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Some of my favorite family memories were from our family vacations each summer. As a Nurse, my time off was few and far between, so we made it a point to take one week out of the year and go all out on a family vacation. We did the usual ones – Wildwood, NJ, Orlando, Florida for Disney World… but some of my favorite places were the ones I wasn’t expecting!

The Outer Banks – Back in the 80s when we went, this place was relatively quiet. I see more and more family and friends nowadays venturing down here...I feel like it’s become very touristy...I could be wrong though! We hope to go back as a big family vacation/reunion soon. We’re talking about renting one of those Air BnB things and all staying together. I think it would be so fun! ...But when we first went when the kids were little, it was so remote and quiet. We loved it. Compared to the beaches up here in New Jersey, the beaches on the Outer Banks were basically deserted! We had the whole place to ourselves and the kids loved it. We could spread out and wander and playing and run around...it was fantastic! We went there 2 times for our family summer vacation!

Maine – A short drive from New Jersey, we initially went to Maine because we got a late start booking our family vacation and all the hotels we wanted to stay at in Wildwood were booked. So we decided to go to Maine and it was one of the best decisions we made. What a cute state Maine is! We went 2 times and stayed in 2 different places – Old Orchard Beach and Wells. We had so much fun in both places! The kids loved it. All the seafood, the expansive beaches...We were actually able to stay right on the beach in both coastal towns which the kids loved. They were a little older and could go down to the beach themselves cause we could watch them from our hotel room window. We all loved it. In fact, 3 years ago Alex and I took a vacation ourselves to Kennebunkport. It was gorgeous and the perfect weekend getaway for us. We dined at so many good restaurants (The Boathouse was our favorite!) I can’t recommend taking a trip to Maine enough! There’s a reason why they call it “Vacationland!”

I like to keep track of the places we’ve been… Here are the places we’ve traveled to over the years:

- Spain

- Italy

- Greece

- Florida (Disney World, Key West)

- Maine

- Denver, CO (hiking was beautiful out here!)

- California (San Diego, Napa Valley – loved the wine tasting so much!!)

- Pennsylvania (Hershey Park! So fun!)

- Texas (Austin)

- Connecticut (wine trails)

- New York (NYC and upstate...Upstate NY is beautiful! Lake George)

- Idaho (we camped out there for a week...it was breathtaking!)

- Montreal (Old Montreal was like something out of a European story book!)