Happy New Year everyone. I apologize for the unplanned time away from blogging. Our family has been on our annual trip to the Bahamas for the holidays. Normally I stay connected and blog while we are away, but this year, I truly checked out for three weeks.
We came home on Friday. The girls are sporting cornrow braids and we all have some healthy tans, earning us a lot of questions about where we have been. When I tell people we have been in the Bahamas for three weeks, I get a lot of questions about traveling with the kids for so long.
Pete and I love to travel, there was frankly never a question about not traveling once the girls came along. In Sarah's first year of life she was on 26 flights. In her second year she visited seven countries. As I said, we love to travel.
Pete and I talked a lot this past trip about positive things we see the girls gaining from our trips. We appreciate that the girls learn to:
1. Be flexible - schedules and routine are great for kids, but the ability to be flexible is critical in life.
2. Make friends quickly - wherever we go, our girls make friends. This year in the Bahamas the girls had five friends that they had met last year and they also made a new friend, Mya, by walking up and asking her to play.
3. Experience different cultures - we love to take our girls to celebrate Junkanoo each year. To have them eat foods like Johnny cake and peas n rice and to make friends of all colors, shades and creeds.
4. Learn about the world - when we travel, the girls get to do things that we just can't do at home. This year we swam with dolphins and went deep sea fishing.
4. Rely on one another - I in large part credit my girls close relationship to the fact that Pete and I drag them around the country 5-7 weeks a year. They have to play with one another and hang out together when we travel. While traveling there is no school, no activities or play dates to get away from each other. We have family time 24-7!
5. Most importantly our kids learn that no matter where we are, who we are never changes. Mommy and Daddy are always there for them. God is everywhere we go and we can worship Him in all sorts of settings. Our family is the same, even if our setting isn't.
