New year. Same us.

Or as we heard throughout our trip last year: “Same, same…but different.”

Maybe that’s it. Probably.

Ya, the trip.

It’s been a ying vs yang kind of struggle for me since we returned. The Coles notes version is I thought it would be a relatively simple transition back to life, back to reality (I now have that 90’s Soul II Soul hip hop song going through my head…) for us. For me. Well, the boys have held up their end of the bargain just fine thank you very much. Other than the first few weeks back to school when that was new again and they started activities and programs (having a schedule and definite structure in their lives was a challenge) they haven’t been affected at all. Of course they haven’t though. They just travelled the world for a year when every day, week, month, something was new and different and exciting or boring or fun. So, that’s been the easy part. I’ve been the hard part. Ha.

When you’ve had a year like we had, you inherently think back to what it was you were doing at that particular moment, the year before. And most times, it was better than what you are doing on that present day. Most, not all. (Also, feel free to substitute I, for you…Clearly, I’ve been avoiding it!? Obviously, I’m writing about myself. (insert rolling eye emoji here)) And it wasn’t just the traditionally amazing things we did; zip lining in Laos & Costa Rica, seeing the Taj Mahal, Petra, Ayer’s Rock, Angkor Wat, the Acropolis and the 1000’s of temples in Myanmar. It’s more of the uniquely cool or just regular mundane day to day stuff that I miss. Like exploring, buying then eating the freshest food from a local market, waking up, not knowing what you're going to do that day, but creating the most fun agenda, riding a train for hours watching the landscape of a different country rush by - being deep in thought about nothing at all, swimming in waist deep water searching for bioluminescent plankton late at night in Cambodia, doing homework on a deck 5 metres from the ocean in Palawan, riding in the back of a pick up truck to get to the next village for free in Myanmar or having dinner with my sister’s family in NZ for weeks at a time - all 8 of us - and realizing that it’s loud and chaotic and giving you a headache and it’s perfect. That.

Being somewhere, in the middle of no where and realizing not one person on the planet knows where you are. Just us.

Maybe that’s it. Probably.

But the yang to all of the ying is that it has also been so very special to be back and be with everyone that means so much to us. Just be, really. Do those things we missed. Cottage'ing and water-skiing and sleepovers and spontaneous neighbourhood BBQ’s. Acting and modelling and imagination nation’ing with our neighbourhood crew. Birthday parties and new bedrooms (Sully!) and road trips and cotton candy making and new cousins. Playing the piano and reading for hours while we melt into our favourite brown couch in the front room. Afternoon naps, those too. Skiing at Beaver Valley, road-biking, waterpolo’ing and playing hockey. Adulting and going to concerts and going out for dinner or drinks or having people over, to have real conversations with. About kids and futures and families and fun and whiskey and about nothing at all. All of those things.

We’re really good right now and I’ll eventually get this ying and yang thing figured out. Whatever it is. Ha! The balance of our new reality. I’ve jokingly said Easter is my goal to get it done. Ya, right.

Maybe. Probably.

So, going forward, we’ll be looking for more of the same and new adventures along the way. Along those lines, I’m super excited to be able to share our next adventure. We’ve partnered with Ensemble Travel to become their ‘Ambassadors for Family Travel’. Ensemble Travel is a member run organization of approximately 850 top-tier independent travel agencies throughout the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Max, Sully and I will be writing in their Vacations magazine as well as sharing our experiences on the blog, as we explore different types of travel opportunities that appeal to families. Last week, we spent 6 days on a Caribbean cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines. We sailed from Jan. 2-8, stopping in Honduras, Belize and Mexico and couldn’t have had more fun. Blogs from the trip will be posted here over the coming days.

I’m thinking this new opportunity will be pretty fun.

Maybe. Probably. Yes.

Here is a link to the Vacations magazine article, introducing us.

Where Our Sidewalk Ends Article