SOCIAL MEDIA

Monday, April 12, 2021

Not Just a Mom-- Favorite Family Memories

Hi there! I hope you all had a happy weekend and are looking forward to a nice week ahead. We are back from the beach and are struggling to get out of vacation mode and back into "real world" mode. Thank God for coffee!

Today Adrienne, Dara, Jen, Joanne, Sarah and I are hosting our monthly Not Just a Mom link up and the theme is Favorite Family Memories. I can NOT wait to read yours too so if you have a blog, please link up with us at the bottom! If not, please leave a comment telling me one of your favorite family memories. I'd love to hear what makes your family happy :)

 As I was writing this post I kept thinking to myself "I wonder if everyone else's are similar to mine?" I have a feeling several of us might have some commonalities with our memories today. Mine seem to have a similar theme of us spending good quality "unplugged" time together exploring new things. Let's have a look:

 


Well I feel like this one is a given but those first few days of bringing home your newborn baby are truly just magical.  Finally getting to meet that sweet baby who has been growing inside you for the past 40ish weeks. Knowing that little one will grow to be one of the best parts of your life



There is something so special about those first few days at home with your growing family. The world seems to slow down a bit and the only things that matter are the kisses and snuggles. Gahhh looking at these pictures gives me baby fever again! Not that it takes much these days, I feel like I have constant baby fever... Devin not so much 😜

But before the kiddos came around our family was a family of 2... and boy did we have a lot of fun! Most of my favorite memories with Devin revolve around trips we've taken together. Devin is in international sales for his company and prior to COVID he used to travel internationally roughly 2/4 weeks of the month. While that has it's obvious downsides, it also means we have a plethora of American Airlines/One World Alliance miles and hotel points. We have been fortunate enough to visit some really cool places.

 

Shanghai in 2015

 

Paris 2017


 


 

Bali in 2018

I love our trips together because we get so much great quality time exploring new places and trying new things. I love that our cell phones usually don't get service in other countries unless connected to Wifi, so we aren't easily distracted by all the "junk" and actually get to be present in the moment together. Obviously we can try to stay off our phones here at home, and we do that as often as possible, but you know how it is. The second your hear that little chirp from your phone that you have a notification, your brain just automatically focuses on that instead of what you're doing in the moment. 

I honestly can't say I have one favorite trip. I have loved them all, and for different reasons. Some of the we come away more relaxed and rejuvenated. Some of them we come away more tired, but with a better appreciation of the world we live in. Not being able to travel much was one of our biggest struggles in 2020, and I am really looking forward to being able to travel together again as a family of 4! Which brings   me to my two favorite little ones...

I was having trouble coming up with a few specific family memories that really stood out from other ones. The only obvious favorite was our trip to Disney World in 2019 as a family of 4. 

  


Liam may not have had a clue about what was going on, but the rest of us loved it and Liam was happy to be along for the ride.

Other than that trip, our fondest memories as a family of 4 are just anytime we are able to be out in the sunshine doing something active with the kids. Maybe it's swimming, maybe it's kayaking, hiking, or just playing at the beach. It's a pretty safe bet that if the weather is warm, the sun is shining, and we are outside.. we are having a great time.

LG's first trip to the splash pad







 I can't wait to read about your favorite family memories. Please make sure to link up with us below!

   

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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10 comments :

  1. Yes, family trips become a better memory every year!

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  2. These are so sweet. Lots of trips in our memories for sure!

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  3. Such sweet memories. Thanks for sharing them with us!

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  4. So many great trips! Bringing babies home from the hospital, good call!! I didn't even think of that, haha, but obviously pretty great memories (hazy as they may be).

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  5. Our trips our some of our favorite memories too. I love that you included having your kids as one of your favorites.

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  6. Ok I cannot believe how dark her hair was as a baby!!! And second, I need you to DM me some disney tips!! We are taking Emilia ( 3.5) in June and we have never been!

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  7. I used to accompany my husband on some of his work trips too (though his were all in the U.S as my husband really doesn't like to travel). A time or two we even took the whole family along! You have some really fabulous photos and memories here.

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  8. Yes, those first few days with babies are awesome memories! That's awesome that you thought of that! And yes, not being able to travel since Covid has been so hard. We love to explore as a family and it's been hard to have that really limited this past year.

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  9. I loved seeing all the newborn pictures, and wow did y'all travel?!

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  10. I love this post! Your travel locations and photos are so inspiring! Shhh don't tell my kids that I didn't think of a favorite family memory of bringing them home from the hospital, but Hadley came home 13 days after Hayden since she was in the NICU...being reunited definitely was a favorite family memory!

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