Here we go!

Here we go!

(our house is all things Mario right now, so it just felt right)

T-minus 48 hours until we depart for our first big international family trip! We are incredibly fortunate that with me starting my own consulting business, Kyle getting ready to kickoff his search fund and Z being on summer break, we can take the next 2 months to fully unplug and just be together as a family. 

Over the next 2 months, we will visit Greece, Slovenia, and Portugal. An odd mix we know :) So how did we land these places?

Greece has been on our bucket list for a while. And while we were originally going a very different direction, I connected with a girlfriend who's family is from Sifnos, Greece - as she talked about the untouched beauty, laidback beaches, hikes throughout the island, community feel, we knew it was the spot for us! 

A lot of folks have asked us "why Slovenia?" Well, we know that what we love most is being in nature and seeing truly beautiful things. So when we were researching the trip, I stumbled upon a blog about Slovenia and immediately fell in love. Just google "Lake Bohinj", "Triglav National Park" or "Soca Valley" and you'll be booking your tickets too. 

And last but not least, Portugal. Our dear friends will be in Portugal for the summer and when we thought about how to celebrate the end of our trip, there was no better way than it experiencing it together! During our 10 yr anniversary trip last summer, we didn't get to explore the southern part of Portugal so we are looking forward to seeing even more of what the country has to offer. And Kyle's #1 request has been making a trip to Nazare. 

As we sat at breakfast this morning, we all answered "What are you most excited about for our trip?". With no filtering, I present to you each person's answers :) 

    Kyle - "Exploring with the family and showing the kids something we love today"

    Sammar - "Seeing travel through Zane & Zaylee's eyes and being able to simply focus on each other"

    Zane - "I'm so excited about my camera. Taking pictures of animals and spiders." (we bought each of the kiddos cameras so they could capture their own moments. Don't worry, we will be sure to highlight those gems throughout our trip)

    Zaylee - "I don't know...." (*keeping her expectations low, smart girl)

So as we get ready for this adventure, we've been reflecting on lessons learned from our Round the World Trip:

• Most things will not going go according to plan so be prepared to roll with every twist and turn
• Live in the moment and take things for what they are
• The more local the better
• Allow moments for rest; if you want to watch a movie at 2pm, watch that movie

I have feeling that a lot of these lessons will be even more true traveling with the kiddos. and for those that know me, going with the flow and not expecting things to be perfect is well...not exactly my strong suit but something that I'm intentionally focusing on for this trip. 

So here's to the messy and equally beautiful moments to come!