cuppartw – Mom Dad CuppaKids

Last Night I Cried…

by Jenn & Chris on March 31, 2017

Not ready to head home from a life-changing trip around the world.

Last night I cried.

For a person who is quite synonymous with tears, I think my track record over these last many months has been pretty good. There have been only a few crying moments on this trip.

Apart from tears of joy.

My Happiness is all about being around these majestic animals

We knew at the beginning of this adventure that it would change all of us one way or another. Shifted perspectives, maturity/growth in the kids, a deeper understanding of how our world works.

What we didn’t know was exactly how or when we would start to notice that change. If I am being honest, I kept searching for it in the beginning months. I was waiting to be enlightened. Waiting to “feel” different or suddenly have that moment of clarity of where our life would lead. I thought FOR SURE it would be revealed as I sat on the beach and gazed out at the sunset.

You have to admit this sunset IS pretty inspiring. Taken on Koh Lanta, Thailand

Admittedly, I MIGHT be a bit of a hopeless romantic.

The truth is, it didn’t quite happen like that.

What happened instead was the realization that we actually had to go THROUGH this entire journey before we could figure out what it was all about.

Along the way I had the deepest desire to write. To share the experiences we have had with you at home. Hopefully as a source of encouragement, inspiration or to satisfy that travel bug for you in the midst of those bleary winter months. I wanted to write countless tips & travel hacks that we have learned along the way. And post more videos. And pictures.

And we will. Just not yet.

You see one of the biggest a-ha’s we have had on this trip is the difference when we are fully and totally present. We are practicing mindfulness in the moments and with that comes a delay of sharing all the things. I felt guilty for awhile, for not sharing enough. Now? Now I’m good because I believe BEING PRESENT is a big part of our story.

The real reason I started crying last night is because we started planning on when we were going to come home.

Granted, it is almost exactly to the day from our third version of our adventure timeline (initially we were going for 3 months, then 6 months and now it will be closer to 9 months). But we actually started talking and PLANNING how we were going to get home. Yuck.

Our kids (actually, our whole family) have thrived in this choice.

We are healthier. An easy task when your daily dose of Vitamin D goes from the trip between house and car to the entire day outside.

We are happier. Again, when your daily activity surrounds physical activity, laughter and exploration, life feels all together simpler. To watch our kids try new things, to be adventurous, to overcome their fears? God! That makes me happiest of all.

Most importantly, we are so much more connected that we ever could have asked for. Can I say (without judgement) that I believe I love both my kids and my husband more or maybe deeper?

Having had the chance to spend so much quality time together, we have more consideration and respect for one another than we did when we were full of busy.

I believe they in return love me more as well.

I know, I know. Life isn’t over. We still have a couple months to go and trust me, in those months we will be soaking up every moment we can.

I just don’t want it to end.

Just not yet.

Dad Says:

Yup. She cried. It has been few and far between, but this was a doozy. Recognition that we were going to wind up returning home hit hard. It took a bit to get past the inevitable and realize that our future was still unwritten. That what we take from the trip will no doubt determine what we become in the future.

And then she cried again.

Jenn holds the value of being respectful to the core. Yet at the entrance to the Grand Palace she was rejected by some overbearing guard, who decided that she wasn’t properly covered in her overwhelmingly hot capris and would need to purchase a skirt and top to shroud herself in penitent fabric. This, as others strode by in skirts and bare legs.

Oh well, off to a rather shrewdly located shop that sold just the thing. And as you might expect with such a captive audience of cast-offs searching for coverage, big markups and rude service. Can I try this on? NO. CASH ONLY. Tears in eyes she emerged, and covered herself in a blouse that, for all intents and purposes, is not the best look ever. I mean ever. But it got her passed the gate, and, wiping the tears away, we went on to sweat our bits off admiring Bangkok’s best.

And if we are being truthful, she cried one more time.

At the Grand Palace in Thailand, home of the Jade buddha and where the king is laid to rest. The ornate decoration took your breath away. It was awesome, some would say even overwhelming. For Jenn, who feels deeply in every moment, too overwhelming. For her, it was that beautiful.

Sure, a few small occasions of tears but in the end (as it always will), everything worked out fine. Just like us heading home. Whatever happens, it will all work out fine.

Just saying…

Real Life Travel

Sex On The Beach: 50 Ways to Be a Lover

by Jenn & Chris on February 14, 2017

How to Keep Intimacy Alive When Travelling as a Family

Back in the day when you were just a couple, your sex life was hot. SMOKING HOT.

Damn right it was. You had time. You had energy. Glasses of wine and late night dinners were THE perfect set up for a little fun between the sheets.

It was, in fact, a priority in your life.

Then kids came along and BAM! that priority gets taken over by about a dozen others. You try to remember the last time you guys had a real sex session, and you got nothing. Suddenly you are a very sad panda.

But wait! There is still one hope. One promise on the horizon that makes you think maybe, just maybe, the spark could be lit again, the flame fuelled to make that fire burn back into your relationship.

Vacation.

Ah vacation. Traveling to an exotic place, getting away from everyday life, time away. Sand, drinks, Heat. Even the sound of that sounds sexy.

Yet, travel can also pose the biggest challenge if you are on a trip with your kids. Hotel rooms often don’t have a lot of space, opportunities are not as readily available for parents to connect privately and Shit! the kids are around.

We are currently on a global adventure with our kids. Travelling the world for months on end. For us as a family? Awesome. For us as a couple? Between staying tiny camper vans, bunk beds, boats, hostels, hotel rooms and Air Bnb’s, we totally get it.

We got curious how couples manage intimacy in the face of travel.

And so we put out an informal survey to a number of different Facebook groups we are part of. Worldschoolers, Family travelers, and our general group of our friends all sent us back their most genius nooky knowledge.

How and where do you get your freak on in the light of kids being close?

The challenge was daunting, the creativity inspiring and here are the results:

Here is our Number #1 answer along with more than 50 adventures you can add to your travel itinerary the next time you head away.

Wet n Wild

The Bathroom: In the shower, on the ledge of the tub, on the counter, on the toilet seat (Really? OK but please tell me the lid is down), against the wall (Seriously? How DO you DO that? You know, without accidentally taking down the shower rod or something??) and even on the floor. The floor of the bathroom? Man, intense times call for intense measures (Ew)

Shhhhh.

In the Bed Beside Your Kids: Your “quiet” capabilities better be on their best behaviour if you’re going to try this. Consensus was that sideways, playing under the covers, missionary, or girl on top are all acceptable. Doggie style is an absolute no. If your kids somehow wake up, no amount of therapy will ever allow them to get that out of their heads. NO amount.

A Room with A View

The Balcony is perfect so long as you have a curtain or something (again therapy people). Against the balcony, chair on the balcony (apparently nobody felt that any balcony table they have seen is strong enough to be that sturdy of a base), on the floor of the balcony, (with one responder even detailing how they stole a mattress from a poolside lounger – well played my friend, well played.

Sweet Suite

This is of course is the ideal. I swear Air Bnb needs to market this as a core benefit. That said, one responder (who is also an Air Bnb host) is now traumatized thinking that her bedroom is being used as a boudoir.

Naughty by Nature

Nature can be a fantastic venue. A blanket in the woods was our most popular answer but we also got under the stars, on a rock, in a cave (all I could think of was ..wait? Aren’t you worried about bats?), a loose flowing skirt and a picnic table, under a tree, against a tree, on a tree (can apparently often be the perfect height for some fun oral conversation), and one rockstar responder shared they even did it IN a tree. Hats off!

Sex on the Beach

On the beach, in a beach cabana (exercise your rebel gene and sneak into one of these at night), in one of those massage huts, beach lounger (again, how daring you are depends sometimes how desperate but the option is there), beach bed, in the water (day OR night), poolside, dockside, beachside, any side, you get the picture.

Hide and Seek

Send the kids off for a game. You only have a count to 100 so better pre-play that as much as possible before you play your own game of Hide.

Public Indecency

Change Rooms, public washrooms, airport washrooms in particular can get the vacation party started right, family rooms, stair wells, roof tops. Do you think anyone would ever fault you if you are caught if you just explained the challenge of doing it with the kids around?

Playdate

According to our pollsters, this is one of the best places for adults to play at night. At a campground, resort, what have you. Apparently its been done. We got swing set, the slide, monkey bars (man that is serious upper body strength), the stairs to the jungle gym, under the jungle gym and yes, someone even suggested the teeter totter. Hmmm.

Dinner for Two

If you booked a villa, suite or Air Bnb then you have the added benefits of a kitchen inside your space. Perfect. Add the countertop, bar chairs, dining chairs and even the dining table to the mix. Who said dinner is the most delicious thing to be served on a table?

We joke about sex while traveling all the time. We might not be as adventurous as some who responded but man, we respect the hell out of their moxie to get it on when the mood is right.

Intimacy is something different for us these days. For sure we have the much needed, knockin’ boots, pent-up furiousness fix but we have also found other ways to keep connected. A surprise touch in the midst of the day. Gazing into each others eyes. Talking and laughing for hours. The bottom line is to have fun and to enjoy each other. We have found that THOSE moments are the most intimate of all.

Jenn, Chris, Spencer & Lauren are on a trip around the world. Their philosophy is to live big, love big and push out of their comfort zones. Their ethos is about supporting locally, learning more from nature and teaching their children the importance of global citizenship.

Family Matters Real Life Travel

How Will You Tell This Story?

by Jenn & Chris on January 10, 2017

Our WHY Behind Travelling the World

Every story has a back story and it’s not always pretty.

I never really considered ourselves storytellers until this trip.

Sure, Chris and I like to talk in stories. It’s fun and entertaining and most importantly gets people laughing by the end. Something for us that is ultimately the end goal.

Now my grandmother. She’s a storyteller.

In fact, she was the best storyteller of us all.

My grandmother was most indeed the matriarch of our family. The older sister and the “second mom” to a large family growing up in the prairies. She was given the job early in life to care for her 6 younger siblings, becoming a provider for the family at a time when she should have been playing instead of working. She was sweet, stubborn and with an incredibly strong work ethic. Her get-it-done-and-do-it-well ethic was one she imprinted on our entire family. But she loved to have fun. Her laugh was so big and contagious, it either had you in tears or one of you saying “I’m going to pee my pants!” or both.

Her life was her family and the art of storytelling was something she shared with her siblings, her children and her grandchildren. Trust me, you end up at one of our family reunions and nobody ever just recounts a moment. Vast, broad strokes of details are painted along the way. The story weaving back far enough to set the stage: providing minutiae like smells, clothes or even weather to give you the background you needed to see the whole picture and to feel like you were there.

It was an important part of my grandmother’s stories.

But Why?

So you could understand her WHY to every story she told.

As a kid, I would get frustrated. I was impatient, too young to understand the time it took to create that background, instead feeling she was going on and on. Ugh! Grandma! Always feeling she went much farther than necessary for the story’s conclusion.

As I got older, and she came close to the end of her years, I wanted to sit for hours to listen to those stories. I understood the foundation she was laying. I wanted more time to gobble up every morsel of a story she was willing to give. To hear them often, so I could remember them when she was gone. So she would stay close in my memory through all of her beautiful stories.

Our WHY

A few years ago, we adopted a mantra to Come Before Winter. The concept simple. Do whatever it is you have been thinking or dreaming about now because you never know what tomorrow brings. At that point we had known too many people affected with disease and too many passing before they had a chance to live a full life.

It changed us as a couple and as a family.

We took trips. A lot of them.

We created memories. A lot of them.

Travel became a priority.

Taking our kids to Scotland to visit many relatives on my Uncle’s 92nd birthday was so special.

Multi-generational trips to Disney World with Grandma. A trip to Scotland & Ireland with my parents. Seeing Carmen (an opera very special to my family) at Lincoln Center in New York, a 40th birthday in NYC, Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Doing a Yoga Retreat with dear friends in Nicaragua. Meeting up with childhood pals in Quebec City.

Climbing Kilimanjaro to celebrate our 10th anniversary was a milestone we both loved achieving

We pushed far out of our comfort zone and it felt really really good.

The decision to do these was very intentional. We are blessed for the rest of our years with all the special moments we created with people we love.

Watching my Dad’s joy over showing his grandkids his home was an important part of our family story.

But these last few years have not been without struggle.

In 2014, on the day we were leaving for Mount Kilimanjaro, my Grandma passed.

When she left, I felt like I had lost one of my “persons”. Those people in your life who love you unconditionally. Your biggest cheerleaders. Ones where the connection to them feels deeper. The love pure.

But 2014 was full of life. We lived and loved big. We took on challenges and celebrated milestones. We conquered, we achieved, I turned 40 and we celebrated our 10 year anniversary. The time we spent with family and friends was time we will never regret.

When one of my best girls asked if I would meet her in NYC for her 40th, of course I said yes. How often do you celebrate a milestone like that?

Then 2015 made way to become a very difficult year. Like every other family we were running like mad chickens, over-committed, and busy. Just so busy.

I challenged myself in business. To build, to create more, do more, get bigger and in doing so, created an absolute wreck of a human being. I made decisions that went against my intuition and EVERY time got myself kicked in the ass. I took on some big financial risk during this growth and didn’t sleep for months.

Then in May of 2015, I lost another one of my persons. One of my dearest friends passed away suddenly of a brain aneurysm. Always one of my biggest cheerleaders, she was a wise old owl who was able to look (& talk through) all sides of the story when considering options. Yet she pushed me to be fearless and bold. Forever answering “yes!” before I even finished with “Do you think we should..?”

I always felt lucky to have had her as a friend but I wish I had told her more how much I valued her friendship, love and encouragement. Her loss made a deep cut to many who loved her. To this day, there is still a huge gaping hole that sits open in so many of us.

Beautiful memories like this make me happy

The grief of losing her mixed with massive business ups and downs created a level of anxiety and depression that I didn’t even know I was going through until much later. Most days, I felt like I was suffocating. When I think of those times, I often picture the Sea Witch from the Little Mermaid darkening the waters, growing bigger and bigger until she took over the whole screen. An ominous black liquid cloaking over me to the point of being unable to breath.

Outwardly, I was functioning because I felt I had to. Because it was expected of me to just “get over it” and to “relax” over the money invested in the business. Privately, I was having severe anxiety attacks that would scare both myself and my husband. They would happen as the kids slept or were gone for the day because somehow one of my ill-placed measures of success was not breaking down, truly breaking down, in front of them. On the other side of an attack I would end up feeling so exhausted that even sleep (& the desperate need for it) became part of the vicious cycle.

In September of 2015, We (ok I, with reluctant family members joining in) decided to do the Kon Mari purge. It’s a process I can’t recommend enough. Not necessarily because of the “Sparking Joy” piece but because getting rid of stuff clears your mind. Downsizing and letting go of so much of our crap helped immensely in releasing associated feelings connected to the past and got us moving to the future.

To start your way through a Kon Mari purge, here’s our start.

But something was still not right.

The purge helped collectively reduce my claustrophobic feelings, the big business decisions were done for the year but we felt like we weren’t living big anymore. Just going through the routine. Just busy people.

We had always talked of a dream of traveling the world. There were HUGE signs being sent our way that kept saying Do It Now! Come Before Winter! but that notion, that idea of making the leap felt SO big.

Too Big.

Yes, it can be Scary as F*ck. It can also be the most invigorating, exhilarating decision of your life. It is hard to believe that a year ago (at the start of 2016) we made the concrete decision to travel the world with our kids.

I am telling you this story not for sympathy or empathy but for you to see you are not alone. Everyone has a back story.

It’s for you to see our WHY behind the decisions we made to get here.

We want to tell you stories through our travels so that you can come along with us. We want to paint the picture so that you might be inspired enough to head down a similar path or travel somewhere you had never even thought about.

We all create imaginary barriers about why we can’t go somewhere. For us, we thought The Galapagos was too expensive. We are here to tell you it is entirely possible and one of the places we would recommend you to consider.

We want to tell you stories that are raw, real and honest. Ones that help you feel safe in taking that leap. Ones that makes you laugh. Taking chances to live the life you want. The one you deserve.

100% it can be scary as shit. But it means you are LIVING it.

And that’s all that counts.

So tell us, what is your WHY?

Healthy Living Real Life Travel

The Transformation – On Becoming a Butterfly

by Jenn & Chris on January 2, 2017

Reflecting on the journey to change is the most valuable part of the process.

Walk along the dirt road from Aguas Calientes towards the path up to Machu Picchu and you will discover a Butterfly Sanctuary hidden in the forest.

Head down a few stairs and you come across a soft-spoken gentleman behind the bar who offers to take you on a tour of the Mariposa. Follow him through a beaded curtain into a large mesh tent and you arrive into a magical little world of hundreds of butterflies & cocoons. All in different states of Chrysallis.

As the guide talks (in Spanish), you can tell he adores & respects these creatures. There is something quite extraordinary about him. For the first time in a long time, I see someone truly at peace. His job is to protect and nurture as many butterflies as he can and you can tell that this is his bliss, that he was doing what he loved.

It’s a special moment that will stick in my brain from this trip. The curious state of the kids seeing so many butterflies starting their journey into the world. The mass of cocoons nestled together. The ways in which each species used special defences to protect themselves. Whether curling up when touched, hiding under leaves or camouflaging themselves, every effort was made to ensure they wouldn’t get hurt in the process.

A butterfly just out of its cocoon. An incredible experience to witness.

It was a small tour and as we were about to leave, something called us to go into a room that was painted throughout with fun facts on butterflies. It was here I came across a mural depicting the transformation of a butterfly as the symbolism for human life.

The image on the left is the actual mural on the wall of the Butterfly Mariposa in Aquas Calientes. The right is the translation for your benefit.

As simply as it was laid out, the complex nature of humans was detailed in the exact same way a butterfly transforms from a caterpillar. We found it fascinating. Whether it’s reflecting on our life in its entirety, a goal, a resolution, a business idea, or whatever we decide to focus on, it all fits the same process.

First – The Larva

It starts with birth, an idea, the beginning of something fresh, something possible.

Next – The Caterpillar

It changes to movement, action, manifesting the idea, undertaking the necessary steps to make it happen. To make it to the goal.

Then – The Cocoon

Looking inward. Finding time for introspection and reflection. Seeking the space and the quiet to think about everything we have accomplished in this journey.

Finally – The Butterfly

The re-birth. The transformation. Release. Freedom. Strength. Courage.

The moment we recognize that we are different, that we have changed.

It’s such a beautiful metaphor for what we go through isn’t it? Especially when we get to our goal.

And then at the very bottom, the smallest part of the mural had the biggest impact on me.

Along the life we change. Learn how to enjoy each transformation.

Let’s be honest.

We SUCK THE BIG ONE at the whole introspective, reflection piece that comes with accomplishment.

We have become a society of busy people, of doers, the concept of taking time to be be quiet no longer fits in our vocabulary. We have forgotten how to enjoy or embrace all the parts of the journey that leads to our transformations. How to be still for a moment and recognize the change.

This is where the universe comes in to play a role. “The universe” for me is that spiritual messenger that intervenes when you totally don’t think you need it but then realize after, you totally do. When you need to be quiet, it shuts you down. Its in the moments when you feel like you can hardly handle another thing and you get a cold. The moment when your body is physically required to be still in order to recoup. It CREATES moments of quiet for you when you need it most.

So hurried are we to get to our goal/destination that we forget its looking back at our path & how we got here that really is the best part.

It teaches us who we are. It shows our strength and determination. How far we’ve come. What we can achieve when we put our minds to it. The leaps of faith we have taken.

We have asked ourselves a few times on this trip, what we think we are going to change in to. We realize now its about embracing all the moments in between that will be the most important. Grateful for everything we are experiencing. THAT will truly be our change.

This year, don’t forget to take the time to reflect on where you’ve been and where you are.

You rock. You are making shit happen. Embrace all those moments, find the joy in your journey, the why’s, the how’s, the courage and strides you have taken.

Because THEN you will become the MOST BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLY.

Chris, Jenn, Spencer and Lauren are a family from Canada on a trip around the world to live life to its fullest. Their goal is to push boundaries, connect with nature, meet people, learn of new places & teach their kids to become global citizens.

Changing the World Travel

Why We Are Visiting Places That Will Likely Disappear In Our Lifetime

by Jenn & Chris on December 1, 2016

The Many Faces of Travel

When we finally made the decision to take this trip around the world, a big part of the planning process became “where do we want to go?”

Each family member was given a choice of 3 priority destinations that would fulfill a lifelong dream of theirs.

If you could pick 3 places to travel in the world, where would you go?

Our loose, plan not to plan itinerary is to see the world in all its glory. Yet we realized that many of the places we wanted to see are also ones that are being threatened by over-tourism, climate change and the influence/intrusion of man.

The Giant Tortoises once ruled the Galapagos, until man brought invasive species along to the islands. In turn, the food & water resources were consumed by other animals greatly depreciating the tortoise population into endangered status

We feel like we’re in a bit of a juxtaposition. Our goal was to intentionally visit sites that we believe might disappear in our lifetime. After seeing how tourism is affecting many of those areas, we are unsure if our attendance might be hastening their demise.

The pristine, hardly-touched beach of Tortuga Bay in Galapagos could change in a heart beat if the wrong people are supporting the tourism plan for the islands

We have already witnessed it as we visited The Galapagos Islands and we have seen in again in Aguas Calientes, the base town for traveling Machu Picchu.

Being able to walk through lava tunnels gave us such an incredible perspective on how the Galapagos came about

In the Galapagos, we opted to do a land-based visit to maintain our RTW budget and support local providers where possible. The concept of land vs cruise tours is still quite new in the Galapagos. It was very simple to book island tours for the next day, the competition becoming increasingly fierce for the tourist dollar. While the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and other government agencies are working hard on regulations around environmental considerations, amount of tourists and the way they tour, you can already see how more tourists in the Galapagos has the potential of messing with an already fragile eco-system.

We were able to come so close to the marine iguanas that you know they have become VERY familiar with tourists

A few things that really did impress me about The Galapagos:

Tour organizers like Galapagos Alternatives work very hard at designing a personal custom tour for you WHILE ensuring that where possible the eco-impact is considered.
The government has a limited allocation of taxis currently running with gas on the island. Any resident purchasing a car in the future on the island must purchase an electric car.
Seymour Airport on Baltra Island is the first Ecological airport, running entirely on renewable energy resources like solar power and wind.

Machu Picchu is one of the most majestic places on earth. It truly does take your breath away when you turn the corner and see it for the first time. Unfortunately, parts of the ruins as well as the road on the way up are starting to deteriorate and the geological concerns are hitting a critical mass. Areas are starting to become off limits, walks to the Sun Gate are now restricted to 2 walks up per day and must be booked months in advance, the Intihuatana stone (The Hitching Post of the Sun) no longer allowed to be touched.

The Temple of the Condor in Machu Picchu was fascinating in their beliefs and rituals surrounding it, yet too much activity can start to cause damage.

We were told that according to recent studies, the road has less than 17 months left before it will be impossible to drive up to the top. There has been consideration for a cable car up to the top but the local economy is against it, bolstered largely through the employment offered from construction, tourism and buses driving up the mountain. For Aguas Calientes their sole economy is tourism. Without it, this town has no other resources to rely on. The push for an increase in tourism will continue but at what price?

The market in Aquas Calientes is so very full of the usual tourist chotchkes. We get it. It's the only source of economy in the town. — The market in Aquas Calientes is so very full of the usual tourist chotchkes. We get it. It’s the only source of economy in the town but it quickly changes the beauty and authenticity of the experience into feeling like a dollar sign.

We are trying hard to be careful in how we are traveling. To support sustainable travel & local economies but without getting caught in the “vicious cycle” that plays out with popular tourist destinations where we can.

Lake Titicaca is so incredibly beautiful but it is said now that locals are putting on a “show” to appease expectations for tourists when its no longer real

We have a few other precious destinations on our list. Patagonia is seeing many of its glaciers retreating at an alarming rate, the Great Barrier Reef is dying, the Sumatran Orangutans are endangered, pushed out of their natural habitats due to deforestation, logging and poachers and the Maldives will likely be under water within the next few decades due to climate change.

This trip is a series of life lessons we are learning along the way. One which we hope will connect for us, for our kids and for our readers alike.

Machu Picchu is SUCH a sacred place but it feels very close to that sacred piece being hurt along the way.

Dad Says:

Ok, so did you get the T-Shirt? That is the question that keeps circling as we make our way through South America. Every stop has weavings, pictures, purses and ‘real’ Alpaca products for sale, all handmade if you believe the tales, and dyed in the time-honoured tradition of the region. Or not. There is way too much similarity to vouch for the claims, and you wonder if this schtick is as transparent to others as it is to us. Sadly, I don’t think so, with the amount of offerings and marks milling through the markets.

This is the part of travel I don’t like. The commercialization of these magical places, the continual drive to relieve me of some currency. No, I don’t want a: hat, blanket, hammock, or picture of you in your traditional regional garb. I want to climb to the top of a mountain and imagine the footsteps of those who went before, take a picture to bolster my failing memory, and think of the journey over a glass. No T-shirt required…

Family Matters Travel

It’s the Journey…

by Jenn & Chris on November 24, 2016

And so ours begins.

How to stay present while traveling.

Mom Says

I wasn’t sure how we would approach writing about this adventure. Social media is so engrained in my world (both professionally and personally) that of course I want to share everything with everybody because it’s just all so beautiful and so different. We hope to spread the good word about unique places, spaces and experiences that we think you might enjoy. The kids eager to pass on lessons we have learned on the road, taking on the responsibility of sharing information with their class & friends as part of their experience.

Sea lions in the galapagos — The mere proximity we had to wild life in The Galapagos made me cry ALL the time.

We believe in sharing openly and honestly about this journey. Writing without censorship the awesomeness and the challenges of family dynamics on the road might help in planning for your own adventure. Traveling with special needs for us is not about focusing on the disability but about providing an ABILITY to see the world in a different way. The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

Here’s the kicker. We barely ever get to ugly. It hasn’t ever really been a part of “us”.

The one bad I have been holding on to is that we haven’t written much. The truth is we haven’t written much YET because we (especially me) are learning to be present.

Swing at the end of the world views — This was the sun setting as the kids and I waited for them to venture on the Swing at the end of the world in Banos. IT was epic.

It’s so much more difficult than I realized.

I am in awe of the beauty mother nature has created here and listening intently to what the she has to say. These moments are gifts and I am concentrating on staying in the moment. To be still, breathe it in, recognize what it is and be grateful for all the beauty that sits before us. Admittedly it has brought me to tears so often that Chris is wondering if I’m going through “the change”.

Having Frigate birds soaring only a few feet away had us all choked up — Having Frigate birds soaring only a few feet away had us overwhelmed from the beauty of it all.

A dear friend gave us great advice before we left. Live fully in that moment for as long as you can, because the minute you bring a camera lens into the picture, all of the specialness you are witnessing disappears. A wise woman is she. A wise, wise woman.

Penguins in all their glory on Isla Isabella had me bawling — Penguins in all their glory on Isla Isabella. Penguins..Can we just say Penguins?

Dad says:

So here we are: all of the above is true, and now, this thing is on. Real time events, reactions, and fun times ahead.

We arrived in Quito in the evening to a never-ending river of light as the city sits surrounded by so many mountains. I am now speaking more spanish than ever, which was previously restricted to resort replies such as ‘si, yo es mucho macho’ and ‘uno mas’ and some upsizing at Taco Bell.

The city is awesome, foreign and fun. Look for more posts to come as we comb through the notes and find the best stuff for you all.