Camping & Traveling with Kids ft. Abby Carey

Traveling with kids is not for the faint of heart - but the memories are so worth it! Join our convo as we deep-dive into how to make the most out of every adventure.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, I'm Kristen, fellow mom, and your biggest cheerleader in all things motherhood and parenting. My husband and I co-founded Parker Baby Co. with one mission in mind to nurture and grow strong families. And that mission continues right here on Rooted Conversations. So grab a cozy drink, take a deep breath, and remember you're not alone in this journey.

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Hey everyone, welcome back to Rooted Conversations. My name is Kristen Hiebner, and I am the co-owner of Parker Baby and Parker Kids. And today I have my really, really good best friend Abby Carey. And along with being my best friend, she is my husband's cousin.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Which worked out very well. It did.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

Because as you guys know, like finding moms and friends is really difficult. And then finding time to see those people is very difficult. And so Abby and I have forced hangouts, which is really great. We are forced to hang out because our families hang out, and it's really great because we have to be together. Not because we don't want to be together, but we have to make time to be together. And it's just it's the best. And not that you're not intentional because Abby is one of the most intentional people I know. And so even if I didn't have we didn't have these forced hangouts, you would be super intentional about seeing each other. And I just love that about you.

SPEAKER_00 1:41

You know, when you're in the thick of motherhood and sport schedules and all the things, it's like making time to see people is tough stuff. So that's why Marco Polo exists and other things where you can like be face to face, even if you're not face to face.

SPEAKER_02 1:58

Yes, for sure. Marco Polo has saved Abby and I quite a few times.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

For sure.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yeah, Abby and I, so you've had it, you had a really interesting intro to motherhood. Um, right at the same time I had a really interesting intro to motherhood. So I had twins at 20. How I don't know how old I was. Young. I was young and I had twins right away. And Abby, you were you're a year older than me, and you had you can explain your intro to motherhood.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Yeah, well, I had Lucy. So Lucy and the twins are what, a week apart, 10 days apart, something like that. So they're so close. Um, and we lived in Colorado Springs at the time. You guys were in Parker, so we're like on the same trajectory, but like not super close to each other, right? But then Ryan deployed, and so I feel like there was a lot of like family gatherings in that first year of Lucy being born. Well, one, she never slept. I didn't know what I was doing, I didn't know how to but you were single momming it. But it was single momming because Ryan was deployed to um yeah, the Middle East at the time, and it was like we gotta talk every day, we got a FaceTime, but it's not the same as having a person in your house. And thankfully, like my mom drove down from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs like twice a week just to help out, and like I never felt like I didn't have the village, but it's different when it's not your spouse, you know what I mean? And that first baby, yeah. Oh man, it's just I look back now, I'm like, man, I cared about so much more stuff that I don't care about with the last thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

So yeah, I just remember so very like you and me just we had a couple conversations where I felt like you were one of the only people that really understood how hard it was because well you had it way harder. No, I think we are just different hards.

SPEAKER_00 4:03

That's the thing, and and that's why a lot of people I feel like that way with stages of motherhood too. Like, I don't think people with teenagers have it easier just because their kids can feed themselves, it's a different hard, you know what I mean? So yeah, I don't think there's a single mom that's like, oh, they they got it easy. No, I wouldn't ever say and that's why it's different.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Whenever people are like, Oh, you know, I don't know how you did it with twins, or every mom does it, you just put your head down and you just do it. You have no choice. Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 4:36

Like, I know. Well, I remember that when I was past my due date now, and I asked her mom, like, I don't know if I can do it. Like, how do I know if I can do it? She's like, You just do, and I'm like, Yeah, okay. And then she's like, Well, there's a reason people have more than one. You kind of forget how hard it was, so you'll be fine, you know. And sure enough, we ended up having three more because it forgot how hard it was, and it worked out great, and the magic of it definitely outweighs the the heart of it. Oh, yeah, yeah. With childbirth and the rearing of kids, which is a great segue into camping, too, because I think the magic of camping outweighs how hard.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Okay, so that is what we were talking about today. Thanks, Abby. You're so good at this. You should probably do my job. Um, we are talking about camping. Now, I had to bring someone on to talk about this because I've been camping a whole whopping one time in my life. And um, like literally, like childhood to today, I have been camping one time. Um, so I was like, who should I talk to? And Abby and Ryan are like really good at this.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

So I wouldn't say that, but we have done it a lot. So I think there's a lot. Is anybody good at camping? I don't know. Yeah, no, I I grew up camping all the time. So, and I will clarify to anyone listening that it RV camping is different than tent camping. And tent camping, I'm a novice and I don't truly care about it. So RV camping is where like that I grew up with, and I mean, it's like a pop-up, so it was still like like a tent on wheels, you know, it was nothing fancy. Um, but that's some of my favorite memories as kids. And so like the times where I saw my parents' marriage challenged the most was in camping. So it's like, yeah, I it's been really fun. It's been fun to do it as a family. We've done all different kinds of like, you know, where it's just like you take an RV and it's just basically a road trip, but you're in an RV. We've done national forest, national park camping. Um, and you know, it's comfy when you're in an RV for the most part. And then and then some that's just like in our backyard, like like at Void Lake or you know, something like that, where it's um easy, low threat, but it's nice to just kind of like get away. And like, yes, it's a lot of work leading up, it's not a vacation, like you might think, but it's it's a different way to like get out and kind of you know, do something with your kids, sharpen your axe from the day to day of your life. And I don't know, it's been really fun for us too as a family.

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Yeah, I have so many questions. Like, I'm just sitting here, like, oh my gosh. So, what are what like what do you feel like you come home when you get home from camping? Like, what are you like, this is what we learned, or this is what I'm really glad we did this because XYZ.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

Yeah, I mean, it really depends on the type of trip you take and what I think that's one of the biggest things is like setting your expectations as spouses before you take your kids, and just being like, like I told Ryan, I was like, if we if I sit by the campfire every night, that's what I need. Like that, I don't care what the rest of the day entails. And Ryan's like, okay, so because I was planning on just like we go, we sleep, we keep driving, we sleep, you know, and I'm like, no, I need to like set up camp to feel like we got our nature, like fill, you know, right? So so that's an important thing before, but then when we get back, yeah, it's really just like for me, it's the quality time with the kids outside, and and getting them to show them like a different part of whether it's the US or truly is like our backyard. Like we've been to Boyd Lake like twice, and both times we went camping, you know, we don't really go there otherwise, and so so I think it's just like, yeah, getting to experience that time with your kids, and then for me, you know, I work full time, Ryan works full time, and so camping is not something that's it's not any vacation with your kids is a trip, not a vacation. Yes, that's what I always say too. It's a work trip, yes, yeah. So it's fun to be other places, it's still a lot of work, and camping takes a lot of preparation and work, but the I don't know. Have you ever heard the the two lumberjacks like analogy about sharpening your axe? No, okay, so there's two lumberjacks, they both you know start chopping wood at the same time. One leaves at noon for an hour and then comes back and continues to chop wood, and the one in a lumberjack just chops the whole day, and at the end of the day, the one that left for an hour was like always had chopped more, and then so finally the one lumberjack is like, How do you like I'm working more than you? How do you chop more wood than me? And he goes, I leave it at noon and I go sharpen my axe. And like that's not not working, but I think when you whether you like work out of the home or you are full-time with kids, you have to take that time to do something different to like sharpen your axe for the day-to-day of like whatever it's gonna entail. So yeah, it's a lot of work, but it's always worth it for us, right? Um and and yeah, it's just that kind of like time away with your kids, it's super focused where there's not the distractions of like getting laundry done or getting whatever else house tasks that need to be done. It's just kind of like you're there with your kids, you get to ex experience something new that you probably haven't done either, and that's like kind of the whole goal of it, right?

SPEAKER_02 10:39

Okay, so with you mentioning multiple times how much work it is, how do you how do you split up that work between you and Ryan?

SPEAKER_00 10:50

Yeah, like the question. So, because we do RV camping, I'm pretty much I will make sure we have all the food, all the even where we're staying, kind of the planning preparation of that done. An RV is like a beast, and there's a lot to make sure that it's like operating, especially if like it has a toilet in it, like that has to get cleaned out. So Ryan will do the like mechanical stuff of making sure like we can get to our destination, right? And I do a lot of the planning prepping stuff, and that is a fair burden split, in my opinion, because I do not I also don't want to drive the RV, not my thing. I want to passenger princess, right? But when I say that with kids, like they can't get up and walk around in RV. And so there is a time, I mean, like, because we've done a motor home, so we and we also have a towable, so that's a different kind of thing. Like when we've done a towable trip, you're in your car, so it's like a road trip, and you get there and then you set up camp in an RV or like in a motor home, those are really fun trips because it makes the road trip really fun, but it's like the kids want to walk around, and I'm like, you can't get up, like and we took Annie when she was like 18 months old, so she's just starting to toddle around, anyways. I'm like, you're already not secure on your feet, right? Don't try to get up and walk around a movie, yeah. So I will say passenger princess is a different thing because it's like really mitigating all of the things that could happen that would be very harmful. Um, but but that's the part that I'm like, I'd rather do that than have to drive on the interstate. Huge thing, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Do you have like go-to like meals and stuff that you do for camping? Yeah, so it's like I mean because Abby's a really good cook and a really good baker. So I want to know all the things that you I feel like everyone always talks about how much good, how much better food and coffee tastes when you're camping. Is that true? Coffee.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

I will say so. Cowboy coffee is my favorite thing, and it's just what is that? It's just grounds in your cowboy, your like uh enamel coffee pot with water in it. Okay, and then you heat it up for like five minutes. I don't there's some that have like a filter thing to hold the grounds, like a percolator, and ours doesn't have that. But how you get the grounds to settle is you then pour cold water around the side of it, and the cold water traps the grounds to the bottom, and then you pour it. So it's very similar to a French press, except like there's no press part, the water does the press part. And um, I don't know why it just tastes so good. And I will say, I've tried to replicate it at home, it's better camping, like it's not the same. So, um, so yeah, coffee with the cowboy coffee pot is like my favorite thing, but then like I try, depending on what the day is, like, so we often are like road trip RVers, so we like get to a spot, we sleep, we wake up the next day and we have another eight-hour drive, get to that spot, sleep, you know. So it's like that's different than like when you go to a place and you like plan to stay there for two or three days. Um, in that case, like oatmeal super easy because you can just heat up your water, like whether you have a microwave or not, like typically we'll do dry camping, which is like, yes, we have a toilet and a microwave and a generator and whatever, but like dry camping, you're not hooking up to anything, so you don't necessarily have electricity unless you're gonna turn on your generator, which we try not to. A lot of times those spots are like you try to be quiet and stuff. Um so we'll like oatmeal is really easy because you just need hot water. Um and yeah, I'm trying to think what else. Like, so breakfast can be pep tame or it can be like you can make uh bacon and eggs over the fire if you want. Um and then, like, yeah, again, depending on if you have refrigeration or not, like yogurt's so easy. But I would say, like, dinners are the ones like we like to go all out and we'll get like you know, nice steaks and kind of like have a night where we have like a fun meal, but then you can still do hot dogs and stuff, you know. But for Ryan and I, we want like still the good food.

SPEAKER_02 15:08

Yeah, yep. Um, it's still work trip.

SPEAKER_00 15:16

Yeah. Um, but yeah, so I would say meals are very much like if you're in an RV, it can be pretty easy. You just have to get creative with like you might eat a lot of the same, it's helpful to eat a lot of the same food in different ways, if that makes sense. So, like if you have potatoes, you can chop them up and put them in like one of those like you know, tin foil things over the fire. Or yeah, yeah, or you I don't know. It's it's fine to eat that for like several meals, but um we also are like, I mean, we've pulled up to a Texas roadhouse and just order catering and ate it in the parking lot, you know. Or not catering, but then to go and um eat in the parking lot, like we're not afraid of doing that either, especially the road trip ones because sometimes like we've been driving all day, we've been right managing kids. Last thing we want to do is like break out the generator and try to cook a meal right now. So so yeah, so I I really think it kind of depends on what you like too, but um that's where the planning ahead really comes in handy. And there are times where I have not planned ahead. I mean, that's one thing that I think RVing is fun, like you have to be prepared in some things more on Ryan's side with the mechanics of it, but I'm like, I'm placing a Walmart pickup order for the next town we hit, right? And we're just gonna get groceries on the road, you know? Like so you can be a little bit more flexible um that way, and it's kind of fun when it's a fly by the seat of your pants trip. Right. Uh there's I mean, obviously, if you are renting an RV or you don't have an RV, you have to plan ahead quite a bit. But um one app that I really like is um called Harvest Hose, and that one's been really fun because camping spots are like real aggressive. So if like by February you don't have your camping spot in a national park, like you're not getting one. I think they open up in February and they sell out by like mid February, you know. So so it can just be like so crazy, or it's like 80 bucks for a place that you're like, I don't know if like we're gonna like it or if that's on the way or whatever. Um so Harvest Host is really great. You pay for a subscription for the year, and then um you it's like farms, wineries, breweries. Some of it's like you pull up in like you sleep in a parking lot, but like if you can get to a farm or something, like we stayed at this beautiful place in Wyoming, um, and you just pull up, you sleep, you wake up, like typically you meet the people. Um, how they kind of sell it is like like it's free to stay there, but then like some people are like they sell something, so you're like kind of have this like obligation to like buy something. I'm like, well, I would so much rather buy like fresh eggs from this local farmer and stay in a cool spot where I don't have like 10 other campers that are butted up against me. So that's really fun. So Ryan and I sometimes will like get on the road and I'll be like, okay, let's just see if there's any harvest host we can get like next day. And we're like kind of planning as we go because are we gonna be able to make it six hours tonight? Or gonna be able to make it 10 hours, you know? And so then we'll kind of like we can game it a little bit too.

SPEAKER_02 18:34

Um what do you guys do during the day, like with the kids when you stay in one spot for a while?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

So one of my favorite spots was um disperse camping. It it's called Tom Minor, it's outside Yellowstone. And I mean, we're like up in this spot, and it's dispersed camping, which basically means like Forest Road, kind of like it should, it'll just be like technically you can camp there, but it's like there's no trace that anyone has been there before, you know. It's like so, and I'm like, I think we're the only people in like 10 miles. Like it was like cool, but also kind of eerie. We're like, like, whoa, if we like screamed, no one could hear us, you know? It was awesome. And that was one where we just like did like hikes from our spot. We came back to have lunch. Um, our favorite thing is to bring board games and and or card games, really. I shouldn't say board games. That's not like very camping friendly, but like phase 10's a huge favorite. Ryan, I found a two-player Caton, like uh once when the kids go down, we'll play like two-player card games. Um, and the kids are at the age where like, you know, they can pretty much all play Uno and all these ones that are just like fun to play. And so, so yeah, it can be a lot. I mean, if we're going to a place too, like um, there's a place in Wyoming called Sugar Loaf Campground, and there's like easy hikes, but then it also has like um little fishing spots and places you can wade into the water and and stuff like that. So I think it kind of depends on where you go and what you're doing. Um, but I mean our favorite things are to do uh I say hikes, like nature walks, you know what I mean? Like it's nothing crazy strenuous. We're not gonna be like burned out by the end of the day, but we can get out, and then there's a good mix of just like chilling by the campfire, too.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Yeah, I love that. Do you know how to start a fire?

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Yeah, I mean, it depends how how long it'll take me. I usually make that be a Ryan job. Um no, I actually Lucy. So my sister-in-law, Beth and Randy live in Washington, my in-laws. And so when you go out there, I mean, we do fires all the time. It's so like in Colorado, you can't just like start a fire whenever you want, you know, but in Washington, it's very wet, so we can do it whenever. Whenever. Um, so Lucy got super into starting fires. So now she's kind of our go-to fire starter when we want to do and um and my sister-in-law taught her like the different methods for like starting a fire. Oh my gosh. She sees it as a competition now with like the because the boy cousins and stuff will all like we don't start fire. She's like, I can do it too, you know. So she's a new but she she loves, she's real outdoorsy, like she loves that kind of stuff, which is fun. But yeah, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 21:31

Yeah, is it do you have any kids that hate it?

SPEAKER_00 21:34

I mean, Annie doesn't like to get dirty or sandy, or she doesn't like to be wet for no reason. You know what I mean? So she's like, like if she gets wet, she has to change. I'm like, girl, we packed three outfits. Yeah. And so she's like, uh she's you know, three. So it's like that might be an age thing too, but um. It's not that she doesn't like the outdoors, she just doesn't like sturdiness and dry that doesn't go hand in hand with camping either. No, that's not.

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Do you have any like funny story? Like anything bad? What's the funniest slash worst story?

SPEAKER_00 22:21

I mean, it's gotta be something with just like RV septic stuff. So like the the waste, it just will smell bad. You know what I mean? And then like if you can't get that figured out, it just makes everything not fun.

SPEAKER_02 22:36

Yeah. Um notice it, or is it just you and Ryan that ruins everything?

SPEAKER_00 22:42

No, it's the kids that is like mainly. They're like, it smells weird in here. I'm like, yeah, it's like the chemicals for the bathroom. It's like doesn't really work. But I mean, I think the most stressed I get is like when we have to do like tight mountain driving, and you're just in this behemoth, and I just feel like here's the like valium here. Yeah, exactly. Um, but no, I mean my favorite time of travel was when we went to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons, and we did Tom Minor, and we came down, but like our RV was 27 feet, and to get to this dispersed camping, it said anything over 28 feet can't make it, and so we're like we're under, but barely, barely, and I mean it's like tight turns, and we're renting an RV from our friend, so it's like I really don't want to ruin his RV, so that was stressful. But Annie was like, I want to say six months old, yeah. Or like eight months old, and um, it was perfect because she couldn't like really move yet. Like, I mean, she could crawl, but like not well, and so we just kind of put pillow barricade around her and she'd just like float, you know, it was great. Um, but that was one that was like really, really fun, like times that were scary, but like so worth getting up there. Right and then driving through Yellowstone is beautiful. But then we stopped at this like sandy beach. Um, I think it was called Jackson Lake outside of like Grand Teton National Park. And um and it was just like the most picturesque, beautiful thing, and the kids were just like loving it. They were just like they went swimming, like there's just kind of like a little watering hole type thing that they could swim in, and um, and it was great. And this is like not funny now that I'm thinking about it, but it was like the the worthless stress of like, can we even get our RV out there? Was like so worth it for what came out of it. Also, on that trip, the one time I did drive was at night and we're leaving Yellowstone and a herd of bison pass in front of the RV, and I like slam on the brakes, and we all just kind of come like crashing forward. Oh my gosh, and I'm like, that's it, I'm not driving anymore. I can't wait because they're like the size of like a VW Beetle. I mean, they're like huge. So that was yeah, probably like the funny in hindsight because it was like the one time I drove the entire trip and we almost hit a bison, and I'm like, nope, I'm done. Like, I can't do it.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

It's like driving a semi. No, thank you. Um, yeah. Are you guys going anywhere this summer?

SPEAKER_00 25:45

We are camping. Um, not camping. I mean, not yet. It'll if we do it, it'll be a last-minute trip that we're just gonna like take it and go. So the RV we have is a toeable and it's a teardrop, so it's tiny. So it sleeps four technically, and we have six. Right. So if we if we do it, we'll probably make the boys sleep in a tent and the girls will get the RV. Um, but we really do like sugarloaf campground outside Centennial in Wyoming. It's like beautiful. It'll still have snow there in like June, July, which is kind of fun. You know, it's not a lot of snow, but um, so that might be one that we we end up doing a like last minute trip, but we don't haven't played anything because we have other trips coming up, you know. We're going to Tennessee and then Mexico and then North Dakota. So and we're going to two or three national parks. So it's like we're going there, but we're it's not in an RV or we're not doing camping or something.

SPEAKER_02 26:48

Well, and our husbands have done like they're doing our the fishing trips where our husbands will camp together and our boys, yeah, yep. Yeah, and we want to get a family out, it's just hard.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Elk hiking. That's a different kind of camping. Our husbands elk hunt, but we started calling it elk hiking because that's all they really do is just walk miles so far, like 20 miles a day of like not on trails. No, just it's like over rocks. Oh my god, it's hard work, it just isn't fruitful.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

Maybe they did get it once. They did do that. Um, so is there anything that like that you're like, I have to bring this on my trip?

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Yeah, so I would say I actually have like a list of things, like random things you wouldn't think that you need to bring. Oh, that's interesting. But like one is scissors, it's just so much easier to cut kids' food. Like, for sure, even if you have an RV, but like you typically counter space is like that big, you know.

SPEAKER_02 27:51

Like, I did okay, side quest. I was at a restaurant the other day, like a nice restaurant, and this mom had her daughter there, and she like pulled scissors out of her purse. Yeah, and I mean I wear scissors, I love that so everywhere, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:04

Um, so scissors for cutting food and just like anything, it's really helpful. Um I am trying to think what else. Okay, so that's one uh deck of cards, always ziploc bags come in handy more often than you think you'll need them. Um, even for stuff that's like not food related, we just find that we need like Ziploc bags. Right. Um, another one is that's really helpful is to have like a tote for shoes that you keep outside the RV because rinse out and stuff. Well, yeah, and you don't want to like bring the dirty shoes in the RV, but then you can't just leave them out because there's like critters and spiders, and right, you know, and so having a tote that you kind of like can keep it contained is really put a lid on it, yeah, yeah. Oh, okay, got it, got it. And so, and then too, sometimes Orion will put it like underneath the RV, you know, if you can. Otherwise, yeah, it's like one of those things where you just find you need it more often than not, you know. Um, I gotta look at my list, see what other things. The cowboy coffee pot. Oh, yeah. Uh paper towels. I mean, that's that's probably more obvious, but man, we can go through paper towels. And then oh, oh, another one is um like the power packs, like battery packs. Oh, like you won't always know if you have a connection or something, and if you're using your phone for maps or whatever, it's just my daily life.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

I I don't eat I love my battery pack.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

Yeah, it's so much handy. Yeah, but yeah, I would say that's some stuff. I mean, if you have like little little ones, like and you and they're used to white noise, that can be hard in RV because you're all now in one room. So if like the kids are wrestling through the night and you have like an 18-month-old who still needs their white noise, I mean, sometimes you get asleep by a river and you have natural white noise, but other times it's like, oh my gosh, we're just sleeping in a tin can and all the rustling is like echoing. Yeah, so so yeah, like I don't know, I'm I'm sure there's a million other things that I'll think of, but uh you can also overpack, and we've done that and we've like you know carried some like oh we're gonna play a board game or whatever every day, and then we're like, we just have shoved this board game from like cabinet to cabinet and never used it.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

I do feel like camping is one of those things too when you think you're gonna have all this time and then night comes so fast. I feel like that's something I that one time I went camping, I thought I was gonna be so bored, and it was gonna be like, what are we gonna do all day long? And then like night came so fast.

SPEAKER_00 30:53

Yeah, uh well, and it just is like again, we do a lot of you're not really bored. No, and I mean it it depends what you want to get out of it, but it's like for us, we just like sitting in nature too, like that's kind of the purpose is to not be like having a lot to do, having you know, being in the moment kind of thing. So I just am really scared of ticks, yeah. I am too. I actually saw an interesting. Have you had any ticks on you guys? Honestly, and um when we brought our dog, we'd get ticks all the time, and then since not having a dog, we don't, and the vet explained it to me is like, well, your dog has tick medication, so the tick latches onto him and it's like, wait, I don't like this. And so they just look for the next available person, and um, yeah, so uh so I'm like I'm trying to think if my kids have, I know they have, I just can't remember when it was if we were camping or not.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

I have a very type A child, and I had mentioned one thing about ticks the other day, and um at 2 a.m. she comes down and wakes me up and made me check her for ticks. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:06

You did that, that's you did that at 2 a.m.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Um no. I I mean ticks are more prominent in Nebraska for sure.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

Yes, we don't get as many where I'm at. Well, yeah, when it's colder, especially yeah, up in the mountains and stuff. Yeah, but I don't like ticks. No, there's sticky feeling, but I like that tip about the the um Tupperware thing for shoes with the lid. That's a really good idea, even for tenting camping. I feel like that's a really good idea. Well, the last thing you want is like wet shoes or yeah, or dirty shoes because that one time I was camping, I was like, it's so dirty in in my in my bed.

SPEAKER_00 32:50

Like yeah, so it's not pleasant, and it turns you off to camping forever.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Yeah, apparently. Obviously, no, it's good.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

I think the other thing too is like having something to listen to on so like you know, I I'll won't forget when we're um we're going into Yellowstone and um the kids we had let them pull out tablets finally. Well then we get into Yellowstone and they just like are staying on the tablets like guys, right? Get off what are you doing? Yeah, and um, I'm like, you don't understand, like this is like a once in a lifetime, yeah. Maybe not, we can go there again, but um, and so we you know get them off their tablets or whatever, and they're but it was like it's a lot of driving, and it's not like we also all get car sick, like everyone but Ryan gets car sick, which is not fun. Love and so so they're like, Well, we're if we look out, we get car sick, whatever. Um, but they like what really helped was having something to listen to. So there's a couple things, like I mean, we listen to like Adventures in Odyssey. Um, have you ever listened to Nat Theo? I love Nat Theo, that's a good one. I don't know if I have it's real short, it's like Nat Geo, but Theo for theology. And um, she just shares little things on like creation, like like how things are made, like why hummingbirds do you know, why their wings are. What's that on? Uh Spotify, I mean it's a podcast, so yeah, and she's actually based in Loveland, so that's kind of fun. Oh, that's cool. Um, she interviews really cool people, but then she also will just do like little segments, it'll be like 10 minutes long, but she just like goes into like extreme detail on like why uh lizards have eyelids and snakes don't, or you know, like whatever it is type thing that's really interesting. Um, so that's a fun thing to listen to, but then um there's another app called audio, and it's like on your drive, it'll have like different historical landmarks that are like podcast style, so it'll be like, okay, so like driving through here, you can click on it and it'll like tell you the history or like of that project. Which is really fun.

SPEAKER_02 35:09

We're driving to Nashville and we're like and we're doing like civil rights and civil war like stops, and and that we're just talking today about how we need to find some like podcasts for the kids to listen to to like yeah, look that one up audio.

SPEAKER_00 35:25

It's like it's an app Io. It's an app.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

Okay, okay, yeah, I'm gonna do that because that'll be good.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

But yeah, so I think having something to listen to, and then other like tips and tricks for people who do have kids that get nauseous is like the big 32-ounce cups.

unknown 35:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 35:43

You don't know when you're growing up, we would bring a bowl, like a mixing bowl, yeah, for a barf bowl, but we'd bring it on the road. No, we just went out the window. Plastic sack.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Out the window. Go with 75 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Far enough out.

unknown 36:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

Um, but yeah, so we bring the cups because then they can fit in a cup holder, you know, they don't have to hold on to it. But like those big like Dicky's cups, or I don't know. I feel like so many restaurants have them.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Um we just do those blue puke bags, like the ones with the like ring around it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:19

Yeah, the airplane sickness bags. Yeah. Hospital.

SPEAKER_02 36:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:24

I remember saving mine when I gave birth, and I'm like, I'm saving this for when we do road trips.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

They say they tell you, they tell you take everything you can from the hospital when you go birth. Even the bath bags, even the bath bags.

SPEAKER_00 36:39

Take everything you can.

SPEAKER_02 36:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:43

No, I think another one is like um, we got these motion patches. Have you ever seen those? No. And they're like um herbal like motion patches, and you can either put it behind your ear or on your navel. And so um, those have been life-saving because we used to just stock up on dramamine, but the kids didn't like the way it tastes, or they didn't like that it made them sleepy, or you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:07

Like by the time we got there, they're like still sleepy.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Yeah, yeah. And then um, but these motion patches, I mean they last for like several days too, which is super nice. Like, I'll just go and go to Tennessee, I'll just leave it on the whole time.

SPEAKER_02 37:20

Okay, um, because I only have one kid that gets not like heart sick. Like Ava can literally read her book uh on her way to Estes.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

That's insane. I can't even I can't sit in the passenger site in the front and not vomit going up to Estes.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

Is that not wild? Like Ava, my child who is emetophobia, who is terrified of vomiting, will even get sick reading going up the zigzags of a mountain. Like that's crazy, yeah. And Eleanor, like, will read for five minutes going down the highway and be like, whoop.

SPEAKER_00 37:59

Yep, that's that's me for sure. And I every time I'm like, well, maybe I'm over it, maybe it won't be that bad. No, you know, and Ryan is very kind, but you can tell it annoys him that we all get car sick, and he's like, You did this to our children. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Um, but yeah, and then you have to find something that they got from him, you know. Then you have to like start like, oh well, I don't know. I'm trying to think of a struggle. Then you struggle, and you're like, Oh, there's nothing bad about my children, so I don't know. I don't their only flaw is that they are sick, and they got it from me. You know, oh man, no, that's yeah, that's the motion patches have saved us. That's I'm gonna have to get that link to win. Maybe I'll put it in the show notes. I've never said that before. Okay, well, thank you so much. This is so fun, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:00

Yeah, I mean, I think it's one of those things too, is uh I'll never pretend to be the pro at it, but we do like it and we've done it enough.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

You know, camping, it's very much an open-handed thing. It's you have to do it with open hands, like for sure.

SPEAKER_00 39:16

It's just gotta be yeah, and like I said, it's not that it's not work, but it is worth it, you know? It's the magic that's that makes it worth it, at least for us. And maybe you try it and it's not your thing, and that's okay too. But I think in the end, you know, there are people who do it so much and are the pros, and that's all they share on their socials because they do it all the time. And like following those people are super helpful. I think for us, it's like just make it attainable, make it what you want it to be. If it's just a road trip and you eat it Texas Roadhouse, you're not grilling over a campfire. Great, who cares?

SPEAKER_02 39:54

You know, yeah, make it yours.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Yeah, yeah. But there's a lot of I think beneficial to getting out with your kids too. Like, oh, I'm remembering there was a a study done. Um I have to remember, it was the American Pediatric, but it was basically they did a study with moms and daughters having conversations, and they um one set they kept them inside and they just walked like on an indoor track. And the only difference in the study was they had the the other group walk outside, and both moms and daughters reported like better overcome overall conversations. They said their closest was better, and the content of their conversations was higher quality outside, which I was like, it's just so interesting that, like, yeah, I mean, there's a reason God created nature for us to enjoy it, and it's it's healthy and beneficial for us, so um it makes sense, yeah. And I think you feel it too when you get to experience that with your kids, you know, like they feel it and you feel it.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

So um I will I do think that even in photos, when you look back on people like the the one time I went camping, and like when Sam goes to on these fishing trips, or like when Sam, like Sam's taken the kids without me a couple times, sure. And and okay, just to clarify, I'm not this like super against he took he took the kids when I had when I had babies at home, so like I couldn't go because I had like a baby, anyway. Right, right, right, yeah, yeah. But like the pictures when they I look at these pictures, everybody is like glowing. Oh, yeah. Like the kids are glowing, like the biggest smiles you'll ever see on your kids is like when they're camping, yeah, and they're like dirty, and oh my gosh, August. The the pictures and content I see of those boys from the fishing trip is like some of my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 41:52

Oh, that's like favorite for sure. And I'll always zoom in on the pictures, and I'm like, Oh, his kids are soaked, and he I know he didn't pack another pair, or like you know, you zoom in and you're like, that is like crusted over dirt. They just don't even care.

SPEAKER_02 42:05

They love it, they love that's the best time of their lives. Sam will be like, Will you pack for Gus for the fishing trip? Like, why? Why am I packing? You literally don't change his clothes, like every every single year I pack three outfits and he comes home in the same freaking outfit.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Yeah, no, I I'm a same. Well, it's like there was one maybe his last fishing trip, and then Ryan said something like, Well, Gus and Carl decided to go swimming because it's warm enough. And I was like, Did you pack a swimsuit? And he's like, Nope. I'm like, Well, you don't need a swimsuit, whatever. It's a guy's trip. But then that was like his only shorts that he had brought. And then he was where I think he had one pair of jeans that he wore the rest of the time. Like, gosh, yeah, whatever. I make it work. Everyone's always alive at the end.

SPEAKER_02 42:55

I know, barely. He is so happy. But yeah, those are even me, like the pictures, even me, the pictures of me on that trip. I am like glowing. I don't know. There's something about it, yeah, being in nature and oh for sure. That's a big part of it, too. I don't think we touched on enough, is like being away from your phone, disconnecting, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:22

Yeah, well, that was the thing, you know. I was saying Tom Minor is like, whoa, no one could hear us if we screamed. It wasn't even that, it was like we have no cell service. It's like, yeah, if we need to scream, we for sure, like, yeah, no one would hear us, but it was um there's just some magic about it where I'm like, I uh if there's something about like being unreachable by the outside world, other than like, you know, your little nuclear family, it's just like kind of the best.

SPEAKER_02 43:48

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Yeah. Well, thanks, Abby, and thanks for being here. Um, and thank you to everybody who's listening and um being part of our little village and family of Parker Baby. And um, we just love nurturing and growing strong families, and you guys are a huge part of that. So thanks for being here, and I hope you join us for our next episode next month. Thanks.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Thank you so much for tuning in to Rooted Conversations. I hope this episode reminded you that you're growing, you're growing a strong family, and you're growing as a parent. One moment, one choice, and one hug at a time. I'll see you next time.