Five for Friday

There's only one New Year's resolution. I've hinted at it previously, and if you care to keep track of my progress, you can follow the WIP meter in the right hand sidebar.

That doesn't mean that I'm not looking forward to the future. My goals, however, don't fit into the next year. When I make plans, I go big. Here are five things I want to do in the next five years.

1. An Alaskan cruise. Bekah and I are planning on doing this for our tenth anniversary. Now it's just a matter of saving up the money (and figuring out who will take the kids while we're away).

2. Attend a Wild at Heart Boot Camp. I've read the book, and loved it. The boot camp/retreat is a deeper experience in the book's themes. What better way is there to celebrate being in my mid 30s than an adventure retreat?

3. Road trip with my son. Nowhere too far. Somewhere that's close enough to drive there and back. Somewhere like the petrified forest in Vantage, driving south to explorer Palouse Falls, or touring the Silver Mines in Wallace. He's six now, so he's getting to be the age that he'll not only enjoy - but also remember - having an adventure with his dad.

4. Start first day of school breakfasts. This was a tradition with my wife and her dad when Bekah was a kid. It's one of her fondest memories from growing up and she wants me to carry on the tradition with our kids. Zu and Christian will be in school next year and JJ will be following soon thereafter. Now, if I can only convince them to go somewhere better than McDonalds.

5. Institute the family vacation. As long as we've been a family, Bekah and I have always used our vacation time for specific purposes other than vacationing. We've been camp counselors, we've traveled for my grandparents anniversary and to Seattle to visit my folks. Our recent trip to Oklahoma City was a miniature family reunion and a last chance to see Grandpa before he passed. In the past eight years, we've never gone anywhere for the sole purpose to get away. I'd like to start doing that with some regularity.