It’s no secret that we love to travel! We make it a priority for our family to save for traveling, plus we often celebrate birthdays and holidays with travel experiences instead of gifts. We never imagined we would get to travel on this side of the world, so it’s been fun and exciting to experience new cultures and ways of life. Australia has always been on our “travel bucket list” but towards the bottom, not because we didn’t want to go, but because we never imagined it would be possible. So when the opportunity arose and the funds became available, we decided there was NO better time to visit Australia (and New Zealand) than Summer 2023 when they were hosting the Women’s World Cup. We would be able to watch some soccer games as we explore two new countries on a new continent. But Australia isn’t very close, and it’s not so cheap…

Let me start at the beginning of how this became possible: Ten years ago Leland’s dad died in a tragic car accident. It was a shock and a terrible time for the family, one that still sits heavy with all of us. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Steve and the Piland family for almost 20 years, who have always treated us as family. Blood isn’t the only way of defining “family,” and the Pilands have always made us feel this truth. Over the past few years, Leland’s grandparents (Steve’s parents) passed away, but their home was still being used by the family. At the beginning of 2022, the family sold the house and shared the proceeds. Because Leland’s dad had previously died, the family split his share with Leland and his brother, Nick. They obviously didn’t have to do that, and we never expected it, but we have been honored and humbled by our family.

When we received the gift from the family, we began talking about what we should do with it. We went back and forth about the level of responsibility we wanted to have with this money: retirement, college, or go crazy! =) Eventually we landed on something in the middle, being reasonable enough to save much of it and giving Adalyn some college money; but also being crazy enough to want to use it for a new adventure. (We knew that Leland’s dad would approve of a balance, though he may have leaned more towards the “Enjoy it Now” side of things.)

So…when we realized that the Women’s World Cup was going to be in Australia and New Zealand this summer, we had the crazy idea of this being the “right” adventure. Adalyn was over the moon excited to be able to see the U.S. women’s soccer team play. And while we traveled, we talked about how Leland’s dad would have loved that we went on this trip. He loved life and lived to the max, full of joy and adventure! And we talked about the great love Grandpa John and Granny Andy had shown to Leland over the years, followed by me and Adalyn, too. And as we traveled we would think about how they would have loved to hear the stories of the trip.

So not only does this trip hold a special place in our hearts for the experience and travel we got to do, but also for how much the Piland family loves us and cares for us.

I’ll attach a few photos of our trip, but you can click here to read all about our trip and what we did. It is too long to post here.