“Home away from home” A phrase I’ve never really resonated with. Sure there have been times when I have felt like taking my shoes off and eating a snack or two at someone else’s house but I don’t think I have really experienced “home” outside of the place where I receive my mail…

Until Monday.

Let’s go back a couple of months shall we? It’s May. Hannah is about to finish out her first year of school and people are starting to head out on their summer vacations for the year. So naturally we start kicking around ideas for some things that we would like to do this summer for our own vacation. Every idea was met with this overwhelming feeling of stress and anxiety. Because every destination that was mentioned needed 6+ hours in our Ford Edge with three young kids. A pack’n’play for the baby. 47 outfits for each kid. Multiple snacks, games and activities. Nap time? Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen! Not with these kids! No way! They need to be in a quiet room with NO distractions to get any amount of sleep. A luxury that hotels just can’t provide unless we rent out multiple rooms. And the list goes on.

We needed a new plan.

Even though we are blessed to have a regular routine of being together most days all day, we were nearly desperate for some time away from home. A time to just BE together with ZERO responsibilities.

Dustin came in from the office one night and said, “Hey! How do you feel about Rogers? We could rent a little Airbnb outside of the city. We could shop, play a cool parks and hit up the Amazuem.” BAM. New plan.

We were going to drive an hour from our house to a new community to play at new places and eat at our favorite Tacos For Life. All while having a quiet, secluded retreat to go back to when we just needed some down time or when we weren’t really feeling like eating out. We could just cook at “home”.

So here is a glimpse into our little “home away from home”

And that’s just the inside!

The backyard was complete with a grill, patio furniture, a hammock and a fire pit which we thoroughly enjoyed on Tuesday night while we cooked up some hot dogs and s’mores.

And last but certainly not least, my absolute FAVORITE part of the trip.

Family pictures. I cannot even begin to tell you how much these photos mean to me. I tear up looking through them. Not just because of what they look like but because of how we felt while taking them. We laughed and snuggled. It just felt so right. These image perfectly embodies the way we felt the whole time we were away! It was simple yet absolutely everything we needed.