Once a year we take a 3 to 4 week summer vacation, if you can call it that! We drive north up the east coast to visit family. We load 4 kids and a dog into our trailblazer, not a lot of room! Thankfully our kids have always been great in the car!
Our first stop was Bedford, VA, 30 minutes from Lynchburg. My in laws have a cute house out in the country. Bedford is a scenic small town with a quaint downtown. Gorgeous views of the blue ridge mountains are abundant.
My kids had so much fun seeing Grandma & Grandpa Thomas. Grandpa had scavenger hunts ready for them (they came back covered in tics)! We spent a lot of time out at Smith Mountain Lake with family friends. There were pontoon rides on the lake, feeding carp popcorn, kayaking and paddle boating. Movies and shopping with Grandpa, my kids were spoiled!
Back in the car, we headed up to New Jersey. My parents live in East Hanover, NJ and my sister in law in Maplewood, NJ, my husband and my hometown. It was so nice to see family! My brother drove up from Ft. Lauderdale, FL to visit too!
We took the kids to the Liberty Science Center which is very fun & hand on! The kids had so much fun playing (and learning)! Since we were already in Jersey City we decided to go to Hoboken & stop by Carlo’s Bakery, home of TLC’s Cake Boss! My kids love the show so they were very excited to see the bakery in person! Buddies sister Maddalena was very friendly and talkative!
My father decided it was time to take the kids to the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately none of the adults wanted to go (I’ve been to the statue too many times as a kids). My biggest memory of going to the statue in the past is waiting in a very long line to get to the top, I was not excited to repeat this! We took the ferry from the Jersey side and went out to the statue. The kids were so excited! When we got to the island we found out that we could not climb the stairs up the statue, reservations need to me made. We spent a lot of time walking around her base and enjoying the scenery.
We stopped in Lancaster, PA to visit my husbands brother. Seeing the Amish was interesting. The farms and countryside were so peaceful! The 4th of July was spent in Maryland with more family on a large farm. The kids were constantly running and going through the woods. They were so dirty every night!
Our three week trip was so fun and a bit tiring! We love seeing our family and wish we could see them more often! It was nice to get back to our home! I had missed my bed a lot! 
Jumping into smith mountain lake, VA
My husband
Smith Mountain lake, VA

Salem, VA





Liberty Science Center, NJ

My mom & son




Old Ferry terminal fro NJ to Manhattan
Communipaw Terminal, NJ built 1889

My Dad



My brother

Like mother like daughter!
Sister in law and brother in law
