This fall break road trip had a few fixed anchors and intentional space structured in between - something I'm not always great at doing. We sprinkled in a first concert experience for the twins, time on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, a stop in Mobile for some history, and several days exploring New Orleans. And the most important piece: making sure the driving and trip were manageable for driving and momming for three boys. Our route was Knoxville → Montgomery → Foley and Orange Beach

Planning the actual trip is only half the battle. The hotels can be booked, the route can be mapped and the itinerary can be beautiful—but somehow four people, one dog, a house and an alarming number of snacks still need to be prepared to leave. Over the past few family road trips, I’ve developed a pre-trip system that makes the departure less frantic (I keep waiting for this), keeps the boys occupied and cuts down on the amount of useless, mindless spending we do at gas stat

Exiting Canada and entering the beauty of New York (Day 6 continued) Letchworth State Park: The "Grand Canyon of the East" About two hours southeast of Niagara, we stopped at Letchworth State Park ($10 daily entry fee). It served as the perfect transition from the commercial bustle of Niagara to the pristine natural beauty of upstate New York. A Travel Reflection: Niagara Falls is unquestionably one of the natural wonders of the world—the sheer volume of roaring water is awe-

I am determined to get ahead of things this time! After being four months late finishing up my Azores trip posts, I wanted to jump right in and share our summer road trip to Niagara Falls and the Finger Lakes area with the boys. This post is Part 1 of a two-part series. Below, I’ve laid out a roadmap of our journey, followed by our honest experience at each spot—the good, the memorable, and my unfiltered thoughts on whether each stop was truly worth it. Pre-Trip Prep & Chaos

Now that it’s the end of July and I’ve just wrapped up my summer road trip with the boys, it is officially time to close out the story of my solo trip to the Azores. I’ve already written about why this solo journey was so important to me and shared my system for saving money during the planning phase. But now we are getting into the real meat of the trip: what I actually saw, what I did after all that planning, and what the whole experience felt like. It’s also worth talking

Last week was the first full week of summer, and if how quickly that week went by is any indication of how the summer is going to fly by, I'm not ready. I wrote that as I lay in bed before the start of camp drop-offs. I'm not one to get teary-eyed, but dropping the boys off at camp this week made me sad for the rhythm of this summer. I'm gonna have to work on my outlook and figure out how to best approach this summer's look. The prior week, we made it through the last days of

If you had told me a few years ago that I’d be booking a solo trip to the middle of the Atlantic, I would have laughed. Then I would have created a spreadsheet. Approaching 40 has brought a lot of 'heavy and light' reflections, but it has also brought the realization that choosing myself is a system worth investing in. Here is the literal 'cents and sense' of how I mapped out my Azores escape, even without my normal level of advanced planning. Let's map out the approach I tak

The Lead Up This Bingo card keeps coming into play as I write, and I am so glad I actually made it. What started as a New Year’s Eve craft with my boys has served as an anchor for my year. It’s a pulse-check for daily life. Sometimes I get so bogged down in the "daily grind" that I don’t reflect on what I’ve actually accomplished. I have a habit of raising the bar—stretching myself to grow but then getting upset because I don't feel like I'm where I thought I was "supposed to