My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last January, and in honor of their relationship, the whole extended family was supposed to take a Disney cruise (read more about how that didn’t happen thanks to an ill-timed first migraine here.) Since we didn’t all celebrate together as planned, Scott, Amanda, Keith, and I decided we needed to try again and do a mini summer trip. We told our parents we wanted to keep it relatively close geographically since Scott had recently started his new job at Animal Kingdom and Elliot was a newborn. They selected a super sweet home in Ocala, Florida as the place to vacation.

Now I know what you’re thinking (because we thought it, too): Ocala, really?! A small town in the center of the state where there are no breezes in the heat of a Florida July. Although it was brutally hot, we had a relaxing time just being present together. Our house had 5 bedrooms in the main building, a pool table in the living room, and a separate guest house that we didn’t even use. There were a couple of screened in porches, a gigantic Southern-style front porch with rocking chairs, a playground area for the kids, and plenty of room to run around outside. We had so much space, totally worth it with four kids aged five and under.

The kids loved playing games, running in sprinklers, splashing in a little pool, and swinging in Keith’s hammock. We were able to cook meals together and hang out as a family without much distraction from the outside world. The adults re-discovered we all suck at pool, and giggled over celebration victory dances and drinky-drinks. The vacation was both loud and peaceful at the same time, and perfect for honoring the first 40 years together of our parents. I can’t wait to travel with everyone again in the future…maybe getting back to my dad’s roots in the Philadelphia area? Or to San Diego to see Amanda’s project at Sea World? Who knows?