The hubs and I took the boys on Sam’s first overnight, multi-state roadtrip trip this weekend to visit my parents. He did great for about 4 hours of the drive. (It’s a 5.5 hour drive, without stops. So…yeah.)
But when the baby WASN’T crying, we discussed one of our favorite topics: Moving someplace warmer.
St. Louis is great, but for almost six months each year, the weather is terrible and we’re cooped up indoors. So every winter, we say “this is our last winter here!” because we’re just so fed up with it. We’re also beach lovers and would love to be within a couple of hours drive to the beach someday.
We also talk about being close to an airport for traveling purposes, affordable housing, low crime rates, good job market, fewer allergens (we all have terrible seasonal allergies). We start looking at various Internet articles that say things like “Best Places to Raise a Family” or “Top 10 Happiest Cities”. Finally, I just stopped and said, “None of this matters. The question we should be asking ourselves is where do we want our kids to grow up?”
So I’m curious, freaders, where do YOU want your kids to grow up? Is it where you are right now? Is it where you grew up? Is it on a farm? Is it in a big city? Is it on the beach? Is it in another country? On an island? In the suburbs? WHERE??
But... Will There Be Cake? 
cough**Charlotte**cough
No, seriously, though, I know you have a love / hate relationship with Charlotte based on your last experience, which I totally get. But we LOVE it here! So much of what you say you’re looking for…Charlotte has! And I’m super glad we moved when we did (as in, Audrey is young enough to not really remember).
There are definitely downsides, of course. The biggest, I suppose, is that we aren’t close to much family. My mom moved with us (and lives with us), and Matt’s cousin and her family live here, but everyone else is in StL. Even with that, though, I’m so glad we made the move!
Charlotte was at the top of our list for all those reasons. I wouldn’t say it’s completely off the table forever, but our experience trying to move there has definitely been soured. We’ll see!
I’m pretty happy where we are. I like being close to family (but not too close, if you know what I mean). All of our friends are here (with kids the same age as ours), so it would be really hard to leave. I love the idea of being somewhere with more property (more rural), but still not too far from civilization. Closer to a beach would be amazing, but I think kids are just fine with lakes, rivers and creeks too, as long as we can still go on beach vacations every year.
I have to say, I always thought I’d end up in Charlotte, which is where I grew up, but I have absolutely fallen in love with Raleigh and can’t imagine ever leaving. Before we had kids, I loved it because it’s such a young-professional-friendly city. There are so many universities here and people love it and want to stay, so there are a ton of people my age (and now younger). Now that I have kids, I’ve realized that there’s so much to do for them as well. We are close to family in Charlotte but not too close, we can get to the beach in less than 2 hours and the mountains in roughly 3. It’s city but not too city and country but not too country, if that makes sense. And the airport? Seriously best ever (and I’ve seen my fair share of them back when I traveled 35 weeks/year for work). I have shown up for my flight 45 minutes in advance at the busiest time of day many a time and still made it through security and to my gate in time. Love it!
I’ve never been to Raleigh but I may need to check it out!
It may be the easy answer, but I want my kids to grow up in St. Louis. I was raised here until late elementary school when we moved to Texas, and I have fond memories of being a child in the midwest. I like St. Louis in that it’s relatively big but not huge and not a tiny town without arts and culture. I like the people but that’s probably because they’re a lot like me and where I grew up, obviously!
But living near the beach and not dealing with snow would be awesome.
All other things being equal, I’d be within a half of Walt Disney World – our happy place. :)