Camping & Hiking

Roughing It
"Where did you put the coffee singles?" my husband snapped. "What do you mean, where did I put the coffee singles?" I said, a caffeine-withdrawal headache already taking hold. "Where did you put the coffee singles?" My family loves to camp, and when we camp, we like to rough it. We pitch tents, get dirty, and cook with fire. We enjoy unplugging from our computers, TV, and telephone, and we like working together as a family in the great outdoors. Read more.

Take a Hike
It's Saturday morning, our Lab needs to stretch his legs -- and so do my kids. But when I try to rally them for the our usual trip down to the neighbor's field and back, I'm met with about as much enthusiasm as if I'd asked them to watch a blob of Elmer's glue dry. So this summer, I'm trying a new approach. After a quick online investigation, I drew up a list of about 15 different trails, all 5 to 20 minutes' drive from home. Read more.

Camping in the Great Indoors
My husband and I have always loved camping. Before kids, it was one of our favorite ways to get away and relax, to get in touch with nature and each other. But after our daughter was born, it was downright scary to even think about cramming into our car all the stuff we'd need to survive for 24 hours in the great outdoors with an infant. When she started crawling, we worried about all the things she would put in her mouth, not to mention the dirty hands, dirty knees, and dirty clothes. Read more.

Night Owl Adventures
One great thing about living in a small town like ours is that so many amenities are within walking distance from our home. We live about a 15-minute walk from our Victorian town square and we walk there often, which brings some respite from today's family-unfriendly gas prices. On nights when the moon is out and the weather is cooperating, we like to shake things up with a moonlit stroll to the square. We call these our "Night Owl Adventures," and the boys really get a kick out of looking at the same places they see every day quite literally in a different light. Read more.

Putting Your Neighborhood on the Map
As the middle of three brothers, 5-year-old Nolan sometimes -- okay, maybe often -- gets lost in our family's hustle. But his tendency to broadcast random facts to the family made me suspect there was a leader hidden beneath that introverted exterior. On a hike at a nearby conservation area, I handed Nolan the trail map, which featured multi-colored elements depicting green trees, blue water, and brown trail. He was just on the cusp of reading, and I wanted to strengthen that connection between images and text that is so important to early readers. He took to map reading like a healthy kid to germ-laden doctor's office toys. Read more.