Guidebooks and Slides
Sherpa Momma and I have been saving for this trip since before we even had kids. The original vision was to travel the world for a year, staying a month or more in each place. Fast forward 12 years, and that plan just isn’t feasible. The kids have too many activities, and truth be told, we really love where we live and don’t want to be away that long. Nevertheless, this trip is a big deal for us, and we want it to be a big deal for the kids too. Spending the summer traveling Europe may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all five of us. To get the kids engaged and fully vested in this great family adventure, we challenged them to each pick a portion of our trip, research the destination, and report back to us. We didn’t give much guidance, letting them decide what was important to them. The creative results (below) were presented to the whole family during Pizza and Movie Night.
“Potter”
Potter signed up for two presentations: what to see and do on the Disney cruise, and a second one on London. Given that she’s the biggest Harry Potter fan, it seemed only fair that she be our lead on London planning. Note how she took particular care to find places for us to enjoy a nice, affordable breakfast:
“Cupcake”
Cupcake picked Germany for her presentation. Our first au pair will be with us on this leg of the trip, so I very much expect this to be a joyous reunion. Having Carolin there will make this particularly special for the kids.
“Steve”
Our little guy picked Prague, perhaps out of loyalty to our second au pair, a native of the Czech Republic. He had a little help, particularly in finding visuals to support the slides, but the picks and words are all his. You may note how all three kids are particularly focused on what we’ll be eating this trip.
The kids weren’t the only ones who partook in this planning exercise. We’ll be traversing Italy for five weeks, and I’ve taken particular interest in planning that part of our adventure. And Sherpa Momma did a whole presentation on the port excursions we’ll be organizing on our own. I love how we’re going to rent a car while in port in Reykjavik to explore Iceland on our own!
Master organizer of this grand adventure, and father to this raucous bunch of kids. Armed with camera and a tablet, I aim to capture the memorable moments that will allow this trip to live on forever.