For a while, when I heard the word, vacation, I’d cringe. Ever so slightly, but I would. For me vacations were distant memories of broken down cars, camping trips gone awry, or hotel carpet not clean enough to house a llama. Hence, the cringe.

When I was five years old, my family decided to camp in Yosemite. With a borrowed Toyota Corolla, my oversized family zig-zagged through the mountains and pulled over every five minutes due to car-sickness. Many hours later, we arrived to the campground only to realize we were totally not prepared to camp. With no camping reservation, we had to park in the RV section of Yosemite and pitched a two-man beach tent. For a family of six…in the freezing cold. There we slept—surrounded by $85,000 homes on wheels—and tried to make the best of it. The next morning, we woke frozen and hungry. So, while the campers to both sides of us were cooking bacon and eggs and pancakes in the morning on their gas stoves, my mother poured us cereal in plastic bowls, then reminded us to pray and thank God for this awesome experience. Right, mom.

When I was I freshman in high school, my dad said he found an awesome beach resort in Mexico. Swimming pools, beach access, kayaking. It was his dream vacation at his dream price. What he failed to mention was the hotel was in Tijuana, Mexico. Not the beautiful beaches of Cancun or Puerto Villarta, but Tijuana. Tijuana?!? When we pulled up to the so-called resort—complete with exposed cinderblock walls half finished and broken ceiling fans—my dad told me to pick my jaw off the floor. The rooms reeked of bleach and the brown shag carpet recoiled from the walls, as if they, too, knew just how desperate the accomodations were.

These vacations—regardless of their modest accommodations and simplicity—have fertilized awesome family memories. And while I wouldn’t change a single thing about my youth, I’m also happy knowing I’ll never have to do something like that again!

As JD and I planned our vacation, we wanted to make sure things were perfect. Because of all the amazing suggestions my blog readers provided, we spent night after night trying to find a good fit. It wasn’t until our good friend, David Jay, invited us to join him and a group of friends to Nicaragua when we realized we found a perfect fit. At first we thought we’d literally be camping on an island (JD seriously contacted the US Embassy, insisted on bringing water-purifying tablets, and wanted to buy a flare gun), but when David emailed over pictures of our beautiful accommodations, we were overjoyed regarding our new adventure! Be sure to check out DJ's Blog to read more about our adventures!

We’re on our way out the door right now and won’t return until January 8, 2008. I highly doubt I’ll have email access, but please know I’ll respond as soon as I return, if not earlier.

I’ll still be blogging, so be sure to check back for trip updates! 😉