Family is such a huge part of our lives. That is why when this new lifestyle opportunity to live and travel in our RV came up, my initial reaction was pure excitement to begin this journey, quickly followed by the thought, but I will miss my family!
We are very close and I didn’t want to jeopardize that relationship in any way, because that was the whole motive behind this change was to spend more time as a family.
The highlight of my week is Sunday. It’s one of my favorite days of the week for many reasons, but one of them being lunch after church with my family. All seven of us kids, our kids, spouses and fiancés, get together at my parents house and we eat together.
As our family grows something special happens. Aside from having to call dibs over seats, which have became prime real-estate these days, we have grown stronger as a family unit. So I knew that even though we would be traveling, I wanted to find a way to keep family a priority.
The solution came in three ways on our month long visit to Florida: taking immediate family with us, visiting long-distance family, and creating memories with my household rvhold. This month of being nomads, gave us new freedoms and was packed full of family fun time.
Taking Immediate Family with Us
During this adventure, we visited Orlando, as well as a family wedding that took place in Naples. We also ventured down to the Florida Keys to check that off our bucket list and visit a close friend.
Our first stop in Florida was to hit up Disney’s Halloween Party and campground. We have entire posts dedicated to the Campground and Disney, so I won’t go in to detail too much, but needless to say, we had a blast!
We had several family members on their fall break go to Disney the same time as us.
We were even able to experience my brother proposing to his fiancé during the fireworks at Disney. What a great experience!
After Disney, we headed south to the Florida Keys with my Mom and brother. They stayed with us in the RV and we had a great time experiencing a beautiful part of the country as a family. If you want the full scoop on the Keys, check out our post.
Once we came north a bit to Naples for a family wedding, my sister in law and niece stayed with us for the weekend. We enjoyed muffins and coffee together and it was like being a kid again having sleep overs. We always love hosting family and friends as we travel to new destinations.
Visiting Long-Distance Family
My Grandmother sold her farm this year and moved to Florida. She has been a huge part of our family’s lives. One of the great parts of traveling is reconnecting with relationships that have moved away.
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It was amazing getting to spend some time with her and my uncle. The traveling opportunity does offer some great ways to spend time with people in your lives that have moved locations, but still have a place in your heart.
I sat on the porch with her in the beautiful Florida weather listening as she told family stories just like we did when she lived just across the field from me growing up. She just recently turned 80, and I cherish all these moments forever.
What do I love as much as traveling? Weddings! Well wedding cake, but they are a package deal. Nothing is better than celebrating love with cake especially in the presence of the ones we love the most.
A Family Wedding in Naples made a great location for a stop in our Florida journey. That is a perk of living in your RV. We were able to hit the open road and take the convenience of our home to go celebrate with family.
You know we love us some sunsets. Especially sunsets with family! I think we sat and truly experienced more sunsets in the month of October than I have collectively over my lifetime.
We made a special trip to Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park with our family that was also in town for the wedding to enjoy the sunset together. It was a beautiful view and a beautiful family moment.
In our everyday lives of rushing around and working sun up to sun down (literally I have worked days of not seeing the sun as a nurse) we don’t have time to admire a beautiful sunset anymore. Make time!
This journey for us is all about slowing down, admiring God’s creations, and spending more time with the ones we love.
New Experiences with Your Household Rvhold
Traveling has created so many opportunities for us as a family to make new memories…unforgettable memories. These memories might never have the chance to come about if it wasn’t for the freedom to spend more time together in new places.
Does your family have curses? Our seems to be cursed with it comes to the beach.
Does your family have curses? Our seems to be cursed with it comes to the beach.
With all the talk of how beautiful South Beach, Miami is, I needed to make this a stop on our journey. We made a day trip out of it and had the day all planned out. What we did not have planned out was the crazy amount of wind we would encounter. I must proclaim I carry some kind of beach curse because something crazy always happens that keeps us away from the beach.
My husband says that is silly, but I think he is starting to see a pattern due to the fact that we have made several beach trips of not being able to even set foot on the beach due to hurricanes, wind, high tides, crazy week long thunderstorms, you name it happens.
Maybe its coincidence, time shall tell. With that being said, the curse showed its ugly head once again and the beautiful day at South Beach turned into such high winds you were not even able to get near the beach due to wind causing the sand to hit you all over and feel as if you had ticked off a nest of bees. Needless to say the beach did not happen, but we made the best of our trip.
We at least made it to the pier which is amazing even in high winds and the playground near by was a hit by the kiddo. She loved playing and it was a beautiful view of the water and the skyscrapers to admire.
The Miami Children’s Museum has so much to do and is not affected by the wind thankfully, so we enjoyed hours there as a family.
Want a ride of your life? Take an airboat ride on your way through the Everglades. We traveled this area from the Florida Keys to Naples, Florida. We almost didn’t even stop, but I am so glad we did.
I have done swamp tours before, and that is a lot of fun, but let me tell you what made this boat ride special. We stopped at Buffalo Tigers FL Everglades Airboat Rides, a Miccosukee family owned and operated airboat tours. It was on an Indian reservation and they are allowed by law to perform live demonstrations with the alligators in it’s natural habitat.
It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. These tours get you unbelievably close to live alligators in the wild. These guides get the gators to come up to the boat, open their mouths, and they even touch them!
It’s a thrill for sure. The closest I have ever been to a gator, and the closest I hope I ever get to another.
Taking family with you, visiting long-distance family, and strengthening bonds of your current household, are three great reasons traveling long-term is actually a great way to bring family together.
My early fears of being away from family too much have been calmed by knowing these options exist. I don’t regret stepping out of my comfort zone and traveling one bit and if you make that step, I don’t think you will either.
Are there other ways to involve family when traveling? What does having less junk, but more family look like for your family? Share in the comments below!