I could not agree more with the comment above about time with the kids and time for flying. I take up side jobs flying just to keep current -- usually filling in on the right seat.
At the moment, my family is considering investing in a property on Washington Island, Wisconsin. A beautiful island I try to frequent as often as possible and now they found an incredible deal on 60+ acres there, with room to build and subdivide between my siblings and now as my children grow up.
We're all sitting down thinking like "huh, how are we going to get there?". Driving up from Chicago, through Door County, waiting for the ferry to cross the straight to get to the island seems daunting to some in my extended family. It's a 6 hour drive plus waiting for the ferry (in the winter the ferry only operates once per day).
Flying there is wonderful. KUGN-2P2 is around 185nm, a roughly hour flight in our shared SR-22 (2 hours if you include driving to the airport and preflight). No waiting for a ferry or other distractions/stops along the way.
From the time standpoint, we like to incorporate our flying as part of our family time together -- so we can ultimately go places that would otherwise be difficult to go in a car. It's not something I feel like I have to make time for on the weekend by myself, but if we want to take a quick family weekend trip Friday-Sunday it just gets us there much faster.
For the cost aspect, yes, we're on a budget. We complain about the lack of fuel and services at small airports, and all the fees associated with flying and fractional airplane ownership. But we love to fly, and it's certainly worth it.
