A review of our 2012 travels.
2012 was a banner year for my family – we were very fortunate to travel many miles and have ever so many amazing experiences. In retrospect, it seems that our theme for this past year of travel was getting reacquainted with old friends – of all the places that we traveled, the province of Newfoundland was the only one that I hadn’t previously visited.
When I’m trying to plan our travels, I always struggle with my desire to return to places that I loved and the desire to tick new places off the long bucket list that I store in my head. I learned this past year that it’s possible to go back to a favourite place and experience it in a whole new way. Places change, I change and if that’s not enough to provide a fresh viewpoint then I can filter through the eyes of the children that now travel with me.
January
We started off the year in Orlando, Florida visiting the Disney parks as well as The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios and spent January 1st at Magic Kingdom which was still decorated for the holidays with Cinderella’s Castle magically lit up like an icicle at night. We have visited Disney World many times over the last 16 years but this was the first time that we were there for the holidays and I loved it!
March
My husband and I spent part of our honeymoon in Paris and this past March, we returned with our daughters for spring break. We stayed in a 2 bedroom suite at an apart-hotel on the left bank near St. Germain-des-Près and explored Paris by foot – discovering in the process that the city is a great destination for families. We visited all the headline attractions like the Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Luxembourg Gardens and we also fit in day trips to Versailles, Normandy, Disneyland Paris and Geneva, Switzerland. Emma fell hard for the city, declaring on her second day that “even the water tastes better in Paris” and crying on our last day because it was time to go home. I hope that this was just the first of many opportunities she will have over her lifetime to create memories in the City of Lights.
April
In April, we traveled to Sudbury in northern Ontario to spend the Easter holiday with family. While there we had an opportunity to visit Science North, one of the best science museums anywhere, and got up close and personal with Quillen the porcupine. Emma was afraid to get anywhere near him at first but eventually her curiosity got the better of her and she posed for a photo as well.
May
I have always wanted to attend the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa but we have never been able to visit the capital at the right time of the year. I decided that I wasn’t waiting any longer and Emma and I took a VIA rail train from Toronto to Ottawa for the Victoria Day long weekend in May. The two of us had a great time exploring the city, visiting museums, and finding great places to eat even though the tulips were nearly done blooming.
July
Amidst all of our return trips to favourite places in 2012 we had a very big “first” – Katie traveled on her own to St. Andrews, Scotland to attend the International Summer School of Scotland for three weeks. Even though I was a bit nervous sending her off on her own, I was also very proud of her that she was confident enough to travel to Scotland and back by herself. I would most definitely not have been able to do the same at 15 years of age. She had an amazing time, met great friends from around the globe and would definitely recommend a summer abroad experience to anyone looking for a new twist on summer camp.
While Katie was settling in to her dorm room in Scotland, the rest of us spent Canada Day in Stratford attending a performance of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown as part of the festival’s 1st annual Canada Day Family Weekend.
August
August was by far the busiest month of the year for me in terms of travel – I think I was only home long enough to do laundry in between three separate trips.
The month started with a road trip to Manitoulin Island – the largest freshwater island in the world – for a few days at Granny and Grampy’s cottage.
This was followed a couple of days later by a weekend trip to Chicago for Emma and I. Chicago is a favourite destination for our family but we always seem to visit in the winter. Emma and I spent an amazing five days with near-perfect weather playing in Millennium Park, visiting museums, cruising on the river and, of course, shopping at American Girl Place.
Our big family trip of the summer was to Atlantic Canada where we spent a week in Newfoundland (the one Atlantic province that the kids and I had not previously visited), a night in Halifax, Nova Scotia, a week in Prince Edward Island and two nights in Moncton, New Brunswick. We spent many family vacations on the east coast when the kids were younger and it was wonderful to return to an area that we know so well and love so much.
September
Travel always slows down in the fall as the kids ease back into school and extracurricular activities dominate our schedule. Both Katie and Emma were involved in a community theatre production of Music Man in November so we had time for very little else on the fall weekends. We did fit in a day trip to Niagara Falls to meet Jessica from Suitcases and Sippycups and her family and then spent the rest of the day around the Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake.
October
Thanksgiving weekend falls in early October in Canada and we drove to Sudbury once again to spend it with family giving thanks for the opportunity to spend precious time with loved ones.
December
Plans are often subject to change and although we had intended to spend Christmas in our home we ended up returning to Sudbury to spend a few days there. The one advantage of traveling north is that you can almost always be guaranteed a white Christmas and there was definitely no shortage of snow this holiday season.
Our Christmas gift to ourselves was a Caribbean cruise on the Disney Magic sailing out of Galveston, Texas for 6 nights so we rang in 2013 with Mickey and friends on the high seas. And it seemed rather fitting that we started and ended the year with Disney.
We have been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to so many amazing places in the last year and are looking forward to traveling to many more in 2013.
Lucia
Wow! 2012 was quite a busy and adventurous year for all of you. May 2013 bring you continued joy, lots of laughter, and even more grand exploits! Happy New Year!
Sonja
You really did do a lot of traveling last year! Love the tulips in Ottawa. Aren’t kids amazing nowadays? I know you’re proud of your eldest traveling so far on her own, and I don’t think I could have done that when I was her age either. My daughter amazes me too with how brave she is in new situations like that. (Who knows – maybe we moms can pat ourselves on the back a bit??)
Nicole at Arrows Sent Forth
What a wonderful idea for a post… I need to remember to do a look back at the end of the year. And bravo to Katie… I traveled to France at 16 with my high school French class. It was my first time out of the country, and I was so homesick for the first 4 days. (Only to decide I absolutely loved it for the final 5 days… at least I came around to it!)
I really want to explore more of Canada in the coming years… your posts are a big reason for that. 🙂
Becca@rwetheryetmom?
What an absolutely amazing year of travel – I feel blessed to have been able to see all of it on facebook while it happened! Can’t wait to see what 2013 has in store for you!!
Thanks for linking up!
Amy
Wow Lisa! Y’all were all over the map last year! What a great year. I’m looking forward to reading about your travels in 2013!
Margaret
I love tulips! They always add such a nice shot of color to a cityscape.
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thank you, Lucia! All the best to you and your family for 2013 as well!!
Lisa Goodmurphy
I think we must have done something right, Sonja! 🙂
Lisa Goodmurphy
I’m so happy to hear that my posts have inspired you to want to visit Canada – we have so many beautiful places that your family would love exploring!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Becca – it was a pretty good year – and it’s always so much fun looking back and remembering the places that we visited!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Amy – now if I could just decide where to go this year! 🙂
Andrea J.
What a busy 2012 you had! Thanks for sharing all of your adventures. I love to read about others travels so that I can add to my bucket list. Cant wait to read about 2013!
femmefrugality
I know what you mean! There’s a couple of beaches I’ve been to several times and will go to several times more because I love the areas that much. And it truly is different every time you go. For example, I love your Jan….been to Disney, but we really want to see Harry Potter!
Terumi
Oh what a fabulous travel year:) I love that your daughter got to go away and travel alone too! You are a brave momma and I hope I can do the same for my guys when they’re that age:) Anyways, here’s to 2013:) great post!
Adam Sommer
Looks like a busy year…great idea to send your daughter on her own; I did that one summer in DC when I was 16 and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Scotland I bet was great (I love the UK…awesome country).
Mary {The World Is A Book}
It has been so fun virtually traveling with you and your family this past year. I love reading year-end round-ups and so glad to relive them with you again. Great year of travels and looking forward to where you’re off to in 2013. Most of all, I’m looking forward to finally meeting you in Toronto 🙂
Cathy Sweeney
Great recap of your 2012 travel highlights. I remember reading some of these trips during the year. My personal favorites were the Chicago and Paris posts. Here’s to more happy travels for you and your family in 2013!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Andrea! I love reading about travel for the same reason – and my bucket list keeps growing and growing and growing! 🙂
budget jan
I love revisiting the year in the end of year blog posts. I remember all of these – what a good year.
Lisa Goodmurphy
Tulips are one of my favourite flowers and I loved that I finally had the chance to get to the tulip festival – even if the tulips were a bit past their prime!
Lisa Goodmurphy
My teenager is already plotting another trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – it’s expanding!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Terumi! The days when she was traveling alone I was a bit nervous but other than that it was fine – they had internet access at St. Andrews so she was able to keep in touch. This spring break she’s going to Ecuador for 2 weeks on a service trip – I’m a little more nervous about that one!
Lisa Goodmurphy
I think it’s a great idea for teens to do some independent travel – it’s a great confidence booster for them no matter where they go!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Mary – I’m looking forward to meeting you at TBEX as well! 🙂
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Cathy – Chicago and Paris were among my favourites as well!
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Jan! I love to reminisce about my own travels and I also love to read year-end review posts on other websites – so much fun to remember all the great travels of the year!
Leigh
Lisa – What an amazing year of travel you had. I love the fact that both your girls are so keen to travel too and I bet Emma will end up returning to Paris over and over again. Lucky you with relatives in the north and an excuse to enjoy fresh water lakes in the summer. I hope 2013 is just as wonderful a year for you.
Lisa Goodmurphy
Thanks, Leigh! It’s a bit ironic that growing up in the north, I never realized just how beautiful it was – now I do when we only get back a couple of times a year.