It has been 2 years since my family has been on a vacation longer than a couple of nights in a hotel. Time flies by for us with our 3 little ones and it is 100% our own fault for not making get aways a priority. We know we need it, but between working very diligently to pay off debt, work/volunteer schedules and extra curriculars fill up our calendar quickly and we have seriously been slacking in the family time department. An outsider might not believe this as we often go on bike rides together, head down to the river exploring, leave on camping trips or go hiking. We genuinely love spending time together as a family; we squeeze in family time together as much as we can. That’s the problem though…we squeeze it in. A getaway was becoming necessary for us, and after we returned we were determined that going on more trips is crucial for our family to thrive, maybe shorter, but MUCH more often. (I”ll keep you posted on how we do with that 😉
We were fortunate to be invited with our family to go to Hickory Hills Resort on Kentucky Lake for an entire week to get away. Our family extended the trip by getting a hotel on the way there and back to make it a full 10 days away. I would highly recommend this resort if you are visiting the area. They had everything we could ever want and we didn’t need to leave our cabin at all. The kids could swim in the pool, the lake had a water slide on the dock, there was a playground, a basketball hoop, sand volleyball court, a small arcade, a beach area with kayaks and water bikes and plenty of lounge chairs, which is really all this mama needed!
Here are some highlights of our trip:
Our family has a slight obsession with turtles. Every morning, sometimes as early as 6am one of us took the kids out to the dock to try to catch them. We had one for the entire week held hostage at our cabin before we finally let him loose.
Something I love about vacation is the time we get one on one with our children. We really get to see their individuality because my husband and I are both there to give our full attention. Here’s “fashion” as we call her. We just notice things about them that we might not see on a daily basis. We get to sit together on the beach and watch them together. It’s pretty cool. My husband and I were just in awe at how beautiful our daughters have become.
No distractions: In all of these pictures we are purely living in the moment. Everyone is focused on the person they are talking to and what they are doing, whether it be throwing rocks, playing the sand, or just floating in the water. There isn’t grass that needs to be mowed, bills that need to be paid, video games that need to be played, rooms that need to be cleaned, blogs that need to be updated…we were all living in the moment, surrounded by people we love, our week was so refreshing and full of happiness. I don’t know about you, but I want my children to have more of that in their lives!
Reconnect: The last time my husband and I took a picture like this with each other was probably at our wedding. Our relationship began through a series of dates that involved fishing and boat rides so this was the perfect trip for us. Just being near the water brings back such sweet memories for me and I love that my children enjoy the outdoors as well and that we are creating new traditions with them.
I’d love to hear how your family vacations or how you ensure your family gets plenty of time where you are living in the moment with them 🙂 After all God gifted you with those children to care for! Hopefully you are able to make that a priority at some point this summer!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
she will run. . . 