Category: Kids

2022 in 23 Photos

2022 in 23 Photos

This is quite belated, but I really enjoyed putting together my photo essay for 2020, so I decided it was time to do another year in review with pics.

You will see that several of these are professional-quality photos, if I do say so myself, and several look like I have never held a camera before. Most are somewhere in between. And I feel like that is a perfect representation of our life last year.

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2020 Photo Essay

2020 Photo Essay

Inspired by a lovely photo essay from my world-traveling bestie, I decided it would make me feel slightly less bummed about the poop fest that was this past year if I assembled something similar for myself.

In an effort to make this a positive venture, I have omitted photos of me at my office sweating in uncomfortable PPE, me wearing the same pair of stretchy pants day and night for weeks on end, and me crying in the garage with the lights off. But you can rest assured that all those things did happen, because this was 2020.

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Backpacking With Teens and Tweens

Backpacking With Teens and Tweens

We’ve been backpacking with our now-teenager since he was 9 years old. And I’m talking about real wilderness backpacking in rugged terrain and extreme temperatures where you carry everything you need to survive, not “I did some walking in Europe with a backpack on” backpacking.

I put in 6 years of backpacking as a teenager myself back in the day, followed by an additional 13 years of backpacking as an adult (pre-munchkins). So hopefully that establishes me as reasonably qualified to dispense advice in this area.

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In Search of Cider, Pizza, and Poutine: Our Summer Travel Hacks

In Search of Cider, Pizza, and Poutine: Our Summer Travel Hacks

We were able to score the following flights for super cheap this summer (with first class tickets roundtrip on the PHX-SEA portion):

Image generated with Great Circle Mapper

In case you can’t see that image, our summer will include flights between FLG, PHX, ORD, YVR, and SEA – basically a giant triangle around the U.S. mainland with a little taste of British Columbia thrown in.

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Why We Don’t Let Our Teen Have a Cell Phone

Why We Don’t Let Our Teen Have a Cell Phone

The short answer is that he doesn’t need one. Let’s unpack that statement with some frequently asked questions that we get on this subject.

Are you super old and out of touch?

Depends who you ask, I guess.

We’re both at the upper end of the Millennial generation. We both have smartphones and various social media accounts. We both work with kids and teenagers in our careers. We use computers, phones, and other modern technology frequently for our jobs and have lots of random unnecessary electronic devices in our house. I don’t think we’re too far out of touch.

Aren’t you worried your teen will be isolated from his peers by not having a cell phone?

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