Time moves at warp speed. The last week was a blur and I know, with everything I have going on, I will look up next week and it will be Christmas.

The best advice I ever got came from a colleague in Tennessee. Of course, I had heard it before, but for some reason, he made it real for me. We were sitting in a car waiting to look at some real estate and were talking about life. He said I only have 18 summers with my boys. To be honest, it was the hardest thing to fully realize. The worst part is it isn't true; you have LESS.

As a dad, you really have about 10 summers with your boys. You can take a 3-year-old to Disney and enjoy it. I have done that. But you didn't spend time with your children. They were too little and won't remember it.

With the fast pace of life, it is going to be easy to look up and realize we only have 1 or 2 more summers, and when that time is gone, it's gone.

The hard part is how do we slow down time?  Unfortunately, the answer is you can't. So, you must make time however you can.

My wife and I started planning trips two years out. We come up with a few options, some driving and some flying, some national and some international. We try to base our trips on experiences that will make easy memories, but that's the only real guideline. I even have trips planned that will require us to take the children out of school.

One of the trips we have planned is to take our children to London and while in London, we will take them through the Harry Potter experience as they love the series. Not too long ago, we went to Fredericksburg, visited an elephant preserve and got to help wash and play with the elephants. The boys still talk about that.

What are some trips you have taken with your children that you really enjoyed?  Help give us some ideas so that we can all start planning.