These Young Girls Grew Up Exploring The Open Seas With Their Parents (Photos)

Writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once famously wrote,

Life is a journey, not a destination.

The same can be said about travel. It's not about where we go, but what we do; it's about what we learn and discover while exploring foreign lands.

I believe it is important to expose children to the world at a young age. The more they see, the more they learn to accept and understand. We become better people when we travel.

Canadian couple Genevieve and Eben Stolz understand this necessity better than anyone. That's why, about five years ago, the pair decided to uproot their comfortable and traditional life, and they set out to pursue a life of adventure.

Today, the free-spirited duo have two children: 5-year-old Arias and 3-year-old Ellia.

Both children spent their entire lives at sea, living in a 41-foot Morgan Classic boat.

For the past five years, the family explored the Caribbean.

They visited the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the Spanish Virgin Islands.

The young girls learned far more than they ever could in a classroom.

Genevieve wrote on her blog, “[Arias is] full of energy and pushes it to the max all day long.”

She added, “[Ellia] will be trying to wander off to do her own activity or she'll be right by your side, trying to converse with you like a real grownup.”

The girls, she insists, “were meant to be living a life less ordinary.”

And that, they certainly do.

Both are avid sailors and swimmers, and their mother homeschools them as well.

They swam with stingrays…

...and made friends with dolphins.

The family funds their adventurous life through Genevieve's blog, It's Our Necessity…

...and after Ellia was born, the couple sold their house in Canada to live at sea full-time.

They live a life worth living.

Keep up with the family's adventures, and see more awe-inducing travel photos on It's Our Necessity.

Citations: Tiny Sailors in the Caribbean Meet the Extraordinary Water Babies Who Have Grown Up Traveling the World in a Boat with Their Ocean Loving Parents (Daily Mail)