It was almost four years ago now when we travelled to Florida for my oldest daughter’s tenth birthday. We wanted, or needed, a vacation at end of the school year, which is always challenging when you have children with special needs. But this time we planned something different. Ten felt like a huge occasion and we wanted to celebrate it while inspiring our daughters to learn. So we took a full day and spent it exploring Kennedy Space Center. We dined with an astronaut and both of my kids were curious and peppered him with questions. It was one of…
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Who doesn’t love Florida? I have been a few times and every single visit I see something new, or find some new city or spot that I would love to return to. We all know the popular spots and many of us have visited spaces like Orlando, Kissimmee, Tampa, but I wondered what other Florida destinations might be just off the beaten track, so I did a little hunting. Florida Destinations – 5 Lesser Known, Less Crowded Spots Florida is a wonderful state to enjoy a vacation. Its sunny, breezy weather and absolutely beautiful beaches make it one of the…
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Last year we were lucky to attend a Puerto Vallarta, Mexico media trip together. Our family has travelled a few times since and this dolphin excursion that Payton and I went on in Puerto Vallarta remains one of the highlights of the last 5 years for my older daughter. I have seen numerous swim with dolphin excursions up close in the last year as we travelled. This one was the best, most humane, cleanest and best run dolphin excursions that I have ever seen. You can read my full travel story about Dolphin Discovery here in the travel section of…
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It was our last night in Atlanta, Georgia after a great blogging conference last year in May when my roomies and I decided we hadn’t seen anything much of the city. That’s the problem with conferences in great cities. Sometimes you rarely have time to set foot out the door. So we determined to go shopping and hit a local restaurant, something that screamed Atlanta, Georgia. Conference food, while occasionally incredible, is also often either truly unhealthy, or dainty or overly sweet. While I loved the conference and got a ton of takeaways from it, my sweet tooth was aching…
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Dog Sledding Near Mont Tremblant on a wintery March day can bring out the child in anyone. Snug as a bug in a rug. We are racing through the snowy upper Laurentians in Quebec, about 45 minutes from Mont Tremblant resort. It is peaceful and calm and the mountains are majestic as the snow continues to fall. Three of us are on this one dog sled lurching out of the starting gate and my older daughter rides safely behind us with a driver of her own. Content. This is the definition of contentment and peace and it makes you almost…
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It was a rainy afternoon in August and our second day at Parkbridge Resorts, Lakes of Wasaga. We were there for three nights as guests. The kids had a friend with them and I was wrestling with the urge to tell them all to get off their Nintendos when I heard my youngest daughter holler: “There’s something over there by the lake.” All three children threw their sandals on and they ambled towards the lake. That weekend we had already spied dozens of groundhogs, we’d been swimming multiple times, made our own fishing poles of twine and branches, spied many…
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Travel is a doorway in Yelapa. What do I mean by that exactly? Well, travel itself is a doorway to another world, another culture, a geography, a lifestyle. It is bright. Travel is full of potential. It is a bit surprising. Travel can be confining, liberating, original, scary or safe. Like a doorway in Yelapa. My Favourite Pastime Travel is my favourite pastime out of all the possible diversions in life. In fact, travel plus writing, well it doesn’t get better than that. I am a strong believer in family travel and my kids travel with me as often as…
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I rarely share shots of my spouse here. Why? Because he hates having his picture taken. Sad but true. Husband of blogger hates having picture taken. Honestly. So capturing a nice shot of him on film is a big deal for me. I often point my iPhone at him when we travel and he turns or moves ruining the shot. Early in March we were all invited to Mont Tremblant to visit as a family unit. While we were there, the entire family learned how to ski in two days!! I am super proud of that, in case you couldn’t…
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It’s the last day of the year, a year that sped by lightning fast, but then again don’t they all? This is how we spent December 31 snorkelling with stingrays and nurse sharks in Belize. It still is etched on our collective hearts as the best way to spend the last day of the year. If You Go, Consider This: In hindsight I wished that I had bought a GoPro HERO4 SILVER before we took our first ever cruise. I had no idea we’d need one out in the ocean, flying along in a jam-packed speedboat on our way to…
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Super excited to share this save the date post with everyone! Remember last August when we visited Parkbridge Lifestyle community in Wasaga Beach? It was really lovely. You can read more about that if you click through to the post from last August. We know that it is almost spring and some people are already starting their summer resort and cottage planning. After all when you live in Canada where we have a mere two months of summer, you need to get accustomed to wringing it for all it is worth. So you plan every last weekend and you map…