Bucket List Family pregnant 2022

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Paige, an intellectual property and contracts lawyer who has a following of about 13,000 on her Instagram @thelegalpaige, took notice as this was all unfurling. She became personally invested because she felt the Bucket List Family was being “dishonest,” as she put it on a series of stories she posted on Tuesday.

First, as she and the fans have noted, the official rules to enter were not made clear.

“I felt the need to explain to the public how the ‘liking and sharing’ was not actually entering them in the sweepstakes, but that there were many more steps including liking other Instagram accounts, following them on YouTube, posting photos/videos of your family on Instagram, using hashtags, and filling out a contact information form,” she told me on Thursday.

Second, the official guidelines said Garrett and Jessica “will announce the winners between December 10th and December 21st.” This means, as Paige noted in her original posts, the contest was presumably closed on Dec. 21. “So why are you having people still ‘enter to win’” after that date?” she asked.

“They needed to be totally transparent and clear in every single post and continually link their official rules. But instead they didn’t and let people continue ‘liking and sharing,’ which ultimately helped them gain more followers by deceiving the public,” Paige argued. She added that she’s since been blocked by the Bucket List Family account.

Commenters are accusing the parents of framing the instructions this way in order to gain a ton of new followers and engagements to their Instagram account.

“They’ve gained half a million followers by doing this which equates to a TON of more money for them per post. That’s why it’s shady,” one commenter alleged. “Any one of those 500,000 people who hasn’t been following their journey thinks that all they have to do is ‘like and share’ to enter because that’s literally what it says to do.”

Some are trying to run to the family’s defense, with one willing to extend the “benefit of the doubt here.”

“At the end of the day, @thebucketlistfamily are just trying to do something nice for some great families that deserve it, while some people are just spending their time writing negative comments,” one added.

But it’s only spawned more arguments.

“If they didn’t do anything wrong why did they block @thelegalpaige and edit their captions??” someone shot back.

I reached out to Garrett and Jessica on Christmas Day — ‘cause this is the state of my life and niche interests — and to my surprise, Jessica responded to me quickly. I asked her if she could address the backlash generally and specifically: Were winners already selected before some of the posts were made about asking people to enter? Why were full instructions not communicated on IG when the sweepstakes were announced? Can you respond to fans’ confusion and anger?

Jessica responded with a statement saying this was “not a random sweepstakes like some Instagram giveaways, but rather a thoughtful gift from our family to others.” She then sent me a link to last year’s heartwarming YouTube video they made from last year’s sweepstakes. I followed up, asking again if they can address some of the points of confusion. I’ll update this if and when I hear back.

It’s not without irony that family-travel influencers Garrett and Jessica Gee hit the milestone of 1 million subscribers to their YouTube channel The Bucket List Family while self-quarantining at their home in Hawaii. The couple, along with their mini-mes, Dorothy, 7, Manilla, 5, and Calihan, 2, came back from Australia just before the country closed its borders, keeping the family in one place for the longest stretch in nearly five years.

They kicked off their journey in August 2015, intending to travel for five months with their two toddlers, after Garrett sold the app Scan to Snapchat. While the couple loved the new cultures and experiences in their first few trips [Tonga, New Zealand, Singapore, and Bali among them], the kids were actually the driving force to keep going. “I realized that if we went home and I got a traditional job, I would be spending so much time away from them,” says Garrett. “Luckily, our channel started to take off.” They grew their YouTube and Instagram following in 2017 when they partnered with Walt Disney World Resort for “30 Stays in 30 Days,” moving to a different hotel daily. It’s also when they announced another bump: The couple were expecting their third child in 2018.

Parents photographed and interviewed the family before their Australia trip, planning to share their travel tips and nominations for our Family Travel Awards. In these uncertain times, we went back to Jessica and Garrett and asked them to reflect on their past adventures and how they’re paying forward their good fortune.

• RELATED: Best Vacations for Kids: Parents' Travel Awards 2020

“Manilla’s first time snorkeling and Cali’s first time swimming in the ocean happened on an island called Ray Caye, in Belize,” says Jessica. “The water was crystal clear and smoother than we’ve ever seen. I’ll never forget how perfect those moments seemed with just our little family experiencing firsts together.”

“We often get asked if our kids slow us down,” says Garrett, who explored more than 30 countries as a kid with his mom, a travel journalist. “We actually see so much more, thanks to the kids. They notice things that we don’t, such as the little fairy homes in the forests of New Zealand, and they make experiences more magical, like the time they rubbed every single lamp in Turkey’s Grand Bazaar looking for a genie. Plus, they’re so good at socializing, you meet many other families through their introductions.”

While there is so much unknown, we remain optimistic. Meanwhile, we’re embracing little things like family dance parties and making them grand. You can create bucket-list moments every day.

“When we’re exploring other countries, we first go to a local grocery store and then head to a park to play with other families,” says Jessica. “We visited Vienna for a week, and I can’t suggest anything to do there, except Stadtpark.” Adds Garrett: “If we’re at an attraction like Walt Disney World, we go at the pace of the kids and keep a positive attitude.”

• RELATED: Andy Cohen Shares His Biggest Tip for Traveling With Kids

“I set my iPhone on a tripod and record a video,” says Garrett. “I’ll take a screenshot from the video to use for a photo. The photo on our feed of us hopping like kangaroos across a road in Australia is a great example from video I took.”

“We have started a Kindness vs. Coronavirus campaign,” says Garrett. “We invite you to message us if you’re helping someone in your community who is struggling financially because of the pandemic. We read through the messages daily and select a donation to match.”

“We had to postpone trips to the Middle East, South Korea, and Russia, so we’re hoping to reschedule them when it’s safe to travel again,” says Jessica. “While there is so much unknown, we remain optimistic. Meanwhile, we’re embracing little things like family dance parties and making them grand. You can create bucket-list moments every day.”

• RELATED: Top 12 Kid-Friendly Vacation Ideas in the U.S.

Mom and dad together in tree

Favorite Family Dinner At Home Chicken teriyaki

Who Is The Early Bird? All of us!

Who Is The Night Owl? Dorothy. She’ll do anything to not go to bed!

Movie Or TV Show You All Like We love to watch episodes of the Planet Earth mini-series together.

No. 1 Bedtime Book The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Best Family Game Cover Your Assets

Phrase You Overuse With The Kids “I’m brave like a [insert animal]!”

Family’s Made-Up Game Pillow pool

Best Toys Ever Invented Disney Princess Magiclip Dolls and Hot Wheels

Thing That Helps A Hotel Feel Like Home Just us

What Makes A Trip A Vacation? The ocean!

Favorite Destination So Far Tonga [Garrett], New Zealand [Jessica], Japan [Dorothy], Hawaii [Manilla]