It’s hard to believe 2017 is already over! Since having kids it feels like the years fly by and that’s all the more reason to be sure we are making the most of every moment we have. We spent 2017 doing a lot of traveling and adventuring. We continued to seek out new places to hike and explore in our local area and our kids even found a newfound love for snowshoeing which we are excited for this winter! Here are a few of our favorite travel and adventure moments from 2017.

January- We visited the Hershey Lodge and explored their indoor water park which was surprisingly quiet making it seem like we had it all to ourselves. I’m bummed that most of our footage from this trip was lost when trying to update my computer. We also visited the Hershey Chocolate World Ride (it’s free!) and we were the only people there, winter time is definitely the perfect time to visit.

February- We went back to Lake George, NY which we have been to too many times to count. We love it there in every season! During this trip we spent time at the Winter Carnival and explored the Natural Stone Bridge Caverns, which were incredibly beautiful and I highly recommend you check them out.

March- We spent a few days exploring Washington D.C. and Alexandria, VA. We packed a ton of sightseeing into our couple of days there and managed to even do a boat ride on the Potomac River despite the freezing temperatures. A few of our favorite things were the Natural History Museum, seeing the White House up close, walking the gorgeous streets of Old Town Alexandria and going to Gravelly Point Park and standing under the airplanes while they took off and landed.

April- Chickens! Travel related in that they are the reason we didn’t travel quite as much as we had hoped but we are working on a chicken friendly solution for that this year. We adopted 11 hens and 2 roosters from someone local and these little chickens have been quite the adventure. We love being able to walk outside and get fresh eggs and just spend time observing the chickens and their personalities. When we had moved into our home we thought we would be getting other farm animals but have decided that we prefer to travel rather than raise farm animals, but i’m glad we learned that now! The only other addition to our property this year will be a bee hive and i’m super excited for that. Read more about our chickens in this post.

May- Mother’s Day weekend is always the beginning of many camping trips to our favorite local spot, Long Beach Island. Both my husband and I have been going there since we were kids (this is where we got engaged!) and we are so happy to get to experience this beautiful beach with our kids now. We stay right off the Island at one of our newfound favorite campgrounds and also spend plenty of time visiting family members with vacation homes nearby. It is our favorite place to escape and unwind at.

July- We had the chance to check out Jenksinson’s Boardwalk in Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ and loved it! We spent time playing on the beach, checking out the aquarium and going on all of the rides on the boardwalk. It’s a very family friendly destination. Read more about it in our travel guide here.

August- This trip was easily the highlight of the year because we got to witness the solar eclipse in totality. It was amazing to see it and what made it even more incredible was just the atmosphere and excitement of the hundreds of other families watching it with us. If you didn’t get to see the eclipse in totality this year you truly don’t know what you missed out on, so mark your calendars for April 2024 and be sure to get somewhere to view it in the path of totality the next time it comes through the US. There were so many other highlights to this trip because we were in the gorgeous Smoky Mountains where we spent out days hiking and playing in the many streams and waterfalls throughout the National Park. It was an amazing trip and a place we would love to go back to and explore more of. Check out our Gatlinburg, TN travel guide here!

October- Our Niagara Falls trip was a memorable one because it was the first time our boys went to another country. Before we left we talked all about other countries and traveling and they were so excited to be able to visit Canada. The border crossing agent was even nice enough to stamp their passports once when we walked across the border. One of the highlights of this trip was the Maid of the Mist boat tour which took us right up to the Falls. We also did plenty of hiking and took a day trip to Niagara-On-The-Lake where we visited Lake Ontario. Visit our Niagara Falls travel guide in this post.

The rest of the year was spent working, it’s impossible to travel after mid-October because my jewelry shop, B.Stamped is so busy and needs constant managing. I’m so grateful for the opportunities that owning my own business gives me, it’s been one of the biggest blessings in my life. Now that the holidays are over we’ve had time to take a deep breath and plan out some of our adventures for 2018. We are excited to be off on our first one next week and can’t wait to share it with you soon! In the meantime what were some of your favorite travels or adventures of 2017?