Remembering Spencer on Vacation in 2015

This year we continued our tradition of remembering Spencer while on vacation.  As you may remember from a previous post I wrote, when we go on vacation, we like to take a moment to write Spencer's name somewhere where we are at.  It is fun to discover the perfect place to remember our son.  Below were our spots for The Nelson Family Vacations of 2015.

Our first trip this year was to Utah again for a ski trip.  This year was very bittersweet for us as it brought back memories of how our only family of four vacation was like last year.  This year we brought along wonderful friends with us, specifically our son's "girlfriend," the one he says he will marry one day.  Our son was 3 when we took this trip and his "girlfriend" turned 4 while we were in Utah.  It was fun having the kids there to play together, wonderful adult time, and some darn good breakfasts made by our friends.  We were doing great this year and everyone was having fun - I skied for the first time and our son did great with his ski lessons this year.  The 2nd to last day we were there our son got a stomach virus, which kept us from going to spend the day snow tubing with our friends.  Since I was planning to write Spencer's name in the snow there I asked my friend if she could do it for us.  Below are the pictures she took when her family went snow tubing.  Thank you for taking the time to remember our Spencer for us and we can't wait to travel with you all again.  

Back to Oklahoma again for my family's annual trip to Broken Bow for the summer.  We love our time together there and truly enjoy the outdoors as a family.  I had to chose a different spot this year for Spencer's name since we stayed again at the same place, needed to change it up, but we almost forgot.  So with the limited time left in Oklahoma we decided to go with the place we were having breakfast at.  For it to be last minute, we thought this was pretty clever.  

Yes, I wrote his name in ketchup.

Steven's Gap is where we have had breakfast the last two years and I even think we had the same waitress.  Let me tell you, my family loves potatoes hash browns for breakfast with some ketchup and I bet Spencer would have too.  

Next we are off to the windy city of Chicago.  We had been wanting to visit Chi-Town for so long and finally had the opportunity to go.  Our son has never been to a "BIG" city before so it was fun to watch him explore and enjoy new surroundings.  Here is our Spencer pictures we got there, I am sure you will agree that these were a must to do!!

Beautiful city of Chicago.

If you look closely you can see the Navy Pier in the far back left center.

For our final family vacation of the year, we headed to Nebraska for a family reunion.  This was our sons and my first trip to Nebraska and we had to drive it "for the experience" or at least that is what daddy told us.  I am not a road trip kind of person, so I had to be very patient for this trip since we were on the road for about 28 hours total.  While we were there we got to experience some amazing things, reminisce about how my husband's parents and family grew up and where, and spend quality time with family that we don't get to see much.  While we were there, we got to go to the Nebraska State Fair, it really was so much fun!!  Since we were there with my husband's family, we took a day to go to my father-in-laws family farm.  It was so good to see where he grew up and just hear him tell stories of his childhood and the good ole days.  I knew that the place that we wrote Spencer's name had to be special as this probably would be the only time all the family would be here together.  Thanks to my brother and sister in law for finding me some old barn wood and a nail to write Spencer's name on, it was perfect!!  Most importantly, thank you to my father in law for sharing this part of your life with us, it was truly special to have this day with you.