We had the absolute privilege of going on a family vacation to Florida this winter! And let me tell you, if you have ever been on the fence about going on a vaca with your family, you need to just do it! I can’t say enough about what this concentrated time together did for us. We try to have family nights at home and to be intentional with the limited amount of time we have together, but there is something so powerful about leaving your home. When we have game nights or are playing with the kiddos at home I feel like I am always distracted. Don’t get me wrong, these times are still very necessary and special, but I often find my thoughts drifting to the load of laundry I should quick finish, or the dishes I should just throw in the dishwasher and on and on and on… And even though the sun and warmer temps were amazing, seriously the best part of this trip was the focused time we spent together.

Lots of people asked us how it went with our three young kids. The multiple trips in the car, the plane ride, and one super long day at Disney made me pretty nervous as well before we left, but surprisingly our girls were crazy well behaved. Like, Denny and I were actually confused why everything went so smoothly. We had loads of movies downloaded on the ipad and every favorite snack ready to go, but they just weren’t needed. We actually didn’t even pull out the movies until we were two hours away from home on our way back!! It was weird. I’m not sure why they were so well behaved (let’s be honest-most days we definitely have our fair share of melt downs!) but I think it was because they had Mom and Dad completely to themselves-no distractions-no house projects to finish, church meetings to attend, and no photos to edit. It was amazing!

We were fortunate enough to stay with some great friends for part of our trip, and then spent a few days at Treasure Island Beach. We also hit up Magic Kingdom. Going to Disney was our Christmas gift to the girls. (Side note: We have been trying to gift our children “experiences” rather than more toys and oh my word is it awesome! We have less unnecessary toys and more fun and memories made!)

Disney was amazing. I’m always so impressed with how they tirelessly entertain you. We all had a blast! Halle and Jocelyn are huge Frozen fans, so when we were taking a break for lunch in front of the castle and Elsa and Anna all of a sudden came running out and broke into song and dance, we all got a little teary eyed (yes all of us! Even Denny! haha!)

It was a trip we will remember forever and we are so glad we committed to going! I’m not sure if we’ll be able to go on a big trip like this every year, having friends to stay with and getting our flights for free because of our travel credit card (you need to check out this travel card if you don’t have one > > > Capital One Venture Card) definitely helped make it affordable. Other years maybe we’ll just have a great camping get away or stay at my in-laws when they are out of town, but I know we will always try to do something different.

Enjoy the photos-hopefully they warm you up and bring a smile to your face! They sure do for me!

This girl…I couldn’t stop giggling at her. She insisted on wearing these shades almost everywhere. She also destroyed every sand castle moments after it was created! Ha!

Lyla hit a big milestone on our vacation and learned to sit up all on her own! Can’t believe how big she is getting!

This girl is a professional seagull chaser. Seriously. I don’t know how she has so much energy. It was hilarious to watch!My jaw was literally dropped during the majority of the fireworks show. There are no words to describe how incredible it was!

It was so wonderful to visit with our friends, Joe and Courtney. They have three little girls about the same ages as ours. The kids had a blast together and it was great to catch up! These photos are from Blue Spring State Park-home to a manatee refuge.

We also, amazingly, got to see Denny’s cousin (who lives in Florida) and his aunt and uncle who are missionaries in China!! They arrived in Florida (to visit their daughter) on our last night there! The timing was increible and it was so great to see them! Unfortunately I don’t have any “good” photos from our visit as my camera was completely full by that point 🙁