It’s Spring Break here. While many families have left town to head South (for the warmth), North (for skiing), or just about anywhere else to simply get away and explore somewhere new, most of my family is home. Our youngest needed to have her tonsils removed and Spring Break allows just enough time for her…
family adventures
Road Trip Planning Help
Planning to head out on a road trip with your family soon? If you’re like me, the days leading up to your departure will be filled with trying to remember everything that needs to be done – stop the mail and newspaper, arrange for pet sitters or house sitters, double-check hotel reservations, check that the…
Universal Studios Family Bucket List Trip on a Budget
Your teen loves Harry Potter. A trip to Universal Studios’ Wizarding World of Harry Potter would make her year. But you’re frugal. How do you reconcile the two? How do you create a bucket list experience of it, without breaking the bank? The secret is knowing where to splurge and how to find deals. I’m…
November Bucket List Life Dare: The 31 Days of Everyday Adventure Challenge
This month I’m honored to team up with Shelly of The Goal List in her month-long challenge: 31 Days of Everyday Adventure. Shelly and I share a very similar outlook on bucket lists – that not every bucket list experience has to be over-the-top expensive or in some way monumental. Adventure comes in all shapes…
Daddy/Daughter Trip to the Olympics
David Williams and his wife Sarah are longtime friends of mine. One of the things I have always admired about David is his desire to see the world. In his 20s, David made it his goal to travel to every continent (so far he’s made it to 6 continents and 80 countries). But he didn’t…
June 2016 Bucket List Life Dare: 10 New Things to Try
Here we are, at the gate to the garden of summer adventures, ready to open the door. You have the key in your hand. Will you do it? Or will you pass on by and leave it unopened, unexplored, sticking instead to the safety of the familiar? This month’s dare is about taking the key…
Looking Forward and Back
Has 2015 been a good year for you? Or a struggle? What can you learn from your experiences this year to make the next one even better? What do you most want to see happen in your life in 2016? If you are serious about living your bucket list dreams, then I invite you to…
Bucket List Life Dare: Try a New Holiday Activity
Cutting down your own Christmas tree. Seeing a live performance of the Nutcracker Ballet. Learning to make that special holiday recipe of your grandmother’s. Stealing the children from their beds to take them out for a late night car ride to look at the holiday lights while drinking hot cocoa. This time of year is…
Family Bonding Through Bucket Lists – Introducing a New Video Course
“Gail Carson Levine is coming to Naperville,” my middle daughter Katherine said. “Can we go?” She’d read Ella Enchanted and The Princess Tales. I knew she liked Levine’s books, but when I saw the $25 ticket price, I flinched. It was too much, even with two autographed copies of Levine’s newest book and a chance…
Round the World Adventures: An Interview with Kathrin Spaccarelli
Imagine taking your family on a year-long trip around the world. Kathrin Spaccarelli and her husband Nathan did just that with their two boys from September 2013 to September 2014. A longtime love of traveling, plus a desire to introduce their boys to friends and familiar places in Japan (where both Kathrin & Nathan lived…