Over the past few weeks we have had time to reflect on all our adventures, activities, and experiences that we have shared with all of you this year. The one thing that is the foundation to everything we do is family! Every single thing we do, is as a family and at the end of the day, your family is all that matters. Austin Family Adventures (AFA) was birthed during quarantine 2020. As you all are aware the world shut the down and those were uncertain times for many people. With the world closing, we deliberately did things at home to have quality time as a family. We played countless board games, camped in the back yard, went on bike rides, cooked together, and had many bonfires in the backyard. We have always took advantage of our surroundings and time as a family but made a conscious effort to give our children memories that will last a lifetime. No matter where you are in the world, if you are able to make new memories with your family be grateful and continue to do so in 2024.
Kids 2023 #1 Adventure
For 2023, King and Kaliah voted that our trip to Disneyworld was the highlight of the year for them. We visited in October during Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party We went for two days. One day where we spent the entire day at Magic Kingdom. We watched the parade and were able to ride many rides including TRON. The next day was Mickey's Not- So-Scary Halloween Party which is a special event that occurs on select nights after Magic Kingdom closes for the day. It is a separately ticketed event that offers unique shows, character greetings, special foods, trick-or-treating, fireworks and a boo-to-you parade. The party goes from 7pm to midnight but you can enter the park as early as 4pm. While visiting Disneyworld, we stayed at the Walt Disney Swan Reserve, which was a quick tram ride to the park. During our stay, we ate at many restaurants but our absolute favorite was the Boat House restaurant in Disney Springs. The food was amazing and we were able to ride in an Amphicar Boat after lunch.
The Adults 2023 #1 Adventure
For Gerrold and I, our highlight of the year was our visit to Aruba. Aruba is such a peaceful island and the people are extremely friendly. Aruba sits south of the hurricane belt and the majority of days, the weather is sunny. We stayed at the Aruba Holiday Inn, who hosted us for our stay. The property is right on the beach, has several pools, restaurants and a kids club.
From our walks on the beach, snorkeling, cave exploring and many others activities our family thoroughly enjoyed our time on the island.
Two trips that must receive an honorable mention is our trip to 1000 Island, New York and Mercer County, West Virginia. Both locations provided a lot of outdoor experiences that our kids will remember forever. From Bass fishing and the Island Tour ride in New York to the Kayaking, ATV riding and Hiking in West Virginia. We always try to spend as much time outside with the kids and we definitely completed our goal of spending 1000 hours outside in 2023.
We had an extremely busy and memorable year for 2023. We could have not predicted the opportunities and experiences coming our way. Whether you are playing a card game at the kitchen table, baking cookies together or taking a helicopter excursion in Hawaii, cherish time you have with your family. Never take the small moments for granted. We are extremely thankful and wish everyone a prosperous 2024. Our goals for 2024 are to continue to go on adventures, giving our children experiences we never had and learning new things along the way. I hope everyone does the same. Let’s create memories that will last a life time!
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