• About
  • Speaking
  • Consulting
  • Amber Hinds

  • Journal
  • Press
  • Contact

Amber Hinds

Eleven Mile State Park, CO
Camping
/
September 24, 2015

Last Camping Trip Of Summer

Today’s the first day of fall, but it’s been hot and still quite summer-like in northern Colorado, so I’m still feeling every much in summer mode.  It’s all most a month late, but I’m finally getting around to sharing our last camping trip for summer, which as at Eleven Mile State Park.  This was an interesting trip for us because there were no trees at our campsite.  Normally we tend to gravitate toward wooded, more private camping spots, but Chris booked this trip for the water, and we were able to visit some caves in Colorado Springs on the way home.

IMG_9569IMG_9570 IMG_9574 IMG_9577 IMG_9586 IMG_9590IMG_0859 IMG_0861 IMG_0870 IMG_0872 IMG_9604 IMG_9636 IMG_9638

I won’t say that I loved the spot we were in, but we all had a good time.  We hiked a lot – I had 10 miles on my Fitbit by the end of Saturday – and the girls had their first kayaking experience thanks to a rental place on the reservoir.  Then Saturday we packed up camp early and went caving which was also a fun discovery experience for the girls.

I think I have figured out what I loved so much about our camping trips, especially now that we’re back into fall routines and have been more than a month without camping… I love that they force me to slow down.  Once every four weeks all summer long we would spend Friday morning packing up the car, then drive out somewhere remote where life was simple.  We pitched a tent, set up camp with only the minimum of what we needed to survive, and just lived life according to our own rhythms.  Spending weekends camping forced me to slow down and disconnect from the craziness that is the life as a small business owner and nonprofit founder.  I got more sleep because I went to bed earlier instead of staying up late trying to cram in more work, and I didn’t feel like I was at the mercy of technology.

I’m still mostly pretty good about going screen-free on Sundays, although I have been occasionally falling back into the habit of checking in on social media/email after we put the girls to bed.  What I’ve determined is that going screen-free for a single day isn’t enough.  Experiencing the peacefulness of entire weekends disconnected has shown me that I need to work harder at making that be a given in my life, and finding more time to just be with my family and with myself.

I’m revisiting and adjusting a lot of goals for the end of this year, and our summer of camping trips was helpful in guiding us toward those new goals.  I’m hoping that by next year there will be a lot more than three trips to post, and that our little family will have made significant progress toward our new fantasy lifestyle.  For some reason the change of seasons always excites me and makes me feel like looking at life in a new way.

I’m wondering, does the change of seasons do that for you?  Do you have goals for the rest of the year?

0 Comments
Share

Leave a Comment Cancel Comment

Recipe Rating




Previous Post
Weaning Zara
Next Post
Pittsburgh

Life Right Now

aucoeur

View

Feb 7

8 1
Open
I started a podcast with Chris and our business partner, Steve! We'll be releasing episodes every Monday on website accessibility and craft beverages. Check it out or subscribe at AccessibilityCraft.com.

#podcast #podcaster #accessibility #accessibilityforall #accessibilitymatters #accessible #a11y #WordPress #webdesign #webdevelopment #websitedesign #ux #usability

aucoeur

View

Jan 22

12 2
Open
It's that time again... Girl Scout cookies! And this year we have two selling. Help them meet their cookies sales goals by ordering online. 

If you live nearby, choose girl delivery and help get cookie boxes out of our garage... Otherwise we're going to be giving them Girl Scout  Cookies for birthday and Christmas presents all year.

Addie's link: https://tinyurl.com/2os3rmdy

Zara's link: https://tinyurl.com/2nev4fs3

aucoeur

View

Nov 30

15 2
Open
Bus stop selfie with Nora. This week she moved from her tiny charter school with only 18 eighth graders to the public middle school with over 200. And now she rides the bus.

The charter school wasn't challenging her enough, has a huge percentage of students who are disruptive in the classroom, and has been having trouble keeping teachers. Last year she loved it. But this year it was one thing after another, so right before Thanksgiving she and I went to go tour our neighborhood  middle school, and she immediately wanted to make the switch.

We've never had a kid in public school and I was nervous about how the transition would go from such a small school to a big one, but so far she's loving it and is glad she decided to move schools. It helps that she knows kids there already from her dance team. Hopefully she'll still be happy when she starts getting homework. Coming from a no homework school that may be a shock to us all.

aucoeur

View

Nov 16

7 0
Open
My three year old girl. ๐Ÿ’•

aucoeur

View

Nov 1

11 0
Open
Halloween 2022. Two witches, a murderous cat, and a creepy Victorian doll. 

Zara's costume was my favorite this year - Nora did her makeup and she wore my flower girl dress from my mom and step-dad's wedding. She might have worn it better. ๐Ÿ˜‚
  • Start Reading
  • Explore Topics
  • Get in Touch
  • Subscribe

COPYRIGHT ยฉ 2020 AMBER HINDS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Site Powered by Pix & Hue.