Colt and I spent last weekend in Oahu with my family. We decided to have a Christmas party and help them decorate their tree. We also did Christmas shopping, partied, hung out, ate, ate some more watched football and just enjoyed a family weekend. It reminded me a lot of the holiday weekends when I was younger, everyone just hanging around laughing and talking and farting. We had such a wonderful time. When we got back to Maui on Sunday we were totally beat so we unpacked the small things took at quick shower and jumped into bed. Once we were in bed Colt said “well babe I’ll tell you I never did so much traveling until I met you..” I lay there thinking about his statement and laughed to myself, traveling? We just went to Oahu that was hardly “traveling” I mean minus the fact that we had to get on a plane.

When we got married I told Colt that if we were going to stay living on Maui then I wanted to travel at least three times a year. Now…don’t get me wrong I know I live in Maui and people would die to come here even just once but come on there is so much more to see! So I told Colt our goal for 2013 would be at least two trips inside the US and at least one trip outside the US and that we couldn’t go to a place that we have both been before. For instance we can go to Boston because he has never been but I have or Reno because he has been but I haven’t. Now don’t get me wrong we can still go to places like California, Oahu or Vegas but they just won’t count towards the two trips inside the US because we have both been there. Colt agreed and I could not have been more excited!

Just as soon as he agreed I started planning. Even after Colt’s statement that we traveled “a lot” I still couldn’t help but think that we needed to travel more, do more, go more places until I heard the statement again the other night at dinner with the Vernon’s. We met them and Colt’s Dad at Outback Steak house for Cam’s birthday last week. I went over after work and found them all sitting around a big table drinking and talking. I walked up and gave everyone a hug as Khloe introduced me to her two friends that she proudly got to bring along with her to her father’s birthday dinner. After my greetings I gladly took my place by Colt and Cay and ordered a glass of red. It had been a long day and I was really looking forward to some family time. It was a great dinner and the conversations flowed but it wasn’t until I overheard Khloe telling her friend that “Uncle and I were World Travelers” that my interest really peaked. I listened to her as she eagerly and excitingly told her friends all the places we had been “yea they have been everywhere! They go to California, Vegas, Florida, Oahu and they even went to Thailand, I’m so jealous I wish I was them.” Smiling as I watched her finish I gave her a wink knowing that one day she too would be traveling the world, but as we drove home I really thought about her words. In this past year we have traveled to Las Vegas, Florida, Oahu, Seoul Korea, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai as well as the Golden Triangle which boarders Burma and Laos. It wasn’t until right then that I realized it, we had already hit our goal for 2013 in 2012 and had done so totally unintentionally. I was so excited that some of our bigger places were already checked off like Disney World and North Thailand.

As I sat there smiling I started to think about 2012 as a whole and I could barely believe all that we had done. In just one year we saved for our wedding, went to Las Vegas for our Bachelor / Bachelorette, went to Oahu more than a handful of times to see my family & friends, had our dream wedding at the Grand Wailea, honeymooned all over Thailand, stopped twice in Korea and went to Disney world.

What a truly amazing year it’s been…and the best part …it’s not even OVER!

…Blessed we are…