Okay, let me just preface this post by saying that I know the question I’m going to ask is a little over-the-top …
But I’m going to ask it anyway.
First, though … I wanted to pass along pics from my family vacation to the Bahamas. Several people left comments on my blog asking, so here they are:

(Just the six of us: Philip, Lily and baby-to-be, Dominic, Lucas, and Ava)

(Daddy and Ava, my oldest canoeing)

(Lucas, the trooper)

(Dominic, my middle child perfecting his swing)

Poor little two-year-old Lucas split open his lip while we were on the trip. Fortunately, we called the front desk, who had paramedics and a doctor on staff, so within about 90 minutes, he was all stitched up and ready to continue the vacation.
And it really was a “Heaven on Earth” type vacation… as you can see from the pictures!
Speaking of “Heaven on Earth,” my family has started asking a new question. We want to create the ideal life for ourselves and our children. So about once a week at dinnertime, we ask a question:
“If we were to create Heaven on Earth, what sort of things would we be doing?”
And then we try to do those things—vacations to tropical locations, dinner parties with great friends, etc. An added bonus of this question is this …
Lily and I learn all sorts of amazing stuff about our kids by asking this question. We find out what they are interested in. If they have fears, we find out about those too because they tell us what Heaven on Earth doesn’t look like.
Of course, I’m a Catholic boy, so the “Heaven on Earth” concept might be a little over-the-top for your tastes.
But how about asking yourself and/or your family this question …
“If we were to be living the ideal life, what sort of things would we be doing?”
By asking this question, you might identify a lot of things that don’t feed into your vision of the ideal life. And this is great information to find out because then you can make a plan to change your situation.
But you have to identify your ideal situation first!
So what does that ideal life (or Heaven on Earth) look like? Feel free to share your answers below.
– Philip Tirone