Traveling with the family

There is nothing more rewarding and educational than traveling.  As a kid growing up my travels consisted of up and down the east coast with Mom and Dad.  Oh yeah, and then one big trip with my sisters to Florida where we discovered the Waffle House!  Being the youngest of five I missed out on the whole big family trips.  My oldest brother got married when I was 4 years old and by the time I went to kindergarten he had moved out and then next two siblings were in college.  So it was pretty much just me traveling with Mom and Dad. 

I remember 26 years ago when we were on our honeymoon in St. Lucia my husband said to me "oh the places I will take you to".  Well here we are, never at a loss of travel ideas and a whole bunch of memories.  We have always said that if some day we didn't have the means to take vacations like we do now we would still have our memories.  When we are traveling with the kids one of our favorite things to do each night is to ask each one what was the best part of their day.  It is surprising to listen to what they come up with and why.  

Our other travel passion is with our best friends, Mr. and Mrs. Foodie.  Over the years we have gone from day trips to the local wine region, to weekends away and now to full blown vacations.  In the past two years we all turned the big 50 and with each birthday came a birthday trip.  The first was a long weekend in NYC, then a joint birthday trip to Napa and Sonoma Valley for the boys and finally a trip to my favorite spot, St. John in the USVI. 

More travel plans are in the work, and with them come dinner ideas and some really great meals!