Alexa & Judith's Epic Read-Along || Favorite Family Vacations

In Second Chance Summer, Taylor & her family spend summer vacation together away in the Poconos. Family vacations are a fun way to reconnect and truly bond with the members of your family, as you're all removed from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and in a place where you can relax, enjoy and explore. Judith & I are sharing some of our favorite family vacations today. After you check out my five favorite family vacations, go on over to Paperiot to see what Judith's sharing!

I'm blessed to have been born into a family who enjoys a good vacation every now and then. While my childhood memories are of vacations to Myrtle Beach and Walt Disney World, the vacations I've gone on with my family as I've gotten older certainly get more and more memorable. Here are five of my favorites:

This vacation consistently ranks among the top family vacations I've ever been on! My grandfather treated us to a big family trip to Hong Kong. We visited the parks (Hong Kong Disneyland & Ocean Park), saw the sites and basically spent about a week all together just hanging out and doing fun things. It'd been a long time since the last big group vacation we went on, so it was fun! Plus, it's especially memorable because it was the last vacation we were able to go on all together before my grandfather passed away.

Boracay is one of the popular vacation destinations in the Philippines! There are beautiful stretches of beach, plenty of fun water activities, excellent hotels and a big party scene. I've been quite a few times, but one of the trips where I had the most fun was when I went with just my family. We were able to really spend time together, hanging out and doing fun adventurous things (like helmet diving and parasailing). It was just a lovely thing to be able to singularly focus on one another, and indulge in bouts of laziness and food comas.

My family and I also had the privilege of a second vacation in 2009, where we left the country to visit Phuket. It was dreamy, with the beautiful beaches, astounding scenery (we went to the beach where they filmed The Beach!), delicious food and relaxed vibe. It was a treat to go to a new place entirely, and to see what there was to see. Plus, our hotel suite was incredibly gorgeous and we took full advantage! I think my favorite part of the entire trip was getting to feed the elephants, because that's something I'd always wanted to do.

Singapore is a very small place, but there's certainly not a lack of things to do there! From visiting Universal Studios Singapore (which really is fun with the right people) to shopping on Orchard Road to getting touristy on the Duck Tour and many more things, we were kept busy the entire time we were there. I really love the ease of transportation there and really enjoyed the fact that two of the things I like best - amusement parks and shopping - were constantly within reach.

Last December, Mel and I were blessed to have mom, dad and Rachel come over to join us for the holidays. It was such a blast getting to show my entire family around my new home base of New York City, and to get all touristy with them. Honestly, it's a treat to have been able to celebrate the holidays with family, because they made me feel like I was at home! Plus, we were able to visit Atlantic City, Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC along the way, and see a few old family friends. It was a magical trip and looking at pictures still makes me so happy!

And there you have it, some of my favorite family vacations I've ever been on! There are definitely more of them in the works, since my family enjoys traveling (and thankfully, Macky fits right in because he does too). I hope you enjoyed this little trip with me down my memory lane! Now, hop on over to Paperiot to see what Judith is sharing today!