Restore Issue 13: June 2023

A fun way to vacay with your family A House Swap Adventure In This Issue

from my heart to yours

Happy June! Although the first official day of summer begins June 21st, it’s already summer in my book. My kids are out of school and we are delighting in the change of pace.

This summer we aren’t going on a big vacation, but I’ve decided that it doesn’t exclude us from having an adventure. Adventure is a state of mind, it’s something we choose.

Two weeks ago, I got sick and I was not well for about ten days. Even though I wasn't feeling well, I had some adventures. I watched Mrs Harris Goes to Paris and saw the sights and sounds of the city from the comfort of my living room.

When I finally turned a corner and the sinus pressure was controllable with medicine, I picked up The Tatooist of Auschwitz* and finished it within 24 hours. This adventure was difficult to endure, but some adventures are like that. Hard, but necessary. Difficult, but worth the journey.

We can have adventures in our everyday towns, in new places and everywhere in between

Choosing adventure is an attitude to step out of our comfort zones and into something new. Adventures challenge us and help us grow. They can push us to our limits.

But I also believe an ordinary day can be an adventure if we choose it. Our faith journey, marriage, motherhood, and friendship are all opportunities for everyday adventures.

Wherever your adventures take you this summer, I hope they are amazing!

Question of the Month:

What is the best adventure or vacation you've taken with your family?

We went on a "beauty-seeking" trip just a weekend away looking for beauty and refreshing our souls. Seven kids in the car and it was amazing!

@rejoicinginmotherhood

As a kid, we went to three places in Nepal--it was amazing!

@brittesimmons

Lake house for a week, Yellowstone National Park, Disney and family camp at church camp.

@ivymama

The best vacation we took was a two-week trip in our camper! We visted several places from South Carolina down to Florida's Gulf Coast. We got to see the sunset and also visited the Ringling Circus Museum, which was quite spectacular!

Kat Berry

Disney Cruise to the Bahamas.

Tiffany Gonzales

Hawaii, camping, and going to baseball stadiums. We made it to 12 of them with my boys.

Santorini when I was a child. Paris is always fun as an adult. Highlands, North Carolina for book research.

Jessica Stone

We rented an RV with the kids and just did simple things for a week: fishing, swimming in a creek, scavenger hunts, hiking, exploring, had cookouts and s'mores and played board games at nights. Total blast! No phones or iPads allowed!

Debi Larkin-Chavez

Family camp at Forest Home: 10 summers in a row!

Marcia Shelberg

Rosanne Crowley

I'm hoping it's going to be our upcoming Disney cruise to Greece next month!

Hillary Montilla

"Are you ready for an adventure?"

This is how we start every adventure day in the summer. When the kids were little, I would whisper this to them when they were just waking up. Now that they are big, it is more of a suggestion at breakfast.

Our best adventures are at local state parks. We love ponds and lakes. We love lookout towers and educational buildings. We love paddleboats and treehouses. And most of the time, it is all free! No agenda, no plan. Just space and ideas.

Lori McGoldrick

RV road trip around the country. As a kid, we did it when I was 11, and now I did it with my kids last summer.

Christy Papalii

We take a trip to Mexico or a Caribbean island adventure every few years. We love the relaxation of a beach resort so we can snorkel, scuba, water ski, or go on a boat adventure. We also love the activity life on cruise ships. Either way, we love the fun in the sun! We've traveled with our Type 1 diabetic kid (diagnosed at age five) without fault. Nothing slows us down.

Bridget Strickland

We're a crusing family and have taken the kids all over. They love the ocean!

Krystal Boyd

Lately, Great Wolf Lodge.

Tabby Burt

We drove from Boston to Chibougamau, Quebec on vacation. It was the farthest north we could drive in the time that we had. It was a fabulous adventure! We enjoyed it (and the poutine and star gazing) so much we repeated the trip the following year!

Kim Ward

NYC to Washington.

@theneatandtidyspace

Yellowstone National Park. @kaylin.lindsey

Aesop

A House Swap Adventure

“Hey, would anybody be up for a house swap this summer?” my husband’s cousin posted in our family group chat back in January 2022.

My husband has close to thirty first cousins, and everyone is spread out across the country. Surprisingly, no one responded to Kaleigh's post in the first few days. The more we thought about it, the more it seemed like a great idea!

Kaleigh and her family, live outside of Seattle, Washington, somewhere we’d never been before. House swapping meant we’d be able to have free lodging, free use of a car, and someone to take care of our dog and fish. Same for them, although they have a cat. We’d just have to pay for flights and whatever activities we wanted to do while we were there.

We let her know we were in and made sure they were up for coming to Arizona in the heat of summer. Thankfully, they had been out to visit the previous summer, so they knew what they were getting into. Plus, we have a swimming pool, so that sweetened the deal, and they agreed.

We coordinated dates and booked flights. We timed them to arrive at our swapped destinations at the same time and left our cars at the airport for each other. Just a few hours later, we Facetimed. They were on our couch with our dog, and we were on their couch with their cat!

We had so much fun on our vacation. We got to explore a new place and do new things. We went to a ropes course, we went strawberry picking, we went to the Space Needle and Pikes Place Market. We played outside. We drove to Leavenworth, a Bavarian town a few hours away, and fed reindeer.

Kaleigh and her family swam in our pool. They went to the theater and museums. They swam in our pool some more. It was an amazing vacation for both families!

The only downside we noted is that we didn’t get to see each other, but we made sure to Facetime over the course of the week.

We saw Kaleigh recently when she was in town, and we kept talking about how wonderful the house swap trip was. We were both so comfortable in each other’s spaces and loved that someone in the family was there taking care of things while we were away. We may even do it again!

What's New on the Podcast

This summer, tune into our Body & Soul Summer Series! I have some amazing episodes for you.

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