Man, 2023 was jam-packed with adventures for us! The kids added a new state to their list of places they’ve been (Kentucky) and collected a handful of stamps in their National Park passports. They added St. Maarten to their list of countries they’ve visited and visited 2 new US territories (USVI and Puerto Rico) on our 8-day cruise to the Caribbean. We also took a grown-ups-only trip to Iceland.
In between all of that, we also visited SeaWorld Orlando, and several Florida State Parks, and took a road trip to North Carolina.
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A Condensed Version of our 2023 Recap
- We visited several National Historic sites including Fort Mantanzas, San Juan Historic Site, Mammoth Cave, Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Abraham Lincoln’s Birthplace National Historical Park, and more.
- We celebrated Smiley’s birthday at SeaWorld Orlando. Mama Elle also covered the Seven Seas Festival in March.
- We took trips to Blue Spring State Park, Kelly Park/Rock Springs, and Wekiwa Park to hang out at the springs.
- We took a road trip to North Carolina.
- We had our first sponsored trip! We were hosted by Jellystone Park at Mammoth Cave. We explored Mammoth Cave, visited Lincoln’s Birthplace National Historical Park, and even took a boat ride through a cave.
- The Moms took an 8-day trip to Iceland to celebrate Mama’s 40th birthday.
- We hung out at a timeshare in Orlando where we checked out Medieval Times.
- We took an 8-day cruise for the twin’s 6th birthday. We visited the Dominican Republic, St. Thomas, St. Maarten, and Puerto Rico.
Our 2023 Goals, Revisited
- Visit at least 3 new springs– We visited Blue Spring State Park in January and in March, Elle visited Rock Springs and Wekiwa Springs. Technically we didn’t meet this goal since we’ve been to Blue Spring State Park many times.
2024 Goals and Plans
We have our eyes set on some new destinations in 2024.
The Florida Keys
Believe it or not, I’ve lived in Florida for over 30 years and I’ve never been to The Keys! This summer we are visiting Key Largo with some friends. We may sneak over to Biscayne National Park while we’re in the area so we can add another stamp to our National Park Passport.
Hitting the High Seas
Smiley picked a cruise to celebrate her 10th birthday. We’ll be visiting 2 new ports, Bimini and Freeport, both in The Bahamas. I’ve been to The Bahamas countless times, but I haven’t been to either port so I’m really excited to check it out.
Visit More National Parks
We bought National Park Passports for each of the kids so that they can keep track of which parks they’ve visited. I’d like to visit at least 2 more National Park sites this year.
Hit up the Theme Parks
This year the boys asked to go to Disney for their birthday. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve visited the House of Mouse so it’ll be fun to go back!
Heading North
For the last couple of years, we’ve given the kids a trip as one of their Christmas gifts. We’ve visited Margaritaville @ Lanier Islands, Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, and 2023’s gift was a trip to The Keys. This year, we decided to cut out the gifts altogether and put more money towards a trip for them.
We put the names of all of the states that the kids haven’t visited into a New Year’s hat and had the kids each pick out a slip of paper. Next, we put just the states that they selected (West Virginia, Oregon, and Minnesota) back into the hat and Ashley selected one at random. We ended up selecting West Virginia as our Christmas trip destination.
The Kids 2024 Goals for Travel
For the first time ever, all 3 kids have the same travel goal for 2024- they all want to go on a cruise! We booked a cruise for later in the year. We’ll be visiting two new-to-us ports in The Bahamas: Freeport and Bimini.
More 2024 Goals
- Add a new state to our list of places we’ve been. Last year we added Kentucky to our list of states visited. This year we are planning on visiting West Virginia and may pop into Pennsylvania and/or Maryland.
- Plan our Christmas Trip. For the last couple of years, we’ve been gifting the kids experiences for Christmas. This year we put the names of all of the states that the kids haven’t visited into a New Year’s hat and had the kids each pick out a slip of paper. Next, we put just the states that they selected (West Virginia, Oregon, and Minnesota) back into the hat and Ashley selected one at random. We ended up selecting West Virginia as our Christmas trip destination.
- Accrue airline miles. This year we’ll continue to rack up airline miles.
- Increase Instagram followers by 10%. (6741)
- Increase blog traffic by 25% (168.212)
- Create 12 new YouTube Videos
- Add content for 1 state and 2 countries
Follow Along to See How We Do With Our 2024 Goals!
We hope that you’ll join us as we explore the world around us and continue to give our 3 littles a broad view of the world. Our plans for 2024 include sun, sand, and the high seas.
If you aren’t already doing so, be sure to follow us on our socials! We use Instagram to share pictures, Reels and Stories about our day-to-day life. We also use Facebook and Twitter to share our new content.
We look forward to connecting with you and sharing our adventures with you in 2024.
