In reviewing our goals for 2018 we have decided to try and make things more realistic around here. Sometimes looking at travel photos can be daunting. It’s awesome to see amazing places but sometimes it’s not always attainable. I know because I’ve been there. I've been in a place where I haven't been able to travel and it's hard. So we’ve decided to not only talk about our travel adventures but also our everyday adventures along with some charity things we will be working on. Because we understand that not everyone can go on amazing trips all the time and our goal is to encourage families to adventure more whatever that adventure may be.

With that said, while we were in Switzerland we went ice skating at our local ice rink. If you know anything about my Ava you know the struggle she has been through. Ava is 3, but her physical ability is about that of a 14 month old all because of her brain tumor and the area of the brain it was in. We actually never thought Ava would walk unassisted so to see her walk by herself is huge. But, when we see her with “normal” 3 year olds we realize how far behind she really is and sometimes it breaks our heart. The problem with this is that Ava knows it. Ava knows she’s behind and she is trying her hardest to keep up and she can't. So when Ava said she wanted to try ice skating instead of saying no, I said yes. I knew it may not be 100% successful and it would be hard and probably a ton of effort and little skating but we had to try.

It took a while to get Ava ready. We originally rented her skates that strapped to her boots but they immediately fell off when she got on the ice. At this point Ava wanted to quit but we convinced her to get “big girl skates” ie. normal ice skates and try again. So, we went back, rented normal ice skates and got back on the ice. Ava was on the ice for a total of maybe and I mean MAYBE 5 minutes. I helped her “skate” around the Christmas tree, Tay skated around Ava, she loved it, they laughed and then she was done. So for about 1 hour of prep and effort we got maybe 5 mins of skate time. Was it worth it? Yes! Ava still talks about how big and brave she was skating and how she wants to go back. We will go back and try it again and maybe we’ll get 10 mins of skating out of it, but that’s not the point. The point is that Ava’s confidence was boosted, she was proud of herself, Tay was happy we skated with her and we did something as a family. And that’s what it’s really all about. Just getting out, being together and doing something. That is most the important thing in life, being together. It doesn’t have to be a huge vacation to an exotic place, you can find adventure wherever you are and whatever your circumstances you’re in. We are living proof of that. In our life, we have found adventure in the most incredible countries and isolated hospital rooms. Sometimes you have to make your adventure, but it’s there if you want it.

So our challenge to you this year is this, go a little further than last year. Try something new whether it be a new park, game, city or a new country. Have an adventure together.

2018: Find Adventure Everywhere