I had grand plans to create a blog about traveling and then life got in the way. Soccer practice and games, swim lessons, school, and different commitments that took up a great deal of time. I started a travel agent business to make some extra money and to save money when we travel. I discovered that I LOVE to plan vacations for other people. This ended up taking more time than I anticipated and finally…I had our trips for this year to plan. We ended up with two big trips and one smaller trip. Our destinations are Alaska, Michigan, and Hawaii.
We went on a Disney Alaskan cruise in May and it was FANTASTIC. An Alaskan Cruise was a bucket list destination for me and it lived up to my expectations. My mom who is not a Disney Adult (at all) made me laugh with her reactions to certain things – like the ship’s horn playing a Disney song. My kids loved the cruise especially the kids club and they celebrated their 8th birthday while we were on the cruise. I will do a lengthier post about our cruise and what we loved in the future.
For Michigan, we plan to do a road trip to visit family. It’s a 10 hour drive with my kids who don’t love driving in the car. I’m trying to come up with things to do in the car that will keep us all sane. So far I have 2 DVD players, 2 tablets, and some fun worksheets to make the time go by faster for them. When we get there, we don’t have a lot planned. Hopefully spend a day at Lake Michigan and then go to a minor league baseball game.
Our Hawaiian vacation is in the fall . We are going to spend 5 days at an Airbnb in Kauai and then 7 days on Oahu – 2 days at a Hilton hotel in Waikiki and then Aulani in Ko’ Olina. My mom and my brother’s family are joining us for this trip. I’m still working out all the details, but the plan right now is to drive to Waimea Canyon and take a boat tour of the Na Pali Coast on Kauai. On Oahu, we are going to hike Diamond Head while we are in Waikiki. At Aulani, we plan to spend our days in the pool and at the beach.
The other reason I’ve taken time away from this website is all the reading I’ve been doing. I recently (in the past few years) have rediscovered my love for reading. It was a huge part of my life growing up and then I went to college. There was too much other stuff to do and reading took a back seat – especially when so much of the reading I did was required for classes.
Lately, I’ve (re)discovered cozy mysteries, narrative nonfiction, and personal tales of adventure. I will never climb Mount Everest, but a story about someone who climbed it is something I’m fascinated by. Cozy mysteries are like watching a Hallmark channel mystery. In fact many of the series they have are adapted from book series – like Hannah Swenson and Aurora Teagarden. Narrative nonfiction makes history come alive – Adam Higginbotham, David Grann, and Candice Millard are three of my favorite authors in this genre.
I’ve decided to add a section to this website called “Read with Lani”. I want to share with you books I love. Series I love. What I’m reading now and what my to-be-read pile actually looks like. It’s mostly virtual because my space and budget aren’t conducive to buying all the books I want to read. Plus, libraries are amazing and good for the environment. So it’s a win-win for everyone.
In summary,
Libraries are awesome.
I love books.
I have been traveling.
And now I’m back.
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