The Brooks Blog

Scotland: 20 Schemes, Tantallon, and Ben Lomond.

2026-10-14T13:39:08.907-05:00

Our church supports a ministry in Scotland called 20 Schemes. 20 Schemes is a ministry that exists to plant healthy, gospel centered churches in Scotland's schemes (government housing projects). In July, we were able to take our oldest two kids with us to visit our missionary friends in Scotland. They work with 20 Schemes at Kilwinning Evangelical church just south of Glasgow. We have been partnered as a church with Kilwinning Evangelical for a number of years now. It was a blessing to be able to visit the church in person and to see first hand all the Lord is doing in Scotland.

While the main purpose of the trip was to connect with 20 Schemes, we did have time to do some sightseeing. Years ago, when I was looking through my family tree, I learned that I have a direct ancestral link to ancient Scottish nobility. I found out that Tantallon Castle in East Lothian is my ancestor's castle. I had to visit! If you are ever in the area east of Edinburgh, I definitely recommend visiting Tantallon. It is a moody looking medieval castle sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the North Sea. It's an unforgettable setting.

We visited nearby Seacliff beach to catch a glimpse of the castle from the sea.

If you know me, you know I am always looking for a good hike. The day before we left, we decided to do a big hike in the Loch Lomond area. We drove about 1.5 hours from Kilwinning to the Ben Lomond car park. Ben Lomond is a mountain (munro) on the southern edge of the highlands. We followed this trail

HERE

We hiked 7.7 miles and climbled 3,188 feet in elevation. It was the longest hike Callie and Coleman had ever done. The views were beautiful, and we saw lots of sheep along the way. We were blessed with a gorgeous day for hiking.

20th Anniversary Trip

2026-07-08T12:57:42.989-05:00

Charlie and I recently returned from our 20th anniversary trip to France. It was a fast and furious trip as we did not want to leave the kids for too long. We had a blessed trip as we visited a few Paris sites, went to the French Open, and took a train to the west coast of France.

We were pretty jet lagged after not sleeping on the plane, but we managed to walk around Paris a good bit. We saw the outside of Notre Dame and walked across bridges over the Seine river. We went to the base of the Eiffel Tower. We were there when PSG won the Champions League game. It was cool and a bit crazy to see everyone celebrating.

Charlie and I had both been to Paris before (separately) when we were teenagers, so for this trip, we didn't care to do all the city attractions. Rather, we spent our main full day in the city, at Roland Garos watching the French Open. I especially just loved the grounds and the venue. We were not on center court, but rather the second main court. We watched part of a women's match and almost all of a men's match. I told Charlie it felt like a casual, yet classy environment. We both really enjoyed it!

After spending most of the day at the French Open, we took an evening train to St. Malo on the coast of Brittany in western France. We stayed at the hotel Chateaubriand. It was right by the water and the fort in the old part of the city. You could walk along the city's ramparts right outside our hotel.

If you know me, you can guess that I am always going to be looking for hike to go on. The next day, we were blessed with great weather so we headed out to hike along the coast. We hiked along the coastal path labeled GR-34. We hiked from Fort La Latte to Cape Frehel. It was approximately 6 miles round trip. With pleasant temperatures and no elevation gain to speak of, it felt like an easy hike. You can pay to tour the Fort but we chose not to do that so we simply hiked between the two landmarks. It was beautiful, and we even saw a pod of dolphins!

For our final full day in France (we kept the trip short to not be away from the kids long), we decided to visit the small medieval village of Dinan and Mont Saint-Michel. Dinan is such a charming medieval village that sits along the Rance river. It's full of cobblestone streets and half-timbered houses. We walked along the main street (Rue du Jerzual) and the ramparts. We walked by the river and I enjoyed a coffee as well.

Our final stop before returning to St. Malo to take an evening train back to Paris, was Mont Saint-Michel. Mont Saint-Michel is a tidal island with an abbey dating back 1000 years. It is one of the most unique places we have ever visited. Our visit coincided with low tide, so it was neat to see people walking in the tidal flats around the island. Touring the abbey was a bit of a climb but it was well worth it for the views and the architecture.

An Epic Weekend in Tucson

2026-04-11T15:34:00.087-05:00

We just returned from a sweet weekend visiting dear friends in Tucson. We were excited to visit the desert southwest, but we were especially blessed to get to spend so much time with dear friends! Upon arrival, all 14 of us jumped in their big van and headed to Canyon Lake. While Canyon Lake is not in Tucson (actually 1 hr. 45 min. north), it worth the visit. The lake is gorgeous with canyon walls all alongside it.

The water was cold, but there were some brave souls who still went tubing!

Can you find our big horned sheep friend? He is a bit camoflauged!

After boating, we put on our western attire and headed to the Hitching Post in Apache Junction. This place is a true gem. If you have a bit of an "old soul" about you and you are looking for an evening with a western vibe, look no further. The Hitching Post is a true cultural experience. Dance to live country music on the dance floor and then (if it's a Saturday or Thursday) head out back to watch bull riding! Seriously, I have never been anywhere like this place!

Sunday (Easter) morning was spent at our friends' church. It was a blessing to worship with them and special to have an Easter in the desert!

We had a relaxing afternoon and then went to the Gas Light Theater for an evening dinner show. This was one of everyone's favorite activities. The clean, yet comedic theater performance, is perfect for families. There is a live band playing classic tunes. The pizza is great. It's a fun evening for the family.

If you know me, I'm always looking for a fun hike. On Monday, we were able to go on a hike in the Sabino Canyon Recreation Area. We didn't follow a specific trail on "All Trails", but rather we paved our own way. We hiked up the bear canyon trail to the Sabino lake trail. We took the lake trail past the dam all the way to the creek trail. At the end of the creek trail, we took the phoneline link trail back to the tram road. The kids took the tram road back to the visitor center while Charlie and I tacked on another trail. We took the rattlesnake trail to the esperero trail and back down to the visitor center via the sabino walkway trail. The trail Charlie and I took allowed us to climb a little higher and get some views from higher up.

We almost stepped on this little guy! Our horny toad friend!

Charlie and I hiked a little further on our own

I told the kids I wanted lots of pictures of them with cacti because you can't get that anywhere else! What a sweet, blessed weekend we had! I was very thankful.

Hiking Mount Borgeau

2025-12-16T13:07:00.000-06:00

Our final day hike of our Banff trip was the Mount Borgeau hike. The Mount Borgeau trailhead is about 30 minutes south of Lake Louise. You can see the all trails link HERE. This hike is very LONG. It was 14.2 miles and 5,921 feet of elevation gain.

The trail begins in the woods as you follow a stream.

You eventually pass over the creek with a waterfall up above.

Just as you get to the top of the tree line, you reach Borgeau Lake. Borgeau Lake is a beautiful lake nestled right below the peak of Mount Borgeau.

As you carry on past Borgeau lake, you really begin the get out of the trees. The trail opens up into an alpine meadow. You pass multiple tarns (small lakes) as you approach Harvey pass. Even the views from the pass are exceptional.

Looking back down at Borgeau Lake from the pass

Other views from the pass and tarns along the way

After the pass, you begin the final ascent to the summit of Borgeau. Mount Borgeau is an easy mountain to summit in that you do not need any technical climbing skills to do it. However, getting to the top and then back down felt like an eternity.

There were lots of views like this! Please note that Charlie is far above me in both pictures 😂 (humbling).

We finally made it to the top. We were blessed with a clear day and the views were fabulous!

We signed the summit register inside this box.

What a memorable moment! It was beautiful. We soaked it in and then began the long descent. Going downhill killed my blistered feet. By the end of this day (and thus our last big hike of the trip), I found myself halfway jogging the last 2 miles. My jogging was not because I had so much energy left in the tank, mind you. No, this jogging was because I was so over the hiking and the hurting feet. I was desperate to make it to the end as quickly as possible! Ha Ha! Charlie, while he was ready to be done, was as surefooted as a mountain goat and didn't even have half a blister. I was a bit jealous 😉

Hiking the Lake O'hara Alpine Circuit

2025-10-28T10:07:00.000-05:00

On day two of our most recent Banff trip, Charlie and I set out to hike the Lake O'hara alpine circuit. On our first trip to Banff in 2023, I had never even heard of Lake O'hara. After researching for this past trip, I discovered this gem of a place that is so close to Lake Louise. It was only 15 minutes from Paradise Lodge and Bungalows (where we stayed) in Lake Louise. Technically, Lake O'Hara is in Yoho National Park.

Lake O'Hara has become a protected place. Parks Canada wants to preserve this pristine environment, therefore they only allow a certain number of visitors per day. There are two shuttle busses that bring people in each day. You literally have to win the bus lottery in order to get a spot or be crazy/determined enough to hike into the area. Sadly, we did not get a bus spot. We chose to hike in. It's a 7 mile hike with about 1600 feet of elevation gain up an access road to reach Lake O'Hara. After reaching the lake we continued hiking on most of the Alpine Circuit around the lake adding another 6.5 miles to our day. We totaled about 13.5 miles and 3600 feet of elevation gain.

The hike up the access road was prettier and less mundane than I anticipated. We started up the road at 6:15 am and got to see the rising sun begin to light up the tops of the mountains. The road follows along a creek which helped to keep the hike in interesting.

We arrived at Lake O'hara around 8:00 am. I love how the lake is so calm you can see the reflection of the mountain in the water. We predominately followed the alltrails link HERE. From the base of the lake we headed clockwise up and around climbing to Wiwaxy Gap. Climbing up to Wiwaxy Gap was the steepest part of the hike.

Although climbing up Wiwaxy Gap was steep, our climb up to the top of Cirque Peak the day before felt more strenuous. The views at the top of Wiwaxy were stunning. It was super windy and cold at the top, so we didn't stay long.

This is the view looking to the other side of Wiwaxy.

Having reached the highest point in the hike, we hiked along the Huber ledges to Lake Oesa. You pass above other little blue lakes (tarns) along the way. Lake Oesa is a dazzling blue lake. We sat here to eat our lunch.

We followed along the Yukness ledges. We passed on the other side of the small tarns and came out to a rocky point overlooking Lake O'hara from the east.

We dropped back down on the other side of the Yukness Ledges, continuing our hike of the circuit going clockwise. We passed by Hungabee Lake and stopped at Opabin Lake for a quick snack.

From here we took a quicker route back, not completing the final portion of the alpine circuit up to All Soul's Prospect. We knew by cutting off this last part, we would have a better chance of catching a spot on the 2pm shuttle back to the parking lot. At this point, out legs were toast and we were desperate to not have to hike the 7 miles back out. Although Parks Canada will never let you hitch a ride on the way into Lake O'hara if you did not win the bus lottery, they will allow you to pay $15 per person to hitch a ride out of the area if there is extra space on an outgoing bus. We were so thankful to get a spot! We finished up the day at the base of Lake O'hara where we started.

After two massive hiking days, we were ready for a "rest" day. We visited Lake Moraine the next day and just took it easy. It was cloudy on our way to Lake Moraine, but right when we arrived the sun peaked out. The lake is so stunningly blue in the midday sun. It always takes my breath away!

Hiking Cirque Peak in Banff

2025-09-18T18:56:00.000-05:00

Charlie and I recently returned from our second hiking trip to Banff. The first trip was 2 years ago. I wanted to go back and hike more in the beauty of the Canadian Rockies before we were too old to do hard hikes. Ha! Our first big hike was Cirque Peak via Helen Lake. You access this hike from the Icefields parkway (beautiful drive in the area). This is a hard, out and back hike that is 10.2 miles and has 3700 feet of elevation gain. Check out the alltrails link HERE

The first 3 or so miles begin in a forest. It's a bit muddy (it had been raining the night before and the morning of the hike), and we were hemmed in by the trees.

The views begin to open up as you hike above the trees and enter the alpine meadow. I love alpine meadows!

As you fully enter the meadow, you come to the base of Helen Lake. Helen Lake is not as vibrantly colorful as many of the lakes in the Canadian Rockies are, but it's still very pretty and the setting is so serene. You can see Cirque Peak right behind the lake in this picture.

Cirque peak doesn't look that imposing in this picture. Looks can be deceiving. While this is not a technical hike (I don't do technical hikes), this climb is a huge cardio workout! There were points where Charlie and I both felt nauseous on the climb. At one point, right below the summit, Charlie was seeing "stars" and had to sit for a minute. It's possible some of the difficulty for us was due to the fact we had not been in the mountains for 24 hours yet. Perhaps our bodies had not adjusted to the altitude. The majority of the last part of the hike is on "treadmill scree." You take a step forward and it feels like you slide 3/4 of that step backwards. Our hiking poles were helpful at this point.

The views from the top made all the pain worth it! How many hikes can you see multiple glacier lakes when you arrive at the top? At the top you can you see a glacier (Bow glacier) waterfall into a small (iceberg) lake which waterfalls into the larger (Bow) lake! The hikes are so rewarding here!

Exploring Arches National Park/Moab

2025-05-26T16:01:00.001-05:00

After a five hour drive from Zion, we arrived at Arches National Park in the early afternoon. The first hike we wanted to tackle was Delicate Arch. We had a timed entry ticket to the park and the there was no line to enter. The arch is massive and the backdrop of the snow covered La Sal mountains made it feel a bit magical.

After hiking to Delicate Arch, we stopped by Double Arch on the way out of the park. Double arch is a very short walk from the parking lot. You cannot even call it a hike. Double Arch appears massive as you approach it.

This arch was one of the kids' favorite places in the park. They loved climbing the rocks all around double arch. I've said it once already, but we do not have rocks like these in the east!

The view from Double Arch

We entered the park again on our second day in the area. The entire morning was spent hiking most of the devil's garden loop including the primitive trail. We did not do all the spur trails, so there is no exact alltrails link to share for what we did. We did the loop clockwise and visited landscape arch, double O arch, and finished up on the primitive trail. It was about 5 miles total. The park has put more markers (blue tags on trees) to help with route finding on the primitive trail. That was helpful, yet we still managed to get turned around a bit!

The kids were toast after this, but I managed to convince everyone to make one more quick stop. Sand dune arch is another arch that you can easily walk from the parking lot to. It was a great place for a snack, and they once again enjoyed climbing there.

We spent mornings hiking all around and the afternoons lounging by the pools at our hotel. It was a nice combo. It's a neat experience sitting in the hot sun by a cool pool surrounded by red rocks and snow capped mountains in the distance. I soaked in all the unique scenery.

We began our final day in Moab, by leaving the kids at the hotel. While they slept in/watched a movie, Charlie and I did one final hike. We hiked the Fisher Towers trail HERE. I loved this hike. It was 4.2 miles and 1400 feet of elevation gain. We hiked through the tall stone spires and out to a great viewpoint. It was about a 30 minute drive from our hotel, but the drive was beautiful as it followed the Colorado river.

For the afternoon, we booked a rafting trip down the Colorado river with Mild to Wild rafting. Our rafting was definitely on the mild side! It was more of a float than taking on rapids. We knew this however and we prepared the kids that it would be low key. While they would have enjoyed more rapids, they were thankful to be doing something other than hiking!

We drove into the park one final time our last evening in Moab. We headed to the Windows Arch parking lot to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. It happened to be one of those evenings where you could watch the sunset in one direction and then watch the full moon rise in another. It was a great way to end our trip.

Hiking with Kids in Zion

2025-05-10T18:19:00.000-05:00

We did two big hikes in Zion which I will describe in detail in this post. We hiked to Scout Lookout at the base of Angel's Landing (above pic) and we hiked in the Narrows of the Virgin River. Before I share about these hikes, I want to post a couple pics from our drive from the Grand Canyon to Zion. We left the Grand Canyon early in the morning planning to stop a few times along the way.

Horseshoe Bend

Our first stop was just south of Page, Arizona at Horseshoe Bend. The walk out to the viewpoint of Horseshoe Bend is easy and relatively flat. It's a 1.5 mile round trip walk that is certainly worth the stop if you are not short on time. We did have to pay $10 to park.

Our next stop was Orderville, Utah. I booked a slot canyon tour (crimson canyon) with East Zion Adventure Company. You can check out their website HERE. We had so much fun riding in their off road UTV vehicles and exploring 2 different narrow slot canyons. This was a highlight for everyone.

Scout Lookout Hike

We had one full day in Zion and two big hikes to tackle. I chose the scout lookout hike because I wanted some big, high up views. The views were wonderful for the entire hike. The most challenging part of this hike especially for younger kids is the elevation gain. It's approximately 3.6 miles and 1100 feet of elevation gain. You can view the alltrails link HERE. Abbie was an absolute trooper! The promise of ice cream later in the day was all she needed to power through (that and a lot of hiking snacks)!

We began this hike around 7:30am. It was quite chilly, but we dressed in layers knowing the day would heat up quickly. At the start of the hike, you cross over the Virgin River on a foot bridge.

It's a paved trail as you begin climbing higher. The switchbacks at points are very steep. It wasn't easy for Abbie, but she persevered.

Wonderful views all along the way.

The kids enjoyed running ahead of Charlie and I and playing hide and seek in the rocks. We don't have rocks like these in the east!

My favorite picture from the hike

The top takes you to the base of Angel's landing. To continue along on the narrow spine of rock (pictured behind Natalie and Coleman), you need a permit. We determined that Angel's Landing was not a safe hike for young kids. It was still neat to see it though.

I would definitely recommend this hike if your family is in relatively good shape. The views are wonderful.

The Narrows

In an ideal world we would have had two full days at Zion, and we would have been able to hike scout lookout one day and the narrows the next. However, we had to cram them both into the one full day that we had. The water was about 40 degrees, so we decided to spend the money to rent drysuits from Zion Outfitters.

The drysuits kept us a lot warmer than we would have been otherwise. The poles were very helpful as well. We were blessed to even be able to hike in April. Many years the snowmelt makes the Virgin river too dangerous to hike in the spring. The day we hiked the river was flowing at about 66 cfs. It was manageable for all our kids, but we had to hold Abbie's hand the entire way. The deepest part of the hike was about 1/4 mile in. The water got up to my waist. Charlie had to carry Abbie through that part.

We probably hiked about 1.2 miles upstream before we turned around. We did not make it to the narrowest portion of the hike called "wall street". I wish we could have gone further but our legs were too tired. By the end of the day we had walked/hiked over 10 miles. That's a lot for my 6 year old! Hiking the Narrows is such a memorable experience no matter how far up the river you go. We were especially blessed by beautiful weather.

Grand Canyon

2025-04-23T11:49:00.000-05:00

The second leg of our western journey took us to the south rim of the Grand Canyon. It was just over a 2 hour drive from Sedona. We left by 7:30 am to arrive at the canyon by 9:45. It's not as hard to get your family up and moving early when you have traveled from east to west. 7:30 am Arizona time felt more like 10:30 am eastern time. We only planned to stay about 24 hours in the Grand Canyon, so we had to get an early start to make the most of our time.

Our first view of the canyon was at Mather Point (just by the Visitor's center).

After taking in some of the scenery at Mather Point, we took the orange shuttle to the South Kiabab trail head. We hiked from the trailhead to "Ooh Aah" point. It's steep, but doable (just under 2 miles with app. 700 feet of elevation gain). Abbie's legs were tired from all the switchbacks. Remember all the climbing is going back up at the end. You can view the alltrails link HERE

I really wanted to do a little bit of hiking below the rim while we were here. This hike was a win in that it provided beautiful views for a modest amount of difficulty. There was even some leftover snow at the top of the rim from a storm the week before!

After the hike, we returned to the Visitor's center via the orange shuttle. From there, we were able to hop on the blue and red shuttles to see more viewpoints toward the western side of the canyon. These viewpoints allow you to see a bit more of the Colorado river which I loved.

Our first stop was Hopi Point. We had the most picturesque spot for a picnic lunch!

We walked from Hopi Point to Mohave Point along the rim trail. The rim trail truly goes right along the rim. There were some points where a fall would have been bad. It wasn't anything super dangerous, but rather a situation where we repeatedly reminded our kids to go slow and watch their footing.

Mohave Point was probably my favorite viewpoint. It had the best river views (at least of the viewpoints we saw) and the views in general were expansive and impressive!

After Mohave Point, we returned to the Visitor's Center area in search of ice cream. You will notice a theme on this trip. We hike a lot and then reward ourselves with ice cream or acai bowls etc. We stayed at Yavapai Lodge. It is the only lodge I could find inside Grand Canyon National Park that could house a family of 6 in one room. I wish I had taken a picture of our room. It was small, but nice and clean. It had 2, twin over queen bunk beds. It was more than sufficient for one night. With 6 person rooms being so scarce here, I booked this lodge 8 months in advance!

Checking in at Yavapai Lodge was all the more interesting due to the elk meandering around! Abbie decided to get a souvenir elk stuffy to remember the moment.

After an early dinner at Yavapai Lodge, we headed back over to Mather Point to watch the sunset. Mohave would have been a better sunset destination, but we simply didn't have the time to take the two shuttles required to get over there. Yavapai Lodge is much closer to Mather Point.

While you don't have views of the sun setting over the canyon at Mather Point (views are obscured), the light that the sunset cast over the canyon to the east was very beautiful.

Charlie and I actually got up early the next morning to catch the sunrise. Mather Point is great spot to see the sun rise over the canyon. The kids decided they would rather have some extra sleep, so they did not join us.

After the sunrise, we went back to the room. We collected our kids and our belongings and headed Zion.

Sedona

2025-04-15T13:29:00.002-05:00

Our family visited Sedona for part of our spring break trip in April. We had only one full day to spend there, so I had to carefully pick our hikes/itinerary. Two hikes continued to stick out to me as I researched. We chose to do Devil's Bridge via Mescal Trailhead and Cathedral Rock. If I had it to do over again, I would likely still choose those same hikes. They did not disappoint. Click HERE to view the alltrails link for the Devil's Bridge hike.

Devil's Bridge

The hike begins at the Mescal trailhead. We arrived early (7am) in order to get a parking spot. I had read that parking could be an issue there. There were still a number of spots available at 7 and that was on a Saturday.

The beginning of the trail is pretty flat. It's a 4 mile trail (2 miles out and 2 miles back), and the 500ish feet of elevation gain are mostly in the 2nd mile as you near the top.

The little hideouts in the rocks are fun. We don't have rocks like these in the east!

The views begin to open up as you get near the last stretch to the top. The top has sweeping views of the whole area. The bridge itself is a lot wider than it appears in pictures. It was still a little nerve wrecking to me to cram all 6 of us on it. The worst part of this hike was the 45 minutes we stood in line to get a picture. I knew it would be that way and accounted for the time we would have to spend. It was worth it to get such an iconic photo.

Cathedral Rock

Our legs were beginning to feel tired, but we were not done yet. Our next hiking trail was Cathedral Rock. We drove from Mescal trailhead back to the park and ride for the cathedral rock shuttle. Unfortunately, the park and ride shuttle lot was full. After a confusing conversation with the parking lot attendant, we attempted to drive as close to the trail head as we could. Charlie let the kids and I out of the van and we walked the mile from blocked off entrance to the trail all the way to the trailhead. Charlie drove around a bit and was eventually able to get a parking spot at the park and ride shuttle area. The kids and I began our ascent and Charlie ended up meeting us at the top of Cathedral Rock. Although it was a stressful start to the hike (the parking issue), it ended up being all 4 kids' favorite hike of the entire trip! It's short but very steep and fun. Check out the alltrails link HERE

views on the way up...I wish I had taken photos of the climb. There were many points where you had to use your hands to climb up.

views from the top

After 2 hikes, we were exhausted. We celebrated with Acai bowls from Berry Divine and some souvenir shopping in downtown Sedona. We topped off the day with some pool and pickle ball time at our condo complex and take out dinner from Colt Grill BBQ in the Village of Oak Creek.

Saving Money on a Ski Trip

2025-01-15T11:05:00.000-06:00

For New Year's, we took at trip to Steamboat Springs, CO to ski. This was our 2nd year skiing in Steamboat. I'm not going to pretend that skiing is somehow not expensive. It's very expensive. But, through the years (we took 3 ski trips to Beech Mountain, NC prior to Steamboat), I have learned a few ways to save money. For those who know me, I'm frugal to the core! We are also very committed to our church and giving to missions. I have a personal conviction that I don't want to spend more money in a given year on travel than we give to the church/missions. For all of these reasons, I am always looking to make our trips as affordable as possible.

Book Early... The biggest thing I do to save money is I book early. We stayed at the same airbnb that we stayed at last year. I booked it 9 months in advance. It's the most affordable place near the mountain that will house our family. Thankfully, the owner has a really good cancellation policy, so I always book her place as soon as she opens up her calendar. There is nothing to lose. We could cancel up to a week before coming and get a full refund. I also book our flights 9-10 months in advance. We fly nonstop directly from Atlanta to the small town of Hayden, CO. The flight prices went up dramatically after I booked our flights this year. I was so thankful I had booked them early. We also fly "light." What I mean is we don't pay to check a bag. This is a challenge when you have to pack bulky clothes, but you can do it! We roll our clothes and we wear our snow boots and puffy jackets on the plane. Everyone has a book bag and a carry on suitcase. It saves time and money at the airport.

Eating out... We don't eat out much. This past trip, we spent 4 nights in Steamboat and skied 3 straight days. We ate dinner in the condo every night except for our last night. We went to 8th street steakhouse in town for our last meal. It's a very unique steakhouse in that you cook your own meat! It was nerve wrecking but we managed to not mess it up! They tell you exactly how long to cook your meat on each side etc. We had the Colorado buffalo. It was really good! You may be wondering what I do for food if we only eat out once. I place a large Safeway Grocery delivery order. I place the order the day before we leave on our trip (who wants to do that once you arrive?!), and I schedule it to get delivered a hour or so after our airbnb check in time. I've been very pleased with this procedure. Safeway has always been on time and had my order correct.

Ski school... The cost can add up. Last year we had Abbie in ski school for 3 straight days. It was too much! It cost too much and it was too exhausting. This year, she only did one day of ski school and then skied the other 2 days with us. It's getting easier to do that since she is becoming a better skier. In fact, she is already faster than me (it's not hard to be faster than me :). Ski school gets more expensive the closer you get to your trip date. For the best price, I booked Abbie's ski school in September.

Activities beyond skiing (Apres ski if you will)....This year we kept it really simple. The only after skiing activity we did (besides dinner and walking around downtown our last night) was the hot tub at our condo. Our condo has 2 hot tubs right outside the door to our unit. It's free and super convenient. Almost any condo you book will have a hot tub. It's a nice perk.

Lunches.... I am not going to lie, this is the hardest thing we do to save money. It's hard because we literally sit out in the cold to eat a cold lunch. Ha! However, this saves us about $150-$180 per day. Lunch at the slopes is pricey. How do we do this? I literally pack a small, soft sided cooler bag in Abbie's carry on (she always has extra space). At the base of the mountain, we rent a locker for $15 per day. When we arrive to ski for the day, we put our cooler bag (packed the night before) into the locker. We all take a break around noon for lunch. I try to make the lunches a little different/more exciting than our regular lunches at home. We do wraps, lots of chips, and mini cokes. Yes, it's not as fun as sitting in a warm restaurant eating a warm burger, but it saves us almost $500 by the end of the trip. That's significant. And, I always have lots of hot chocolate in the condo to warm us up after we are done skiing.

Lift tickets....Holy cow! They cost a lot especially out west. This past year was the best though with how our school calendar fell. We were able to ski entirely on non-black out dates for the Ikon pass. I'm not going to dive into all the details, but it's helpful to know the Ikon pass (or Epic for other resorts) can save you money. It can save you money even if you only take one ski trip per year. We bought the 3 day session pass for each of us. We skied Jan 2-4, so we didn't have any blackout dates. We paid a fraction of what we would have paid if we bought our 3 day lift tickets through the resort. Guess what! Ikon passes are cheapest when they first come out. Yes, I bought ours 9 months in advance. The Ikon pass is good about letting you push back your pass date. If you buy your pass in April (like I did) but say your kid breaks their leg in November, you can bump your pass dates to next year! I think you have until mid December to bump your pass to the following year's ski season. It's kind of like built in travel insurance.

Transportation... The photo below is taken right by Steamboat gondola transit center. We do not rent a car when we come to Steamboat. We pay for a transfer from Hayden's airport to the the town. Once in Steamboat, we can get anywhere we want for free using the free public bus system. We take the bus from our condo each morning to the slopes. When we go downtown for dinner, the bus gets us there as well. It's great. Having dealt with driving in snowy/icy conditions 3 different years in Beech Mountain, NC, not driving here is a welcome relief. I hope these tips can be of help to some people!

Athens

2024-12-30T10:01:00.001-06:00

The final leg of our trip was spent in Athens. We flew from Naxos to Athens and spent two nights in the city before returning to Milan to fly back home. We basically had a day and a half to explore Athens and that proved to be enough for our family. I booked a very affordable airbnb about 9 months prior and it did not disappoint. We were within walking distance of everything we wanted to see. The first night we arrived, we went to dinner and viewed the acropolis from a distance. The kids had fun pretending to "hold up the sun." Our waiter at dinner gave Abbie a dish of straight boba to eat!

The next day was a full one. We toured the Acropolis in the morning. We bought a "skip the line" pass and arrived at 8:30 am. I highly recommend going early before the heat and the crowds arrive. Seeing the Parthenon was definitely the highlight of the Acropolis for me. I was also amazed at how slick the rocks were surrounding the Parthenon and the other temples and sights. They were slick almost like they had been in a river. The reality, I'm sure, is that the rocks and so slick from millions of people walking over them for thousands of years.

Below is the Propylaea (the entrance to the Acropolis)

Below is the Temple of Athena Nike and below that is the Erechtheion

Below is the Theater of Dionysus which was in operation around 400s BC!

Below is the theater of Odeon of Herodes Atticus. This theater is actually from Roman times circa 161 AD.

After viewing the Acropolis and it's slopes, we walked over to Mars Hill also called the Areopagus. The Areopagus sits to the west of the Acropolis. It is where the apostle Paul preached his sermon to the Athenians...referring to their "unknown god" and telling them the truth about Christ, the one true God. We took pictures of Natalie and Coleman pretending to "preach" on the Areopagus rock. I also loved the view of the Acropolis from here.

After viewing the Acropolis and the Areopagus, we went souvenir shopping. Charlie gave each child 20 euros to spend in Greece, so some of them still had some money leftover from the islands. They were eager to shop! After shopping and lunch, we visited the Panathenaic Stadium. The stadium sits on the ancient site of a racecourse built in c 400 BC. The racecourse was built for the ancient Greek Panathenaic games. In 144 AD the stadium was rebuilt by Herodus Atticus (a Roman senator), and it was built entirely of marble! We did not want to pay for everyone to tour the stadium, but we at least wanted to walk to see it and take pictures from the outside.

Enjoy the below pic of me. Ha! Charlie snapped this one when I wasn't looking. I can't even tell you what sort of souvenir shop we were in or why in the world there was a jeep inside of it. However, this picture makes me laugh. I'm looking very touristy with my hat and dress and hiking backpack and dirty chacos. Hats and dresses are not normally my thing, but in Europe it seems that every lady wears a hat and a dress. I'm attempting to blend into the culture around me but at the same time everything about me screams tourist!

That is a wrap on our day in Athens. The below pictures are from a photo booth in the airport in Milan. That seemed like a good place to end with our photos seeing as how the Milan airport is where we started our big European adventure! And, when you get stuck in the Milan airport for over 5 hours due to flight delays, you need a way to entertain yourself!

Naxos

2024-12-06T13:33:00.001-06:00

After 4 nights on the island of Milos, we traveled by Seajet (high speed ferry) to the island of Naxos. The Seajets are quick and efficient, but people tend to get sick on them. Thankfully none of the 6 of us got sick although Abbie felt a bit nauseous. Arriving on Naxos, we got our rental vehicle and walked over to the Portara (all that remains of a temple to Apollo). It is an iconic landmark on the island of Naxos dating back to the 6th century BC.

After visiting the Portara near Naxos Town we headed south to a more remote part of the island. We stayed at the most unique Airbnb we have ever stayed at. We nicknamed it our "Greek Grandma's" house. The owner was the sweetest Greek lady who did not speak any English. We communicated through whatsapp and airbnb translations. She welcomed us to her house with freshly baked bread, homemade cheese, fresh milk, cereals, juices, and pears from her trees. We truly experienced Greek hospitality. While we did have to cram into the 2 bedroom 1 bath house, it was worth it for the authentic experience. Being in a more remote part of the island meant that this house was one of the most affordable airbnbs that would hold the 6 of us. What it lacked in size, it made up for with views. We were right on the ocean!

For our first full day on Naxos, we drove back towards the more populated part of the island to visit Agios Prokopios beach. It is known to be one of the most beautiful beaches on the island. It did not disappoint. The water was gorgeous. This beach is nice because it is sheltered from the brunt of the north winds. However, like most of the Aegean, the water was pretty cold.

After some time on the beach and a picnic lunch (again we mostly did picnic lunches in Greece and went out for dinners) we headed back to our airbnb for a break. Late afternoon, we ventured out to the village of Chalki for dinner. It was probably the most charming village we visited on both Milos and Naxos. It was full of quaint, cobblestone streets, whitewashed buildings, and colorful doors and shutters. We enjoyed a very nice meal here as well. We continued to order everything family style which was a way to keep the cost down.

We began our 2nd full day on Naxos driving to the mountain village of Apiranthos. We walked through the village and did a hike to a little chapel on top of the mountain. It was the perfect hike for our family. It was challenging enough to not be boring, but it wasn't too hard for the younger two. HERE is the link to the exact hike on alltrails for those who like such details! The wind was super strong on top of the mountain, but the views were great. The highlight for all the kids was ringing the chapel bell!

After the hike and a picnic, we headed back to the airbnb. We visited Agiassos beach which was half a mile from our house. I loved the ruggedness of this beach and the shallow seabed. The water also felt a bit warmer due to how shallow it was. This was our last time at the beach for the remainder of our trip. I soaked it in.

Milos

2024-11-20T12:30:00.003-06:00

We flew from Rome to Athens and then caught a small flight over to the island of Milos. Milos is a volcanic island of the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Greece has between 100-200 inhabited islands, so choosing which islands to visit was a challenge. Ultimately I decided on Milos because it is considered a little less touristy than many of the other islands. It also has numerous beautiful beaches. I wanted the bulk of our Greek island time to essentially be a beach vacation, therefore I wanted to pick an island with plenty of good beaches. Our first full day on Milos did not disappoint. In fact, almost everyone said that it was their favorite day of our entire 21 day trip. We had a private sailboat tour of the island. It costs extra to get a private tour but we felt it was worth it. We sailed with Polco sailing company. It was an excellent experience. They took us to multiple swimming stops including Kleftiko which is a rocky beach area full of sea caves. Pirates used to hide out in the sea caves waiting to attack unsuspecting ships as they passed by. We were even able to get off the sailboat and into a dingy boat to explore the sea caves. In addition to the beautiful swimming stops, they also fed us excellent food and snacks. It was an unforgettable day!

On our second full day in Milos, we visited Sarakiniko (moon) beach. It is one of the most photographed beaches on the island due to the unique volcanic rock that covers the area. It truly does look like you landed on the moon! Coleman went cliff jumping (while I prayed!). We explored some caves that were dug into the soft rock. Unfortunately Abbie got stung by a sea anemone when her leg brushed up against a rock in the water. It stung for a while!

After visiting "moon beach" we went to visit the catacombs of Milos. I did not realize until after we decided to vacation on Milos that there were in fact Christian catacombs there. It was truly so fascinating. These catacombs were not discovered until the 1800s, but they have been dated back to approximately 100 AD. There are rumors that the apostle Paul shared the gospel on this island, but the Bible does not mention it. Either way, there was a strong Christian presence by 100 AD and the Christians were burying their dead and having worship services in the catacombs.

After the catacombs, we visited an ancient theater and then ate dinner in the town of Plaka. There is a beautiful castle at the top of the mountain in Plaka. It's a Venetian style castle and a wonderful place to view the sunset. We didn't stay until sunset because the kids were tired, but I am sure it would have been gorgeous. We were so blessed to view beautiful sunsets from the patio area of our aibnb. Every summer day in Greece is a beautiful sunset day because there is always a cloudless sky.

For our final full day on the island, we visited a different beach called Firaplaka. We also went to the small fishing village of Pollonia for dinner. Firaplaka was a unique beach with layered colors in the rocks due to various minerals (sulfur, iron, and manganese).

I had to post this final picture! Have you heard about the meltemi (a.k.a. etesian winds)? These winds blow off and on all summer long in Greece. The meltemi is a dry wind from the north, and it's especially felt in the cyclades islands. For the most part, they are a welcome relief from the heat. However if they are blowing hard and you are on a sandy beach, look out! They also can make for some funny photos!

Pompeii

2024-10-30T11:22:00.007-05:00

Since we had 3 full days to spend in the Rome area, we decided to use one of our days and take a day trip to Pompeii. All of the kids (with the exception of Abbie) had learned about Pompeii in school. We took a high speed train from the main train station in Rome (Roma Termini) to the Naples train station (Napoli Centrale). We then had to take a local commuter train from Napoli Centrale to Pompeii Scavii. There were definitely some logistics to manage there, but it was not hard to navigate. And, with the exception of a delayed train on our return trip, everything went smoothly. Note the views of Mt. Vesuvius in the background of these pictures. You can see the mountain well from the forum (main plaza) of Pompeii, looming eerily in the background.

We all very quickly decided that we did not regret taking on the logistical challenge of getting here. It was truly one of the most fascinating places I have ever been. It is a 1st century ghost town frozen in time. Natalie had actually just studied it and read a book about it in the spring before our trip. She served as our tour guide specifically teaching us all about why there were large stepping stones across the streets. Apparently the stones were necessary to keep people's feet out of the bottom part of the street where waste water flowed. We saw remains of homes and restaurants with ovens and grist mills. You could see the holes in the countertops of restaurants where large soup pots sat.

It was amazing to see how preserved the town was in so many ways. You could still see frescoes on the walls of homes and the colors in mosaic tiles. We visited the "garden of the fugitives" where a lot of body casts were made from the lava that had hardened around victims as they tried to escape Pompeii. It was truly fascinating. I'm sure touring with a professional guide would have been so neat and informative. However, we had already paid for a tour of the colosseum, so we needed to do Pompeii more affordably. We showed ourselves around and a we packed a picnic lunch for the day. There is so much to see there that we really only scratched the surface. The kids got in for free and Charlie and I paid online for "skip the line tickets." It was definitely worth it because the line was very long to purchase tickets on site. We still had to visit a second ticket booth with our kids to show they were minors and qualified for free entry. However, that second booth did not have a long line, so overall it was worth it to pay online to skip the line at the gate. I recommend going as early as possible as I can only imagine it would get super hot as the day wears on. We were blessed with a cloudy/almost misty day, so we were never hot. That was unusual weather for that part of Italy in July, but we were very grateful!

Rome

2024-10-11T12:46:00.006-05:00

We arrived in Rome after a week in Tuscany. We stayed in an airbnb right near the Colosseum. For a family of 6, airbnb is the way to go. The place we stayed was very affordable and right in the heart of everything. The best part about it was the supermarket nearby that was open 24 hours.

Our first full day in Rome was a Sunday. We worshipped with a local congregation at Rome Baptist Church. Again, just as it was in Florence, we worshipped with a beautifully diverse group of believers. We stopped by the Trevi Fountain on our way to the church. We learned later in our Rome tour that the Trevi Fountain is fed by one of the original aqueducts of Rome. It is the only ancient aqueduct still in use.

After church, lunch, and gelato we had a quick break before an afternoon tour of the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. I highly recommend the underground Colosseum tour. It is a bit more expensive but in my opinion worth it. It was so neat to go underneath the Colosseum and see where animals were kept. You could see the areas where the elevators were that were used to raise and lower the animals. You could see the corridors the gladiators would walk through to get to the arena floor. It was fascinating.

Prior to our Colosseum tour, our guide took us through the Roman Forum. It was very neat, but I will be honest. It was so swelteringly hot that I could hardly pay attention. It felt like we were walking around in an oven. The one thing that stood out to me the most were the roses that were placed on top of the cremated remains of Julius Caesar.

Our 2nd full day in Rome was mostly spent at the Vatican Museums. We bought an early morning skip the line pass and we arrived at 7:45. I highly recommend getting up early and getting into the Vatican before all the crowds arrive. The Sistine chapel was beautiful and very memorable. Photos are not allowed. I think Callie enjoyed the art work the most of all of us.

After the Vatican, we walked to the Pantheon to view it from the outside. We did not take the time to pay and go inside. We were hot and tired and ready for lunch. It was neat to see it from the outside though. The Pantheon is one of the best preserved buildings of the Roman empire. It is thought to have originally been a temple to all the gods. Also pictured below is Trajan's column

The last place we toured in Rome after the Vatican was the Basilica of San Clemente. All props go to Charlie for this unique find. It is such crazy place. It is basically a medieval (circa 1100) church build over on top of a 4th-11th century church which in turn was built over top a pagan cult worship site (cult of Mithras). You can view the top level church and then descend below to the 4th-11th century church. You can descend below that to the area of the pagan church/cult site. It was a place with no crowds and you could explore it easily. It happened to only be a 5 minute walk from our apartment. My big regret here was that we were too wiped and exhausted to take many pictures. The picture we did take was from the middle level (the Christian church between the 4th-11th centuries). That was my favorite levels as it included some neat frescoes on the walls. One fresco that stood out to me was one drawn by a man named John. I honestly don't even remember what the fresco was a picture of, but what stood out to me was the translation of the inscription he left below his painting. It said, "may it be remembered that Christ had mercy on unworthy John." I thought that was beautiful!

Siena, Pienza, and Montepulciano

2024-09-25T12:45:00.001-05:00

Siena

Charlie worked remote the entire week we stayed in Tuscany. However, the time change (Italy being 6 hours ahead) gave us time to explore in the mornings before we had to return the farm stay for Charlie to work around 2pm. One of those mornings, we ventured about 1 hour and 10 minutes south to Siena. It was worth it! Siena is a stunning medieval city seemingly frozen in time. It is considered a UNESCO world heritage site. I truly wish we had the entire day to explore, but alas we crammed in what we could. I was fascinated by the narrow alley ways/streets leading to the Piazza del Campo.

The Piazza del Campo and Torre del Mangia. It is possible to visit the Torre del Mangia and climb to the top. However it was not open the day that we visited. The Piazza is a large oval open space in the center of the city. The site was originally a marketplace established before the 13th century. Since the 1600s a horse race has been held here in the city center. It is still held twice a year today.

The Siena Cathedral is truly gorgeous. It was built during the 1200s. The black and white striped marble pattern is so unique and beautiful. We purchased tickets on site to enter the cathedral. The cost was minimal and certainly worth it. I also have to give a shout out to my classically educated kids! My older two were able to read a good portion of the Latin engraved on the walls.

Pienza

We visited the town of Pienza on our drive from Tuscany to the Rome airport where we returned our rental vehicle. No one wants to have a car in Rome! Pienza is a beautiful town, but what stood out to me the most were the views of the val d' orcia from the town.

Pienza is a renaissance village built/designed by Pope Pius II in the 1400s. Walking underneath the arched gateways of these old villages never gets old and neither does strolling down the beautiful streets.

We went to the less ornate but still beautiful cathedral

We viewed the Gladiator filming spot just outside of the village. Imagine Maximus' home village and him riding on his horse to check on his family when you look at these pics. This scenery also appears at the end of the movie when he walks through the wheat field after he has died and gone to heaven. He looks up and sees his wife and son.

Montepulciano

After visiting Pienza, we made a quick stop in Montepulciano. Montepulciano is a medieval and renaissance hilltop village. It was filled with beautiful streets, beautiful valley views, and a beautiful cathedral just like Pienza.

Florence

2024-09-09T12:04:00.001-05:00

We ventured into Florence twice during our stay in Tuscany. One reason we chose Fattoria Lavacchio to be our farmstay was its proximity to Florence. On our first day, we went and worshipped with a local church. The church we visited was Mosaico church....Here....It was a blessed, albeit hot (think no AC 98 degrees outside and lots of people in a small room) experience. To worship with believers whom I perceive to have been descended from every continent on the globe was a wonderful experience.

After church we visited Piazzale Michelangelo for spectacular views over the city (above pics).

This is a replica statue of David in the Piazzale (below)
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We ate lunch at this really neat Trattoria Trattoria Za Za near Piazza del mercato centrale. Can I make a suggestion? If you ever eat there, try the truffled spaghetti carbonara! It was my favorite pasta dish I had during all our time in Italy. However, I will say we are family divided concerning truffles. Coleman and I loved it and that truffle flavor! Charlie and Callie did not like it at all. Natalie and Abbie liked it a little bit. I may have mentioned this in another post, but here are 2 tips on feeding a family on an overseas trip. Tip number one is try and eat out only once per day. Obviously the only way to do this is if you have booked apartments/airbnbs that have kitchens. We had a full kitchen in our farm stay, and we utilized it. Tip number 2 is to eat "family style" When we are in the U.S. and go out to eat, we typically have every child order their own entree/kid meal. Overseas we ordered typically 3 or 4 different dishes and maybe a side item or two. We split everything. Not only did it save us money, but we also got to try a bigger variety of dishes. This was a helpful method since we did not know which pastas/dishes our kids would like the most.
Here is another David replica. We saw both of the David replicas but we did not make it to see the original. Had we not been traveling with all 4 of our kids, I'm sure seeing the original would have been something we would have pursued. Time and money are limited and you have to make tough decisions!

We visited the ponte vecchio bridge. This bridge has stood over the Arno river since approximately mid 1300s. There are many merchant shops on the bridge.

The next few pictures are from the outside and interior dome of the cathedral in Florence. The official name is the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The cathedral is beautiful. We did not plan the best here as we arrived at the most crowded time of day. Midmorning the line gets very long. I stood in line for over an hour to "hold our place" while Charlie and the kids window shopped. By the time we got inside, we had to hurry through in order to make our lunch reservations. I was thankful even for a short time in the cathedral. The interior of the dome is a large fresco entitled "The last judgement"

We made it to our lunch spot. It was our first pizza in Italy. It did not disappoint. It was very good napoli style pizza. We all thought it was cool that they gave us scissors to cut the slices with. Our "go to" pizzas while in Italy were the Margarita and the Margarita doc pizzas.

Tuscany: Fattoria Lavacchio

2024-08-21T12:41:00.002-05:00

This past July we spent 1 week in Tuscany as part of a multi-week European vacation (more blog posts to come). Charlie had to work remote this week. If you have to work, doing it remote on a beautiful farm stay in Tuscany is not a bad situation. Fattoria Lavacchio is nestled among grape vines and olive trees. We chose this particular farm stay for it's proximity to Florence and it's mid range price point. They also had accommodations to suit a family of 6. We stayed in a Villa a couple hundred meters from the main inn on the property. Check out the link below for Fattoria Lavacchio's website.
https://fattorialavacchio.com/en/

In the top picture you can see our villa on the far left. The second picture is a little closer up to the villa

There was a beautiful windmill on the property that was built according the the design of Leonardo da vinci. We were able to tour the windmill one morning in conjunction with a tour of the olive orchard and an olive oil tasting.

I loved the stone wall looking out the window of one of the bedrooms in our villa.

Our walk back from breakfast every morning. You don't have to purchase the breakfast each morning, but I highly recommend you do! It was excellent...eggs, bacon, salami, pecorino cheese, breads, cakes, cheese cakes, yogurt, mixed fruit all from the farm, and fresh squeezed juices like strawberry, black currant and blackberry.

While Charlie worked in the afternoons, we went to the pool. Choosing a farm stay with a pool seemed essential to me. It's also a wonderful perk that it is sunny 99.5% of the time in Tuscany in July.

I loved the trees lining the drive to our villa

Above are some pictures of the inside of the villa and the outdoor table we ate dinner at every evening. Having a kitchen is essential to saving money when you travel as a large family. I cooked pasta every evening (I mean we were in Italy!) and we ate dinner outside each time. Our villa was simple and rustic, but charming.

We went horseback riding one morning. Natalie and Abbie just hopped on this horse for a cute picture. They actually traded off riding a pony. Callie and Coleman traded off riding this horse. Charlie and I each had our own horses. Centro Ippico Wildhorse riding school accommodated our family beautifully. We were all allowed to go on a ride out in the countryside. The only reason the younger two were allowed out of the stables, is because they traded off riding the pony and they had someone leading them. I learned that it is actually quite difficult to book horseback rides for a family of 6 with kids' ages ranging from 5-15 in Tuscany. This place figured out how to do it!

That's a wrap on our Tuscany farm stay. Stay tuned for pictures from the cities/villages we visited in the region

Steamboat Springs

2024-07-02T17:28:00.000-05:00

This past New Year's we were blessed by a trip to Steamboat Springs, CO. We surprised our kids on christmas morning with the news of the trip. Charlie (with a little help from A.I.) came up with a scavenger hunt/riddle to help them discover where we were going.

We ice skated

We sat by the fire pit to warm up

We skied and Abbie killed it at ski school

Our favorite post skiing activities included a visit to Old Town Hot Springs and a sleigh ride dinner to Bar Lazy L Ranch. The hot springs are where Steamboat Springs gets its name. They are a natural hot springs full of mineral waters that have been present at this location (in some form or another) for over 100 years. It was a relaxing and unique experience. The sleigh ride dinner was our favorite activity. We rode in a horse drawn sleigh through acres of ranch land to a family barn. We enjoyed a ranch style dinner and music. It was a lovely, authentic (rustic) ranch dining experience. The ranch has been in the same family since the land was homesteaded in 1939.

Here are my final thoughts about Steamboat Springs....It's a great family friendly ski resort. We chose it because it historically receives good early season snowfall. We don't have any school breaks in February or March, so we are limited to skiing over Christmas/New Year's. We loved the free bus system that took us to the slopes every day. We loved the western/cowboy vibe of the town. We loved the large percentage of beginner and intermediate slopes. In conclusion, we would love to return (in fact, Lord willing, we will go back this coming New Year's). Ski trips can be very pricey. While I can in no way pretend that this trip wasn't expensive, I can share with you all ways that we found to save money. That will be for another time and another post. Stay tuned.

2023 Happenings

2023-08-18T15:42:00.001-05:00

I am continuing with our yearly travel posts. One day, I would love to have more of an official travel blog. I love traveling and exploring with my family, and I would love to help others think for and plan trips. I will go ahead and post our travel pics from 2023 as the majority of our bigger trips have concluded. I truly feel like the Lord has blessed us on these trips...we've remained healthy, had wonderful weather, and even been able to find ways to keep costs down.

Our first trip this year was back to Beech Mountain. We have gone 3 for 3 in terms of getting fresh snow during our time there. The kids are getting more comfortable with skiing. I am very much still a work in progress! Ha!

For spring break we took a road trip up the east coast. We went to NYC to visit dear friends. We drove back down through Philly and DC. It was a fun and educational trip!

In July we went to Destin. The water and weather were absolutely perfect. It's the nicest I have ever seen the ocean down there. We lay low when we go to the beach...basically just hanging out at the beach the whole time. We go out for seafood a couple nights and play putt putt once, but other than that, we just hang. It was very relaxing.

Finally, Charlie and I were able to get away just the two of us...(big thanks to my mother and aunts for keeping the kids). Back in 2020, we had planned a skymiles trip (we were able to book both our flights using miles) to Banff in Canada. Well, obviously, the 2020 trip did not happen. We were so glad to make the trip happen this year. We booked nonstop flights from Atlanta to Calgary using Delta's partner, Westjet. At 25,000 sky miles per ticket, we thought it was a great deal! Banff did not disappoint, and again we were blessed with fabulous weather. The Canadian Rockies are amazing. I think I could never tire of finding new places to explore and hike there. In fact, Charlie and I tallied up our steps. We walked 35 miles in 3 days! Here are a few pics of the highlights of our trip. If you are ever interested in the itinerary for any of our trips, please reach out. I'd love to help you plan a vacation of your own!

2022 Brooks Family Adventures

2022-08-05T13:48:00.000-05:00

In what has become my style, here is a big photo dump of pictures from this past year! This blog has certainly become a place to share pictures from our trips. I love planning trips, and this year we were able (by God's grace) to take a bigger family vacation. We spent 10 days in California. We flew into San Francisco, rented a car and drove to Yosemite NP and Carmel by the Sea. This trip was full of fun moments including a Giants game, hiking in Yosemite Valley and the High Country, and biking all over the park. We played in tidal pools and kayaked with sea otters and seals in Carmel. We toured Alcatraz and Ghirardelli, saw some giant sequoias and coastal redwoods. The majority of these pics are from CA but some are from our ski trip to Beech Mountain. The mountain got 20 inches of snow while we were there! (Think equal parts fun and stress!). We also included a couple of pics from my parent's lake house and from camp. Callie and Coleman each had a camp experience this summer that they enjoyed. We also finished up our summer travels with a trip to the Florida panhandle. We are thankful to the Lord for a blessed summer. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Fall Adventures 2021

2021-12-30T16:42:00.000-06:00

Summer Vacation photos

2021-08-25T12:33:00.002-05:00

Here are a slew of pictures from our summer. Almost all the pictures are from various trips we went on this summer which included camping at Lake Jocassee, 4th of July in Lake Greenwood, and the beach (Ft. Walton). We also spent much of our time in June at the baseball field as Coleman played summer ball. I'm thankful for the health God gave us and the fact that we were able to enjoy so much time away as a family.

Fall and Winter photo gallery

2021-01-25T18:40:00.000-06:00

We just returned from a fun winter trip to Beech Mountain, and I realized I wanted to get a few pictures posted on the blog. I have included lots of pictures from our ski trip (all the snowy ones). I have also included pictures from a few fall trips. In September, Charlie and I spent a few nights away in Helen, GA. My mother and aunts bravely held down the fort with all 4 kids here in Atlanta. In October, we took a family trip to Charleston to visit our friends the Chapmans who had just moved there. We did't get many pics with them, but we did manage to get at least one beach picture of all the kiddos. Enjoy the photo smatherig. I apoligize if the photos don't upload in proper order.