It turns out the M-F camp is kind of nice!
I enjoyed having A & C home for the weekend and also did not mind seeing them off this morning. I mean that in a nice way; I know they will have fun and the peace in our home is just such a huge difference from the usual noise/action level, even with G there!
I have no idea what they will want to do next year, but I will support any combination of day/hybrid/sleepaway desired.
(The only thing I will not support is staying home and doing nothing because . . . well, I just don’t think it’s a great idea. And it’s not something I ever did, either. I could see building in a few weeks of down time – as we did this summer pre- and post-camp — but not the whole ~10-11 week block.)
We had a fun family dinner at a hibachi place (this one, for the locals). The kids were into it.
We also did some family shopping:
REI + Target. We got rain jackets (3/5 didn’t have) and finally replaced some dilapidated luggage with these:
Would have preferred AWAY for everyone (I love mine) but that would have cost 3x, and the one above seems pretty nice — and easily maneuverable for a kid. Hoping to largely remain a carry-on-only family.
And 3/5 of us got trail shoes at REI. G testing them out:
I am hoping that having special shoes will motivate her to hike a bit without complaining? Pipe dream probably. But worth a shot. Shopping with all 3 is getting slightly more pleasant.
I am getting excited for our trip and I think the others are too.
I had a bit of a scare where I had crazy lower back pain (and one-sided leg weakness, like I couldn’t bear weight on that side) after our shopping trip. It only lasted a few minutes and stretching made it go away — I think it was sciatica? I don’t know what triggered it (I didn’t run on Sunday and didn’t feel it during my long run Saturday) and as it happened I imagined what life would be like the pain stayed forever. Very very grateful that it didn’t and hoping it doesn’t return. I have another PT appointment (for my knee though knee is 98% better!) so I will definitely ask there.
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Piriformis syndrome? It can be quite incapacitating.
looking at diagrams the location is right but THANKFULLY no recurrence of the pain yet (that was on Sunday, and I ran both Monday + today without incident!). Maybe something about how I was sitting or a temporarily inflamed/pulled piriformis muscle? just hoping it doesn’t return.
So glad you haven’t had additional symptoms. I think this is what I have had and I juuuust recently barely started being able to run again. Stretching helps a lot.
I got that suitcase in pale blue last year from Target, and it’s holding up well. Very light and easy to pull and I’ve crammed a ton of stuff in there!
yay!!! good to know!
Oh look at G in her mini scrubs and runners – looking very much like you in your recent post on work wear! Just adorable.
We just replaced some luggage too. My husband found some good deal online I think from Macy’s and ordered them. They are Samsonite and seem nice! We still need to upgrade a couple other older pieces eventually but at least we’ve got a start!
We didn’t do full carry-on only for our recent Caribbean cruise (we were gone 8 nights), though we did carry-on only for Costa Rica… (which was 15 nights!). But the apparel was very different for the cruise since we needed dress clothes for the evenings/ various shoes, and the boys/husband packed suit jackets, etc. All that stuff just took up a lot more space. So for cruise we did 2 checked suitcases and then 2 carry-ons total, for the 4 of us. Seemed like a fair compromise. Costa Rica was pretty easy since it was all small summer clothes, super casual and we didn’t have to worry about any “evening wear” there, lol. And with my packing cubes I still managed to pack a ridiculous amount of stuff in my carryon including like 4-5 shoe/sandal options… hahaha.
G in her scrubs is adorable! I have been thinking about getting a new carryon. I have a very tiny one that I got for HS graduation back in 1999! It’s great because it fits on every plane, even the small regional jets I take when I fly into Midway in Chicago where most are required to gate check (I don’t even like doing that since you have to stand around waiting for your bag). I have another roller bag that is borderline TOO big so I don’t use that for work travel. I’d like an inbetween bag but have been suffering from analysis paralysis. I also need to get a new work travel backpack. My retired coworker recommended one but I’ve held off on buying it because it is so expensive! But he swears by it. He would have given me his backpack when he retired but it’s not big enough for my in-office days when I need to jam my packed lunch into the backpack, too. Decisions, decisions. I just hate spending money so will procrastinate on making a decision.
Such cute little shoes! We have stayed home (ie no camps) but the daytime commitment of competitive club sports makes it feel like we are not really staying home LOL. Isn’t it weird that this all happens during the day in an era of dual income families???
Real question (since we’re also a competitive sports / dual income family) — when is it supposed to happen? What would our kids do all day in the meantime? I guess I’ve made peace with it all. It’s not perfect, and requires a lot of well-calibrated juggling — I do drop off, my husband picks up over his lunch break and deposits them at home with the babysitter who watches our toddler — but I haven’t identified a better alternative.
I really don’t know. I mean, I guess at night? But it’s baseball/softball season, so that’s where the nights go. I am home (academic), so I CAN do it, but yikes it’s a lot.
That’s what I run into too — I think it’s just a hard balance!
Your “staying home” is the most active version of that I have EVER seen. I am totally impressed with how you’ve managed it all and generally quite cheerfully (and also – you have some really talented athletic kids!)
Are you guys hiking on your upcoming trip? We hike with our kids a lot and I do want to normalize the complaining. They will complain! Then they will get out on the trail and enjoy themselves. We do a few things that help make hiking more fun for our kids — first, we got them “adventure packs” (belt bags) that they each store a supply of jelly beans / starburst / jolly ranchers. They also wear hydration packs. They are allowed to eat their candy as we hike at their own discretion. We also do things like play alphabet games, etc. And we try to choose hikes that hold some kind of appeal to them, like a rock scramble, a view, river crossings, a waterfall, and so on, rather than just rambling through the woods (which is what I love to do!). We keep the hikes short but not so short it’s not a challenge — I know some families head out on 10 mile hikes with their kids but we haven’t done that yet; their legs are only so long.
But really I just wanted to communicate to you that it’s okay if they complain. We find the candy helps a lot, especially if you talk it up as being specifically for the hike. Good luck!
The candy is a great idea. I can totally see it working! Also yes yo finding shorter hikes to a “destination” . We hope to do some both in Vancouver and Vancouver island! And whatever we are able to in Alaska though that might be limited.
Hi Sarah,
Just wanted to mention you might want to look into the highway closures on Vancouver Island prior to your trip. Specifically Hwy 4 which is the only road to Parksville/Tofino. Not sure if you’ll be in the affected area but we’ve recently rescheduled our trip to Tofino to avoid the delays.
thank you for letting me know! I will keep an eye out . To me it looks like where we are going looks okay but will keep checking!
Ah! My daughter (close in age to G) got those shoes last winter sometime and they were great- wore like iron, good for hiking and school
I need to figure out how to travel with just carry-on LOL those suitcases definitely look nice. I hope they are sturdy and hold up.