“Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art.” ~Maya Angelou
After almost 8 years of motherhood I traveled alone. ALONE! No spouse, no newborn, no air-sick 2 year old. It was crazy. Crazy fun! I attended a blogging retreat hosted by my fave, Mom It Forward, who also hosted our fabulous family retreat at Universal Studios last summer. We are still talking about that adventure and all the superhero powers our family has that we learned from the workshops.
We walked away from that event with two roundtrip airline tickets from Southwest Airlines. Since our family needs five tickets to travel together, we didn’t know exactly how we would use those tickets that Southwest Airlines gave away, that we won. Turns out, Brent’s sister got married in Utah and Brent used one ticket to attend her wedding. I was very excited to use the other ticket to attend the Moms Weekend retreat at Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort a few weeks ago. So a BIG thank you to Southwest for helping us get to these amazing events!
We stayed at the Zion Ponderosa Ranch Resort and had fabulous accommodations, staff, and activities. I went canyoneering–rappelling of cliffs–for the first time. An activity that i have wanted to do since my days backpacking in Europe. It was scary, empowering and emotional all at once.
I also go to go horseback riding. My horse’s name was Daisy and she was a perfect fit for me. The lady who ran the horse riding activity sat back and watched our group chat with each other and interact with the horses. Then when it was time to saddle up, she assigned us each a horse. Everyone got horses that matched their skill level and personality. That’s amazing talent!
We were privileged to hear from Rachel Coleman of Signing Time (whose Kickstarter campaign was just funded!!) and her amazing husband Aaron taught our video workshops. The weekend was so inspiring and empowering! It was hard to come home and pack a house, move, and unpack a house instead of working on all the cool ideas I had from what I learned.
If you EVER have a chance to attend a Mom It Forward function, say yes! Sign up and work out the details later. You won’t regret it. I promise! In fact, they are hosting a family retreat at Zion Ponderosa in October. Seriously, you should take your family. Here’s the spiel:
Looking for an awesome and AFFORDABLE family adventure retreat that includes your whole family (Yes! For kids of all ages!)? Then check out Family Forward: Mountain Adventure, which takes place October 9-12, 2014 on the border of Zion National Park in Southern, Utah. All-inclusive pricing for a family of 5 ranges from $350 to $699, depending on the type of lodging you choose (tent, RV, cabins on up to luxury homes). Yes! You heard me right. Passes include 3 nights of lodging, three meals a day and snacks for your entire family, and vouchers for adventure activities, good for miniature golfing, zip lining, ATV riding, paint balling, and more. Enjoy a $50 discount through June 29 when you register with the code: “SCHOOLSOUTFORSUMMER”!