Hike 7- Xmas Break Day Unknown

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I was determined to take a hike today. The weather was going to be in the fifties, and after the sub-sub-zero temps last week, I needed to take advantage. Unfortunately, the day got away from us, and we were running out of daylight. I felt some pressure because it is Kareem’s last day off of the break, and life is about to get pretty real on us. So it felt very important to get out there, and we rushed to get out the door.

I don’t really know how it happened, but we decided to take both dogs AND all the kids with us. Kareem didn’t think we could all fit in the car, but lo and behold- we made it work! I knew because I frequently take both dogs. Kareem does not. The kids were excited to go hiking with both dogs!

Because of the weather we have been having, it would be a muddy mess out there, so we needed somewhere paved. And then because of the time of day, we needed somewhere close. So we chose Busch Wildlife and the Fallen Oak Trail.

It was an absolute treat! The sun going down gave us a glowing golden orange. The wind treated us to creaking and clacking tree sounds, which left the kids in wonder. It was beautiful.

It was fun to bring the whole family. I take the dogs frequently together, just me and them. Jam town insisted on walking Jeff, and Marge gave Kareem a run for his money- literally, Kareem was running! 😀

It looks how it felt.

Marge was very reluctant to cross the wooden bridge. She doesn’t like narrow spaces. But she ended up doing it! The kids wanted to take the “shortcut” with the steps up through the woods. They had to cross over a couple fallen trees, so I knew Marge wouldn’t do it. Kareem took Marge the regular way, and I tromped through the woods with the kids.

Bear town brought her basket to forage for fairy finds, like leaves and mushrooms. She is working on a fairy house.

We saw the sun set and the moon rise- a beautiful late winter afternoon.

Trail Info:

This trail is short but mighty. It provides lots of habitat for wildlife, and there is a bird blind there which my kids and scouts love. There are informative plaques about the flora of the forest it winds through. Conveniently, it is paved. It is right by the visitor center. There is a pavilion and many picnic tables and some fire pits as well. It’s really great for something quick and/or for families and people who are looking for something short but with a lot of bang for their buck.

Goal Recap 2022

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I read this the other day- or something similar- Not hitting the goal doesn’t mean you didn’t win.

I absolutely have pretty much always lived by this. It’s not win or lose, it’s win and/or learn always. This year was unique by a mile. And we did not hit all of our hiking goals for this past year. But we still did some amazing things in our hiking world.

One of our goals was to hike out west. For spring break, most of us went on a trip out to New Mexico. One of my favorite trips of all time! This trip involved a TON of hiking. And some really gorgeous and special hikes for our family.

Another goal was to hike in every state that borders Missouri. If you aren’t aware, Missouri has the most states that border it in the union! We did Kansas, Oklahoma, and Illinois and that was it. Not a great showing.

We did not hike Taum Sauk this year and we did not do any backpacking. Both of these I had thought were low hanging fruit.

One hike per week is what we averaged, but it didn’t actually go one per week. So sort of yes, sort of no.

All in all, I learned a ton this year. We had a lot going on this year. I know everybody does, but one thing that was unique was that both Kareem and I had big professional shifts that had big repercussions for how we were able to spend our time outside of work. The world also opened up, and our kids are getting older. We had more social and extracurricular obligations. We learned a lot about balance.

Not hitting all our goals though didn’t mean we didn’t have some major wins in our hiking world. I did a couple challenges, and in the fall, I was able to really do a lot more hiking than I had up until that point.

Another thing I definitely learned was how much I truly value hiking. I missed it. We bond so much as a couple and as a family during our regular hikes. And I personally gain so much from it as an individual. I am looking forward to a new year- the kids have some great ideas for hiking goals this year! I am hoping to blog more about it this year (as I say every year), but I am not sure how much- every hike, some hikes, a monthly recap? If you have ideas, let me know!

Float with Kids in Missouri

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**This post has been in draft since August. Thought about saving it, but I’m just going to go ahead and finish it and put it out there.**

We finally were able to check float off our summer bucket list just in time for school to start!

We floated in the Lesterville area on the Black River with Horseshoe Ranch Campground and Floats. They’re a small operation that is family-oriented, which we appreciated. We went on a Sunday and our exposure to drunk, young floaters was minimal. We did not camp the night before or the night of which is an unusual choice. The place we went through does offer camping and most float outfitters do. I think next year we will camp.

We did a six man raft, which was perfect for us. The raft is the least tippable option and while we did lose a few people after an unfortunate run in with a tree stump and Kareem lost his sunglasses, ultimately, we did pretty good.

When we hit that stump, Nick, Rami, and Kareem went flying out the raft. I did not notice because I was trying to stabilize until Nick yelled. I was able to get Nick to grab my oar, but Rami and Kareem were getting swept down. The river is not that deep, so I was telling Rami to touch the bottom. He was getting panicky, so finally I yelled in a deep voice RAMI SWIM TOWARDS THE SHORE AND TOUCH THE BOTTOM. He reacted to that. He had a hard time touching because of the current, but he got there. He did immediately swim sideways which helped a lot more than trying to swim back to me against the current. Then we tried to get Kareem. I was having trouble getting the raft to the side of the river, and I thought for a minute, well we are going to totally leave Kareem and Rami here! But I managed it and I felt very proud. At this point, I noticed another family down from us a little ways. They clapped for us, ha ha. They were in canoes and apparently had gotten it much worse through that point. But we all made it, and it was a fun story to tell later.

Jimmy fell out once, but it was at a slow part and we immediately grabbed him and plucked him out the river and back into the raft. Here he is post incident. Clearly very bothered by the whole situation.

Part of the fun of floating is the people you meet.

The Black River is definitely one of the best rivers in Missouri to float, though we are not without lots and lots of options here in our gorgeous, floatable state. We drug once which is not bad for this time of year.

The Black River is so clear with a rocky bottom! Very typical of the area. Very swimmable. Gorgeous scenery everywhere you look.

I will admit, though I am super adventurous, I was slightly nervous to take four kids and a dude who has floated once or twice as a young man on one of those kinds of floats we were trying to avoid. But we were safe and the kids had a blast. Properly fitting PFDs are an absolute must. We own ours because we do spend a lot of time in and around water with our children. It’s an investment worth making!

I was slightly concerned about the weather. They weren’t calling for rain or storms, but you know you can feel it coming. And I just felt a pop up storm coming. You can see that high cloud there int he above picture. It rained very lightly just for maybe ten minutes while we were out- it was absolutely spectacular. I was worried we might have thunder and lightening- we did, but not until we were out of the river.

It was really cool to see the kids step up and help, and you could tell they felt more and more confident as the day went on.

Beginning and before Kareem lost his sunglasses
The end- no sunglasses, but feeling proud!

We pulled out, the bus pulled up, and we all piled in. Moments later, thunder cracked, the sky opened up, and we were being driven like a bat out of hell down the dirt road on the side of that mountain. My kids (and I) did NOT enjoy this part at all. Lucy was crying, Nicky was praying, and I was doing some kind of holy mix of cussing and laughing while trying to remain calm for the kids.

We got back in one piece but definitely changed after that bus ride! We started home after that, and of course, everybody immediately fell asleep in the car.

All we wanted to do after this float trip was. book another one! Unfortunately, we didn’t get to go again last year, but we are already talking about where we’re floating next summer!

I Love a Challenge

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It’s World Watercolor Month this month. July. For me, typically, this would mean that I would look up the prompts, write them all in my day planner, and then do all I could to create AT LEAST thirty-one works of art that match the daily prompts, all in watercolor. I would post them with the hashtag. If I missed a day, I might do two the next day. If I knew I had plans that would get in the way, I would plan (in my day planner) how to make up that prompt.

January. A lovely month. Fresh start, new year, all that. For me, it means the yearly daily yoga challenge. I started a Facebook group of anyone who wants to encourage each other. And I post the calendar, and I do the days, and I love it.

I love a challenge. No spending challenge? I’m down. DIY date challenge? Count me in. That ice bucket challenge? I totally did it! 52 hikes- let me do 146! Daily yoga, daily painting, read the books, take the walks, whatever. I’m in.

This year, it’s July 5. I haven’t even started World Watercolor Month. Today, I looked at the prompts and my calendar. I started to put them in. I whited them out. I made a list of things I want to create myself. When I got home tonight, I knew I should paint. I spent 20 minutes on Tik Tok. (I’m currently doing an indefinite no social media challenge except Facebook and TikTok. It’s completely arbitrary, but it’s going well.). Then I got out my palette and began gathering my supplies. Then I couldn’t find my tracing pad. I couldn’t find my box of new paints I wanted to use. I didn’t have any more paper towels and I couldn’t find my painting towel. So then I sat next to the supplies I gathered, and painting seemed like a chore. It did not feel like what I wanted to do at all.

But the challenge! Today’s prompt? “Welcome.” Today’s plan? A window with a flower box. I grabbed my computer and started to write instead.

Why is a challenge not intriguing me today??

I think it’s just because life has been challenging lately. And I just feel like doing me. At first, I felt a little like a failure, not rising to the challenge. But then I thought, who’s gonna know? Me? And who cares? Me? Do I really care about this? I’ve risen to lots of other challenges this year. How bout the my husband lost his job with the holidays around the corner challenge? How about the got Covid for the second time challenge? How about the my kid’s having trouble at school challenge? How about the we’re blending our families challenge? How about the career challenges? The life challenges? And were these fun? I mean, sometimes. There was definitely a lot of fun to be had amongst these challenges, whether they themselves were fun or not. And did I learn a lot? Heck yes. But maybe there’s not room for these other challenges right now when I’ve got other challenges to tend to.

Or maybe there is, but I’m filling that up with other stuff. Maybe it’s time to enjoy that invincible summer inside me for a while. Maybe these little not-so-little moments that make up the fabric of our lives, the weeknight ordinary evenings amongst the challenging times- the trips to the library, the walks around the neighborhood, a quiet evening hike, a couple hours volunteering at the food pantry, a fire in our backyard, a selfie stolen between moments watching our kids play in the park, friends tie dying in the backyard with us, a snuggle, a reading session outside together, tending the garden, making a new recipe for dinner- maybe those are the things I want and need to focus on right now. Or maybe I just want to hike however many times I want, do yoga as often as I want, paint however many paintings I want. And maybe I’m just going to do them on Wednesday. World Watercolor Month, I’ll see ya when I see ya.

Homebody// Love at Home

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In February, we wanted to go away for Valentines Day. We were saving money for it. And when it came down to it, it felt burdensome to even attempt. Kareem thought, well for the amount of money we were going to spend, we could buy our own inflatable hot tub! And that’s what he did. If you’re rolling your eyes right now, I was too. It sat in parts until my birthday in late April. Finally we assembled it, filled it, and let it heat up. The first night in the hot tub was truly blissful. I could not believe how much relief I felt.

Last year for my birthday, Kareem got me a treepod. Have you seen these? It’s ridiculous, kind of expensive, and incredible. It’s a “hanging cabana.” So he got this for me against my will and then it just sat around. Kareem and a friend were going to build a contraption to hang it from. Anyway, this year for my birthday, he got a stand together for it. And it is amazing!

My backyard is an oasis. My backyard dreams have really been coming together over the past few years. I got these ridiculous pieces, but I also wanted string lights since we moved in. Check. Trampoline. Check. Swing set. Check. Raised beds. Check. It is becoming my favorite place. And between every busy thing we have going on, I just want to hang out in my backyard!

We have been traveling less. Not only because it seems like our time is not ours and stuff is happening constantly, but also because pandemic and the joy of my perfect backyard. (jokes) But seriously, I am itchy to travel. It’s really the T I M E that is holding me back. I have no idea how I used to do it!

I guess one could say that I made time for it, but also I think the circumstances of life have changed. My job has changed and the commitments of my children have changed. Another huge change is sharing my kids with their dad and my stepson with his mom. There are just a lot of moving parts.

I flew twice in 2020, which I didn’t share much about at the time because it was somewhat a controversial choice. I flew to Utah and Orlando in the fall. Since then, we have mostly driven, though I did fly a few times last year. But I have not been out of the country since pre-pandemic. I had two international trips planned for 2020, but did not get to go of course. Now the world is opening up, but my schedule is not.

In the meantime, we are making things happen and at the end of the day, I have my backyard paradise. Adventure is out there, but it’s also right here. The kids are always singing the song Love at Home (sometimes by choice, sometimes by force). They’re right- there is beauty all around when there’s love at home. <3

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