Category: Adventure (Page 2 of 2)

father and kids sitting beside a campfire — Photo by Serg Alesenko on Pexels.com

Why You Should Go Camping With Your Kids

May 30, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Camping With Your Kids – Yes You Can!

Why We Took up Camping

Exactly 5 years ago we took up camping as a family. I had actually surprised my husband and 4 kids (at the time… #5 was still baking) with camping gear for Christmas as a declaration that we were going to be outdoorsy now.

The truth is I was sick and tired of our life. My husband and I had recently (reluctantly) gotten smartphones and now it felt like we were on them all the time. Tim was stuck in a job with the Navy that was wearing him thin and as a result our marriage was suffering. I was exhausted from raising 4 boys and being pregnant with our 5th. We almost never had date nights, I didn’t get time alone (except to grocery shop), or really any breaks at all. Heck, I even only got haircuts about once a year. That was a real treat! And at that point I was 9 years into growing little humans with my body, unceasingly pregnant and/or breastfeeding and it was taking both a physical and emotional toll. I had already had one emotional breakdown about 2 years prior and had no intentions of going down that road again.

It was time for a change

We booked a tent site at a local campground, packed up the kids and what little gear we had and headed out for the weekend. We chose a spot only 40 minutes from home, and close to a grocery store in case of emergencies. And you know what? That first trip was wonderful. We had our tent and bedding, and that’s about it. We packed up our two beach chairs (the kids sat in the dirt) and a cooler full of food and drove off hoping for the best. I don’t even remember how we heated up water for coffee. I think maybe we brought a kitchen pot to use over the campfire.

But you know what? We had SUCH a good time. And we learned a LOT! In fact, we had so much fun that we decided to invest in more gear and book a few more trips for that summer.

How to Start Camping with Kids

Camping with children can be daunting, especially if you’ve never been camping before. But you CAN do it, and you absolutely should go for it. Camping with your children can be a huge blessing for your whole family and is hands down worth the effort. So to get you started…

Here’s a few tips:

–Test the waters. Borrow gear or buy used. And start with the bare basics.

–Go with friends. Camping with a friend is always more fun. Plus you can share some meals and gear.

–Keep it familiar. Kids will feel more comfortable away from home with some of their usual comforts. Consider bringing their usual pillow or stuffy.

–Keep em cozy. Make sure you’ve packed appropriately for the weather. Bring extra blankets for night time, or make a battery operated fan if it will be hot. Also consider a spare change of clothes.

–Treats. Our kids know there’s always a special treat on camping trips. S’mores (of course) but they usually also get a cold drink like a juice for Izze.

Just Go

Taking the leap into camping was one of the best things we ever did for our family, and I’m sure it will bless yours as well. Camping as a family is a great way to grow and nurture relationships. Even if your children are too young to remember the experience it will still give YOU lovely memories and will instill a more intentional and beautiful way of life into your little ones. Camping is a way to slow down and show your children that it’s healthy to relax and have fun. Spending time outside, under the stars in the fresh air is refreshing for both the mind and the body. And connecting with nature helps grow our appreciation for our Creator and His creation.

So grab a guitar and some good campfire stories. Don’t forget the marshmallows and smores sticks. Pack up the family, and go. Go and enjoy.

6 Best San Diego Campgrounds for Families

Guide: Hiking with Kids

photo of tent in forest — Photo by Todd Trapani on Pexels.com

6 Best San Diego Campgrounds for Families

May 15, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Camping season is upon us here in San Diego, as the school year draws to a close. While camping in San Diego is very doable all year, there is nothing better than summer nights under the stars, complete with campfire songs and sticky s’mores.

Now, before I dive into the best San Diego campgrounds, I think it needs to be mentioned that everyone has their own preferences, specifically when it comes to HOW to camp. If you’re a glamper or require a daily shower you probably won’t like at least half of my list. While some of these campgrounds aren’t high end, they also aren’t completely primitive (no amenities). But each of these campgrounds offers something special, and most will give your family a beautiful, quiet, nature immersed experience.

mother and daughter on grass — Photo by Daria Obymaha on Pexels.com

Confessions of a Homeschool Adventure Mom

May 1, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Forgive Me, Lord

Ever had a week where you just want to run away and hide for a while? We’ve had a really challenging year, but the stress levels last week were just extra. The small amount of “official” homeschool we typically do was mostly put on hold, but there was just so much going on that I found myself even wanting to walk away from momming for a few days. Definitely not my best week, or a good representation of my role here.

Extra hard weeks, months, and years aside, nobody is perfect. The internet so easily paints a picture perfect life in our heads, then we feel crappy for falling short of what was never a reality. Nor is it achievable, anyway. Or if it is, it’s probably not healthy. So to help you feel a little better about your own mess ups and dirty secrets as a homeschool mom, here’s a few confessions from my own real-life adventure homeschool lifestyle. Buckle up; I’m about shed some light on what goes on when the camera isn’t out.

True Confessions

I’m usually still in my PJs at noon. Sometimes until closer to dinner time. Pretty much I have little motivation to put clothes on unless I absolutely have to leave the house. So if you drop by before noon, don’t judge me. Also, maybe please keep all drones away from my backyard. In summer time I don’t wear pants.

We don’t have an area for digging and it’s not going well. Nope. No mud kitchens here. We had a “digging spot” for a while, but one kid decided to make mud balls with rocks inside and throw them over the fence at cars. So since that obviously wasn’t going well either naturally we had to ban all fun from the backyard. The children now find other ways to destroy the house. Three cheers for creativity.

Some days we don’t do schoolwork for no other reason than I don’t feel like it. Honestly, I’m leaning more and more into Unschooling these days, anyway. Give the kids some chores, tell them to make their own fun and call it a day of natural learning. A+.

Some days I don’t go outside. GASP! I know, and this from someone who is always saying to get outside. Well sometimes a girl just wants to chill at home in her PJs all day. Besides, down time for mindless Instagram scrolling is probably how I’ve found the majority of exciting places we’ve ended up exploring.

We’re not well equipped adventurers. We don’t own much gear. My 12 year old only owns one pair of shoes (they’re sneakers). We have no rain jackets or hiking boots. No emergency water filter straws or rain boots. No extreme cold weather gear or hiking poles. The first aid kit I carry in my water backpack amounts to chapstick and approximately 3 bandaids. Also tissues in allergy season. I’m also directionally challenged and awful at reading maps.

Contrary to the previous confession, at one point I think I owned 11 different baby carriers. How many kids did I wear at that point? Two for sure, sometimes the middle kiddo would ask to get carried. But baby carriers are like shoes and accessories. You obviously would never wear tennis shoes to a fancy dinner date (unless you’re my 12 year old), nor would you wear snow boots to the beach. You also wouldn’t use your purse in place of a backpack in most cases. Well baby carriers are basically like that. Basically… Plus I like to colour match my moods when possible.

My kids play video games and watch mind numbing television. It’s really not my preference. If I had it my way, we would throw away all the screens, except for one that we would only pull out sometimes for educational purposes. But my boys really like video games and watching Pokemon. And I like when they’re all sitting happily in one place for a blissful hour of time when I can actually complete a thought or two without a slew of interruptions.

If my little kids bathe once a week it’s pretty much a miracle. My older kiddos at this point are realizing that they smell bad and their hair gets greasy if they don’t shower quite frequently. But the little ones… uhg. It’s still like wrestling with a wet cat. Being clean is not something they care for, and I don’t generally have the will to fight them. So if you see my kids with marker all over their arms and legs and dirt streaks on their faces and feet, just know that yes, they’ve probably looked like that for at least a day or two. Or five.

One of my kids doesn’t like hiking. Yeah, I know. Ouch. He’s never been my great outdoor explorer, and has always gravitated toward screens and other hobbies. That’s okay – I know that hiking isn’t for everyone. But he’s a good sport and I don’t give him the option to stay home. I figure in the end, he’ll either learn to appreciate it or for the rest of my life he’ll remind me how I constantly dragged him out into the woods or the desert to torture him with sunshine and fresh air.

We don’t have a homeschool room, desks, or even a lot of books. Now, a couple desks in quiet places would actually be great. And I wouldn’t mind having more books. But 7 people living in 1400 square feet, or sometimes 150 square feet, really leaves not much room for anything extraneous. Also, I prioritized having a guest room. #sorrynotsorry

Keepin’ It Real

I’m sure if you followed me around for a week you’d have a long list of other things I should add to this confessional. But hey, I’m sure you’ve got a list, too, and hopefully mine makes you feel a little better about yours. I really do love scrolling through the beautiful Instagram photos, but let’s also remember to keep it real and encourage our fellow homeschool moms to rest assured that the rest of us have a mess behind the pretty pictures, too.

A Look: Typical Homeschool Week

Adventure Homeschool on a Budget

joshua trees on a national park — Photo by Kindel Media on Pexels.com

Camping in Joshua Tree Without a Reservation

April 26, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Call us crazy, but we made a last minute decision to camp in Joshua Tree over spring break. We were supposed to be heading into Arizona to spend a week in the woods, by a creek with a waterfall and excellent trout fishing. But wouldn’t you know, that exact week the temperatures were going to drop 20 degrees lower than the entire previous month and we just weren’t interested in 25 degree nights. Naturally the last day of our visit would have been back up into the mid 60s. Go figure.

Joshua Tree

We really didn’t want to head back to the desert, having just been there the previous week, but given some time and weather constraints, Joshua Tree ended up looking like our best bet. So two days before our trip I pulled out my phone and started researching. Just as I’d expected there were no reservations available, so I went with plan B, which was: find a plan B.

I am happy to say that it ended up working out perfectly and we got the best spot in Belle campground. That’s not something I would always expect to happen, but I figured this trip just had the Lord’s blessing on it. And from the way we came about getting our spot, I knew it had to be true.

We rolled up a little later than I had hoped. Check out time is noon, and ideally the earlier the arrival the better chance you have at catching someone on their way out. We didn’t arrive until about 2pm, so we were shocked that we were able to snag a spot in the first campground we came to. It wasn’t the best fit for our trailer and large crew, but we were ready to make do. We were also blocked from early sunlight by a large boulder, so I was concerned about our ability to last all week on our one solar panel. (We do not have a generator). But I had been eyeing up the site next to us, which was large, open, and had the best boulders for play and exploration. Well wouldn’t you know, the next morning that family rolled out at 8am. SCORE! We moved a few things over to claim that site, pulled in our slide, and got ready to hook up. But then…

The car wouldn’t start

Remember I mentioned the cold weather in Arizona? Yeah, well really most of the west coast was having a colder week, including Joshua Tree. Between the shade of the boulder, the near freezing early morning temperature, and the slight elevation (JT is the high desert) our big ‘ol diesel van was too cold to start. And the can of diesel starter was mysteriously missing. Ruh-roh.

The next few hours were quite the journey, as I sent my husband hitchhiking 12 miles into town. Thankfully he was offered a ride from a ranger to the edge of the park, leaving him only a mile to walk to the local AutoZone. He then spent the next 20 minutes waiting for a series of LYFTs that never showed up, and resigned himself to walking back to camp. A pit stop into the Joshua Tree visitors center, however, turned into another ride with a park ranger back to our site (but not before scaring a lone mother by asking her for a ride. I explained to him later that approaching a woman alone with her children, while holding a mysterious spray can probably wasn’t the best choice). Basically the morning was spent relying on strangers, while simultaneously having to remind ourselves that none of the strangers circling the campground knew that we were actually hogging two spots (with the park ranger’s blessing, of course). By lunch time we were finally able to get the car started and shift the trailer over, and all was well. WHEW!

Okay, so we got kind of lucky, huh? Perhaps. But we had plenty of other options in mind as far as how we would stay in Joshua Tree if we weren’t able to get a spot at a first-come-first-served campground. So the next time you decide to make a last minute camping trip to Joshua Tree (or any other park) you can use these tips to help you find a place to stay.

How to Camp Without a Reservation

First come First served (FF) campsites. There are actually 3 FF campgrounds inside of Joshua Tree National Park. The best part about FF campsites? If you decide you want to stay an extra day, you can! No one has a reservation to kick you out.
Keep checking online for last minute cancellations. Yes, they really do happen.
Check with other campgrounds outside of the national park. The first time we ever camped at Joshua Tree we were only able to get a spot outside of the park. It turned out to be a great campground and had bathrooms, running water, and a junior ranger program.
Harvest Host/Boondockers membership. While this won’t get you into the park itself, it can get you close. Plus you get the bonus of a unique experience.
Boondocking. We use the Campendium app to search for local boondocking locations and there are two just outside of the Joshua Tree National Park.

Happy camping, happy adventuring!

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Road-Trip with Kids Made Simple

Guide: Hiking with Kids

Adventure Homeschool on a Budget

April 2, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Ideas to Help You Find Adventure in Your Homeschool Without Breaking the Bank

So you want more adventure in your homeschool, but everything is so darn expensive, especially if you have a large family. (Hello Disney tickets x7! There’s a good reason we’ve never gone.) What if I told you that you could find TONS of adventure for little to no cost at all? This isn’t about using credit card points or entering giveaways – it’s about shifting your idea of adventure and finding new things that you can do as part of your home education in a budget friendly way.

How We Used to Pay for Homeschool Activities

What didn’t work

In the first three years of my oldest child’s formal education we tried three different schooling options. While we wanted to home educate, the first thing we tried was public school for TK (transitional kindergarten here in CA). It didn’t take long to realize we should have stuck with our guts and home schooled. So for actual Kindergarten we enrolled him into a local homeschool charter. It was part of the public school system with a full campus and teachers, and his class would meet once a week for three hours to learn alongside their teachers. There were other activities, clubs, classes and field trips throughout the week that were optional, and this was a nice stepping stone for us as we gave homeschool a solid try. It didn’t, however, give us the flexibility to diversify our education the way we wanted. Without using out of pocket money, we were restricted to only what this little school was able to provide.

What did work, for a while

After that year I knew that the public homeschool charter campus still wasn’t quite what we were looking for. I wanted more freedom, and really I wanted assistance to pay for all of the classes and activities we wanted to do. Thankfully in CA we have a lot of options, and so we signed up with another charter school that had no physical location but did offer funding for each student to put toward curriculum, classes, passes to local museums/zoo/educational theme parks, and more. While there were some requirements on our end that I wasn’t fond of, they were worth it for the money that we were able to use on unique classes and experiences that we wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford. But as the years went on and the government cracked down on what the charter was and wasn’t allowed to pay for, and the testing and requirements on families became more stringent, we finally parted ways and opted to go it alone, sans funding.

The loss of funding worked with our travels (we’re no longer around all year to participate in many long-term commitment in-person classes), but it did also mean that we needed to focus on activities that would fit within our small budget. Many of these things we had already been doing, but since leaving the charter school we’ve made sure to implement more of these types of experiences to keep our weeks full and rich.

This is a list of many of the free or budget friendly things we’ve tried over the years and still find useful. I hope you find these helpful, or that they inspire you to come up with some creative ideas of your own. Happy budget homeschool adventuring!

Budget Adventure Homeschool Ideas:

Camping
- Don’t have gear? Try borrowing from a friend or your local Buy Nothing facebook group. Alternatively, some campsites offer cabins.
Hiking
- Try the AllTrails app to find hikes near you. Not sure whether you can hike with your kids? You can find lots of tips and inspiration here.
Nature play/local parks
Join homeschool group to find free activities and meetups
Entrepreneur fairs
- Your local homeschool group might host one of these
Church events
Save more expensive adventures for vacation/birthday
Take up inexpensive hobbies
- Hiking, mountain biking, bouldering, geocaching, whittling, etc. Even inexpensive at-home hobbies are a way to save the activity budget for bigger trips.
Buy year passes (national parks, state parks, zoo…)/look for coupons
Field trips
- Your local homeschool group may be able to get discounted passes to local events and places of interest. And ask around – some places offer free info sessions.
Travel in the off season
Boondocking
- This is camping outside of a campground. Know the area and whether you’re allowed to camp there. Try calling the local ranger station or using a camping app like Campendium. Alternatively, plan a camping trip in your backyard.
Pack your own food/meals/snacks
- This is a solid way to save a $50+ hangry family emergency fast food stop.
Geocaching
- This is a treasure hunting app. Best part, its completely free and there are hidden treasures everywhere!

Did you find this list helpful? There of tons of things to do for free or inexpensively – share your ideas in the comments!

Children hiking along a tree lined path in San Diego

Guide: Hiking with Kids

April 2, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Tips, Tricks, and Sanity Saving Advice to Make Hiking with Your Kids Doable and Enjoyable

Figuring out how to hike with kids was a big learning curve for me. As a child I loved outdoor exploration, but my parents weren’t into hiking so my adventuring was generally done alone within the vicinity of home or wherever we were traveling.

As a young mom, it hadn’t occurred to me that hiking would be a good family activity. I loved the outdoors and missed things like outdoor exploration, climbing trees and finding hidden treasures. But the only things I saw other moms doing were short trips to the zoo, local playgrounds, or maybe a walk at the bay. No one was tromping through the woods. No one was finding caves, or hidden treasures. No one was looking for new places to play with creeks, frogs, and mud. Everyone seemed to be gravitating toward man-made fun where kids were told to wear shoes, never go up the slide, and douse themselves in hand sanitizer before snacking on their organic puffs.

Adventure IS Homeschool – No Curriculum Required

March 25, 2023 / Sara Guenther

Where Adventure Meets Education

What if I told you that there is freedom in homeschool when you drop all the expectations of society. That you can leave the walls of home in search of adventure, and that you don’t need a curriculum.

Could you imagine an education where text books aren’t used, tests aren’t given, and grades don’t exist? Where worksheets aren’t required and subjects aren’t formally studied? Can you imagine an education so far from what the “experts” have said it should be, and that instead places family, experiences, and imagination at its center? Can you completely let go of what we’ve been shown is normal and reimagine education steeped in the light of truth, beauty, and goodness?

Surviving a Roadtrip with Kids — Surviving, no... enjoying a road trip with kids

Road-Trip with Kids Made Simple

March 23, 2023 / Sara Guenther

How to Survive Enjoy a road trip with your kids (without screens)

Does the thought of strapping your kids into their seatbelts and making them stay there for an 8 hour road-trip give you a little anxiety? Yeah, that was me, too. But since then I’ve learned how to not just survive a road-trip but to actually enjoy it. And now I want to share my tips and tricks with you!

Our First Road-trip

Years ago road-trips weren’t a thing around here. Our second kiddo had awful colic it felt like just looking at his carseat made him scream. Even the 15 minute drive to church was unbearable – a long car ride to somewhere fanciful was simply not an option. Flash forward a few years and with colic behind us, road trips were put back on the list of possibilities.

Road-trip with kids through Badlands NP — Road-trip along a long dirt road leaving Badlands NP

The first roadtrip I ever took with my kiddos, I did it solo. Just me, 5 kids from infant to age 8, a minivan with no tv, and 6 hours of drive time. Was it crazy to start with something so big? Maybe. (Probably.) But whatever, I did it and I don’t regret a thing!

We were headed to visit a friend who had recently moved away, so I knew we would have a few days to recoup after the long drive, before having to head back home. I also did a TON of research and asked a few friends for advice. I went into this journey feeling super prepared to have to drive, navigate, AND keep all the kids happy enough to not make me regret my decision. I also made sure that my kids were strategically placed in seats where one of the older boys could grab anything I handed him and pass it out to the rest of the crew. We prepared with discussions about why I needed good helpers, and what my expectations were for behaviour. Next up was packing the entertainment.

The Entertainment/Tools

We don’t always use each of these things on every long drive, but this list will give you an abundance of ideas to choose from when you’re on the road. Ready? Let’s dive in.

Mileage Count Down

This is probably my favourite things to do on road-trips. Look up how many miles to where you are going, and divide it up into equal parts depending on how far you’re driving (think 25mi, 50mi, 100mi… we usually do 50). Then write out the miles on little strips of paper and tape them on the dashboard or somewhere easily visible. Each time you reach a new mark, take down a piece of paper and do a little celebratory dance. Not only does this make it fun and celebrate your progress, but it also gives the kids a visual of how far they have left to go. Bonus tip: print out a map of your journey and have the kids trace along the route as you go.

Road-trip games

For our first road-trip I printed out a bunch of road-trip games and had them laminated. The games were things like ‘count the cows’, ‘find every state license plate’, ‘roadtrip bingo’, etc. A few dry erase markers and napkins to wipe the sheets clean and this bought me a lot of time! Plus the kids could use the back to just draw. You can also keep a bag of other non-messy manipulatives like pipe cleaners, sticker books, color-wow books, sketch pads with crayons (just make sure the kids aren’t drawing on the car walls), play dough, rubiks cubes or other puzzles, etch-a-sketch, shoe laces, and washi tape or painters tape and our personal favourite, paint by sticker books.

Audio entertainment

My kids are SUPER into audio books because of roadtrips. Audio books are a wonderful way to keep the entire family entertained (even parents love them!). If you don’t have the budget to purchase audio books, try downloading an app like Libby and connect to your local library for free. You can also use a podcast app to find lots of free classic stories. Just type in the name of any classic book and you’re bound to find a reading of it. Speaking of podcasts, there are tons of podcasts available and many that are child friendly, too. You can also listen to your favourite music, or just sing together as a family. It can also be fun to create songs about what you’re seeing or play games, like “Pass the Story”.

Favourite foods

Eating is a tricky subject depending on how clean you like to keep your car. My advice? Give them their favourite foods and just plan to hit the carwash later. Snacks are always a great way to keep kiddos happy. Just avoid meals that are too heavy and might not settle well, or that are exceptionally messy, or exceptionally sugary (because hyperactivity). Also, be stingy with the beverages. Nothing is less fun than having to stop for 3 potty breaks in 40 minutes. Seriously. Really frustrating.

Take breaks

I know the temptation is to get where you’re going as fast as possible, but taking breaks is a great way to refresh everyone. If you’re a planner, look along your route and figure out where there might be a good playground or park to stop and run around for a while. You can also plan a longer stop for lunch. As for bathroom breaks, we try to keep these to when we also stop for gas. That way we don’t feel obligated to make a purchase at a convenience store, because we have already paid for their services at the gas station.

Treat stash

Okay, I know I just said not to give your kids sugary treats BUT this is where I make an exception. I keep a stash of small treats and try to only pass them out when things start getting dicey. It’s a guaranteed cure for crying kiddos. Some of my favourite treats are ones that are either lower in sugar (and don’t contain food dye) or that will last a little while. We like to stick to things like organic lollipops (this is the most loved treat), mints, a hard candy they can suck on, dark chocolate, and my personal favourite: gum. If your kids can handle gum, it can keep them happily chewing for a quite some time.

Final Thoughts

If screens are what you need to survive your road-trip, then by all means go ahead and use them. While over here we believe that the drive is part of the adventure, we have also used movies to pass the time when we’re traveling long distances multiple days in a row. However, we still like to make sure our kids have time to look out the window, take in the scenery and geographic changes, and to have time connecting with other another.

Overall, just know that with the right attitude and some fun activities to do along the way, your road-trip with your kiddos can be not just survivable, but enjoyable!

Want some visuals? Check out my YouTube video going through these same road trip tips and tricks.

Planning a road-trip? I’d love to hear what works best for you, and what you would add to my list. Happy road tripping!

Priorities: Adventure in Homeschool

March 21, 2023 / Sara Guenther

How to Make Time for Adventure in Your Homeschool

Let’s cut straight to the meat of it… You want more adventure and excitement in your life, but you have kids, a job, and little free time. The days of wild and fancy free went out the window with the birth of your first child and now you’re feeling stuck in a life of minivans, sports practices, and short people who rage when given the exact snack they just asked for.

How could you possibly find the time (and energy, of course) to travel to all those Insta-worthy destinations that are taking over social media?

Friend… it’s time we had a talk.

What I have to say might sting, but hang in there with me. There is something that’s holding you back from experiencing a more fulfilling life with your family, and I don’t want to see you miss out. So here it is, and it’s just one word.

Priorities.

It’s all about your priorities. You see, the things that we prioritize are the things we make the most time for. For example, if eating dinner together as a family is important to you, you might spend an hour or more cooking a homemade meal from fresh, whole ingredients and linger at the table to foster connection. This takes a lot more time than throwing ready-made pizzas at your kids as they run out the door for their next activity. If reading is important to you, perhaps you spend time shopping for great books, reading to your babies and visiting the library. These are all good things, and if they are important to you then they are worthy of your time. But what other things consume your precious minutes and hours of the day? Scrolling social media? Shopping? Shuttling kids to and from classes, club meetings and sports practices? Hours of researching new recipes, or the perfect family vacation? Perhaps your schedule is filled with LOTS of worthy practices, but because you place such high value on all-of-the-things you’ve left yourself little room for anything else.

Here are a few questions for you

If you limited the number of less important activities, or the amount of time you spend doing them, do you suppose you could find extra time in your schedule? What if you shifted a few different activities and were able to free up an hour? Three hours? Suppose you dropped an entire sports season and had NOWHERE to be after 3pm? (gasp!) Or you only did formal lessons 3-4 days a week instead of 5? And here’s one more… what if you DIDN’T enroll in (as many) classes or co-op?

You may have heard it said that every “yes” you say is also a “no” to something else. If all your yeses go to these good and worthy activities, there is nothing wrong with that. But if you’re wishing you had more free time, more time for travel, more time for adventure and fun, then perhaps it’s time you reassess your priorities.

And so we traveled

When we decided to travel the country for 4 months, we knew that we would have to say “no” to some of the things we enjoyed. It meant no sports, no rock climbing class or chess club, not seeing our friends in person for a while, and the hardest of all: not being physically present in church and fellowshipping with a regular body of believers. But our temporary “no” to all of those GOOD and WORTHY things, was a YES to some of the most amazing experiences of our lifetime.

Friend, you don’t have to walk away from your life for a few months to experience something wonderful. Can you just find an extra weekend? A day of the week? Even just an afternoon? Any amount of time at all can get you outside with your family, enjoying God’s creation together. You might have to start small, but that’s perfectly okay. What matters is that you just start.

You can do it. It might take a little adjusting and some hard decisions, but you wont regret the experiences you’ll have together and the memories you’ll make.