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Wonderful Reasons Why Vacations Make Families Closer

Ten years ago, when my fifth child was a baby, my husband announced that he wanted to go out of town for the long weekend. I looked at him like he was crazy. Our children were 6, 5, 3, 2, and 8 months. But we did it, and had an amazing time! We still talk about that trip, and I realized that there are wonderful reasons why vacations make families closer.
Wonderful Reasons Why Vacations Make Families Closer
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Annual Vacations to Make Families Closer

 We then made it a priority to plan a week-long road trip every summer. Our family has gone to some incredible places, like Mount Rushmore, Maine, the Smoky Mountains, several beaches, and the Colorado Rockies. We even flew to California one year (for my Mom’s funeral), and did a road trip through that beautiful state.

Lessons Learned

 Our kids learn such valuable lessons on these trips: how to pack, how to live in tight spaces, how to try new foods, and how to be kind under stress and less sleep. We see the beauty that God has made in His creation in different parts of the U.S. and Canada.

Read about some of our favorite vacations here:

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98 Comments

  1. Homeschool Parenting Summit 2.0 October 16-21, 2023
  2. Crystal Arcand says:

    I’d love to visit Galveston again and go on the architectural tours I couldn’t convince my kids to go on!

  3. Our family would like to go on a cross country roadtrip, and see, well, most of the USA.

  4. Thanks for the giveaway! How does one join giveaways like this?

    1. Just enter on the rafflecopter app at the bottom of the post. 🙂
      –Gena

  5. Michelle S says:

    I would love to go to the mountains! We live in Florida, so it would be a nice change for us.

    1. We live in the midwest, so I love the mountains and Florida!
      –Gena

  6. Donna Cress says:

    My spring vacation would be a family trip to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

  7. I’d love to take my family on a vacation to Monhegan Island, Maine. I’ve never been there, but I’ve been told it’s a really neat place!

    1. My family absolutely loved Maine. I’d love to go back!
      –Gena

  8. My dream vacation would be someplace quiet where I could get my whole family together. We would be outdoors hiking and playing all day. Cookouts and campfires.

  9. jessica m says:

    My dream spring vacation looks like a white, sandy beach with a warm breeze coming off a clear ocean. Maybe laying in a hammock with a good book and an ice cold lemonade! I just want to relax in paradise!

  10. Audrey Stewart says:

    I want to go to the mountains in Montana.

    1. I’ve never been to Montana. I didn’t even know they had mountains!
      –Gena

  11. Debbie Clauer says:

    I would like to go to the Hocking Hills and rent a cabin. It’s about 3 hours away.

  12. We would love to visit the Creation Museum and Noah’s Ark Exhibit!

  13. I would love to take a traveling vacation to see different parts of the USA starting with the northeast. It is so rich with our early history as a nation.

    1. My favorites are history tours, too. I enjoyed Philadelphia and Boston.
      –Gena

  14. Cari Webb says:

    My husband would love to go to the beach.

  15. STEPHENY SEABOLT says:

    My dream would be to go on an army base tour with all of my kids

  16. Honesty, it has been five years since our last vacation. I’d go just about anywhere! But, I love history, so somewhere like Williamsburg would be a great treat.

    1. We went to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown last summer. It was really neat to see that history.
      –Gena

  17. KATRINA MORGAN says:

    My dream vacation for Spring break would be to visit the Creation Museum/ Ark Experience in kentucky. We are currently planning a month long vacation (camping!) across the US!

  18. Jeannie Pearson says:

    For a dream vacation I would love to go cross country. Rv style. And this is not a dream vacation but for spring break we are going to the dismals canyon so that my daughter and hubby can, for the first time, see the rare dismalites.

    1. I’ve never heard of Dismal Canyon, so I looked it up. Very pretty!
      –Gena

  19. what a nice thing to do! we would love to go away anywhere, just to enjoy time together away from the busyness of home

  20. Judith Martinez says:

    I would love to go to the Grand Canyon.

    1. Yes! The Grand Canyon and Yellowstone are on my list, too!
      –Gena

  21. We would love to drive Route 66!

  22. Melissa Lynch says:

    My husband and I haven’t been camping since our girls were born. We’d love to start taking them now that they’re a little older (I wasn’t grave enough to camp with babies!).

    1. I think you meant “brave,” and I wouldn’t have been either.
      –Gena

  23. I would like to go to Niagara Falls for Spring break

  24. My dream Spring vacation is going to Prague. Someday…

  25. I’d love a getaway in the mountains.

  26. travelin mama says:

    i would love to go to montana and see yellowstone. but really i’ll take anywhere green and forested.

    1. You can have mine! There are still patches of it in my yard.
      –Gena

  27. Wow! great giveaway. It’s hard going on vacation with 4 little ones…this sure would help a bunch. Thanks for a great opportunity!!!

  28. Erin Walsh says:

    I’d love to go to the Ozarks and just relax by the water.

      1. I live in the Ozarks and love living here. The peace and quiet here in the country makes every day like being on vacation.

  29. My family and I love to visit National Parks. However, this year, we are trying to save up to get to Washington and get back to my family homestead. In doing so, we’d like to also travel the coast of California.

  30. Laurie Moudy says:

    We would love to go to Colorado as a family and see friends that live there now. We met them while living in Nicaragua as missionaries.

  31. MIcha Tee says:

    Oh road trip for sure. Camping and some national parks, lots of hiking. Awesome outside time. Thank you for the opportunity.

    1. We’ve never done much hiking. I’d like to try it.
      –Gena

  32. Disney World – we have an exceedingly long list of food allergies and foods to avoid and Disney can accommodate all of them!

    1. We just went to Disney World, and I noticed the food being so user-friendly!
      –Gena

  33. I’d love to go to HersheyPark and then go to CreationFest in PA. Sounds like a wonderful time to me. Some time in hotels, but on to camping at the CreationFest with awesome music and people.

  34. Last year we went to South Dakota and saw Mt Rushmore and had an awesome trip. This year I am hoping we go north to my daughters for her birth and then to do our 30 yr anniversary repeat of our honeymoon through the New England states:) BIG dreams:)

  35. My dream spring vacation this year would be traveling to TX to see our “adopted” daughter get married!

  36. I would love to take my family on a vacation near the ocean. My kids have never been to the beach. They would have so much fun building sand castles, playing in the waves and flying kites. We would enjoy eating fresh seafood and watching the beautiful sunsets.

  37. Tara Bailey says:

    I would love to take my kids to lego land and go to michigan to visit family

  38. We would love to go to the beach. It’s been since our kids were two and three since we’ve been on a vacation, so anything would be a huge treat at this point! Thanks for the great giveaway!

  39. Julie Knopp says:

    Maine is our all-time favorite vacation state!

  40. Charis Rock Yoder says:

    We are taking a road trip from our home state, Louisiana, to Indiana to attend a wedding. I would love to stop at the Corvette Museum that we seem to pass by every time we go to Indy to visit family. I’ve also heard Dollywood is a must-see. I hope that the recent fires haven’t caused them to shut down.

  41. Sande Poffenberger says:

    Our dream vacation would be a trip out west to see all the “big” sites!

  42. We would visit our friends who recently moved across the country. We miss them dearly.

  43. Lisa Countiss says:

    I’d like to visit the Pacific northwest.

  44. Melissa Cazares says:

    I would love for my kids to meet my family in Wisconsin.

  45. I would like to go to Washington DC as well as other historic sites along the East Coast.

  46. Lynette Williams says:

    I’d love to take my family to Colonial Williamsburg. That would be a lovely way to experience some of the things we’ve been learning about. So cool!

  47. We would go to visit my in-laws overseas so they could meet our 3 youngest kids for the first time!

  48. My ideal family Spring Break vacation would be to the Grand Canyon and around the southwestern United States.

  49. I’d love to take our children to Mackinac Island in MI.

  50. Liz Thomas says:

    My 4 kids would love to go to Knobels – it’s our favorite family amusement park destination.

  51. Marissa W. says:

    There are so many places in the U.S. that I would love to visit. I would love to share the green Northwest with my children. We live in Az.

  52. I’d love to go to the beach with my family, preferably the gulf coast!

  53. We have always loved beach camping and boogie boarding with our friend. We haven’t done it for years and would love to do it again.

  54. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Boone, NC! We would also love to explore the western part of the country more, in an RV, together, for weeks!

  55. I would like to visit San Pedro in Belize, I’m told that the beaches is very beautiful.
    I would really like to be able to go there for spring break.

  56. We LOVE LOVE LOVE Boone, NC! We would also love to explore the western part of the country more, in an RV, together, for weeks!.

  57. I would take a trip with my family of 6 to enjoy camping in the mountains, away from technology and just hangout fish, climb trees, and take in all of that outdoor air

  58. Crissie Woolard says:

    My dream vacation would be to take my family to Disney World. I have always wanted to go but we have not made it there yet. This is such a generous giveaway thank you so much

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