Every heard of mini vacations before? If not, they will change your life!
Everyone always says, take as many trips as you can before you have kids and while I 100% agree with that advice it don’t think it has to stop once they are here. Rather than just laying around and dreaming of beaches, white sand, hiking, and exploring new places why not let them join you? You just have to be a little flexible and okay with the fact that your trips and travels may take on a new form now. My favorite new form is mini vacations, because they are easy to plan, affordable, and the kids love them! Its not always about the huge moments in life, sometimes its about the mini moments. Why not try a mini vacation?
How Tos on Mini Vacations:
1. Do what you can — travel 100 miles or simply travel to your backyard and pitch a tent, the location doesn’t matter, it’s the memories that do.
2. Capture the mini moments. A mini vacation is not fun unless you know how to have fun. Make it fun, do goofy silly things that you don’t normally do, think outside the box.
3. Save the memories — If you go to the movies, save the ticket stubs, if you write your hubby a sweet note for morning, save the note. Then throw them all in a Vacation Smash book — it takes 2 minutes and it makes a really fun keepsake to look back on from all the different mini vacations you are going to have.
4. Be flexible.
5. Enjoy small moments with your spouse. Don’t forget it’s not only the kids you are taking on the trip. It’s also a chance to reconnect and refresh your marriage and relationship. Be creative and find mini moments between this and that, here and there.
6. Don’t let hurdles stop you.
I’m a strong believer in there’s always a way if you want it enough. Sometimes it just looks a little differently than what you first had in mind. I had to remind myself of this recently.
My daughter was still nursing and because of several breastfeeding complications I’d never pumped or given her a bottle. I really wanted to surprise my husband with a weekend away but there was no way I could leave her for a night away, let alone 2 nights away. Then I remembered a pact we made right before we had my daughter — our kids would not take away from life they would add to life. So I decided why not just take her with us, no it wouldn’t be quite the same as just the 2 of us, but that would come again when she’s older and why would I miss an opportunity now.
Here’s what our trip looked like:
Our Weekend to Branson.
Hilton was super awesome and offered to accommodate us for the weekend.
Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing was gorgeous and overlooked this fire and fountain display:
We could see it from our window!
Being right there at the landing was amazing, I’d recommend it to everyone but even more so if you have a baby because the convenience was just too good to pass up. We could walk the landing in the morning, eat lunch right there and then come back for her nap {AKA movie time for her daddy and me}.
Later that night we headed out for date night. Dinner in the car while she slept in her carseat in the back.
The weekend away was amazing, it was so refreshing for our marriage. It’s the small things in life that I hope we all enjoy. But sometimes we have to make those small things happen or life will go on without them.
You’ll love these posts:
10 marriage tips every wife should follow
If you’re longing for more than a mini vacation and want to travel the world with your family. You have to follow Family Adventure Podcast — they will blow your mind!
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Laura says
What a fantastic idea! You reminded me of our plans to go camping this summer at all the wonderful spots only an hour (or less!) from us. I need to remember to get the ball rolling on that! Sometimes mini vacations are more fun because of the spontaneous nature of them.