Tag: adventure

are your kids too clean?

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Today’s generation of kids is called the hyper-parented generation.  Like never before, parents today attempt to do everything they can to protect their children.  In today’s world safety is a god.

I recently read a parody of the book Goodnight Moon in The New Yorker.  It is very funny!  You can read it here.  The last lines in the poem state:

                  Goodnight wipes warmer and yoga mat, HEPA filter and sun hat,
                    Sunscreen, sunglasses, sleep sack, outlet cap, sleep coach, G &T ,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     star charts, consumer reports,
                   Vitamin D, anything with Omega-3, French au pair, filtered air and—

                   Goodnight alpha parents everywhere.

Satire?  Maybe, but reality is not too far off.  Continue reading “are your kids too clean?” →

real or fake? a Christmas controversy

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It’s one of the biggest controversies of the Christmas season.  Real tree vs artificial tree.  Everyone has an opinion.  And then there are sub-controversies.  If you go real, do you cut it down at a tree farm of pick up a pre-cut tree from a road side stand?  If you go artificial then do you get the tree pre-lit or add the lights yourself?  It’s a lot of decisions to make at such a busy time of year! Continue reading “real or fake? a Christmas controversy” →

exercise, diet, and the holidays…lets be realistic

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The other day I saw an article about ways to avoid eating at a holiday party.  One suggestion was to eat before you go to the party.  Please!  If I do that then I will just eat two meals.  I mean who wants to avoid eating during this time of year.  Part of the fun this time of year is getting together with others and getting together usually involves food, drink, and staying up late.  None of these help diet or your athletic life at all.  Continue reading “exercise, diet, and the holidays…lets be realistic” →

hidden places

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I’ll admit it, I’m slightly obsessed with caves.  It’s the adventure of it.  Traveling deep into the earth, not knowing what you will find.  Often these caves are hidden in plain sight.  Exploring them is like being let in on a secret not known by many.  So, when a friend of ours offered to take us to one of these hidden caves we jumped at the chance.

 

 

My family met up with our friend and his son, jumped in a car together, and drove the short distance to a pull off along the road.  It’s a busy road, connecting two major roads in our county.  I drive on the road quite often, zipping past homes, lakes, restaurants, and a school never realizing there is a large cave  just out of sight.  The trees are dense here, but this time of year, with the leaves all long gone you can peer back into the woods and spot tall cliffs.  In front of the cliffs the ground heaves up creating small berms and rocky rolling hills.  These berms hide the secret of what lays beyond the road and forest. Continue reading “hidden places” →

where the family tree don’t fork

Posted in Home, New JerseyTagged , , , , , , 7 Comments

I live in New Jersey.  Now I know what you’re picturing when you hear “New Jersey”: big cities, lots and lots of people, gangs, the Thruway, garbage, the mafia, etc.  This is not the New Jersey I live in.  I live in rural New Jersey.  No, this is not an oxymoron, it really exists!  Way up in the Northwest corner of the state is farmland and mountains and lakes and…people without teeth!??  You see, while the rest of the country laughs at New Jersey, New Jersians laugh at us!  According to them, my county has more cows than people, family trees that don’t fork, and the dirt roads are full of lifted pick-ups with gun racks and dead deer hanging out the back.  In other words, we are a bunch of rednecks! Continue reading “where the family tree don’t fork” →

hurricane…nor’easter….what’s next… locust?

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Today I drove down a road that cut through a large section of pine trees.  At least 75% of the trees lay on the ground, snapped by the winds from Hurricane Sandy.  Electrical wires were everywhere, entwined in the branches.  It was a very strong reminder that we have a long way to go.  “Normal” is a long way off.

Snow covers the ground today.  Snow!  A Nor’easter a week after a hurricane.  I heard someone joke that next week is the plague of locust.  It can feel that way.  Many many people still do not have power.  Gas lines are still long.  Schools are still closed.  Yet I have witnessed a lot more positive than negative. Continue reading “hurricane…nor’easter….what’s next… locust?” →

purposely lost

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“Mommy, I think we’re going to have to live here!”,  my daughter cried as we realized that we had been in this spot already.  We were lost!  Not only were we lost but we appeared to be walking in circles.  My son pointed out a rock that we had passed two previous times.  I looked up at the sky.  The once blue sky had grown cloudy and threatened rain.  I wondered just how many hours had passed as we wandered, heads to the ground, hoping to find our way.  Our map was useless.  Huge parts of it were missing, providing us only pieces of where we were and needed to go.  We came to a fork, the path split in three different ways.  My two older kids fought over which path to take.  I was pretty sure one of the trails looked familiar.  We had traveled on it during some of our wanderings.  My husband ended the argument by stating that we would take the third option.  Skirting a mud puddle, we continued our journey.   “This is crazy”  I thought and yelled up to the girl sitting on the deck high above us,  “Hey, can you give us a clue?” Continue reading “purposely lost” →

why I love kindergarten soccer: a list

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soccer, parenting, family, adventure

It’s fall, time for kids soccer.  Time for the intense competition.  Time for the intricate footwork.  Time for teamwork and one goal after another.   Okay, who am I kidding, this is kindergarten soccer after all.  The one thing I am guaranteed is entertainment!  It’s an age where kids have absolutely no idea what there are doing, but have fun doing it!  They don’t care and that is what makes kindergarten soccer so great and so much fun to watch.  The following is a list of what happened during one of my son’s soccer games.  Seriously, it all happened during one game.

Continue reading “why I love kindergarten soccer: a list” →

fall in the adirondacks

Posted in Home, New YorkTagged , , , , , , 3 Comments

There’s a tree a little ways down the road from where we live.  It’s a huge oak tree that stands alone in the middle of a field.  A couple weeks ago I noticed that the tree’s leaves had started to turn; a few brilliant red and orange leaves on the very top of the full green tree.  I thought of how summer was definitely over and fall was coming.  This morning I looked at that same oak tree as I drove by and was shocked to see that the whole top half of the tree was bare!  The leaves had not only turned but fallen off.  All it’s going to take is a good wind storm to blow off the rest.  Where has fall gone?

I love this time of year, but it is so busy.  The move from the lazy, hedonistic days of summer to the fast paced craziness of autumn is always a jolt.  There’s usually not even time to mourn the end of summer!  We are off in a never ending stream of work, school, activities, homework, meetings,and events.  I want to notice that oak tree, but it’s so hard to do as I zoom by at 50mph.  That’s why I cherish our annual fall weekend in the Adirondacks in New York state.  We abandon all activities and commitments in order to head north and gather as a family and just relax…. Continue reading “fall in the adirondacks” →

bermuda’s beaches

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A couple weeks ago my husband and I went to Bermuda for five days.  We went alone without any children, our first vacation like that in seven years!  We had a great time!  I have never really thought about  going to Bermuda on a vacation (this was a trip that I won with work) but was so glad that we did.  The weather was perfect, sunny and in the 80’s, the island is beautiful, our flight was only 1 hour 45minutes, and you can’t beat the beaches!

bermuda, beach, adventure

Continue reading “bermuda’s beaches” →