Traveling

Traveling is something that I love with all my heart. I think that it is good for your soul. Seeing the world, the way others live, how God created things, and the growth that comes from inside you each time you break out of your comfort zone. I love leaving my home and going to new places, knowing that my home will always be waiting patiently for my return. I love to see the world and what it brings to me.  I think that being married to a pilot has fed my love for travel and I love that we can share this life and journey together while teaching our son the love of travel. For me personally, I love the busyness of a big city and the hustle it brings, I love the sound of the waves as they crash while digging my toes in the sand, I love the mountains and hiking finding beautiful scenes.  My husband and I were married a little over 7 years before we welcomed our precious son. We traveled A TON and really enjoyed life! Many said, “Do it before you have a kid, because once you do, you won’t!" Derek and I always laughed because we knew nothing would change for us, but again we didn’t have a kid so we’d nod and play the game. After having our son our life drastically slowed down, breastfeeding and trying to work full time with help from family to keep Bryce out of daycare as long as we could. We were itching for a trip. Of course we did little trips to the beach and visiting friends with Bryce, we couldn’t not go anywhere, but our big travels were definitely not happening. When Bryce was 7 months old our good friends invited us to Hawaii with them and said our room was completely covered. I cried with excitement because I knew this was who we were on the inside! Everyone said we were insane to take a baby to Hawaii at 7 months old (it was a 24 hour day of traveling from home to checking into the hotel in Kona, Hawaii!), but needless to say we did it. We had a previous trip arranged with my husbands work friends to go to Jamaica the following month and we went back and forth wondering what we should do. We had already paid in full for Jamaica, then were offered a trip to Hawaii with our good friends with airfare/food being the only expense! Derek and I have the mindset "you only live once," so of course we said, “YES!" I want to start by saying, traveling with a small baby is much easier than a toddler 1000% percent!! I have done it all, now that Bryce is 5, but he was the best baby you have ever seen to and from Hawaii.  That's NOT to be said about every flight we have had since then!  I am beyond thankful for our AMAZING friends for the opportunity to not only experience Hawaii with them, but because it also showed us that traveling with a small human is 100% doable to the furthest place possible! Bryce is now our little traveler, he's always ready to go and can pack a bag in 5 minutes flat! He gets through TSA faster than his pilot dad! He's a traveler at heart and I love that we're able to share the world with him as a family! Together we take trips, we take risks, we learn a lot, we jump out of our comfort zone, we try new things, we run through airports to catch flights, we take the good with the bad (the bad being stand by flights we don’t get on…lol), and we love each other a whole lot.  So when someone tells you, “you can’t with a kid!” Tell them “I can!” Because if you want to travel and see the world you can teach your child to love it too! You can teach them to sit and wait patiently, to go through TSA, to unpack their snacks, charge their iPad, and keep track of time. Because YES, without Bryce, I would miss half my flights, at least that’s what he thinks! HAHA! He's always telling me we have to hurry because we are going to miss our flight, “Mom, check the time!' It’s cute! Just remember, whatever is important to you, make sure you make time for it, and share it with the ones you LOVE! Traveling is in our family DNA, what’s in yours?