If you have been keeping up with my blog posts recently, then you know that I have a post where my readers asked me questions. I am taking each question and turning it into a blog post. This question is the second question I am answering. You can find the post to comment a question here.
"How Does Our Family Travel?"
We are a family of seven. My husband and I have five kids. Their ages are 8, 5, 4, 2, and 1. We, unfortuantely, do not travel often. We have traveled out of our state (Kentucky) as a family to others states: Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina. We have traveled within our own state as well. Before we had kids, my husband and I went on our honeymoon to Charleston, SC. We have not been out of our country (USA) as a family. Once our kids are grown up and we are able to afford a big trip like that, we hope to travel out of our country. We also hope to even travel further to other states in our country. We get around with our trusty 2011 Chrysler Town and Country van that seats seven. We just got our 2011 van this past year, it is a lot better than our 1998 Town and Country.
Let me write about a few of the places we have been as a family.
1. The Louisville Zoo/Louisville
I grew up in Louisville, KY and all my family are in Louisville. Going to Louisville to see my family is one place we travel to. There are many moments of traveling to Louisville as a family that I could share, but I will only share two. We do not really sight see when we visit family, but we did go to the zoo once when we visited my family.
- I used to go to The Louisville Zoo quite often as a kid. Going to any zoo is fun, because seeing all the different animals is a learning experince. I was so happy to go to the zoo as a family. We went when our oldest was a year old. We were just a family of three back then (September 2011). We only traveled 2 and 1/2 hours to go so it was a short trip, but a fun trip.
- In November 2011, my aunt got remarried and we traveled again to Louisville. We ate at Cracker Barrel during our trip that weekend. If you have not heard of Cracker Barrel, check out here. It is a very popular restaurant in the United States. They are known for their rocking chairs out front of their restaurants, their peg games at each other their tables, their old country store shop, and their amazing breakfast foods.
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| Our family of 3 back in 2011. |
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| Our oldest's first time on a merry-go-round. |
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| At my aunt's wedding in Louisville in an old historic building called Old Taylorsville Place. |
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| Eating at the Cracker Barrel in Louisville. |
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| Our oldest and my grandfather outside the Cracker Barrel. |
2. Ohio
My husband's family used to live in Ohio so we've been to Ohio several times. To get to Ohio we travel through West Virginia. I love traveling to the area where my husband's family used to live, because the country scenery is beautiful to travel through. Even though we did not sight see, below are some family photos at events that we went to in Ohio.
Another instance where we travel to Ohio, not always as a family, but definitely with one of our kids is when we go to Cincinnati every 9 months. Our second son has a medical conidition called Microtia. He sees doctors at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. There is so much to do in Cincinnati, however, we have not had the opportunity to those activities (Cincinnai Zoo, Newport Aquarium, an array of Museums). We will be moving closer to Cincinnati so hopefully we will be able to visit all those places!
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| Thanksgiving 2011 at my husband's family's house. Still a family of three. |
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| Our oldest at one of the local parks in Ohio. |
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Family of four photo in Ohio. We had this taken before going to church with my husband's family.
Our family of 4 before we became a family of 5 at my brother in law's graduation in Ohio.
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| Our family at my brother in law's and sister in law's wedding in Ohio at a place called Snode's Restored Country Barn. |
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| Our first time to Cincinnati Children's Hospital |
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| Our oldest playing with a super cool toy at the hospital while we waited to find out information about his brother. |
3. Virginia
We went as a family to see my husband's parents in Virginia in April 2015. They moved from Ohio to Virginia so we got a different scenery to their house. When we went to Virginia we got to go into Washington D.C. Since we had three kids we thought the best kid friendly thing to do was going to a zoo. Not just any zoo, this was The National Zoo. It is a lot larger than the Louisville Zoo and we did not even get to see all of the exhibits. I enjoyed driving through Washington D.C. and seeing from afar some major sights, like The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument (not pictured).
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| The Lincoln Memorial. We drove past it on the way to the zoo. |
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| The National Zoo. |
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| This elephant looked happy! |
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| The best picture I have ever gotten of a lion. No, I was not that close to it. |
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| My husband and I. |
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| Our three kids. |
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| Our family of five before we were a family of seven. This was Easter of 2015. |
4. North Carolina
We went on our first trip as a family of seven in May of this year. We went to Elizabeth City, NC to see my brother-in-law graduate from college (in one of the above pictures we were at his high school graduation, time flew by fast). While on this trip we got to go to Nag's Head Beach, which is apart of the Outer Banks. We had a wonderful time with family on this trip. We also got to go on a private boat ride via a friend that my brother in law knows. It was really awesome to do a boat ride together as a family. I have shared pictures of this trip before in a previous post, but here they are again.
Conclusion
As you can see, we don't really travel that much. We stay close by our home. Our last trip was to North Carolina. With us moving, we will have another trip coming soon. We do have five young kids, so traveling can be hard with five kids. I know there are families with young kids that travel a lot, but unfortunately, we don't really have the funds either to travel as much as we would like to. Now that my husband has a teaching job, it is possible we will be able to go to more places within our own state.
For us, we like the outdoors, so sometimes just going outside for walks is all the travel we need. Thanks for reading about our small, but still amazing, travel adventures.
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I can only imagine how tough it would be to wrangle 7 people to go on a long trip! I was lucky as an only child that my family traveled often.
ReplyDeletePretty cool u got to visit bunch of places
ReplyDeleteYou have a beautiful family. Your kids are blessed to have you as their mother. I can imagine their smile when they read this post few years from now.
ReplyDeleteAuwwn I want a big family too. Lovely photos you got here. Hopefully you will be able to travel soon, kids growi up really fast.
ReplyDeleteThat is cool that you go such cool places. But I cannot imagine taking that many people on a trip. Sounds little exhausting. I cannot do that at all.
ReplyDeleteI too love to travel with my family. Loved the list there. Im sure the kids had fun. My son would love such things too. Especially Ohio!
ReplyDeleteI can imagine it would be quite challenging to travel with a family of 7. Fortunately, travelling doesn't have to be expensive. You can always explore your hometown or get out and explore nature!
ReplyDeleteYes, nature is one of our favorite things to explore!
DeleteI would love to go to the beach for a vacation, but it's hard to get away sometimes, especially with elderly pets. Your photos are making me feel like I am there!
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you have some good tips for planning to travel with a large family. I should imagine it is often quite challenging for you.
ReplyDeleteWow you have a big family, it's amazing you remember to being them all home once you've been away! Your trips sound amazing, especially the one to Ohio!
ReplyDeleteI understand this all two much!! We have 4 kids and we don't travel much either. It's a lot of work. Although when we do Zoo's are my favorite stop.
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a great family trip! The zoo looks amazing.
ReplyDeleteYes, these trips that we have gone on have been wonderful.
DeleteGreat tips on traveling, I could understand how traveling with a family of 7 can be quite challenging, it's great you have it down!
ReplyDelete~xo Sheree
poshclassymom.com
I visited Virginia many years ago. It is a lovely city for sure. Would love to visit more cities in the US.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's about how far you go away or how often you go but the quality of the adventure time which makes all the difference. Looks like you have been to some pretty fun places. I really need to make it back to Virginia. I always loved it there.
ReplyDeleteI think it's wonderful to have a large family (mine was a family of 6) and still do what you can to create family memories. I know when I was growing up, and then when I raised my own family, it was those family trips and camping outings that meant so much to all of us.
ReplyDeleteYou have a wonderful family and I understand that traveling outside the country with kids is very expensive. Still it is so good to see that you have visited these places with your entire family. Good luck for future trips :)
ReplyDeleteWhen you have a big family, it's important to save money whenever possible when it comes to traveling. I think this is some great information.
ReplyDeleteSome beach vacation inspo here! You guys are great to be traveling being such a big yet well-knitted fam! More power.
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