A few years ago, I had a bunch of random things to wrap for Christmas.  Stuff that would not fit easily into boxes or wrap nicely.  I went online and found this incredible hack for making your own gift bags out of wrapping paper.  Maybe everyone already knows about this,

It’s a tradition now – mark your calendar!  The weekend after New Year’s, we all bring our dead, dry trees up to a spot in the National Forest, just off the road, halfway up to the Pajarito ski area.  The location might vary just a bit (closer or farther up

I love buying gifts for my boys.  There are so many options for inexpensive items that they love.  And there are also tons of secretly practical options—the kids think they’re receiving exciting toys, but secretly they serve a down-to-earth purpose.  If you haven’t noticed, I’m big on practical, useful gear. 

Where we live, one can buy a permit to wander the national forest and cut down your own Christmas tree.  Anybody remember Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation?  Yeah, that’s totally us.  I think about that Christmas tree scene in the movie every year (I put the youtube clip at the end

Here’s our gift guide for adventurous women/moms!  While I haven’t tried most of these, I would be thrilled to find any of them under the tree! 🙂 STOCKING STUFFERS Hair Bands: If she’s a mom and she has long hair, I guarantee you she can always use more of these!

When your five and seven year-olds tell you they want to get up in the dark and hike a mountain in the snow, well you just have to support that sort of ambition.  Jasper wanted to get up at 2:30AM (not that he understands what part of the night that

The best gifts are those that show the recipient you really thought about who they are and what they like.  Below are our best ideas for gifts for outdoorsy guys – some items that Matt has personally tried and liked, others that are still on his wish list.  And, of

Two of the things I love most about homeschooling are how much I am learning and how the kids seem to internalize the most random information.  In September, our Forest School group met up with Jesse and Johanna of Zia Permaculture to learn about local wild mushrooms and herbs.  I

Everyone’s least favorite part of camping is packing all your gear. Matt has calculated that, no matter how much time we spend packing the night before a camping trip, it still takes us at least 3 hours to leave the house in the morning.  And, almost always – though, in

Bodie and I put together an Altoid survival kit for each of us about a year ago (when he turned six).  It turned out to be a wonderful father-son activity, and Bodie stayed excited about it for many months.  It was really fun, for him and for me.  Even now,

POOP!  I’m going to talk about POOP!  It’s going to get real.  Because I’m feeling like the honey badger tonight (“honey badger doesn’t give a ****!”).  Yes, people have written plenty about shitting in the woods before.  Few, however, will have been quite as detailed and as graphic as I

We just returned from a three-night camping trip for labor-day weekend, exploring new areas in southern CO and northern NM.  It was filled with the usual: the giggles of super happy little boys messing around in the tent at bedtime; Emerson laying in the dirt playing with his cars (everywhere);

This post is about building your own custom first aid kit, or else improving the one you have.  With three boys, we use the first aid kit far more frequently than back in the day.  Before kids, I was much more cavalier about injuring myself.  As a parent, I want

No, NOT the infamous “Hooters”! Ha!!  While perhaps poorly named, “Hoots” is nevertheless a fantastic indoor play area on the northwest side of Albuquerque, near the Balloon Park.  I’ve made a point of stopping here after a long day of running errands in ABQ or doing other parent-directed activities, so

The family camped out at a spot in American Springs last night, hopeful of observing the Perseid meteor shower.  Some friends joined us for the campfire portion, which made it a super fun evening.  We didn’t end up seeing many shooting stars before retiring to the warmth of the tent,

Lara Casey, the brain behind “Powersheets” posed the question in this year’s summer section of the planner, “When fall rolls around, what experiences do you want to look back on and say, ‘I’m grateful I did that this summer?’” For some reason, this question caught my heart. There has been

On our recent Utah roadtrip, we took the boys up a portion of three separate slot canyons: Fry (Frylette), Leprechaun, and Little Wild Horse. (I’m just getting around to putting up some details about the activities from that trip).  The boys were ecstatic about the actual canyon bits, and grumbly

This is pretty much just a review of the Osprey Poco Plus child carrier.  Easily one of the best kid-gear purchases we made, we have used ours extensively over the past 6.5 years.  In looking back through the picture library, I see that we have so many precious memories associated

Well, unbelievably, we did it.  I took all three boys up to Colorado by myself this past weekend to find some Colorado alpine camping–  high and cool and up a bumpy 4wd road that thins the herd.  Our notional purpose was to hike Mt Huron, a Colorado 14er—one of 54

The Santa Fe and Carson National Forests have implemented Stage 3 fire restrictions, which means that we aren’t allowed in them, at all.  Not even for hiking or climbing, let alone camping.  This deprives us of all nearby camping and outdoor recreation.  This weekend we decided to explore the Rio

I’m big on navigation, and big on being prepared.  For twenty-five years I have been using various navigation tools and trying to keep abreast of the technology.  Knowing how to use a GPS well has saved my ass many times in the remote Utah desert, finding and escaping slot canyons.

Those of you with kids can appreciate what I mean when I say that this outing didn’t take us nearly as long as I wanted it to.  After a few glorious rainy days, it seemed that myself and the boys were getting a bit stir-crazy.  I had no energy for

Muley Point, on the southern end of Cedar Mesa in southwest Utah,  has a beautiful road, a rarely-visited scenic overlook, and kickass campspots, all in one. If it were located along a major road it would be a must-stop photo opportunity and overrun with tourists.  But the overlook happens to

We just completed a surprisingly successful ten-day family roadtrip around southwest Utah.  The whole family, all of us jammed in the xterra, camping at 8 different campsites in 10 nights, driving every day but one.  It was a lot of driving, but we managed to split it up over the

Kind of a silly thing to write about but it’s been working so well for us these days, I thought I’d share. Generally, I prepare lunches for the kids the normal way – each kid gets a plate with all the same things on it. I decide what they eat

Recently, the boys and I joined some friends for a tour of the capitol building in Santa Fe. The Capitol “Rotunda” is really quite beautiful. Largely hidden by trees (at least on the side we came in on!), you realize immediately that the building is round. What you don’t see

Whichever tent gets you out camping is the best tent for you and yours.  That said, I really don’t like those stand-up-inside multiple-room monstrosities.  Perhaps there is a place for them (in the dumpster?) but in my opinion they are too cumbersome to set up, and too weak to provide

The Dungeon is a climbing area, but one need not be a climber to appreciate it.  I climbed regularly at this spot nearly twenty years ago, when I was a student at Los Alamos National Lab.  But only recently–now that I’m a middle-aged climber and have young kids–have I realized

The headlamp springs to mind as possibly the most useful camping tool there is.  Not only for camping, either.  I keep one in my vehicle, and I mounted a 3M hook on the wall next to my bed to hang one there as well.  All-in-all, including the ones we have