we do all things sisterly (basically we finish each other's thoughts and laugh the whole time.  If you're not one of us it'd be very confusing and weird to watch from the outside).  We had a mini party in June as a surprise for Kayla's thirtieth birthday.  We spent the night at her house laughing hysterically, snacking, and prank texting because we're tweens apparently.  Then in September, we had another little mini party after our Que Classic 5K run.  In totally regular SCF fashion, we bumped in the real Hanson brothers (from our hometown cult classic movie: Slap Shot) while we were out together bar hopping downtown. seriously, so typical.

#47 Grey's every-school-year handwriting log page (August):  I used this pin as inspiration and whipped up a handwriting log page that I have tucked in the back of Greyson's 'baby' book.  It's already incredible to see how much his little signature has gotten better since the beginning of the year.  It will be fun to see how his name changes over the course of his academic career.  So geeky, but whatever, I'm his mom and I have a right to be a big ole sappy nerd.

#52 spend/share/save piggy banks for the kids (July): another pinterest win.  Gemma had a standard piggy bank and Grey had one, but then shattered it.  Plus, I like the idea that they can visually see different ways to use their own money.  We haven't had too many discussions or learning moments with them yet, but they do ask which bank they should take money out of for various things ("should this be spend money or give money?") 

#66 take the kids to a Curve baseball game (August): this task is a perfect example of how having things listed on the 100 small things list pushes me to make fun happy.  On this particular day, we were having a marathon playdate at the Fiores house and by the time the game rolled around, I was pretty un-motivated to do anything. But it was down to the wire for game opportunities, so we loaded all five kids up and forced ourselves to the game.  Turns out, we had such a great night and I'm so glad we went - not just to cross it off the list (which was the reason that at least got us out the door in the first place) but it was such a wonderful close to summer - we even had fireworks after the game! Perfection (thanks Katie for just going with the flow. xoxxox) 

#80 Re-read a Tree Grows in Brooklyn (July): love it still.  so much.

#87 Outside brunch/meals in the summer (summer): since this didn't have a quantifier, it gets marked off because, well, we DID eat meals outside this summer.  In hindsight, now that the weather is cooling off, I wish we would have even more!

#94 Order a lovely print that makes me happy (September): I had originally planned to order one from Etsy, but then I discovered that an old co-worker of mine paints beautiful canvases these days and I couldn't resist.  I ordered a gorgeous painting from Lucy that now hangs in our bedroom.  It is so soothing and inspiring.  I love it!! 

#97 start a first day of school eve tradition (August):  this task sort of morphed into something different, but I like the end product better than the goal.  We spend the last Sunday before the school year swimming and enjoying the summer sun at the Quemahoming Dam with our family and friends.  I also tried to make 'get ice cream' on the first day of school eve a thing - but we had a baby cutting teeth and absolutely cranky and some truck trouble...it happened, but it didn't feel like I had hoped at all.  So Last Blast of Summer picnic is the tradition! 

Working towards completion on these projects:  

#6 Read 12 books (at least 2 classics):  I'm up to ten books read - only one classic finished.  Thanks to the Inspired Readers Book Club, I've found it easy to stay on track with reading.  Three of the books of my ten already read this year are because of the book club!

#10 Get rid of 50 things:  little by little I am chipping away at this thing.  I am up to 25 'categories' of items that we've either thrown away or put in the donation bin.  hooray!  Some new categories we've thrown away include: donating some YA novels to a local high school, baby socks, craft paper/supplies, tattered blankets, and shoes from our closet.  throw.away.all.the.things.

#54 Watch 15 TED talks: I've added four more TED talks to my list since the mid-year check in, bringing my total up to nine:

Got a wicked problem, first tell me how you make toast

Why a good book is a secret door

The Math behind basketball's wildest moves

Practicing Intentional Empathy

How to let altruism be your guide

#74 Go One month with NO dining out: we're in the middle of no-dining out month and it's going well.  There have been a few temptations, but we've held strong.  We've discovered two loopholes, it doesn't count if someone else is footing the bill (thank you Gigi and Pappy who took our whole crew out for dinner early this month) and also using old gift cards (!) we are so horrible at using gift cards we've received and this month has actually reminded/encouraged us to use them up.  

#75 for One month, blog every single day:  it's happening right now.  woohoo for the sixteenth blog post in a row!

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The heat is turned up, friends!  I'm down to the last portion of the year and lots of things coming up with the holidays - but I'm determined!  So on I march!

what goals have you reached this year so far? 

100 Small Things - Half Year Check-in

At the start of the year, I set out to complete 100 small things to help direct my focus towards living intentionally.  The list is one part practical (things that just plain need done around here) and one part hopeful (things that will help me be the kind of person I hope to be someday).

So it's half way through the year, and I've completed 19 tasks completely! Here are the new ones to add to my previously completed list at the quarter year check in.

#35 Plant a "garden" (June) - We didn't get to put in a full blown garden, but the kids and I worked together to plant zucchini (we are obsessed) and tend to the strawberry plant on the back patio flower box and we planted sunflowers in the front flower bed.  Then we were feeling really defeated when we found that some of our little sprouting zucchini plants had died and we speculated it had been the heavy rains that drowned them.  Only to find out that Daddy had sprayed them with round-up because we forgot to tell him we planted them in the flower box and he thought they were weeds.  Not kidding, I almost cried.  But we have a few persistent ones that are coming up late, so we should still get some this summer.  sheesh.

#13 Create books with the kids stories and drawings (May) - when I initially made this task at the start of the year, I was thinking it would be proper hard back books we'd order, but in desperation to fill some long afternoon hours, Grey and I made a folded paper book together about (no big surprise here) Bigfoot and now it's one of our most beloved books in our downstairs kid library.  Gemmi and I worked together with stickers to write a mini-book about a frog and butterfly.  I sort of love it even more now as a task.

#36 Participate in Screen Free Week 2015 (May) - I'm a full blown Screen Free Week fanatic, hah.  I'd like to incorporate Screen Free weekends in as a monthly staple, but we're not quite there yet.  Maybe a 100 small things task for 2016?  (Read about our full Screen Free Week 2015 here)

#18 Create individual Memory boxes for each family member (July) - this was a huge undertaking for Brandon and my memories.  We had two enormous bins of old stuff that I was dreading going through.  But during the rainy days that we had in June, I just would sit down in front of the bins and sift through the old cards, art projects, billions of stacks of pictures and filter through what was important to save and what could be tossed.  It was such a welcome walk through years past and I actually had fun pic-texting my family and friends old photos of us.

The Memory boxes now include a few old cards that were signed by our parents and grandparents, newspaper articles, a few old high school notes (some of which were written between Brandon and I - hysterical).  Old photos that have no digital duplicates, and other important keepsakes.  I filtered out blurry photos, lots of old clothes (they've gone into a bin that our kids as teenagers can look through if they want something 'vintage' of their parents - hahah).  All our stuff has been filtered down to one singular box (with room to spare!).  What a relief.  seriously.  huge relief.

#28 Dominican Republic family vacation (May) - it was awesome (read about it entirely here)

#76 Plant a tree on Earth Day (June, oops) - Well, we didn't do it on Earth Day, but we have planted a tree.  We received a tree as part of a gift that was sent from Brandon's work after my grandfather passed away.  Greyson has also been tending an oak sapling since last fall and it's growing beautifully.  So we technically are growing up two trees!

#56 Create a Hawaii trip book for the kids (June) - it only took me a few days, but I went through our Hawaii vacation pictures from 2009 to create a little travel book on Shutterfly for the kids.  Our new Dad & Mum visit Oahu, Hawaii books it the third in our travel book series to add to the kids' home library.  Others include:  Dad & Mum visit Thailand and Aunt Uch visits Scotland travel books.

#82 Get my hair done (May) - done finally after almost two years.  seriously.

#63 Scrub the kitchen table and chairs (May) - this is one of those practical items that just need done for so long now and I really just didn't feel like doing it.  The kids and their crummy, sticky hands do work everyday, three times a day, on our wooden table and chairs in the kitchen and they needed a serious scrub and polish.  Done!  One Sunday morning before church outside.  I was just feeling motivated and jumped in and tackled it.  hooray and thank goodness!

#70 Convince Brandon to get rid of some clothes (April) - as part of our months long process of preparing for a giant yard sale.  I think I wore him down with my tireless nagging (hahhaha, worst wife ever).  He's not the only one that needs to get rid of clothes, I did too!  He just needs convinced, where I'm happy to pitch into giveaway/sale piles.

#73 Run in a 5k (May) - my baby sis and I ran in the Johnstown Path of the Flood 5K in May together.  I'm hoping to sign up for another 5k in the fall too!


Working towards completion of these projects:



#6 Read 12 books (at least two classics):  I've read 6 books, one of which was a classic and I'm currently reading book number 7!  Need inspiration to keep reading?  Our Inspired Readers book club will be starting a new book in August - so if you think you're interested in reading along (next month we'll be switching it up to reading a novel!) - check out our facebook group and request an add!  We'd be happy to have you join our community!

#10 Get rid of 50 things:  'things' really mean categories of items, so I've gone through 14 categories of items so far of the fifty (things include: adult clothes, kids' toys, kids' books, adult books, coats from our front closet, scrapbook supplies, old photos, etc)

#9 Grandma and Kid trip to the city:  we are in the final planning stages and have the date set for later this month!  We are headed to Baltimore, MD this year!

#34 Pour patio out front & side:  concrete has been almost completely busted out (I even took hold of sledgehammer and pounded out some of the pillars! #beastmode) and we hope to frame and pour within the month!

#80 Re-read a Tree Grows in the Brooklyn:  re-reading now and it makes me so full and happy

#12 Host 'art gallery' opening for the kids:  we are doing an 'art month' right now - family & friends, look for your invitations to a super exclusive art show to come later this month! hahhaha.

#19 Finish 2014 Yearbook:  ugh.  always working towards this and it's always weighing on me.  I must finish this or I'm going to drive myself crazy.

#54 Watch 15 TED talks:  I've added two more TED talks to my list since April check in, bringing my total up to five:
Inspiring a Life of Immersion:  Jacqueline Novogratz
How to Build Your Creative Confidence:  David Kelley

#4 Get to 'The End' of one novel:  holy moly, this has me super amped up with creativity and  my mind is barely containing all the ideas.  seriously, I feel like this thing must.get.out.of.me.  and B is really supportive and I'm super hopeful.  fingers crossed.  just get to the end, tabitha.  the end.

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I'm feeling pretty inspired and hopeful about my list at the halfway mark.  I don't know that I'll get all 100 things completed, but if I can reach half of the list - I'll be pleased.  My 100 small things list doesn't feel like it weighs me down, rather I use it when I need inspiration and feel like I'm stuck in the everyday muck of life with three small kids.

Family Vacation to the Dominican Republic

We recently spent a week in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic at Ocean Blue & Sands Resort with our three little ones; 5 and under.  And it was amazing.

Prior to our vacation, we worked with Mary Trofino of Trofino Tri-Star Travel to get our trip organized.  She was absolutely amazing, patient, and dedicated to perfection.  She was such a blessing in our planning process.  (thank you, Mary!) 

We gave her a budget of about $1000 per adult for a week long all-inclusive vacation to Punta Cana, and Mary found a way.   She booked us through Apple Vacations to Ocean Blue & Sands all-inclusive resort and we flew out of BWI.  Mary even booked our stay&fly hotel room at the Wingate by Wyndham the night before we left.   Have I mentioned that Mary is amazing?

counting down our vacation on their color charts

We have been to all-inclusive resorts in Punta Cana in the past for vacation, so we are somewhat seasoned veterans when it comes to Dominican vacations (see here in 2012, and here in 2010).  It was Greyson's third time in the DR!  We are also very very blessed to travel with family; BOTH sets of grandparents join us (along with my aunt & uncle, a pair of good friends from PA) all on this year's trip!  Extra eyes, extra hands, extra love.  Can't beat that.

these beautiful, youthful people are my children's grandparents.  #luckiestkidsever

We had an uneventful travel day (always a good thing) and were graced by the travel gods to have sleepy kids on the way there.  Our day consisted of a 5am trip to the airport via the hotel shuttle, a 7am flight from BWI to Punta Cana, DR (about 4 hour flight), and then a 30 minute bus ride from the airport to the resort.  Minutes after we arrived, we were overjoyed to see that my best friend, Karpy, and her family had also just arrived from North Carolina (which our nearly simultaneous arrivals was all due to Mary's awesome planning and coordinating!) Karpy, her husband Matt, and their fourteen month old sweetheart Andrew took the leap to international vacationing with a little one for the first time!

And then, the kids demanded pool time, so that's where we spent the whole first afternoon before even checking into our room and getting settled!  

The week was beautiful in all the ways beautiful vacation could mean;  the weather was great, the resort staff, food, drinks, fun was all beautiful, the company (our kids, the grandparents, our best friends, our whole group, each other) was all fun, funny, and kind.

Violet and Andrew had their first taste of beach vacationing and they loved the sand, pool, and snoozing in the arms of loved ones whenever they felt like it! They each had a crib to sleep in at night, a stroller for wandering the resort, all the crackers, yogurt, and fruit loops their hearts desired.  Best of all; they had the attention and smiles of everyone around them to entertain them all week.

 

And who can complain when you get to spend Mother's Day on vacation?!  All the mommas got to enjoy some r&r as we had the fellas fetch us spiked drinks all afternoon and we had delicious dinner via the Steakhouse menu that night.  

me and my momma

mommas and babies

We snuck in a grown up date night during the week.  The grandparents took our kids for the evening, while Brandon and I headed up to the 'grown ups only restaurant' and enjoyed dinner with no little hands stealing food from our plate or any little voices interrupting our conversation.  Then we headed back to enjoy drinks on the balcony of Karpy & Matt's room while we kept an eye on a snoozing Andrew and they enjoyed a grown up date dinner out.  It was a great evening to ourselves and amazing to feel like we were on an international vacation just the two of us...but only for the evening because we miss the kids too much otherwise.  HAH.  #parentprobs

We had two down days because our bigger two each wore themselves down to the point that they made themselves sick.  With four grandparents, two parents, and friends all at their disposable for playing; the kids went non-stop since the moment we arrived.  So it wasn't that big of a surprise when Grey started throwing up on Monday night with his bright red cheeks.  He spent all day Tuesday sleeping in our room (Brandon stayed with him) and then Gemma did the same thing on Tuesday night and she and I hung out in the room laying low all day Wednesday.  Their bounce back time was about 36 hours and then it was back to normal  We are certain that it was due to all the playing and sun (no one else in our group got sick) - we always say, "it's not really a party until someone throws up!" So check it off, dude; definitely a good time was had.

As for the resort review:  we loved the Ocean Blue & Sands and would definitely recommend it, especially to families.  All of the dining restaurants are located on one strip and most don't need an early reservation.  We had the best fun at the Mexican themed Margarita's.  The staff was accommodating with all of our kid-related needs (high chairs, milk, straws, etc) and we made friends with many of the servers and entertainment crew who were so kind and loving to us and our babies.  

at breakfast with our tribe

our dear friend Carlos!

We got to see Matt participate in a hilarious Sheriff competition on the stage during the Western theme night.  We enjoyed dinner on the beach with live music one night before the beach party.  And even joined in on some daytime entertainment like a painting class, and egg tossing game, and pool aerobics!

We had a magical time.  And honestly, we can't put a price on the memories for our family on a trip like this.  It's the experience that we value, the introduction of a new place to our kids, the opportunity to introduce them to the Spanish language and hear their own Mum speak it.  To give them a whole week of undivided attention from us and their grandparents.  The chance to vacation with our very best friends for a whole week and make memories with Andrew.  It was all wonderful.  So so wonderful and blessed.

 

So my suggestion for planning big family vacations (and well actually for all of life) is always the same:  do the thing that seems too ambitious.  Jump first and then figure it out.  It is not generally easy but it is almost always worth it.


RESOURCES:
Vacation planning:
Trofino Tri-Star Travel
Apple Vacations

Vacation supplies:
One Step Ahead  -  Most of the kids awesome beach attire (swim shirts, hats, headbands, frogglez, tents, and Violet's raft) all come from One Step Ahead.  This is not statement is in no way sponsored:  I love them and they are my go-to shopping spot for all summer safety gear.
Stearns Puddle Jumpers - not sponsored statement:  these are the best floaties we've ever purchased.  They are going on their second year of (heavy) use and holding up like new.  Kids feel totally confident in them as do the parents.  Certified like a life jacket.