Journal Entries

Over the last week or so, I have noticed a small ridge not to far from where we are staying in Paradise Valley Montana. When driving by, upon closer inspection, I saw a trail leading up and along the ridge. Tonight was a beautiful night, so @reneetougas and I decided to drive over and check it out. We left at about 8pm and hiked along the ridge for 45 minutes before turning around and heading back. We made it back to our vehicle just before dark. The hiking was relatively easy, the trail was really nice, the weather was fantastic, and the views were superb. What else could we possibly want for a date night?

We are spending the next three weeks in Montana. This is the view from the place we are staying - Paradise Valley is living up to it's name. Hopedully my knee will cooperate enough for us to do a backpacking trip. If not, at least some good day hikes are in order.

We did manage to get in a (small) climb with a view as well. This year aught to be challenging, as I now I have to try keep-up with this guy.

First hike of the season! Since the trails at higher elevation were closed due to the spring thaw, we had to stick with mostly multi-use trails. Abandoned beaver dams were a prominent feature in those lower lying areas.

I can't believe how young the kids are in this photo. Has it been that long already? Small beginnings to what became a grand adventure six years later. This is the same troop that completed a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2014.

If you are anything like us, you have long since realized that you can't do it all. There are so many priorities in life that compete for our time that inevitably something ends up suffering - relationships, health, fitness, and sleep to name a few. These priorities always seem to be pulling in opposite directions, creating a tension that can cause us to either give-up, burn-out, or get sick. Again, if you are anything like us, there are probably many days that end unsatisfied, thinking about everything that wasn't accomplished.

One of our goals as a family has been to seek out areas where we can integrate multiple priorities into a single activity so they don't compete with each other for time and energy, but rather they work together and allow us to meet several goals at once.

Imagine if you could combine family relationship building, health, fitness, spiritual growth, fresh air, home schooling, fun, environmentalism, leadership training, and much more into a single activity. Imagine if you did all of that in one day and it all ended with an incredibly satisfied feeling and a bunch of tired, contented kids.

For us, one of the most foundational principles that we have put into practice towards this end is what I call one day a week; devoting a whole day each week to a shared family activity. This was difficult at first but after shifting some priorities it has become a mainstay in our routine. We first started this ritual some time around in 2008, and have done our best to keep it going ever since.