We were looking for something to do to celebrate my birthday this year, and started doing research on what would be a suitable thing to do with a almost 4 year old and a 11 month old baby.
We wanted to spend quality time together as a family, and we wanted to do something that both kids would enjoy.
After days of research online (resources below) and talking to friends and family, we decided going to the beach would be the best for a 11 month old.
Then the question is… What beach? and Where?
Our almost 4 year old is not the most outgoing kid, so that made us a little concern about flying somewhere and having her throw a fit because she doesn’t feel engage or not having fun, then we are stuck somewhere far that we don’t have the flexibility of just going home whenever we need to.
So we ruled out flying somewhere and ended deciding we will stay somewhere close that we could drive to. As Anel, my husband would say, it’s a process of elimination.
So… here’s what we know we are going to do more research on:
- Vacation Location:
- Beach
- Close to Chicago
- Mode of transportation:
- Car
Where would that be?
After another round of research and talking to friends, we ended up picking SOUTH HAVEN, MICHIGAN!

We heard it’s a great beach for young children; It’s 2 1/2 away from home, we could drive home if we really REALLY needed to.
How do you go about deciding to go on vacation and where to go? Share your experience with us 🙂
Some resources we referenced:
In the next blog, we’ll talk about what kind of traveler are you and comfort level of traveling with young children.
We started traveling (again) overseas when our first girl was 2.5 years old and second child was 18 months old. And I don’t think we lost something in the time we stay at home with our girls 🙂
Awesome! We took our daughter to Malaysia to visit my parents when she was 18 months. Even though she does not remember the trip, it was memorable for us and the family. We are big on printing pictures. So she sees herself in pictures at Malaysia 🙂
Love this idea for a blog! I will stay tuned. We want to go on so many adventures!