road trip

Read more about the article Carlsbad Caverns

Carlsbad Caverns

Our 2017 road trip begins with Carlsbad Caverns as our first stop! Hubs and I loved exploring here years ago, and we are excited to bring the kids along. We decide to leave in the middle of the night. Nothing screams road trip failure like sleeping for a few hours, then waking all the little kids to make them sleep in unbearable, upright car seats while we drive after no sleep. :) Surprisingly, this is many people's primary mode for kicking off and ending trips. Who knew we were in with what is trending?!?! Our departure is timed well. We pull out of our driveway at 4 am with three very wide awake and excited kids. Thankfully, not even an hour into the drive and all are back sleep. We stop for coffee and a stretch in Clyde at 7am, and again…

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Southwest Road Trip

It's that time of year. Summer vacation and family travels. This past school year was the first year that we did a co-op. My oldest has finished his last year of "preschool". That means.....we are officially on summer vacation! (at least in our family. ;)) Since we hit some bumps in the road last year, this year's National Park journey/see all the states will be a Southwest Road Trip again. We are planning a revisit of some of our spots from last year, plus some places we are super excited to explore for the very first time! Here are the highlights for this year's Southwest Road Trip. This is currently our game plan, and I cannot wait to see how it plays out! As we visit the various parks, I'll come back and blog/journal about the hikes we actually did and what we liked…

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Read more about the article Planning an Epic Road Trip

Planning an Epic Road Trip

We are planning an epic road trip. We have a very ambitious 12 national parks to get through in just under two weeks. Our trip will take us through New Mexico, Utah and Arizona.  And here's the kicker: three kids (ages 4, 3, 1), two mildly sane parents (clearly this is up for debate,) and one minivan. We will be juggling two who still take solid afternoon naps, two in diapers, one who doesn't sleep through the night not even a little, lots of walking, lots of driving and LOADS of memories. Although, we will be flexible with life and our kids it is always good when planning an epic road trip to have a rough itinerary....especially where booking hotels is a concern. ;)  So, here is our game plan. (I linked you to the official NPS pages for each National Park…

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Read more about the article Summer Essentials

Summer Essentials

Don't you wish you had a place where you could easily reference all the summer essentials you need to take a vacation or plan a party with some awesome drinks?!  Well, thankfully you have found the right place!  And if you are looking for insight on recipes, tips and tricks for surviving the summer outdoors, from sun-kissed skin, to those pesky outdoor annoyances, to having flip-flop ready feet, then you need to read my first post here. Summer is full of Road Trips.  We are planning to our own Road Trip (Project #wildwildwest is commencing mid-June with three kids 4 and under in a car for two weeks while we terrorize NM, AZ, and Utah while visiting every national park we can possibly squeeze in during that time period!), and trust me part of my summer essentials includes having not one,…

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