Our Hopes and Dreams for a Summer in Spain

We’re packing up the final items. Our alarms are set for 4:30am. Our suitcases are waiting by the door. Our passports are in the backpack (I’ve double-checked at least five times).

JD and I sat in a hot yoga class this morning and somehow walked away with exactly the reminder we needed for this trip.

The instructor said, “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”

Those words hit a little differently when you’re about to spend a month traveling with three kids.

Because there will be waves. Stress. Delays. Wrong turns. Meltdowns. Moments when one of us is tired, frustrated, or ready to throw in the towel.

But the magic (and challenge!) isn’t in avoiding the waves. It’s in learning how to respond to them.

So we walked out of class with a new mantra:

Just surf it.

When the kids are driving us crazy? Just surf it.

When we can’t find the Airbnb? Just surf it.

When travel doesn’t go according to plan? Just surf it.

Spain, we’re coming with open hearts, curious minds, and a willingness to ride whatever waves come our way.

Our hearts are ready to connect.
Our eyes are ready to see new things.
Our minds are open to a new culture.
And our bodies are craving inspiration.

Here are our dreams for Spain:

We’re dreaming of sunsets—so many of them—where the sky turns every shade of orange and pink and we sit there in awe, hand in hand, until the very last flicker disappears below the horizon.

We’re dreaming of early mornings, before the crowds arrive. Wandering quiet streets. Exploring places we’ve only ever seen in photos. Feeling like the day is ours before anyone else wakes up.

We’re dreaming of slow, ordinary moments.
Playing Uno.
Doing a puzzle.
Splashing in a pool.
The kind of moments that don’t look special from the outside, but end up being the ones we appreciate the most.

We’re craving inspiration—from architecture to vibrant color and patterns and prints. From tiled walls and old buildings and scenery that makes you stop mid-sentence because your brain needs a second to catch up with what your eyes are seeing.

We’re dreaming of road trips through Spain, windows down, discovering new songs and somehow learning all the words by heart by the end of the drive. Soundtracks that will forever remind us of this summer.

We’re dreaming of photos—not the perfectly curated ones. The in-the-moment ones. More of JD and me together, unposed. More photos the kids take from their own perspectives. The blurry, imperfect proof that we were really there.

And of course: good food, good memories, and good company.

This year, we’re headed to Spain solo.
No friends meeting up with us.
No family joining us.
No familiar routines or built-in plans.

Just the 5 of us.

Can we make a new friend?
Find other travelers to grab a meal with?
Say yes when we’d normally say no?
Step out of our comfort zone?

We hope so.

Mostly, we hope this summer slows us down, stretches us a little, brings us together and reminds us how good it feels to be curious. Curious about the world, about other people, and about who we are and what we we want out of this beautiful life.

Spain, we’re ready.