5. What We Do

We know quite a few families who spend their weekends trekking from town to town for travel soccer, softball, swimming, or lacrosse. Our family? We just travel. When I was growing up, we rarely left our backyard to explore a new city, so I am making up for it now as an adult. I may tend to go overboard travelling with my own kids, but the long car rides, the even longer airport lines, and living out of suitcases for extended periods of time is so worth it. Yesterday, our daughter said her goal is to see every state by the time she is 20 (just seven years away). This weekend, we are helping her reach her goal by crossing off two more states on her list (and mine): Minnesota and Wisconsin. We’ve had this trip planned since last summer. What’s in Minnesota and Wisconsin? We have no idea, but we are certainly up for the adventure. It isn’t just new states or countries we like to visit. We take our kids to a variety of places near and far to expose them to new experiences and see how the world works and how other people live and work and play. I travel for my job as well as for pleasure and bring my husband and kids along for the ride in both instances. My current family travel writing assignment is an exploration of Virginia’s odd landmarks. Last week, I took the kids to a museum in Smithfield housing the world’s oldest ham, and we visited a farm that is home to Foamhenge, a life size replica of Stonehenge that is made out of painted foam. Maybe some day we’ll make it to the real Stonehenge (right now, my husband is the only one out of the four of us who has been there and he said Foamhenge really does look like Stonehenge). In the meantime, we hop in our van and go with the kids frequently to state parks and mountains, beaches, museums, baseball stadiums, businesses and breweries, botanical gardens, zoos, concert halls, and arenas. All the while, the kids are discovering new foods, music, sports, and cultures, and are learning about history, different people, places, and things and the general make up that is the good, the bad, and the ugly of life. Not every trip is perfect or goes as planned. We loathe sitting in traffic on I-95, and I personally hate sharing a hotel bathroom with my kids. There is a lot of fighting, whining, and tears from all of us. But there is also lots of laughter and bonding and the chance to answer their curious questions about this life as well wonderment and awe and the making of lasting memories. That’s what family time is all about and that’s why we do what we do.