More on family goals for 2026

 I keep my yearly & monthly goals organized by category (finances, family, fitness & personal). This year, I'm trying to do more of a deep dive on what I want to accomplish on each one. Happy to share if useful for others, but this is also for me, as I figure out my approach & how I want to break down these lofty yearly goals into tangible monthly (& often more frequently) goals.

For the "Family" bucket, my goals are to enjoy life with the boys, M & of course my parents, sister, nephews, etc as well. I have an amazing family, and spending time together always makes me happy. I know not everyone has that luxury and I also am aware that my parents are 75 & 73, and we are so lucky that they are healthy & active. One of the reasons we invited them to join us in Las Vegas a week or so ago was just to take advantage of their good health while we can.

My specific goals are as follows:

• Help the boys navigate college & life
• Monthly dates with M
• Travel
• Plan & have two fantastic & reasonably on budget international trips - New Zealand & Greece
• Plan a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park
• Go on four local hiking trips
• Continue bucket list travel planning 

Help the boys navigate college & life:

Oooh, 2025 was an adventure in this category for sure! We had Nick choosing colleges, moving in & all of the angst and decisions, and Sam making a swap with his college. At this point, our role is to be coaches & guides to the boys, while helping them make informed decisions with their own lives. This sounds well & good, but there are days I really want to strongly tell them how do to things. ;-) Somehow, that's just not a recipe for success! 

Nick is reasonably well settled & enjoying Boulder, but he needs to sort his housing for next year (super pricey & challenging to lock down in Boulder), as well as stay the course with grades, ensuring his engineering program is all set, and make good decisions. He does not need a job during the school year, but did work over both Thanksgiving & winter break, and will work again over the summer. Our expectations for next year will perhaps be a bit different, but adjusted based on what he can fit in, as his courses might be quite challenging. He also goes to the gym every day (I'm so impressed!) & is in great shape - taking care of himself is good for his study habits as well, he says, as it adds structure to his day & gives him energy to study.

Sam is also enjoying his college time, although works quite a bit during the week & is still really honing in on what he wants to do. He is a bit further behind Nick on executive functioning tasks, so I do still provide some support on helping him think through things like how to navigate the degree & (eventual) transfer process. The level of support he gets from his academic advisor vs Nick is stark, as it's almost impossible to get the same level of guidance, so I'm filling in some of the gaps as I can.

Monthly dates with M:

Honestly, this is a pretty easy one now that we are empty nesters, but I keep it on my list because it's such an enjoyable goal and our relationship is so important to me. Our New Zealand trip has provided so much opportunity for planning, training, prep & has really brought us even closer together. I've loved it!

Travel:

Oh, I could have an entire travel blog about the places I want to go, but alas, I'm a really terrible photographer, so that would probably not be terribly interesting for anyone to follow along with. 

New Zealand - we are less than a month out, and things are really under way! We have just a couple of very small elements to iron out, and then the epic packing to reduce our backpacks to the absolute lightest weights will commence. We will have a second bag that we can store at the hiking company, so we have regular people clothes & shoes post hike. 

Greece - also mostly coordinated, although we need our inter island flights taken care of & to coordinate a few additional details. We haven't booked any tours or activities, but our primary flights & hotels are taken care of. The fun part of making lists of restaurants, and looking at activities will begin soon, & I love that part of travel planning!

Rocky Mountain National Park - I love hiking & want to visit more national parks, so I'm really hoping I get to add this one to the list in 2026. We shall see, as it's near(ish) to Nick, as well as my BFF. Much of my 2026 plans are dependent upon work travel, but I'd love to connect a trip to Nick with this. 

Four local hiking trips - we are lucky & have so many great options! We are thinking Joshua Tree (local-ish) for a long weekend, Pinnacles National Park (day trip), and Sequoia and Redwoods National Park. That would be amazing. There are closer hikes we can also fit in, as well. I'm considering a March trip back to Utah & Zion with a friend, and M & I are discussing Sedona in October for our anniversary.

Bucket list travel planning - this is really about identifying my top choices, and trying to slot them into appropriate years & budgets. Given M is close to 60, we are also looking to heavily prioritize the active adventure type trips sooner rather than later. At the top of the list currently: Patagonia, Iceland, Camino de Santiago, Dolomites, Banff/Lake Louise, and a big Yosemite trip. More to come here, as M is also making noise about the Maldives, due to the length of the travel trip (would prefer to do it now, when we can more easily handle it.) Stay tuned, as we continue to plan & budget for these bigger trips!

What about you? Do you have family goals in 2026?