Family Land Adventures
Sometimes the smallest adventures show us the biggest things.
Our family land adventures take us from towering sand dunes and theme parks to hometown trails, beaches, farms and ordinary walks that become anything but ordinary. Wherever we explore, we love experiencing the world together and letting the kids show us where to look.
🌲 Let Them Lead the Way
If it crawls, flies, swims, grows or looks remotely interesting, Gryffin will probably find it. Exploring with him means slowing down enough to notice the natural world hiding in plain sight.
🐛 Gryffin’s World
The Best Plans Usually Change
The adventure starts before we ever leave the ground.
We learned pretty early that we could make the perfect plan on paper and watch it disappear almost immediately once the kids stepped into whatever place we were exploring. A trail might only be a mile long, but that doesn’t mean it takes a mile’s worth of time. One bug, one strange stick, one patch of water or one completely invented story can send the entire afternoon in a different direction.
Gryffin seems completely at home in the natural world. Bugs, birds, sticks, water, animals, anything alive or worth investigating can stop him in his tracks. Selene experiences places differently. Her imagination can turn even a gray forest into something full of color, creatures and stories we never would have seen ourselves. The two of them notice completely different things, and somehow that means Mom and Dad end up seeing more, too.
That’s become one of our favorite parts of exploring together. We still make plans, but we’ve gotten much better at letting the day become what it becomes. Sometimes the thing the kids remember most isn’t the destination we had in mind at all. It’s the tiny discovery that made everyone stop, crouch down, look a little closer and forget where we were supposed to be going next.
Selene brings imagination everywhere she goes. A trail can become another world, an ordinary place can become magical, and sometimes the best thing Mom and Dad can do is simply follow along and see what she sees.
🌈 Selene’s World
“We want them to see as much of the world as possible. We just didn’t expect them to show us so much of it, too.”
We can make the plan. The kids usually decide where the adventure actually goes.
🎢 Universal Orlando Resort
Few destinations have become part of our family's story quite like Universal Orlando. From thrilling attractions and incredible resorts to unforgettable character encounters and immersive worlds, every visit brings new adventures and lasting memories.
📍 Orlando, Florida
Family Favorite: Discovering new experiences while revisiting the attractions we already love.
🦒 Zoos of All Shapes & Sizes
📍 Michigan & Beyond
From small local zoos to world-class wildlife parks, animal adventures have always been a favorite for our family. Every visit offers new discoveries, exciting encounters, and plenty of opportunities to see the world through the kids' eyes.
Family Favorite: Watching the excitement when a favorite animal finally appears.
Family Land Adventures We Love to Explore
Some places capture your attention once. Others keep calling you back. These are the destinations that have become part of our family's story, and the places we look forward to exploring again and again.
"Some adventures are planned for months.
Others begin with a simple question: 'Want to go explore?'"
🏖️ Silver Lake Sand Dunes
📍 Silver Lake, Michigan
Towering sand dunes, beautiful beaches, and endless outdoor fun make Silver Lake one of our favorite Michigan adventures. Whether we're climbing dunes, splashing in the water, or simply enjoying time together, every visit feels like summer at its best.
Family Favorite: Racing down the dunes and trying to catch our breath on the climb back up.
🌲 Little Adventures Close to Home
Not every adventure requires a plane ticket or detailed itinerary. Some of our favorite family memories have been made on quiet trails, local parks, and spontaneous outings that remind us how much there is to explore close to home.
📍 Wherever Adventure Finds Us
Family Favorite: Finding something unexpected when we least expect it.
Our Family Favorites
From enormous theme parks to quiet walks close to home, our favorite adventures don't all look the same. These are a few of the places and experiences that keep finding their way back into our family's story.
Universal Orlando has been part of our family's story for years, but Epic Universe gave all four of us something completely new to discover together. The immersive worlds, incredible details and mix of thrills and kid-sized wonder made our first visit unforgettable. And any park where you can pet a dragon that responds to your touch is going to earn some serious bonus points from our kiddos.
Epic Universe
🎢 Favorite Theme Park
Loews Sapphire Falls Hotel
🏨 Favorite Resort
Sapphire Falls was there at the beginning of our family's Universal story, and after all the stays that have followed, it still feels a little like coming home. The tropical atmosphere, incredible pool, water taxi rides and countless memories we've made there have turned a hotel into something much more meaningful to our family.
Our family was climbing these dunes before Selene and Gryffin were even born. Now we get to watch them race toward the top, explore the shoreline and find their own reasons to love a place that's been part of our story for years. As for driving across the dunes? We'll happily leave that to the Mad Max crowd.
Silver Lake Sand Dunes
🏖️ Favorite Outdoor Adventure
St. Joseph, Michigan
🌊 Favorite Beach Town
Long before we had kids, St. Joseph was already part of our story. Now we get to watch Selene and Gryffin enjoy the same beaches, playgrounds, downtown treats and Silver Beach Carousel that we fell in love with years ago. It's far enough from home to feel like an adventure, but close enough to get there in about one movie.
Nature Walks Together
🌲 Favorite Simple Adventure
No tickets. No reservations. No itinerary. Just the four of us outside, with Gryffin searching for anything that crawls, flies or swims and Selene finding color, stories and a little magic wherever we happen to wander. They notice things we would have walked right past, and some of our simplest days together have become some of our favorites.
"Adventure doesn't always begin with a plane ticket. Sometimes it starts with a simple decision to spend the day together."
🌅 On the Horizon
There will always be another trail to walk, town to wander and place waiting for us to explore. Some are already on the calendar. Others are still dreams slowly taking shape.
✈️ NEXT UP
More Michigan Adventures
Always somewhere new to explore
Some of our favorite adventures happen within a few hours of home, and there are still plenty of corners of Michigan we haven't explored together. Beaches, trails, little towns, farms and whatever catches the kids' attention along the way. Not every adventure needs months of planning. Sometimes we just need an open day and somewhere new to point the car.
Status:
🟢 Always Exploring
🎢 ALWAYS PLANNING
Universal Orlando
There will probably always be another Universal adventure somewhere on our calendar. But as the kids grow, the parks keep changing too. New attractions appear, old favorites become traditions, and things they once walked past suddenly become the most important stop of the day. Somehow, there's always something new for the four of us to discover together.
Status:
🔵 Family Tradition
Japan
Targeting 2028... maybe sooner.
🌏 DREAM DESTINATION
Japan remains one of our family's biggest adventure dreams, but we're in no hurry to simply check it off a list. Pushing the trip farther down the road gives the kids time to settle into school while offering all four of us something even more valuable: time to prepare. We're learning about the culture, exploring what we'd love to experience and working toward building a foundation in Japanese so we can arrive as more thoughtful, prepared visitors when the adventure finally comes.
Status:
🟡 Learning, Dreaming & Planning
"The best part about finishing one adventure is dreaming about the next."
Ready to Explore a Little Closer to Home?
Some of the best family adventures don't require a flight, a cruise or months of planning. From finding places worth exploring to learning when to let the kids change the plan, we're sharing what we've learned from the adventures we've taken together on solid ground.
Join the Adventure
Once a month, we share more than where we've been. We share the moments, lessons and little pieces of family life that remind us why we're taking these adventures in the first place, plus what we're planning next.
One adventure-filled email each month. No spam. Just real family travel.