We’re just an ordinary family of seven living in the suburbs of Baltimore, Maryland. We’re excited to meet you!

Ever since we married in 2003, Kim and I have been firm believers that a strong family is built on a strong marriage. That idea isn’t new; it’s been confirmed by many studies and by our personal experience raising and homeschooling five extremely active kids. We love our kids. But wow. There is a lot of talking in this house :-). So we’ve prioritized getting away together as often as we can. With five kids between 8 and 12 years old, it isn’t always easy to arrange…

We’re slowly evolving this list of lofty travel goals. We know we may never complete the list, and that’s OK! We’re more interested in collecting ideas of places we might want to go as time and budget allow. If you’re interested in where we’ve already traveled, you can check out our Big Family Trips archive (we’re slowly bringing that collection up to date with past trips) and our progress against collecting the 50 states! Our Dream List is always evolving. Feel free…

We’re collecting state visits! Our only rule is that we don’t count airport layovers as a visit to the state because you just don’t get to see very much in an airport. Driving through on the way to a destination is 100% legit, though. Here’s how we’re doing: Yellow means all seven of us have visited that state. Green means Fred, Kim, B, and J visited that state before we adopted L, E, and H. Orange are states that Kim…