The Year Ahead-2017

In February 2016, as we were road tripping to and from Walt Disney World I got the the bug again-the outdoor traveling bug, that is.  Outdoor recreation and travel has always been a passion of mine-in fact my degree is in Recreation and Leisure with an emphasis in outdoor recreation.  Some of my college coursework included backpacking trips and kayaking down rivers. After college, I worked at an Environmental Learning Center as a naturalist and taught classes on canoeing, cross country skiing, indoor rock climbing, and stream studies-just to name a few.  But after getting married and moving to Iowa, life got busy.  I took a stressful job and missed out on prime outdoor weather.  We bought a camper and hit the road every now and again but I didn't get outdoors and enjoy as much as I had in the past.

Picture of John and I right before our first outing with our Prowler in April 2010.

But something happened as we drove past exits on the Interstate for numerous National Forests, hiking trails, National Parks, and recreation areas.  I realized I need to have that part of my life back.  I needed to get outdoors again doing what I am really passionate about.  Thankfully, John was on board with this and the girls are always along for the ride. We definitely got outdoors more in 2016 and we hope to ramp things up even more in 2017.

Last year, our goal was 20 nights in the camper.  Had we not been without a camper for the most of July, all of August, September, and October we would have made our goal no problem.  Here are a few of our plans/dreams/goals for the year.

30 NIGHTS IN THE FANCY NANCY

As of now we have reservations for 15 nights so 30 nights should be a breeze.  This is a huge step compared to past goals of taking the camper out for 5 trips a year-which was a goal we never achieved.

TRIPS WE HAVE PLANNED

Northern Minnesota for a Winter trip-definitely weather dependent but we hope to get out and enjoy the North Country cross country skiing and snowshoeing.

San Antonio/Hill Country-I have been to San Antonio once with my family when I was in junior high and then John and I went with my parents for my brothers graduation from Air Force Basic Training in 2008.  It will be fun to go back with the kids, do different things, and explore Hill Country-a place where I haven't been.

At the Alamo in 2008

Badlands and the Black Hills-I visited this area in 2002 with some friends and I have been itching to get back there.  We currently have reservations for one night at Cedar Pass Campground in the Badlands and a few nights at Rafter J Bar Ranch in Hill City.

Friends from High School Circa 2002

Itasca State Park (Headwaters of the Mississippi) in Northern Minnesota
Camping up north has been something I have done since I was little.  In the past ten years or so we, as a family, tend to find ourselves camping around Duluth and the North Shore when we camp in Minnesota.  I can't wait to go up to Itasca and show my family a whole different part of Minnesota.

Amana Colonies, IA
The dealership where we purchased the Fancy Nancy has a camping club and they take a few trips a year.  We are hoping to join them for their local trip Amana, IA for their annual camping trip.  We have never gone to a rally before and this one sounds like a fun time in a great location-it is during their annual festival.

We also plan to hit up some local destinations which include, Saylorville, Maquoketa Caves State Park, Lanesboro, MN, and Backbone State Park.  We have also thrown out the idea to head someplace south in February which leads me to our next goal for the year...

12 MONTHS OF CAMPING

As we were traveling north for Christmas we started talking about all the places we wanted to go and when we could do it all.  I have been dreaming of winter camping this year and so the goal of camping in all 12 months of they year came to me.  I do think January might be the most difficult for us because we want to go north and that is so weather dependent.  There is really only one weekend that works for us so if it is snowing or SUPER cold (like sub-zero temps), that winter trip will be put on hold until February which means we won't make out goal for the first month of the year. . .but I guess I am willing to take that risk.  ;).  The other challenging month for us will be October-we are SUPER busy due to harvest season.  Even if we don't hit every month, at least we try which I think will ultimately lead us to camping more.

52 HIKE CHALLENGE

There is a 52 Hike Challenge out there and as much as I want to think we could reach that goal, I think we have our plate full.  I was definitely inspired by Boxy Colonial on the Road  for this one as they are in the midst of a 52 Hike Challenge.  I am not super confident that we will reach 52 hikes but it sets the bar high and if we come even close I will be happy.  Although, like John mentioned-if we are staying at least 30 nights in the camper then we should be able to get in 30 hikes since many of those hikes can be done close to home.  He makes a good point.  We will just have to see where we end up on this one.

At the end of the day, what all these goals add up to is to just get outdoors more.  I hope that by the end of 2017 I can say that we have accomplished that overall goal.  

Wow It Has Been a Long Time!

It has been months since the last time I dusted off this link and wrote a post.  Life was busy with the holidays-then Florida and now the weather has been absolutely beautiful to get outdoors.  And all in all I just wasn't very inspired.  I was working a ton at home in the evenings in the fall and winter and had little time to get to downloading pictures from the camera and phone and actually putting my thoughts down.

One things I have been intentional about lately is spending time with the girls.  In life there is SO many distractions and it is hard to get swept up in the go go go.  We are slowing things down a little (although it might not seem that way) and trying hard to get outside more.  We plan to do a lot of camping this spring and summer because when we do that there are no distractions-no house projects-no house chores-no errands-no obligations.  We get to just be together and do whatever we want for the weekend.

I really miss the blogging part too.  I miss writing down some of my favorite memories.  After all, that is what I started this for.  I love looking back at our lives since starting this blog and remembering what life was like for us.  I love reading my documentation on our past travels.  I always have intentions of creating a photo book but it never gets done.  So back to blogging it is for me.  If you are still following along, I plan to post some current happenings as well as some things for the past for myself.  So don't be surprised if you see things from January or February :) I  also can't wait to share about our upcoming adventures!  I am so excited for what these next few months have in store for us!

Family Pictures 2015

A few weeks ago we had our annual family pictures taken.  This year we would have probably skipped fall pictures because we had family pictures taken when Evelyn was born but a full family session came with Evelyns "Grow with Me" package that we purchased so of course I wouldn't pass that up.  So we scheduled them for Saturday morning in September and chose a park we actually go to a few times a year.  This year it was a little of a challenge.  Evelyn was very much distracted by all the leaves and flowers and Elsie was just trying be helpful-but wasn't.  It was a beautiful morning.  

Preschool 2015

On Friday Sept 11th Elsie started preschool.  She had been waiting for this day for so long!!!  She loves to learn so I knew she would love school.  She is also social and after pulling the girls out of the local daycare center and preschool I scrambled to find a preschool that still had openings.  Luckily, St. Pauls Lutheran Preschool had one opening and we filled it immediately.  Emma and Olivia attended this preschool when they were little so we knew it was a good decision.  

Elsie is in the Lambs class this year (3yr olds). 

Elsie's First Day of Preschool

On Tuesday Sept 8th we had Preschool Open house.  We had a chance to see the classroom and meet the teachers.  With Elsie there was no hesitation!  

 One of my favorite things about this preschool (well there is lots of them), but one of them is this sheet that gets sent home-it lists what the did that day and it is perfect for me to be able to talk with her about what she did and keep the conversation going. 

On Tuesdays they have chapel and on the first Tuesday they had their bible presentation and invite the parents to come and watch.  Elsie was so excited to get her bible.  We have already read many stories in it at night,  

It is adjustment to me because it adds things on my calendar that I must remember like when picture day is, sending money for offering on Tuesdays for chapel,  library day, snack day, student of the day, and right now they are doing a fundraiser for St. Judes.  It is fun though and She is enjoying it so far.  On Friday the teacher told me that Elsie does a wonderful job of focusing on the lessons and is really interested in learning her letters and color-which are things we already knew but she added that Elsie is a school teacher's dream.  I hope that this love for learning continues for her.  

Center Grove-Labor Day Weekend 2015

On Sunday September 6th we headed to Center Grove Orchard for our first visit of the season. This is the third season we have purchased a season pass-although this is also the first year that we have had to pay for Elsie.  This particular weekend the orchard was only available for season pass holders and it was so empty!!!  I loved it!! It can get super busy later in the season but generally the first few weeks are pretty quiet and weekdays tend to be less busy as well.  But really, this was probably the least busy I have ever seen it.  It was a bit toasty but Elsie didn't seem to mind.

We met up with Lisa, Chuck and the kids and they were out by the giant slide.  This is the first year for Elsie to go down all by herself!  She had a little trouble staying on the mat ;).  

Evie watching on from the stroller

We hit up the jumping pillow! 

And the kiddos tried the small maze-good thing they had an older wiser child to lead them out ;)

And we played in the corn pit for a bit.

Swimming through the corn. 

They tried their hand at duck races

John and Elsie tried to rope a bull

And rode the pedal tractors 

After that we hoped on the hayride out to the orchard to pick some apples.  

After getting apples we decided to call it a day.  We stopped in the shop, bought some carmel to go with our apples, camel apples to eat on the way home and some apple cider donuts.   

And Elsie just had to take a picture here-she is just like her mama haha.  

There were a few things not up yet like the photo op on the hay bales at the entrance and we definitely didn't get to everything but that's okay because we will be back a few more times before the close Halloween weekend.