Mom With A Map

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Mom With A Map The website, MomWithAMap.com, shares tips and adventures of traveling with family. We promote family I look forward to sharing our journey!

After 8 years of telling the tales and tips of our family travel, I’ve decided to start this website in the hopes of inspiring others to travel with their family. Our adventures have produced laughs, tears, speeding tickets, an entire closet full of suitcases, and above all- amazing memories.

U Miami Parents Weekend...in Tampa(Yeah, not quite what we planned!)Last spring we realized Parent's Weekend conflicted ...
10/08/2026

U Miami Parents Weekend...in Tampa
(Yeah, not quite what we planned!)

Last spring we realized Parent's Weekend conflicted with the end of our Lighthouse trip. Determined to do it all, we ended up booking flights so that we would arrive back to Miami Friday night. We reserved tickets to the tailgate parties, and football game, and even the Marlins/Braves game. Aside from missing the final night at Lighthouse, it was going to be the perfect weekend.

But as we were packing our bags we got a text from MG saying "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I got selected to travel for another regatta. The bad news is that means I'll be in Tampa for Parent's Weekend." So we pivoted.

We have A LOT to learn about how college sailing works, but here are a few key things we learned and questions I've been asked:

1. They travel as a team in a Miami van to driveable regattas, stay as a team in a hotel and do team dinners. Mary Grace chose to stick with the team for all of that. Both Friday and Saturday night we picked her up around 9:30PM and got ice cream and chatted for a couple of hours.

2. College teams don't travel with boats or sails. The host team provides all of it. It makes pictures kind of weird because you have another school's logo on everything.

3. This particular regatta was the Women's Top 6 and each school got to have 3 boats racing. They score as a team so every boat has to pull their weight. Miami came in 2nd- just a few points behind the first place team (C of C).

One fun aspect of this weekend was getting to see the NC State Coach and a couple of the girls Mary Grace met on her recruiting visit. He is FANTASTIC! And when he found out Miller just started sailing he said he's going to work hard to recruit him when the time comes (which made Miller's day!)

*Also part of the weekend was watching Game Day and the Tennessee/Texas game. Not the outcome we hoped for, but it made for an exciting day.

We probably won't travel often for these college regattas because it's very much a team weekend. But I'm so thankful we got to experience this one!

Last month, Brent and I spent a few days in our favorite-to-visit city, Chicago.Brent's company, Great Loop Yacht Sales ...
10/06/2026

Last month, Brent and I spent a few days in our favorite-to-visit city, Chicago.

Brent's company, Great Loop Yacht Sales was a presenting sponsor at a boating conference for the AGLCA. It was a fun and very full few days. From a work perspective, the highlight of the weekend was definitely hosting an event at the new marina at Navy Pier.

But, the trip wasn't all work. We had so much fun spending time with our friends, and I even got to see a few members of my Chicago family which was really special. Brent and I ate our all time favorite pizza, Lou Malnati's, twice. And for an early birthday present, Brent took me to see Garth Brooks. *I was a little worried after the Alabama concert a few weeks before, but Garth is still the GOAT.

Adding to the excitement that week, our kids were both home in Florida living their best lives. Mary Grace was selected to travel with the Sailing 'Canes for the first time. And Miller took care of Nana, and also kicked off his middle school golf season and sailing team.

With midterms behind her, Mary Grace finally had a little time to "yap" as she calls it. I asked her if she would send m...
10/05/2026

With midterms behind her, Mary Grace finally had a little time to "yap" as she calls it. I asked her if she would send me a few pictures I could share from her first 1/2 semester at U Miami.

There were an alarmingly large number of pictures of partially dissected fish (I'll spare you!) and a lot of lab tests and water pictures with a few sunsets mixed in. Although I had to roll my eyes at the thought of posting most of what she sent me, I can confidently say that the pictures were all SO VERY Mary Grace. She's living the life she dreamed of and that makes me really happy.

From what I can gather, some highlights of her first 2 months:

• Sailing. Daily practice. Team dinners. Boat work. She loves it all.
• Two trips to the Keys. Once to dive with the Scuba Club, and once for a research lab.
• She's gotten really involved with the Baptist Collegiate Ministry (BCM) and spends a lot of time with her friends there. Mary Grace also found a church she really likes, and we always smile when we're sitting in our church service and our Uber app sends a notification.
• U Miami football. Little known fact about MG: one of her college requirements was a football team. She's really into school spirit. I did ask her if she takes a book and she was not amused.
• Speaking of books, she loves her classes. (Of course she does!)
• Last weekend she got her first opportunity to go out on the offshore research boat.

To say that my girl is staying busy would be an understatement!

Miller's first month as an only child at home is going...okay. (His word, not mine.)If nothing else, he misses Mary Grac...
09/30/2026

Miller's first month as an only child at home is going...okay.
(His word, not mine.)

If nothing else, he misses Mary Grace taking him places. He also really misses her friends constantly popping in and out of our house. And he's getting very annoyed with me having to use Chat GPT to answer his Algebra questions. The low point in the month came when Brent and I took him to an Alabama concert. Miller was easily the youngest one there, and admittedly it's probably time for them to retire.

On a positive note, Miller gets the pets all to himself. He planned and hosted an amazing pizza/pool party for his whole 8th grade youth group. He's also been able to work through his culinary curriculum without much outside direction or critique (2 of the 4 people in our family have BIG opinions on cooking and baking. I won't name any names though...)

In somewhat comical timing, Miller decided to take up sailing. Thankfully, as of right now, it's a lot less demanding than golf and baseball...but we're still struggling to juggle three sports this season. In his free time, he's been traveling with us, obsessing over his two Fantasy Football teams, and created a new YouTube account where he breaks down the week in sports. He's decided that sports announcing could be a good career path for him, so I'm here for this one!

To say that Miller is keeping us busy would be an understatement- he's filled in every spare moment we gained when Mary Grace moved to Miami, and then some!

September has been an insanely busy month, and I have a lot of catching up to do…but I can’t not share about last week r...
09/29/2026

September has been an insanely busy month, and I have a lot of catching up to do…but I can’t not share about last week right now.

Brent, Miller, and I had the opportunity to return to Bald Head Island, NC, to serve on another Lighthouse Retreat. This particular retreat is called Sunrise, which means that instead of serving families living with childhood cancer, we serve families who have lost a child to cancer.

I will never be able to fully articulate how special serving on these retreats is to our family. We show up expecting that God will meet us there and equip us to love, laugh, sit in hard conversations, and extend a kind of hope that can only be found in Him.

My friend Lindsay said it so well: “Sometimes God calls us into hard places because He has already shown us that He can bring light there. What a gift it is to be called into those places.”

This year’s retreat was especially meaningful because we had the opportunity to meet and serve a family we’ve been praying for for more than six years.

Many of you may remember that while we were doing the Great Loop, we met someone named Tom, who was raising money for St. Jude and trying to get his boat close enough to Memphis to visit his nephew, Carson, who was undergoing treatment. Tom instantly became a dear friend, and we were heartbroken when Carson passed away.

So often, you pray for people with no expectation that you’ll ever meet them this side of heaven. It was truly surreal, and one of the greatest honors, to have Carson’s family join us at Sunrise.

I’m forever grateful for the opportunity to be a small part of God’s work in bringing hope, healing, and restoration to families in the midst of unimaginable grief!

The main focus of our 36-hour trip to NYC was catching 2 baseball games. But would it really be a trip to New York witho...
09/18/2026

The main focus of our 36-hour trip to NYC was catching 2 baseball games. But would it really be a trip to New York without...

A Broadway musical, walking a billion steps, late night cheesecake, waiting in a crazy long line for bagels, and NY pizza?

Bonus highlights of the trip were catching up with one of our favorite Loop friends, Tom! And having such an early flight on Sunday morning that we saw an insanely gorgeous sunrise between the skyscrapers as we jumped into our Uber to head to the airport.

I also realized that while Christmas will forever be my favorite time to be in NYC...fall weather is spectacular!

NYC Baseball TripYankee Stadium - MLB Stadium #21August 28th, 2026Red Sox vs YankeesCiti Field- MLB Stadium #22 August...
09/17/2026

NYC Baseball Trip

Yankee Stadium - MLB Stadium #21
August 28th, 2026
Red Sox vs Yankees

Citi Field- MLB Stadium #22
August 29th, 2026
Astros vs Mets

Highlights included: amazing weather, continuing our home team winning streak (despite Brent cheering for the Astros!), great food at both parks, and Miller getting to chat with Astros star reliever- Josh Hader (pictured.)

We have tickets to the Marlins vs Braves game next week, but we're changing up our schedule a bit so I think this is a wrap on our MLB travel this year. From spring training to NYC we've watched a lot of great baseball this year!

Last week we made a quick trip to Cleveland to visit some of our best friends (and favorite pets!) It doesn't matter if ...
09/03/2026

Last week we made a quick trip to Cleveland to visit some of our best friends (and favorite pets!)

It doesn't matter if we're navigating boat projects or Europe, making coffee or uncorking w**e, working, laughing (sometimes both at the same time) or binge watching TV shows...we are so thankful to get to do life with Kim and Michael!

Counting down until they're back "home" in Fort Myers!!

Mary Grace's final weekend in Fort Myers before heading to U Miami. August 8th - 9thShe squeezed in all of her favorite ...
09/01/2026

Mary Grace's final weekend in Fort Myers
before heading to U Miami.
August 8th - 9th
She squeezed in all of her favorite things!

Our last two weeks of summer might have been the busiest yet!Those weeks included:• Two final weeks of being a sailing i...
09/01/2026

Our last two weeks of summer might have been the busiest yet!
Those weeks included:

• Two final weeks of being a sailing instructor at Edison this summer (Mary Grace)
• Rock Climbing camp (Miller)
• A day at Busch Gardens with Helen and Evie (Mary Grace)
• An afternoon / evening at The Rays Game and Faith Night Worship after the game with Landon (Miller)
• Baking with Molly (Mary Grace)
• Wakeboarding (Miller)
• Climbing gym and Sailing with Wythe (Mary Grace and Miller)

Mary Grace also tackled another powerboat project completely unassisted- she changed the fuel filters! To finish the project she towed the boat to the gas station in a huge storm to prime the filters and fill the tank. The gorgeous post-storm sunset felt like a nice reward for her hard work!

She also got her birthday present early- a tent for the roof of her car. I didn't anticipate that she'd actually spend her last nights before moving to college sleeping in the new tent in the driveway, but she did.

As I've recapped our summer, I just can't help feeling so thankful. It was an absolute whirlwind and went by way too fast- but gosh, was it amazing!

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