From Burned Out to Balance Through Tiny Day Trips: How I Reclaimed Family Time

Wondering how to reclaim family time when you don’t even know where to start? I’ve got the perfect story for you.

I’ll be honest with you: a few years ago, I was drowning.

I was working around the clock as a manufacturing engineer, barely sleeping, and watching my kids grow up through the cracks of my overloaded schedule. My health was suffering. My husband was super worried about me. And the guilt? It was eating me alive.

I knew I needed to make more time for our family. And while family travel seemed like a good idea, here’s the thing nobody talks about: even when you carve out time, just planning a trip is exhausting.

I didn’t have the energy to plan. Plus, my family liked being home, and travel just seemed so expensive. And what if it didn’t go well?

So, we just… stayed home. And I kept working non-stop.

The Turning Point

In 2020, I hit my breaking point.

I was promoted right as the pandemic hit, and suddenly I was working around the clock to keep our manufacturing plant afloat. Weekends, nights, you name it. The stress was unbearable. I wasn’t sleeping. I never saw my family.

Something had to give.

I switched jobs in 2021 specifically to get my life back. And when I finally got a chance to breathe, I panicked – my kids were already 5 and 7, and we had so little time left with them.

So I decided: we were going to start having adventures. Immediately!

My poor husband Bob, the more cautious one of the two of us, was skeptical.

When the Country Boy Said “Why Leave New York?”

Bob and I met back in 2008. The first time he took me snowmobiling through the woods near Binghamton, I knew I’d fallen hard — both for him and the beautiful countryside. We got married, honeymooned in Maui, and settled on 22 acres in his small hometown where his family has lived for generations.

For years, we were perfectly happy homebodies. We loved our home, our community, and the occasional vacation. When our daughters were born in 2014 and 2016, we hunkered down even more. (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!) Vacations with babies just felt too hard.

Then my job started sending me on international trips, to Sweden, China, and the Czech Republic. And something shifted. Those experiences were incredible, and I found myself craving more travel.

When I switched to a company that had zero international travel, I realized how much I missed it.

That’s when I told Bob: “We need to adventure more. Let’s travel abroad!”

His reaction? “We’ve barely seen New York or the Northeast. Why do we need to see another country?”

My thoughts? Challenge accepted.

Starting Really, Really Small

Our girls were finally at an age (5 and 7) where travel felt doable. But we both had doubts:

What if it’s too expensive?
We can’t take much time off. (Bob’s part of a small team of 3 at work.)
What if the kids hate it and we’ve wasted our precious vacation time?

So we made a deal: we’d start ridiculously small.

A day trip an hour away. A long weekend we could drive to. Places that didn’t cost a fortune. Trips where if something went wrong, we weren’t out thousands of dollars and a week of vacation.

And you know what? It worked.

That first day trip led to another. Then a weekend getaway. Then we started tacking on extra days around school holidays.

We went from homebodies who traveled once in a blue moon to a family that actively plans our next adventure. The girls started asking, “where are we going next?”. Bob went from skeptical to tossing out ideas for future trips.

These tiny adventures were changing everything.

How We Afford Family Travel on a Budget

Here’s our secret: you can plan trips in bite-sized chunks so it’s not overwhelming. And local trips are affordable.

As an engineer, my whole job is solving problems with limited resources. Trip planning with kids? It feels like the same thing. It’s one giant puzzle.

I started knocking off obstacles one at a time:

Worried about budget? I learned to use credit card points from everyday spending. (It’s my “hobby’s hobby” – super nerdy, but new credit card welcome offers save us so much money!)

Can’t take much time off? We focus on long weekends, tack a day or two onto school holidays, and maximize summer break.

Nervous about flying with kids? We drive. A lot. Turns out there are incredible destinations within 6 hours of Binghamton that most people overlook.

Scared of picking the wrong place? We test everything first, then tell you exactly what worked.

We also got really good at squeezing trips around sports schedules, school commitments, and all the regular chaos. Because that’s reality – you have to make travel fit into the margins.

50+ Family-Friendly Destinations Across the Northeast

Since 2018, I’ve explored 50+ destinations across the Northeast. Not just driven through and snapped a photo – really explored them.

We’ve done the iconic bucket-list spots like Niagara Falls. We’ve spent weekends at Washington DC’s incredible (and free!) museums. We’ve discovered the magic of the Finger Lakes and Adirondacks.

But our favorite spots? The hidden gems that make people say “wait, how did you FIND that?”

Like the working cranberry bog where you wade right into the harvest. The underground caves that feel like stepping into another world. The quirky tours off the beaten path that become the stories your kids tell for years.

Some trips are educational. Some are pure fun. But every single one has been tested out to make sure it’s worth your time.

I document the real stuff you’d tell a friend: whether your kids will stay engaged or get bored in 20 minutes, where to eat, what to pack. The things you actually need to know before you go.

Why I Started This Blog: How to Reclaim Family Time

I started Tiny Adventure Mom in 2024 because I kept talking to parent friends stuck in the same cycle I was in: wanting to create memories with their kids, but feeling too overwhelmed to start.

Too many options. Too much uncertainty. Too many obstacles when you’re already exhausted from work and life’s responsibilities.

I get it. I’ve been there.

The answer isn’t “just travel more” or “make it a priority.” You need someone to do the hard part FOR you.

You need someone to say: “Go here. Do this. Your kids will love it. Here’s exactly how to make it happen.”

That’s what I’m here for.

My goal? Save you from decision paralysis. Give you trip ideas you can trust. Help you turn “maybe someday” into “we’re going this weekend.”

Because here’s what I’ve learned: you don’t need two weeks in Europe to make incredible memories. Sometimes a day trip or short weekend getaway is exactly what your family needs.

And those tiny adventures? They add up to something big.

Let’s Make This Happen

You don’t need more time. You don’t need a bigger budget. You don’t need your partner to magically become a spontaneous adventurer overnight.

You just need someone to eliminate the overwhelm and hand you a plan.

That’s what I’m here for.

Ready to plan your next tiny adventure? Let’s go.
– Amanda Cave Jackson 💜
Full-Time Working Mom, Adventure Enthusiast
Whitney Point, NY

P.S. Curious about our favorite local spots? We can’t get enough of Ithaca’s waterfalls, Rochester’s Strong Museum of Play, and Buffalo’s real submarine tour for a fun family day out.

P.P.S. I’d love to hear from you! What’s holding you back from planning your next trip? What destinations are on your family’s wish list? Drop me a note – I read every single one.