ANNUAL RECAP - 5 Suitcases https://5suitcases.com A family travel blog Wed, 30 Jul 2025 17:22:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/5suitcases.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cropped-cropped-logo-4.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 ANNUAL RECAP - 5 Suitcases https://5suitcases.com 32 32 95195983 2025 Recap: A Year of Roots, Relaxing, & Road Trips https://5suitcases.com/2025-recap/ https://5suitcases.com/2025-recap/#respond Fri, 20 Jun 2025 13:50:25 +0000 https://5suitcases.com/?p=25209

If you’ve been wondering where the heck we disappeared to this year — well, let’s just say we traded a few suitcases for a set of house keys. 🏡

That’s right: 2025 has been the year of putting down some serious roots. In August of last year, we bought a home in a neighborhood that’s packed with awesome amenities, so most weekends you could find us posted up at the pool, splashing and fishing in the creek, riding bikes, or just chilling close to home. It’s been a different kind of adventure — one filled with porch-sits, potlucks, and making the most of our new everyday surroundings.

That said, you know us too well to think we could stay put forever. 😉 .

This post is going to grow along with the year — a living diary of the places we go, the memories we make, and all the cozy, local magic in between. Thanks for sticking around, and we can’t wait to take you along for the ride!

June 2025

Once school was out for the summer, the kids decided enough was enough- they were ready for a quick day trip.  Our oldest (11) suggested that we go down to St. Augustine for the day.  We’ll never turn down the opportunity to hang out in our nation’s oldest city, so we hopped in the car and headed south.

 

Fort Mose

Fort Mose was the first free Black settlement in what’s now the United States. Established in 1738 as Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose, it was a sanctuary for enslaved people of African descent who escaped from British colonies and were granted freedom under Spanish rule. Today, Fort Mose Historic State Park commemorates this powerful legacy with a museum, interpretive trails, and living history events.  In May of 2025, the park opened up a replica of the fort, and we HAD to check it out. 

The fort (and the park) were really well done- it’s been a LONG time coming!  We enjoyed learning about the people who called Fort Mose home and how it came to be.

Afterwards, we headed down the historic district.  The city offers a free tram that drops you off at Castillo de San Marcos or the Plaza de la Constitución.  We took it to the second stop and walked back to the Visitor Center.

Our first stop was Flagler College, my old stomping grounds.  It’s always fun to reminisce on my college days and share stories with the kiddos.  From there, we strolled down historic St. George Street popping in and out of shops and visiting the Tipsy Duck, a super trendy bar that serves up beverages adorned with rubber duckies.

While it wasn’t a super elaborate trip, it was nice to get away and reminded us why we love traveling and exploring so much!

Later in the month, we hit the road for our first trip of the year — a 7-hour drive up from Florida to one of our all-time favorite summer spots: Bostic, North Carolina, home to Jellystone Park Golden Valley. This was our third visit to Golden Valley (and our fourth Jellystone trip overall, if you count the one we did near Mammoth Cave in Kentucky!), so we felt like we already knew all the best spots before we even unpacked the car.

Over the next four days, we crammed in as much fun as we could — zooming around on a golf cart, racing down the waterslides, splashing in the lake, and even taking a ride on the alpine coaster. Every day felt like a new adventure, and by the time we left, we were already plotting our next return!

While we were zooming down the alpine coaster, Stinky and I caught a quick flash of movement in the trees — and sure enough, it was a black bear! 🐻 Even better, Stinky was quick on the draw with the GoPro and managed to get it all on video as we zipped past. It was such an unexpected and exciting moment, and easily one of the highlights of the entire trip. Nothing beats the thrill of seeing wildlife in its natural habitat, especially when you’re already having a blast on the mountain!

July

After what felt like a long hibernation, July brought us back to life in the best way. Our days were packed with pool hangs with friends and family, neighborhood events, and our annual beach trip with our baseball crew.

On the business side, July was a huge month. We locked in some incredible brand partnerships with:

✨ Wildkin
🔍 World’s Greatest Search and Discover
🚀 Kennedy Space Center
🎨 Crayola Experience Orlando
🚎 Old Town Trolley Tours in Savannah

Plus, we secured a few exciting collaborations for our fall trip to Nashville—can’t wait to spill more soon.

In the middle of the month, Elle packed up the crew and headed south for a little Orlando adventure. We kicked things off at the Crayola Experience.  There were tons of colorful, hands-on, art-inspired activities for the kids to do.  They built models out of clay, painted with hot wax, turned their drawings into a live action video, molded emoji shaped crayons, and created coloring sheets in their likeness.

Then, we wandered through the Florida Mall, which absolutely blew our kids’ minds. “Wait—you don’t even have to go outside?!” was the general vibe.

That evening, we stepped into the topsy-turvy world of WonderWorks Orlando and caught the Magic Dinner Show, where the kids were mesmerized! They offered up bottomless salad, pizza, soda, beer, and wine. Yes. Please.

The next day, we braved a tropical depression and visited Kennedy Space Center.  Ya’ll!  I was completely blown away by the KSC!  I’ve been wanting to take the kids there for years now, but the cost of visiting has always deterred me.  Mannnnn, I wish we had visited sooner!  This place is AWESOME!  There are numerous incredible, fun, and educational hands-on activities for the kids to enjoy!  We rode in a takeoff flight simulator, journeyed to Mars, felt the propulsion of a rocket, and explored tons of space memorabilia.  We even got to touch an actual piece of the moon!

We literally spent all day there- even though we were soaking wet!  The kids loved the play spaces (including a replica of the International Space Station), I loved that they were learning while they were having fun.  KSC- we will be back!

Our next road trip took us to Savannah, Georgia, where we partnered with Old Town Trolley.  We had some incredible tour guides cart us around one of the South’s most beautiful cities.  The heat index was over 110 degrees, so we were grateful that we didn’t have to walk around in that heat.

We visited Forsyth Park, City Market, Telfair Museum, and the Children’s Museum at Jepson Center.  We were thankful the latter two had AC!

 

 

Sites Visited in 2025

Florida

Georgia

North Carolina

  • Fort Mose
  • Flagler College
  • Cummer Art Gallery
  • Crayola Experience
  • Wonderworks
  • Kennedy Space Center
  • Forsyth Park
  • Telfair Museum
  • Jepson Center- Children’s Museum

2025 Recap Numbers

Number of States Visited This Year: 2 (Florida, North Carolina)

Number of Other Countries Visited This Year:  0

Number of Florida State Parks: 1

Number of National Park Sites: 0

Number of Buc-ee’s Stops: 0

Number of Miles Traveled: 949 miles

Our 2025 Goals

✅ Hey Boo Boo!

At Christmas time, our kids’ Elves on the Shelf “stole our credit card” and booked a summer trip to Jellystone- our kids’ absolute favorite place to vacation.  We spent 4 days hanging out and having an absolute blast at the park!

Nashvegas Baby!

Our New Years Day tradition is putting the names of the states the kids have not been to into a hat and selecting a state at random to plan a trip to.  This year, they pulled Tennessee.  We booked a flight to Nashville.  We can’t wait to share our Nashville trip with you!

Visit More National Parks

Gimme all the parks!  The kids each have National Park passports and they love collecting stamps.  We visited a TON of National Park sites last year and I’d like to keep it going.  I hope to add a park to each of our itineraries this year.

Add at least 1 more state to our list of places we’ve been

On New Years Day, the kids randomly selected “Tennessee” from a list of states that they have not visited.  We’ll be going to Nashville in the fall.

Wrap Up

We look forward to sharing our adventures with you in 2025!   Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter so you don’t miss out on the fun!  

]]> https://5suitcases.com/2025-recap/feed/ 0 25209 Cheers to 2025! My Goals, Resolutions, Dreams & Plans https://5suitcases.com/cheers-to-2025-my-goals-resolutions-dreams-plans/ https://5suitcases.com/cheers-to-2025-my-goals-resolutions-dreams-plans/#respond Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:34:51 +0000 https://5suitcases.com/?p=21476

How absolutely insane is it that 2025 is right around the corner?  It feels as though just yesterday we were sharing with you our 2024 plans and now, here we are doing the same for 2025.  

While we may not have had international adventures in 2023, 2024 was still incredibly good to us.  We grew closer as a family, spent lots of time with friends, experienced new firsts, moved into our dream house, and went on numerous adventures.  

A Condensed Version of our 2024 Recap

The kids standing in front of the American Flag at Fort McHenry
The kids at Fort McHenry

Our 2024 Goals, Revisited

  • ✅Visit The Keys- We visited Key Largo with our framily this summer.  We all had a wonderful time.  I can’t believe I’ve lived in Florida for 32 years and this was my first trip to The Keys!
  • Hit the High Seas- Unfortunately, we canceled our cruise this year…but, there’s always next year…
  • ✅Visit More National Parks- My goal this year was to visit at least 10 National Park Sites.  I added them to all of our itineraries.  The kids love collecting passport stamps, and I enjoy teaching them about our nation’s history.
  • ✅Hit up the Theme Parks- While we didn’t make it to Disney this year, we did visit Universal Orlando.  We also took a sponsored trip to Wild Adventures Theme Park and Hersheypark.
  • ✅Add a New State to the List of Places We’ve Been- The kiddos added Alabama to their list when we visited a friend in Auburn early in the year.  Later, we went on our Mason-Dixon Road Trip and added West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey to their list.
  • ✅Plan Our Christmas Trip- This year’s trip, which I’ve dubbed the Mason-Dixon Road Trip, was amazing!  We went sledding, learned more about our nation’s history at key sites, went to Hersheypark, spent Christmas Day at Great Wolf Lodge, and revisited DC.
  • ✅Accrue Airline Miles-We continued to rack up airline miles for future trips.
The kids posing with an Abraham Lincoln Statue at Gettysburg

2025 Goals and Plans

Hey Boo Boo!

At Christmas time, our kids Elves on the Shelf “stole our credit card” and booked a summer trip to Jellystone- our kids absolute favorite place to vacation.

Nashvegas, Baby!

Our New Years Day tradition is putting the names of the states the kids have not been to into a hat and selecting a state at random to plan a trip to.  This year, they pulled Tennessee.  We booked a flight to Nashville.  We can’t wait to share our Nashville trip with you!

Visit More National Parks

Gimme all the parks!  The kids each have National Park passports and they love collecting stamps.  We visited a TON of National Park sites last year and I’d like to keep it going.  I hope to add a park to each of our itineraries this year.

Add at least 1 more state to our list of places we've been

This year I enjoyed the spontaneity of pulling a state from a hat and planning a trip around that state.  Otherwise, there’s no way West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and Delaware would have been on our radar.  I plan on doing the same thing for 2025- while this might not lead to a full-blown road trip, we will definitely plan a trip this way.

More 2025 Goals

  • Plan our Christmas Trip.  
  • Accrue airline miles.  
  • Create 12 new YouTube Videos
  • Add content for 3 states

Follow Along to See How We Do With Our 2025 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 2025 include lots of time exploring the great outdoors.

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 2025.

]]> https://5suitcases.com/cheers-to-2025-my-goals-resolutions-dreams-plans/feed/ 0 21476 Our 2024 Recap- A Year of Learning & Adventure https://5suitcases.com/our-2024-recap-a-year-of-learning-adventure/ https://5suitcases.com/our-2024-recap-a-year-of-learning-adventure/#respond Sun, 18 Feb 2024 00:21:48 +0000 https://5suitcases.com/?p=19774

Welcome to our 2024 recap!  We’ll be updating this post throughout the year to recap our 2024 adventures. Along the way, we’ll learn all about the world around us!  

This year we have trips planned to Alabama, North Carolina, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, DC, Delaware, and New Jersey.  We’ll also be visiting the Florida Keys, and Disney World, and taking a cruise to The Bahamas.  

One of our main goals this year is to collect stamps in our National Park passports so you’ll see lots of National Park sites on our itineraries this year.  

Let's Dive into the 2024 Recap!

january laser

January

[Jacksonville Zoo] [Fort Clinch] [Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve]

We celebrated the New Year by selecting our destination for our 2024 Christmas trip.  We placed the names of all of the states the kids have not visited, yet, in a New Year’s top hat.  Each kiddo got to select one state.  They selected West Virginia, Oregon, and Minnesota.  With the options narrowed down, we put the 3 states back into the hat and drew one of them to include in our Christmas itinerary.

We ended up selecting West Virginia.  I spent the month of January planning our adventure.  Our trip will take us to West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and DC.  Wait until you see all of the cool stuff I have planned!

January brought along the winter sports season.  The boys started flag football and all 3 kids began tball/softball.  We ended up being all the ballpark 5 days a week!

We still managed to squeeze in some fun, though.  Smiley turned 10 years old!  We celebrated by visiting the zoo with some friends, attending a laser light show, hitting up a bounce park, and going to the movies.   

Fort Clinch
Fort Clinch

Later in the month, we visited Fort Clinch, one of our favorite state parks!  Fort Clinch is one of the best-preserved 19th-century fortifications in the US.  The Civil War era fort was a vase for Union operations in the area. 

When we visited, it was pretty cold out so we had the fort all to ourselves!  We got to chat with a Union soldier who answered all of our questions.  As always, the kids had a great time running around the fort pretending to be soldiers.  

While we were there, we picked up our new Florida State Park Pass so we can check out more Florida State Parks this year.  

Did you know we have a National Park in our backyard? Cedar Point, part of the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the house.  The Timucuan Preserve hosts weekly guided hikes (or events).  We gathered up a few friends to do the Cedar Point Hike.  We met up with Ranger Josh for a 2-hour, 2-mile walk through the woods.  We learned about the ecosystems and history of the area.  

The hike included a visit to the Fitzpatrick Ruins, the remnants of an 18th-century plantation.  It was neat to hear about the history of the people who lived there- including the story of 2 slaves who escaped!

I hope we’ll be able to check out more of these guided hikes before the weather heats up.  It’s always nice to get outside and explore with the babes.

Cedar Point Ruins
The Fitzpatrick Ruins at Cedar Point

February

[Congaree National Park] [Overmountain Victory National ]Historic Trail] [Fort Clinch]
Congaree National Park

Over President’s Day weekend, we packed up the kids (and the pups!) and headed up to North Carolina to visit Ashley’s side of the family.  On the way, we stopped by Congaree National Park.  The park is one of the newest national parks in the country.  It preserves the largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States.  While we were there, we explored the boardwalk and Firefly Trail.  It was an excellent place to stop for lunch and give everyone a chance to stretch our legs!

Congaree National Park is known for their annual synchronous firefly movement.  We visited during the day time, so we didn’t get to see any fireflies, but I bet it’s quite a sight to see!

While we were in North Carolina, we visited Alexander’s Ford, which is part of the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.  In 1780, the Patriot militia camped here en route to Fort Ninety Six.  This would be their final camp with the full militia together as 2 days later, several of the militia were killed during the Battle of Kings Mountain.  The Battle of Kings Mountain was the first patriot victory to occur after the British invasion of Charleston.

Later in the month, we headed back to Fort Clinch (can you tell it’s one of our favs?).  This time, instead of hanging out at the fort, we chose to skim the beach for shark teeth.  Although we came up empty-handed, we still had a blast!

the kids at Fort Clinch, 2024

March

[Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site] [Providence Canyon State Park]
[Jimmy Carter National Historical Park] [Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens] [Universal Orlando Resort]

Airplane at Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site
Airplane at Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site

To kick off our Spring Break, we took a quick trip out to Alabama to visit a friend of ours.  Our first stop was the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site.  I was impressed with how kid-friendly the site was.  The kids enjoyed crawling into a “cockpit”, listening to information on telephones, and signaling for planes to land.  The site had several airplanes, parachutes, uniforms, and other memorabilia from the Red Tails.  The museum was extremely well done.

The next morning we got up and headed to Georgia where we hiked Providence Canyon State Park.  The canyon was created after years of bad farming practices created massive erosion in the area.  The park showcases just how much impact humans can have on our planet.  

Several days of heavy showers made the trails muddy as hell, but we didn’t let it stop us.  We strapped on our hiking boots (or our messiest of shoes) and hiked down to the floor of the canyon. 

Let me tell you, this place is a kid’s dream!  The babes had an absolute blast going in and out of slot canyons, climbing up the clay hillsides (where it was allowed), and splashing in the puddles.

All in all, we hiked 2 miles.  I am so glad we visited when it was cooler (in the low 80s).  This place would be scorching hot in the summer!

Providence Canyon State Park
Providence Canyon State Park
Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
Jimmy Carter's Boyhood Farm- Jimmy Carter National Historical Park

We also stopped by Jimmy Carter’s National Historical Park while we were out that way.  We were all extremely impressed with how well done this park was.  In fact, it might just be one of my favorites we’ve ever done!

We started off with a visit to Jimmy Carter’s Boyhood Farm.  We were able to tour the home, visit the family’s shop, and stroll around the property.  Even better, the farm was pet-friendly so LB and Parker were able to walk around with us.  They got up close and personal with guinea hens and horses.

We thought it was really neat that Jimmy Carter narrated several of the information stations scattered around the farm.  It was cool to hear him tell us about his life.

Plains High School, where Jimmy Carter once attended, now serves as a visitor’s center.  We were able to visit the Principal’s Office (without even getting in trouble!), classrooms, and the auditorium.  

This site was also pretty interactive.  The kiddos got to sit in student desks, sit at the Presidential desk, examine relics from his presidency, and learn about his accomplishments.

While we were in Plains, we got to see the Carter Compound, where the former president now lives.  We also so the First Lady’s childhood home and her garden.  I’m really glad we made the stop!

Plains High School- Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
Plains High School- Jimmy Carter National Historical Park

New triplet tigers were born at our local zoo, and we couldn’t wait to meet them!  While we were still on Spring Break, we visited the Jacksonville Zoo to see Mina, Machli, and Beppy. Every time we visit the zoo, we also make sure to see Banks (a baby Jaguar) and Kevin (a 2-year-old gorilla).  The kids have enjoyed watching the babies grow!

Smiley in Diagon Alley

For our last adventure of the month, Smiley and I went down to Universal Orlando Resort (better known as Univeral Studios).  It was so great spending time with just her!  We had an absolute blast riding the rides, sipping on Butterbeer and checking out the theme park.  

April

[Huguenot Memorial Park] [Jacksonville Zoo & Gardens] [Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sancturary]

Endless summers at the beach!
Endless summers at the beach!

In April, we celebrated the kiddo’s Gotcha Day.  We took a trip to their favorite beach, went to the movies, ate at our favorite taco place, and had delicious ice cream.  

Later in the month, the whole fam-damily joined my parents at our favorite campground.  The kids spent hours splashing around in the lagoon and pool.

Stinky had a little accident at school that required stitches, which caused him to miss a field trip to Catty Shack Ranch Wildlife Sanctuary.  On the day that he had the stitches removed, he and I went to the Zoo (per his request) and to Catty Shack, since he missed out.   It was great spending the day together!

May

[Wild Adventures Theme Park] [Huguenot Beach]

In May, we were hosted by Wild Adventures Theme Park. We were impressed with everything the park had to offer. The kids had an absolute blast on all of the rides—there was something for everyone! The park is also home to several animals that we got to interact with. Not only did we enjoy a safari ride, but we also got to feed birds and alligators and visit with giraffes.  

The kids’ favorite part of the park was the water park. The water park boasts several slides, a wave pool, a lazy river, and a splash pad. It was a fantastic day, and we can’t wait to go again!

Us at Wild Adventures
Enjoying a safari ride at Wild Adventures

Like the Floridian’s that we are, we spent most of our weekends at the beach soaking up the sun and playing in the sand.

June

[Huguenot Park] [Hanna Park] [Jacksonville Zoo] [Gold Head Branch State Park] [Blueberry Ranch] [Jaybird Hammock Farm] [John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park] [Windley Key Fossil Reef Geological State Park]
[Bud n’ Mary’s]  [Biscayne National Park] 
Boat days are the best days!
Boat days are the best days!

Brace yourself, June was a busy month for us!  With school out for summer, the kids and I stayed incredibly busy.  We filled our weekdays with trips to the zoo, the Hanna Park splash pad, and local adventures and crammed our weekends full of beach days and boat days.

We channeled our inner-farmers and picked blueberries and played with chickens at Blueberry Ranch, and went on a hike with about 20 goats at Jaybird Hammock Farm.

We also put our Florida State Park pass to good use by visiting 3 new-to-us state parks!  Our first park was Gold Head Branch State Park.  The babes explored the park by bike, hiked the trails (we even got up close and personal with a deer!), and went swimming in one of the park’s lakes.

Later in the month, we went to Key Largo with some friends.  While we were in The Keys, we stopped by Windley Key Fossil Reef State Park to learn about the quarry and Henry Flagler’s Railroad.   

We also popped by the nation’s first underwater park, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  Unfortunately, the water was too choppy for us to be able to enjoy a glass-bottom boat ride, but we made the best of our visit by spending some time at the beach.

Our house in Key Largo was located right on a lagoon, so much of our time was spent swimming, snorkeling, and paddleboarding in our backyard.  

One of the most popular things to do in The Keys is feed tarpon, something I have done previously in Belize.  I thought the kids would get a real kick out of it.  Most people head to a place called Robbie’s to do this, but after checking out their web cam and seeing how busy they were, we opted to feed the fish at Bud n’ Mary’s instead.  We had the whole place to ourselves!  The kids had so much fun feeding the massive fish.  We even saw a gazillion nurse sharks!

The kids living their best lives in the Keys
The kids living their best lives in the Keys
The kids at Biscayne National Park
The kids at Biscayne National Park

On the way home from The Keys, we popped into Biscayne National Park to collect yet another passport stamp.  With a long drive ahead, we opted not to do a boat ride (boooooo!) and ended up just doing a little swimming while we were there.  I guess this gives us a reason to return, right?

July

In July, Stinky and I were slated to head to Ohio with my mom to visit my uncle and his family.  Unfortunately, he was unwell so we didn’t make the trip.  Instead, my mom and I packed the car and headed to Charleston, South Carolina.  

Like most Southerners, I’ve been to Charleston several times, but it has been YEARS since my last visit.  Our first stop was the charming town of Beaufort, South Carolina.  Beaufort is home to the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park, which highlights the area’s post-Gettysburg Address history.

It was fascinating to learn about how the recently freed slaves, and the rest of the South, transitioned into a “free” society.

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park
Rainbow Row Charleston, SC

We spent the next couple of days exploring historic Charleston.  Charleston was one of the entry points for those captured for slave trade.  We visited several key spots to learn about this dark time in America’s history including the Charleston City Market, a plantation (Middleton Place), and a handful of exhibits dedicated to this era.

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to visit the International African American Museum, but that just gives us a reason to return. Check out our Top 10 Things to Do in Charleston to start planning your trip!

August - November

August through November was a whirlwind for us.  Not only did school start, but the boys also began another season of baseball.  Oh…and we moved.  Our family relocated to a small town in northern Florida.  We spent this part of the year setting up our new home and enjoying our new community.  Our neighborhood is very active and there’s always something going on.  The kids have enjoyed hitting the pool, playing bingo, and participating in community events.

[Blackwater Falls State Park] [Gettysburg National Military Park] [Eisenhower National Historic Site] [Hersheypark] [Great Wolf Lodge Perryville] [Fort Mott State Park] [First State National Historical Park] [Fort McHenry] [NationalAfrican American Museum of History and Culture] [Lincoln Memorial] [WWII Memorial] [Vietnam Veterans Memorial] [Washington Monument] [National Archives]

One of our traditions is to put the names of the states the kids haven’t visited in a hat and randomly select a state to plan a trip around.  This year we selected West Virginia.  We packed up our Explorer and headed north to visit 5 different states.  We began our trip with a stay at Canaan Valley Ski Resort where we went sledding on the longest sled run on the east coast.

Next, we went to Pennsylvania where we visited Gettysburg, Eisenhower’s home, and Hersheypark.

Our next state was Maryland where we spent Christmas Day at the Great Wolf Lodge.  We also visited Baltimore and earned another Junior Ranger Badge at Fort McHenry.

We hopped on over to New Jersey where we visited Fort Mott State Park before skipping over to Delaware.  In Delaware, we explored the town of New Castle.  We visited the historic courthouse, spent some time in an old cemetery, and strolled the cobble streets.

The kids at Blackwater Falls State Park
The kids at Blackwater Falls State Park
The Kids at the WWII Memorial in DC

Of course, we couldn’t make a trip to this corner of the US without making a pitstop in DC.  Washington, DC is one of my favorite cities on the planet, and it has quickly become my kids’ favorite place to explore, as well.  

On this visit, we only had 1 day to explore.  I wanted to fill our day by seeing different things this time.  We started at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, where we spent hours learning about slavery and segregation.

From there, we walked around the National Mall, seeing some memorials and monuments we missed before.  We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Constitution Gardens.  

We ended our day with a visit to the National Archives, home of the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the Declaration of Independence.  

Sites Visited in 2024

Florida

South Carolina

North Carolina

  • Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail

Alabama

Georgia

West Virginia

  • Providence Canyon State Park
  • Jimmy Carter National Historical Park
  • Wild Adventures Theme Park

Pennsylvania

Maryland

New Jersey

  • Great Wolf Lodge, Perryville
  • Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine
  • Fort Mott State Park

Delaware

DC

  • New Castle Court House
  • First State National Historic Park

2024 Recap Numbers

Number of States Visited This Year: 11 + DC

Number of Other Countries Visited This Year:  0

Number of Florida State Parks: 4

Number of National Park Sites: 14

Number of Buc-ee’s Stops: 4

Number of Miles Traveled: 5,998 miles

the kids at Fort Clinch, 2024
The kids at Fort Clinch, 2024

Our 2024 Goals

Goal

Progress

  • ✅Visit the Keys

After living in Florida for over 32 years, I FINALLY made it down to The Keys!  While I usually prefer beach holidays in the Caribbean, I was pleasantly surprised by The Keys.  I have a feeling we’ll be back!

  • Hit the High Seas

Unfortunately, our cruise for this year was canceled, but…there will be more cruises in the future.

  • ✅Visit More National Parks

We plan on visiting at least 10 National Park sites this year.  We’ve added them to all of our US itineraries.  So far, we’ve visited the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, Congaree National Park, Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail, Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site, the Jimmy Carter National Historic Park, and Biscayne National Park.

  • ✅Hit up the Theme Parks

Smiley and I took a field trip with her TOT group down to Universal Studios in March.  In May, the kids and I went on a sponsored trip to Wild Adventures Theme Park. In December, we visited Hersheypark.

  • ✅Add a New State to the List of Places We’ve Been

The kids made their first trip out to Alabama over Spring Break.  Later this year they’ll visit: West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey for the first time.

  • ✅Plan Our Christmas Trip

I spent the month of January mapping out our Christmas trip.  It will take us to all of the above-mentioned states (except for Alabama).

  • ✅Accrue Airline Miles

We accrued enough airline miles for our family of 5 to fly to Nashville in 2025.

  • Increase Instagram Followers By 10% (6741)

Whomp whomp.

  • Increase Blog Traffic by 25% (168.212)

Close, but no cigar.

  • Add content for 1 state and 2 countries

So far we’ve added content for St. Maarten and South Carolina.  Just one more country to go and we’ll meet this goal.

The 2024 Recap for the Blog

Top 5 Posts

Nerdy Numbers

New Posts: 44
Traffic Increase: TBD
Estimated Miles Traveled: 6000

Updated: 1/2/25

Annual Focus

New Pages

  • Iceland
  • National Park Sites
  • Florida State Parks

We look forward to sharing our adventures with you in 2024!   Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram and Twitter so you don’t miss out on the fun!  

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If you’ve been following along with our travels, you know that 2023 was a huge travel year for us.  We visited Kentucky, North Carolina, Iceland, Dominican Republic, USVI, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico, and more.  It’s going to be really hard to top that, but we already have at least 4 trips on the books.  We’re excited to make new memories together and share our journey with you!

One of our goals this year is to add some more stamps to our National Park Passports, so it’ll be fun to see how many of those we’ll be able to collect.

Here is what we have on the books for 2024!

The Florida Keys

Believe it or not, I’ve lived in Florida for 32 years, and I have never been to the Florida Keys!  Isn’t that hard to believe?  

This year, we are visiting The Keys with some of our close friends.  We’re looking forward to a couple of days of fishing, snorkeling, and swimming.  We may even hit up Biscayne National Park on the way home.

Kids at Huguenot 2023

The Bahamas

Our babes are quickly becoming obsessed with cruises. The twins celebrated their last two birthdays with a cruise and Smiley chose to celebrate her 10th birthday the same way.

With our schedules, though, we had to book a cruise for later in the year.  We’re doing a quick 4 day cruise out of Jacksonville to The Bahamas in honor of her turning 10.  We’ll be visiting Bimini and Freeport, both of which are new to use.  

On the trip, we plan on swimming with stingrays, which is something I tried in Grand Turk and LOVED it.  Our kids favorite part of our local zoo is the touch tank called Stingray Bay, so hopefully they’ll enjoy being able to swim with stingrays.

Disney

Disney World

The twins decided  that this year they wanted to celebrate their birthday at Disney World.  It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been to Disney so it’ll be great to see how much the kids love it this time!

The picture above is from our last trip to Disney where we celebrated Smiley turning 5.

Christmas Trip

We’ve gifted the kids a trip for Christmas the last couple of years.  This year, we decided that instead of doing gifts and a small trip, we’d plan a bigger trip, instead.  The kids already get so many gifts from family and friends, so it’s not like they’ll go without.

We put all of the names of the states the kids have not visited yet into a New Years Hat and on the first of this year, each kid drew a state out of the hat.  The kids drew: Oregon, Minnesota, and West Virginia.

We then put the three states in a separate container and selected which state we’d plan our Christmas trip around.  We selected West Virginia.

But, the trip is going to be so much more than just West Virginia.  We’ll also be adding Pennsylvania, Maryland, and DC to the itinerary.  Our trip will include winter activities, a visit to a theme park, and adding several stamps to our National Park Passport.

...and more...

But… that’s not all!  We’ll also be adding lots of day trips and weekend getaways to our travels this year. We can’t wait to share it all with you! 

Be sure to give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram to join in on our adventures!

]]> https://5suitcases.com/our-2024-travel-plans/feed/ 0 19612 Cheers to 2024! My Goals, Resolutions, Dreams & Plans https://5suitcases.com/cheers-to-2024-my-goals-resolutions-dreams-plans/ https://5suitcases.com/cheers-to-2024-my-goals-resolutions-dreams-plans/#respond Sun, 31 Dec 2023 12:42:38 +0000 https://5suitcases.com/?p=19505

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.  

San Juan National Historic Site
San Juan National Historic Site, Puerto Rico

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.
Skogafoss Waterfall
Skogafoss Waterfall, Iceland

Our 2023 Goals, Revisited

  • ✔ Visit SeaWorld–  In January, we drove down to SeaWorld Orlando to spend the day riding rollercoasters and catching animal shows.  Elle went back to SeaWorld in March to check out the Seven Seas Food Festival.
  • ✔ Take a Cruise– In November, 23 took an 8-day cruise to celebrate the guys turning 6.  We visited the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten.
  • ✔ Spend some time in the mountains– Ashley took the kids up to the mountains in January.  We spent Memorial Day weekend in the mountains and hung out in Kentucky over the summer.
  • 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.
  • ✔ Visit at least 2 National Park Sites- We visited Fort Matanzas National Monument in St. Augustine early in January.  We visited the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge in March. In June we went to Mammoth Cave and Abraham Lincoln’s Birth Place National Historical Park.  In November we visited the San Juan National Historic Site in Puerto Rico.
  • ✔ Add a new state to the list of places we’ve been- Ashley and the kids added a new state to their list this summer during our road trip to Kentucky.
  • ✔  Plan our Christmas trip–  This year’s Christmas trip is going to look a little different…we’re not going on it until the summer.  We’ll be hitting the Florida Keys with some friends.
  • ✔ Accrue airline miles
  • ✔ Increase Instagram followers by 10% (4719)
  • ✔ Increase blog traffic by 50% (85,417 visitors)
  • ✔ Add content for 1 state and 2 countries– New content has been added for Kentucky, Puerto Rico and Iceland!
  • ✔ Create 12 YouTube videos
  • ✔ Generate $1,000 in income from 5 Suitcases
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site
Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site

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.

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