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The Science Behind the Sunshine

Here’s a little secret about me. I have a PhD in the learning sciences. I’m a learning scientist and learning experience designer, and I once designed teamwork training for NASA astronauts.

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My whole career has been about one question: what makes an experience memorable? What makes it stick?

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That’s exactly how I choose where we go. I’m not just looking for pretty places. I’m looking for places with real experiences behind them... the kind your kids will still be talking about years from now.

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Our Story

From marrying my college sweetheart 20 years ago to traveling, starting a family and making the leap from Denver to Southwest Florida, life has been one amazing (and beautifully messy) adventure. Now we’re living our best Sunshine Life in Florida... and we still chase the sunshine wherever it takes us, whether that’s a spring, a ski slope or a glacier.

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And this year we’re trying something brand new... three months of worldschooling in Spain, followed by a year of homeschooling. We can’t wait to share what we learn along the way.

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Where We’ve Been (Sunshine Doesn’t Always Mean Tropical)

We chase the sunshine everywhere... even in the snow.

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Our mountain roots

• I grew up skiing in Michigan at resorts like Boyne and Nub’s Nob, and snowmobiling up in the U.P.

• We lived out west in Colorado for 12 years, where we skied all winter long and climbed 14ers in the summer.

• We camped all over the West, off-road and off-grid... and even built our own custom off-road, off-grid travel trailer.

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Our sunshine seasons

• 20+ years of camping in the Florida Keys

• Six Florida springs, most of them again and again

• More Florida state parks and beaches than we can count

• Several Caribbean islands and cruises

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Beyond Florida

• More than 20 U.S. states plus Washington, D.C., from Hawaii to Massachusetts

• Iceland, where we hiked on top of glaciers and chased sunrises and sunsets over the ice

• And now, three months of worldschooling in Spain

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Our Favorite Kind of Adventure

Easy but epic. Adventures that feel huge and meaningful but are surprisingly simple to pull off.

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Florida springs and state parks are our happy place. A few of our all-time favorites are Bahia Honda State Park in the Keys, Homosassa Springs and Fort De Soto.

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How I Choose What to Share

• I pay my own way. Unless a post says it’s sponsored, we paid for it ourselves and picked it because it sounded like an awesome family adventure.

• Only the extra special stuff. I don’t write about everywhere we go. If it made it onto the blog, it was extra, extra special.

• Sponsored is always labeled. Brands I’ve partnered with include Hyatt, PepsiCo, Quaker Oats, South Seas Resort, Discover Crystal River, Outdoorsy and Isle Paddleboards, and my opinions are always my own.