Moments.featured

For the last of couple weeks, I have been stuck on a post about gift giving and minimalism (coming soon!). Tonight, rather than revisit it yet again, I decided to scroll through photos of our travels and take some time to appreciate all of the moments we’ve experienced over the last year. I thought I’d share a few here.

This photo perfectly captures the scorching hot day we spent in Tulum, Mexico last July. We have almost no photos from the day because after a long tour, during which I lost my phone and Molly drank approximately 100 ounces of water and still had a dry diaper, we spent most of our time in crowded shade areas waiting for the tour bus to leave.

I love our first day in a new city. I’ve even come to love the jet lag, which makes everything seem a bit more magical. After no planned sleep on the flight, our routine is a strict two hour nap and a goal of 8pm before we go to bed. We’ve never made it back by 8pm. With the girls snuggled in their carriers, exhaustion melts away as we wander for hours letting one site point us to the next. Until late at night we reluctantly head home, anxious for the early wake up call of two toddlers ready to explore.

I recently traded cars with Jeff, and the new set up allows the girls to hold hands in the back seat. Molly’s immediate reaction was, “It’s just like in Belgium!” which in fact it is, as evidenced by this photo. She places many of her fond travel memories there. It was probably the liege waffles. And the chocolate.

This is one of my favorite photos of Emma. We were at the Grand Canyon in November. It was freezing and windy, and the rest of us were ready to head back to the car. As I went to take her hand, she tried to move away and fell flat on her back. And proceeded to laugh hysterically.

I have at least one photo like this from each of our trips. These three, at the end of a long day, snuggled up reading before bed. Certainly not as glamorous as many of the backdrops we’ve had, but some of the most important and lasting moments. They remind me that we’re doing more than jumping from location to location on a map. We’re building a life that we love.