Travelogues – Show and Tell Tuesday
Vacations are the best aren’t they? Today I’m joining Andrea from Momfessionals and sharing a few of our vacations and a few tips for Show and Tell Tuesday, the Travelogues. There are so many places on my bucket list to see and I can’t wait to read through other posts today.
Getting all six of us together for a family vacation has become more and more difficult over the years. I’m hopeful we will getaway this year at Thanksgiving or Christmas and also looking for a getaway for Keith and I for our anniversary in August. If I’m going to a new location with lots of sightseeing I want to do it ALL and I do not fit into the “fly by the seat of your pants” category. On the flip side, if we head to the beach or the mountains I’m much more likely to be a little more chill.
Our very first “real” vacation as a family of six can pretty much be summed up with this one picture! We took off to southern California with stops in LA, Disneyland and then San Diego for the Holiday Bowl and it was a fairly miserable trip. I swore I would never head somewhere again unless we had an amazing itinerary and a big enough budget to make it comfortable for everyone. Never, ever skimp on things like big enough rooms because if everyone isn’t getting enough sleep it makes for a lot of grump! Thankfully I’ve gotten much better at trip planning since.
Last year I shared our favorite vacations as well which included New York City and several trips to southern Cal.
Sometimes the fun is in your own backyard! Texas has so many fun places to visit and Fort Worth should definitely be on your bucket list.
Last Spring we headed to Florida for spring training but managed to pack in lots of fun along the way as well. I also shared my Disney Do’s and Don’ts to make sure you have a magic moment.
If you want me to relax, take me to the beach! We spent a week in Florida when Jordan graduated from high school because I knew getting all six of us together for a “real” vacation was going to be harder and harder. This was the best week!
We actually traveled to Omaha 3 summers in a row for baseball and the last year was by far our favorite! Going to the College World Series is so much fun but Omaha really does have a lot more to offer as well.
Another summer, another roadtrip for baseball! Last summer it was Dillon we were heading to Missouri to watch and we found some fun along the way.
Tips for Planning a Family Vacation
Here are some of my very favorite tips for planning a family vacation. The biggest challenge for us is finding a time we can all get together.
I’m really hopeful we will have a getaway perfect for all six of us at Thanksgiving this year. What are your favorite places to go with your family?
Great trips Shelly! You’re right nothing ruins a trip more than not having enough room for everyone to sleep and stay comfortably. It’s easier to plan a good trip as the kids get older but then you have to consider their busy schedules,so sometimes it feels impossible.But a great getaway is so good for everyone! We’re taking a 7 day cruise with our boys next month and I can’t wait!
xoxo,
Kellyann
Girl…I’m SO jealous!! We have not had all 6 of us together on a real vacation since 2009. Baseball is the hardest sport to plan around and really our only option for all of us is Thanksgiving…..Christmas time ends up being Keith’s busiest time of year. Blah…I just want to give up and head off alone sometimes. lol
What fun trips Shelly! You all have made some great memories. You are SO right in making sure to splurge for extra space for sleep. Sleep is so important while traveling. I am not the best sleeper in new places but my family needs their sleep or we are one big hot mess. I loved looking back on your trips!
I love following along on your travels! I’ve also learned the hard way that where you stay is worth a splurge sometimes to make everyone comfortable and happy! I plan to pack in the travel over the next three years, since I know it will get hard to schedule once high school is finished!
I’m reading all of your links asap! We’ve been wanting to do Fort Worth for a while now and are headed to Disney next summer. Girl, your snake saving adventures on Insta??? Y’all are crazy! 🙂
Fort Worth is a blast with kids. My son played baseball for TCU but we never really got to explore when we were there so it was so fun going for a girls weekend. Disney can be ALOT of fun…it can also be a total disaster so lots of planning definitely pays off. And yes…when the 3 of us finally get together we are messes. 🙂
Nothing like a great family vacation to reconnect, recharge and simply be with each other without the stressors of every day life! You have taken some great ones and I can’t wait to go back through and read all these! I still swear you and your family’s picture needs to be on the cover of some sort of magazine!
Haha….I wish Andrea! This crew….I so miss having them all together and it happens so few times a year now. I really hope I’m able to decide on a great vacation over Thanksgiving this year.
What a helpful post. Oh, the dumps we have stayed in (and lived in) because we couldn’t afford better! Including sleeping in the car. No bueno.
A lot of your vacations have revolved around baseball as many of ours have. Spring training and Reds baseball. Love the fam photo on the sand. You are a gorgeous family.
Thank you Leslie! The worst thing is to have a crappy place to stay I don’t care how good the sites are! Hope you enjoyed your weekend!
That family photo on the beach… #allthehearteyes. I still can’t believe you were like 1.5 miles away from my house last summer. Whomp, whomp, whomp.
I know!! And the Hooks actually made it to Springfield today….they are playing a series there this week before heading to Tulsa.
What?!?! So fun. Tell him to pick up some Mothers beer 😂😂😂. We love all of their stuff. I actually have some friends going to a game up there this weekend. They’ll just barely miss him.
The trips are great but these photos with baby Carly are just adorable! We haven’t ventured any further than our coastline with our kiddos but the time is nearing when we will start taking them more places. I’m so vanilla – I just love the beach so much that I’m stubborn and refuse to “vacation” anywhere else. NC, SC, GA, FL…I’m good. However, there is a guy that works with my husband every now and then – he flies in from the Gulf in your lovely Texas and he shares wonderful stories and pictures of how gorgeous it is. One day!
Friend….I would LOVE for you to come to Texas one day and there are some fun places to see….but I ain’t gonna lie…in my honest opinion our beaches are NOT it. 🙂 I would go to Florida any day over a Texas beach. 🙂 If it were not for baseball I’m positive we would never have made it so many places!