By Erin Howard · Once a Mom Always a Mom
Hi. It’s me. Erin.
I know, I know — where on earth have I been?
First things first: if you are one of the over 110,000 of you still hanging around on our Facebook page after all this time — I don’t even have the words. I have thought about you more times than you know. You showed up, you stayed, you never left — even when I went completely quiet. That kind of loyalty is not something I take lightly, and it is absolutely not something I will ever take for granted. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Coming back to that community still standing felt like walking into a room full of old friends who just… waited. That means everything to me.
If you’ve been here before on the blog, you might remember this little corner of the internet from back in the early 2010s. A stay-at-home mom, a busy household, a lot of heart, a serious Starbucks habit, and probably way too much coffee even beyond that. That was me. That is me — just with a whole lot more chapters in between.
So let’s catch up, shall we? Because nine years is a long time, and you deserve the full story.
THE SHORT VERSION (FOR THE SKIMMERS AMONG US)
Two kids grew up. We moved states. We homeschooled for seven-plus years. We lost people we loved dearly. My husband traded a 14-year marketing career for something completely different. I co-own a global travel agency now. And somehow — somehow — I’m back here, typing away, feeling like I never really left.
Okay, now the real version.
THE KIDS: WHERE DID MY BABIES GO?
When I last posted here regularly, my son was still young enough to think I was the coolest person alive. (That phase has a very definite expiration date, in case no one warned you.)
Today? He is 19 years old and just finished his first semester of college. I genuinely don’t know how that happened. One minute you’re cutting the crusts off sandwiches and reading picture books at bedtime, and the next you’re watching this young man walk through a chapter of life that has absolutely nothing to do with you needing to drive him anywhere. It is the strangest, most beautiful kind of proud.
And then there’s my daughter — 14 now, and honestly one of the most grounded, thoughtful young women I’ve ever met (I’m her mom, I’m allowed to say that). She is deeply involved in our church, and watching her faith grow into something that is truly hers — not just something she’s absorbed from us, but something she’s chosen and owns — that has been one of the quiet gifts of this whole season of life.
These two. They are everything to us.
SEVEN YEARS OF HOMESCHOOLING — YES, REALLY
I want to talk about this for a second because I think it sometimes gets reduced to a cute Instagram aesthetic of kids doing math at the kitchen table, and I want to give it the respect it actually deserves.
We homeschooled for over seven years using the Classical Conversations model — a structured, community-based approach that walks kids through history, science, Latin, math, and the arts on a classical framework. I was deeply involved in our local CC community, helping other families navigate the curriculum alongside our own — something I’m genuinely proud of, even if it sounds a little crazy in hindsight.
Was it hard? Absolutely. Especially at the start.
Honestly? Those first months I was convinced I was going to completely ruin my children’s education. I’m not being dramatic — I genuinely lost sleep over it. But then something clicked. We found our groove, and once we did, both kids took off like rockets. The things they learned, the way they retained it — it blew me away on a regular basis.
My son could recite every U.S. president in chronological order, start to finish, without missing a beat. He could also sit down and free-hand draw the entire world map — countries, states, and provinces — from memory. My daughter? She could walk you through the complete timeline of ancient Rome like she’d been there personally.
I did not teach them to do those things. Classical Conversations taught them. I just showed up every single day and tried to keep up.
And that’s really the lesson homeschooling gave me more than anything else: you can do hard things you never imagined yourself doing — if you’re willing to be a student right alongside your kids. Even when that includes Latin. Which, for the record, is just as humbling as it sounds. Amo, amas, amat — and yes, I absolutely had to look that up to make sure I still had it right. Some things you conjugate. Some things conjugate you.
WE LEFT CALIFORNIA. AND WE DON’T MISS IT (MUCH).
This one surprised even us.
After years in California, Anthony and I made the move to Northern Nevada — and it has genuinely been one of the best decisions we’ve ever made as a family. The pace is different. The people are genuine. Less faster, faster, more, more atmosphere. The mountains and the river are right there every single morning, reminding you to slow down and breathe.
We are very much Nevada people now, and I say that with zero drama and a whole lot of gratitude.
THE SEASON I WENT QUIET
I want to be honest with you here, because this blog was always built on honesty.
Part of why I stepped away — and stayed away for so long — was that our family went through a season of medical emergencies with our kids, caring for loved ones at the end of their lives, and in the middle of them. More than one, and a very long crisis season. Closer together than felt fair in this life.
That kind of sustained crisis mode, caregiving changes you. It slows everything else down by necessity. It asks everything of you — emotionally, physically, spiritually — and it doesn’t apologize for doing so. There’s no version of walking through that and also keeping up a cheerful lifestyle blog. It just isn’t possible, and it shouldn’t be.
I don’t say this for sympathy. I say it because I know some of you have been there too — or maybe you’re there right now — and I want you to know that stepping back when life demands it is not failure. It’s not giving up. It’s just what love looks like sometimes. The hard, unglamorous, holy kind of love.
We got through it. We’re on the other side. And I am deeply, quietly grateful. God blessed us in many ways, though the challenges were extreme for any family.
OH, AND I’M NOW A TRAVEL AGENCY CO-OWNER. (SURPRISE!)
Here’s where the plot twist lives — and to tell it right, I have to give you just a little context about my husband first. Just a little. This isn’t his article. But he deserves a mention.
Anthony and I have been married over 22 years — and before any of that, we were friends. Real ones. The kind that know each other’s whole deal, call each other out with love, and choose each other anyway, every single day. That friendship is still the foundation of everything we have built together. It is also probably the reason I have not plotted his demise. Probably.
He spent 14 years running his own internet marketing firm that he built from scratch — SEO, digital strategy, building things online — and he was genuinely excellent at it, within months of hitting the pinnacle of his career, noticed and wanted by fortune 500 & 100 companies, is when things changed. At a certain point, with everything he worked so hard for coming to fruition, he made a choice that says everything about who he is: he stepped back from that career to put our family first. Not temporarily. Intentionally. Because for Anthony, family has never been a category on his to-do list. It is the whole list. Family first is his core operating system. He is born and bred to protect it, unhesitatingly walking away from enormous deals because his loyalty is entirely non-negotiable. For a guy that was misunderstood for most of his youth and had to deal with more than most, I am so blessed he is mine.
Something we didn’t discover until several years into our marriage — Anthony has ADD. And once we understood that, so much suddenly made sense. The way his brain works is both a lot to keep up with and, in hindsight, a genuine superpower. The man is overly detailed, deeply analytical, and will prepare for every possible outcome while simultaneously planning for the best one — often at the same time, at eleven o’clock at night, while also making sure every door in the house is locked twice, and the kids are tucked in, still. He is equal parts security guard, strategist, and the guy who will out-research anyone in the room before making a single decision. He logs crazy hours without complaint (ok there might be some big boy whining) and just keeps going. That intensity — which tested my patience more times than I can count over 22 years — turns out to be an extraordinary asset in the travel industry. Who knew that someone who researches everything to an almost unreasonable degree would be exceptional at planning trips people remember for the rest of their lives? His clients figured it out quickly. I already knew. It just took the right industry to let it shine.
But here is what I really want to say, and I mean this from the ground up:
None of this — not the business, not the kids, not the 22-plus years — happens without a woman holding it all together. And I say that with full humility, because this life is genuinely not for the faint of heart. Raising two kids, homeschooling for seven years, supporting a husband running a demanding business, relocating across state lines, walking alongside loved ones at the end of their lives, managing a home, and doing most of it quietly without a highlight reel — that is not a small thing. That is a calling. And most days it asks everything you have.
I am not saying I did it perfectly. I am saying I showed up every single day and figured it out — the way moms do. The way you do. We hold things. We carry things. We keep the whole table standing.
Which brings me right back to Anthony. Because this same man — the researcher, the planner, the one who never backs down from anything — absolutely loses his mind when I get a cold.
I’m talking full-scale concern. Like the whole household teeters on the edge of the unknown. He describes it this way himself — and I quote — “You are the pedestal of the table. When the pedestal breaks, nothing holds.”
Which is genuinely the sweetest thing to say to me, and also the most accurate description of motherhood I have ever heard in my entire life.
Because here’s the truth: Anthony can lock onto one thing and pursue it with a focus that honestly amazes me. But when I’m down for the count with a sniffle and a box of tissues ( but are we really ever!)? Suddenly he’s one man facing fifty things at once — and fifty things at once is just… Tuesday for us, isn’t it ladies?
To every mom reading this right now — the one running the calendar, remembering the dentist appointments, running kids to sports, youth group, school, knowing where every single thing in the house is at any given moment, managing the emotional temperature of every person under your roof while somehow also making dinner — I see you. Anthony sees you too, even if it took my being bedridden with a head cold to fully articulate it, ha!
We are the pedestals. And we don’t get nearly enough credit for it.
(We also don’t get enough sleep. But that is a whole other post.)
So when Anthony channeled all of that drive into building Bucket List Adventures, LLC — our Cruise Planners franchise — into a full-service global travel agency specializing in cruises, luxury all-inclusive resorts, and family travel, I was not one bit surprised. The man took 14 years of marketing expertise, a deep love for people, and that relentless work ethic and built something real — serving clients all over the country, right here from Northern Nevada.
And at some point, it became our business. As in mine too.
Which honestly makes a lot of sense. I have a degree in hospitality and tourism, so it’s not like I walked in unprepared. Anthony will tell you I mostly keep him organized and on task. He is not wrong. Someone has to. Fourteen years of running a marketing firm and the man still needs a nudge to follow up on emails. I say this with complete love and only a little bit of an eye roll.
What I love about what we do is that travel genuinely changes people. It opens up the world. It creates memories that families talk about for decades around dinner tables and holiday gatherings. It is not frivolous — it is meaningful in ways that are hard to put into words until you’ve watched someone step off a cruise ship for the first time, or walk onto a resort beach at sunset and just stop for a moment, taking it all in. Being part of creating those experiences for people feels like a privilege every single time.
SO WHAT’S COMING — AND WHAT’S CHANGED
I want to be upfront with you about something, because you’ve been here from the beginning and you deserve that.
This blog is evolving. Still warm, still honest, still very much me — but we are stepping into a bigger, more exciting chapter, and I want you to come along for it.
When we started out, we were all about the everyday — recipes, parenting tips, kids’ products, family life. And I loved every bit of it. But life has moved us forward in ways I couldn’t have predicted back in 2013, and this blog is going to reflect that.
The giveaways and reviews are coming back — but we’re leveling up. Think travel experiences, luxury products, family-focused brands, and destination content that fits where we actually are in life right now. Parents with teenagers and young adults. Families who are ready to go somewhere. Couples who have earned a real vacation. People who want more than a getaway — they want an experience worth talking about for the rest of their lives.
Here’s a taste of what’s ahead:
Real family and couple travel — where we go, what it’s actually like, what’s worth it and what isn’t.
Cruise and luxury resort content — honest, firsthand, from someone who does this professionally every single day.
Travel tips for real families — not the glossy version, the real one, including what to pack, what to skip, and how to afford more than you think you can.
Product and lifestyle reviews — yes, still! But curated, elevated, and always honest.
Giveaways — bigger ones, travel-adjacent ones, the kind that make you actually excited to enter.
And for the brands, travel companies, and suppliers reading this — Hello. This community has over 110,000 followers on Facebook alone, built entirely on trust and real engagement over more than a decade. No bots. No shortcuts. Just real moms, real families, and real people who actually read, click, and act. If you are interested in partnering, sponsoring a trip, offering a giveaway, or collaborating in a way that genuinely serves this audience — I would love to hear from you. Let’s do something great together.
TO EVERYONE STILL HERE — THANK YOU
If you followed along on Facebook and never unfollowed even when the blog went dark — that quietly meant more to me than you will ever know. You were a light in a season when I really needed it, even if you didn’t realize it.
If you’re finding this blog for the first time — hi! Pull up a chair. Grab a coffee. Stay a while, put your feet up, get cozy. I am so glad you’re here.
Here is what I want you to know as we head into this next chapter together:
Life is not a highlight reel. It is messy and beautiful and hard and funny and heartbreaking and worth every single second — especially the parts that don’t make it onto social media. This blog has always been a place for the real version, and that is not going to change.
But here’s what has changed: we’ve lived. Deeply. We raised two remarkable humans mostly at our kitchen table. We held people we loved as they left this world. We packed up and started over in a new state. We built a business from scratch — a real one, a global one — that helps families create the kinds of memories that become family legend.
Nine years is a long time to be away. But I think maybe we needed every single one of those years to become who we are right now — ready to come back, with more to give, more to share, and honestly, a lot more places to take you.
The world is big and gorgeous and waiting.
Let’s go see it together.
~ Erin
Erin Howard is co-owner of Bucket List Adventures, LLC — a Cruise Planners Travel Agency based in Northern Nevada., specializing in cruise vacations, luxury all-inclusive resorts, and family travel worldwide. To start planning your next adventure, visit cruiseresorttravel.com
Erin Howard
Latest posts by Erin Howard (see all)
- Nine Years. Two Kids. One Big Move. And Yes, I’m Back. - May 28, 2026
- ✈️ Family Travel in 2026: What’s Actually Worth Booking vs What’s Overhyped - May 24, 2026
- 5 Reasons Why Time is the Ultimate Mother’s Day Gift - May 12, 2017
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