Seven Quick Takes - Crazy Adventure Vacation Thoughts

 Crazy Adventure Trip Thoughts Randomly in SQT Form:

1.
I thought I'd be more than ready to be home after two full weeks traveling and living out of bags.  I'm not.  I want to go more, do more, see more.  And by that I mean not worry about cooking for the rest of my life.

2.
I've been gradually updating our trip (start here) giving a daily rundown of our adventures in my own version of real time which utilizes my little known power to time travel.  Just to confuse you people getting my posts via Google Reader.  I also have the super power of massive vomit cleanup while defying gravity and certain death down an escarpment in No Man's Land, Nevada. I think it's a mom thing.

3.
I love this jet lag thing!  My kiddos (sans Luke-babe) have been sleeping past 8 a.m. EVERY MORNING since we've been back.  

4.
Which is just another reason why I want to make sure we do this every year.  Not the whole two week traveling like crazy people trip, though.  Just a trip.  A getaway.  A vacation.  A retreat.  We've never made travel expenses a part of budget but I think we should start.  And maybe alternate between "adventure vacation" and "rest vacation" year by year.  Isn't that a good idea?  (Nod your head yes.)

5.
Okay, I lied.  It's not all thoughts about the trip because I just realized I have to tell you that  LUKE CAN SAY MAMA.  Totally.  Love it.  And he still says 'hi' all the time.

6.
We tried to do this trip as inexpensively as possible.  Four of our hotel nights were bought with credit card points from Brian's old work card.  On the other nights we stayed at KOAs and a Best Western and my brother's house and one night in the car.  The air tickets were a crazy awesome deal and I used Priceline to get the rental van.  For spending and food money I cashed in our credit card points (not much since we only use the cc for gas), Brian cashed in his work card's reward points (much more), and I used my birthday money.  We came home with $13.70 left over.  Score.  The one annoying cost we couldn't get around was gas.  There's no way to get a deal on that.  We drove 4,258 miles.  'Nuf said.


Darn you, O.

7.
In the car activity bag I brought math books and flash cards and learning games and we didn't touch them.  And right now, I'm thinking that's just as it should have been.  This trip was magically gloriously awesome and it's exciting to see how God worked and even more, the way He will use the whole experience in the future.  He's pretty cool like that.

See Jen for more Quick Takes...happy Friday!



5 comments

  1. How awesome. Can I tell you something? Aaron and I have made 'travel' a really huge part of our budget (and by pretty huge, we set aside 75-150 a month in an account for travel). We are aware that traveling with a family is expensive, but as long as you plan for it, it is so worth it. Growing up, my family NEVER went on vacation, but as you have described, the lessons, bonding and awesomeness of traveling together as a family is kind of priceless. I love the idea of being intentional about giving your children memories to last a lifetime!

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  2. I'm so glad you had a great experience and that you want to travel even more now. We do a lot of mini-trips (as frugally as we can) - like this last weekend - and I wouldn't trade the family bonds we are creating for anything. In fact, this is how we view our weekly hikes - intentional time together, being adventurous, making memories, etc. More learning takes place during these times than during our entire week of school!

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  3. Ha - what a hilarious little political commentary!

    Sounds like an awesome trip! Maybe you can keep the sleeping in thing going at least until daylight savings rolls around... :)

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  4. I absolutely was ALREADY nodding my head yes before you told me to. The memories and experiences of traveling are not only educational in a super experiential way, they also knit a family even closer together. You can never have too many "remember whens" as your kids get older. There is simply no such thing.

    And now that I have a "start here" link, I do believe I shall start there... :)

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  5. A little late to reading, but yes I am totally in agreement about vacationing. We do it in lieu of gifts if we can, and as cheaply as possible. My kids won't stop talking about our fun family adventures, but they forget about a new toy the next day!

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