In my 20’s I was a frequent traveler. I was up for any adventure. Oh, the places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen are astounding. The following are all pictures I took on my journeys.
Some of the things were just right in my neck of the woods here in Wisconsin:
Copper Falls in Wisconsin
Me canoeing down the Wisconsin River
I also ventured throughout the United States to places like California, Washington D.C. and all over the south:
An alligator in the Everglades in Florida
Key Largo, Florida
I’ve also been to Mexico:
an island in Mexico
children on their way to school in Mexico
I have also seen quite a bit of Europe and even had my own apartment in Venice, Italy for a bit:
And then I met this guy. We fell in love.
My husband and me
This in turn started me on my grandest journey. The places I’ve been and the things I’ve seen are astounding!
The most astounding things I have ever seen!
Motherhood Is An Art 
I too got some great travels in before settling down (which is good since Lord knows when I will be able to do it again for “fun”). Love the pictures…and following all of the new places you go on your current journey!
Thanks Courtney! I remember you mentioning in a post that you went to Europe too right with your friend that you got to see not too long ago! I’m glad we both got those opportunities because now it’s pretty exciting when we just make it to the library!!!
What a beautiful post! Gorgeous photos, and what a fabulous fam! Daaaaw, that last photo makes me feel all squiggly inside. YAY for adventures, for love, for family, and for all three (together!) xx
Thank you Vanessa!! I love that last picture too!
Great post! Love the photos of all the great places — and of course, the last one with your husband and kids is adorable!
Just wondering — do you speak Italian? I am the worst at speaking other languages, but I always learn the following list of phrases: please, thank you, where’s the bathroom, and I’m sorry. I think I use “I’m sorry” the most.
I actually did learn how to speak Italian while I was there. I didn’t think I would need to know how but in my first 5 minutes there I locked myself out of my apartment and soon discovered that many people didn’t speak English! I pretty much locked myself up for 3 days in my apartment and studied my translation book until I got it down. By the end of my trip I could speak pretty fluently, translated for people at the airport and a person even asked me if I was from Milan because of my accent! I have since forgot most of it though since I have had no need to use it since then!
Great Post, Melissa! From traveling to now a Beautiful family, and a story to share with your children, family, and friends. Beautiful Pics, and thanks for sharing them. Be Blessed, Mtetar
Thank you so much Mtetar! They were beautiful places to visit but nothing compares to this life I’m living now!
You’re welcome, Melissa! Be Blessed, Mtetar
Great pictures and post! Where would you journey with your family, if you could go anywhere? Traveling is a totally different experience with little ones. Mine love going on trips and staying in hotels or family members’ houses…getting there can be tricky, whether it’s by plane or car!
I saw that you have been to the Everglades…I live about an hour from there and haven’t visited yet. Of course, I see a good number of gators, snakes, and interesting birds at home.
I long to take my kids and husband to where I grew up, in southwestern Connecticut. Hiking…sledding…seeing hills…it was beautiful and I do miss it.
Have a great week! –Alison
Thank you Alison! I have always wanted to go to India and Nepal! My husband and I had a trip planned there right before I became pregnant with Iris. However, they put a temporary ban on traveling there at the time so we couldn’t go. Maybe someday I’ll make it there. We are planning a cross-country trip with the kids this summer…it will be an adventure for sure!
I really enjoy wildlife so the Everglades was wonderful. I got to see a lot of cool stuff! I still remember when you did the post where you had a picture of an ibis! I never saw one of those when I was there. I always thought they were from a different country! You’re lucky to have all of the neat wildlife so close by!
I hope you have a great week as well!!
I also did a lot of traveling after college. I traveled through, America, Europe and parts of the Middle East.I miss it sometimes as it feels so far away. I would love to do some more traveling. It would be fun to go to some exotic places with my wife.
I would love to hear more about your travels! I miss it too! It seems like such a lifetime ago that I did all of that stuff!
I think possibly my favorite post of yours. Absolutely love it.
And I HAVE TO GO SEE….Copper Falls! Love that too!
Yes, Copper Falls looks beautiful! I’ll add it to my “must-see” list. Great post and pictures! I enjoyed a lot of traveling before having kids too – working a summer in Tokyo and studying in Vienna were amazing opportunities. It is wonderful to have an apartment somewhere as “home.”
Cathy, have you ever been to Tahquamenon Falls? It’s another place I want to get to in Wisconsin. A friend of mine went there and posted pictures on Facebook. It is absolutely gorgeous and they saw moose. She said it was absolutely amazing!
No, I haven’t been to either falls – or ANY falls in Wisconsin that I can remember! I’ll have to check that out. Thanks!
Oh wow! Thank you so much Colleen! Copper Falls was absolutely breathtaking! I only spent a day there but could have easily spent a few days hiking it all!
I’m more intrigued by that than some of Europe. But I wouldn’t slap a free trip to Europe in the face if it presented it’s self to me. 🙂
Beautiful thoughts and pictures. Our families are our real treasures and raising kids can certainly be an adventure. Keep enjoying this adventure that you are on now. It will change all too soon. 🙂
Thank you Julie! I will definitely keep enjoying this current adventure because I know you are right that will all change so quickly before my eyes!
Love how you ended this post 🙂 I think the adventures with your children will be more exciting 😉
Thank you!! The kids and family are definitely the most exciting parts of my life!
looking forward to read more adventures 😉
A lovely final thought to leave the post on, you are indeed lucky and now thank you but I have the Beach Boys song in my head after I saw the pic of Key Largo :-(… xxx
haha!!! Now you have that song stuck in my head too!! I was never fond of it but I have to admit it is one catchy tune!!
Montego Key Largo baby why don’t we go to Bermuda, Bahamas..argghh!!!
awww melissa what a cute post, your right for all wev’e seen we still love our family the most (most of the time!) xxxxxxxxxxxx
haha!! Exactly Teresa!! Sometimes we have to continually remind ourselves of that but at the end of the day it really is true!!
yeah it really is. xxxxxxxxxxxx
Melissa, great post, I love all the pictures, so nice but the last one; I love what you wrote “most astounding this I’ve seen” ; your family! so true! Ah! now let me go and look at mine! ha!ha! 🙂 I wish we could travel now but nope, it’s not in our plans yet! 😉
Thank you Ingrid! We traveled by plane with the kids 5 years ago when Iris was 2 and Bency was 4 months to visit Alex’s family in New Mexico. It actually wasn’t bad at all but with our growing family the cost of traveling is just too much. However, this summer we plan on driving cross country to New Mexico and making a few stops along the way to see some things out west. It should be interesting is all I can say! haha!!
There is always, “No place like home”… And the best home is the one you’ve created!
Sometimes I have to tap my heels together 3 times and remind myself of that from time to time….like when the laundry gets piled up over my head!!
What a sweet post! I know what you mean about how our family is nothing like we’ve ever experienced before, no matter how great and wonderful! It doesn’t compare!
Thank you Lidia! That is sooooo true!!
It looks like you’ve been to alot of beautiful places and had alot of amazing experiences. Now that you have your own little ones, you must have tons of great stories and photos to show them of the places Mommy has been and things she has done! 🙂 That’s great!
Thanks Keisha! Right now I don’t think my kids would be interested in any of this but someday I can show them that I used to go to more places than just the grocery store!!
Oh, little ones don’t care where Mommy has been as long as she is there for them now. When they’re middle school age or so, though, it’ll be good for them to know their mother had adventures. 🙂
What a beautiful post. The comment under the photo of your family really is beautiful.
Thank you so much!!
Oh my goodness…you were quite the little world traveler! That’s the one thing I never did enough of before settling down.
How did you manage to live in Venice?
I was in between jobs and it was a place that I had always wanted to go so instead of staying in hotel I just went on the internet and found someone who was subletting their apartment so I rented it from them for a month!
Did you work in Europe?
No, I was only there for a few months so just toured around!!