Daytona Beach, FL (+COVID update & Washington DC bonus stop) – (April 2021)

COVID update! Well, COVID-19 put a halt to our travel plans for over a year. But forget about travel… it’s been quite a year. Little did we know that when I picked up Alara from school a day before her winter break in March 2020 for our trip to the Azores that it would be

Sao Miguel, Azores (March 2020)

The travel bug was itching again and since Alara had 2 days off school in March, we decided to visit our family in Sao Miguel, Azores. It’s a short flight from Boston to Ponta Delgada (5 hours) and combining Alara’s days off school with the weekend (and maybe an extra day off school), we were

Philadelphia & New York (January 2020)

Another winter break and another visit from Amca (uncle) and cousin Yagmur! We decided not to do our usual Florida road trip and to keep it closer to home. Nene and dede had gone back to Turkey to visit and so it was just. We celebrated Christmas with my family and then after the new

Germany & Switzerland & Italy (August 2019)

Alara’s first year of Kindergarten is complete and it’s been quite a year! Alara got 2 awards at her award ceremony: Physical education award and Science award. Pretty accurate considering she currently wants to be a ballerina astronaut. ::shrugs:: After Mommy switching jobs to work remotely, celebrating Alara’s Rockstar 6 year birthday party, dance recital,

Florida Road Trip (December 2018)

December 2018 was a busy month, Mommy and Daddy went to Spain (Barcelona/Valencia/Madrid) for a short trip earlier in the month and after Christmas, Amca (Uncle) and cousins Yagmur and Ruya came to visit from Germany. Another winter visit from the family meant another road trip to Florida! While we were not looking forward to

New Hampshire (September 2018)

It was Labor Day weekend 2018 and Alara had been doing a great job adjusting to Kindergarten. We had been wanting to go to New Hampshire for a few different reasons: Get some nature in our system Go to Storyland Go shopping in the North Conway outlets We learned from a friend that Storyland was

Quebec City (August 2018)

While Mommy and Daddy took some quick weekend trips to Las Vegas (December 2017) and New Orleans (April 2018), the next vacation we took as a family wasn’t until August 2018, when we wanted to take a quick trip before Alara started Kindergarten! It had been a busy spring/summer with Alara’s 5th “pony” birthday party,

Sao Miguel, Azores (September 2017)

Time to visit the Motherland! Or more accurately, Sao Miguel, Azores (Portugal), where Vavo and Vovo (my parents) were both born. The Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal, located in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and are compromised of 9 volcanic islands. The islands are known for beautiful landscapes, green pastures, blue hydrangeas,

Germany (Paris & Vienna too) – (May/June 2017)

We’re going back to Germany! This time with Vavo and Vovo (meaning grandma and grandpa in Portuguese, aka my parents) for their first time visiting Continental Europe. We are so lucky to have family overseas to visit and Southern Germany is so centrally-located in Europe that we can easily squeeze in drive trips to see

Montreal (October 2016)

Columbus day weekend usually calls for foliage peaking and/or road trips in my book and this year was no exception. We wanted to go somewhere that we could peep some leaves but also experience a new city. We decided on Montreal since driving through NH and VT would offer some nice scenery and Montreal is