It's Already Over?!

I can't really believe our 2014 family vacation is over.  It seems like we'd been planning it for months. Deciding where to go. Deciding what to do. Finding deals on the airline tickets, the car rental, the hotels, the park tickets, etc. Saving. Saving. Saving. Now that we are living on a cash only budget, vacations look a whole lot different.  Coming home debt free--PRICELESS!

Deciding to go take our teenagers to California was the best decision ever.  It was a blast hanging out with them, and since they are older it ended up being more fun than I could have imagined. No crying, no naptimes, no fits. We let them pick and choose what we were going to do and it was fantastic!

Our hightlights included:

Disneyland. Truly the happiest place on earth!  We were there from 9:00 am to midnight with a brief intermission for a dip in the pool and dinner outside of the park.

California Adventure.  This was our favorite of the two parks.  Geared more towards older kids.

Sea World.  Fun to see all the different shows and be able to interract with aquatic animals.

Beach Day.  This was so relaxing.  While the temps were cool, it was great to see how different the Pacific Ocean is from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. Each is beautiful and amazing in its own right. God is good!

Vegas.  Each trip we've taken to Las Vegas provides new memories.  My favorite will always be the time we renewed our wedding vows with the kids at our witnesses.  But this time, we headed to the top of the Eiffel Tower.  Now that was pretty spectacular! And the delicious ice cream sandwiches were pretty awesome, too!

Head on over to my instagram feed if you haven't already seen our photo highlights.  I have over 400 pictures I could share with you, but most of them are only meaningful to us, and I'm sure it would be a bit overwhelming to sit here and scroll through them all!

This vacation filled me with so much joy.  While it is sad to think that we don't have many more 'summer' vacations left before our 'babies' head off to college and start their own 'grown up' lives, I am glad to know that we are creating lasting family memories.  Fights will occur.  Impatience is inevitable. But so is joy.  And I look forward to the times filled with laughter. Appreciating each day and what it has to offer is what I am taking away from this trip.  I am grateful in many ways that our children are older.  It offers a freedom that we did not have when they were little. Each season has something wonderful to offer.  Learning to appreciate the season is when true joy will be found.