The New Hardcore

The New Hardcore

Being outdoorsy gets sort of complicated when you have kids. Long hikes tend to turn parents into pack animals, backpacking is impossible, and even car camping becomes increasingly difficult with all the paraphernalia kids seem to require. But, because we don’t want to take a 10-15 year hiatus from the things we love, we absolutely refuse to give up just because things get more difficult. With Noel’s sister, Danielle, in town this past weekend we decided it was the perfect time to go on a pilot camping trip as a family of four. We loaded our car and rocket box to the brim and headed to Rocky Mountain National Park. It certainly wasn’t like the weekend trips  of our pre-kid days. There was considerably more crying, bedtime was a disaster, and everything took four times as long as it used to. By the time Cooper had skinned his knee tripping over a tree root and Ellen had spit up on her last outfit and leaked poop all over the car we were about ready to give up and go home.  Instead, we cleaned up the best we could with diaper wipes, strapped the protesting kids to our bodies, hid the diaper behind a tree to retrieve later so our car wouldn’t stink up while we were gone, and hit the trail.  We may not be able to go as far or as fast as we used to, but we still got to enjoy fresh air and beautiful views. Sometimes I feel sad when I think of all the awesome adventures we used to go on, but really I think we’ve just made it to a new level of hardcore. For now, just getting out there is impressive enough.

Special thanks to Danielle for taking this picture and lending a hand with the kids. Are you sure you don’t want to stay forever 😉

 

6 thoughts on “The New Hardcore

  1. Impressive. We did a trial run in our backyard of the weekend and after 2 hours in the tent we put the cranky Anika in her crib. Seth was sleeping inside and we were going to see how Anika did so we never even got him out there.

  2. I’m impressed. We tried a trial run when once and set the tent up in the living room. Isaac about Ellen’s age, had reflux and nights were rough, so that prompted us to wait till the next summer to try camping (I think that was when we went with you guys!) Once, while getting loaded in the car for a 40-min drive to Provo, Brady said, “What are you thinking about?” I replied, “I’m thinking that it’s a lot of work just to go anywhere with two kids…but I guess I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

  3. Wow – I’m super impressed! I feel a humongous sense of accomplishment if we make it around the block 🙂

  4. It’s funny how life has a time line of adventures. We were talking about this same subject as we took our yearly Memorial Day hike, which took a lot longer to go half the length. But net to see Ellie watch all the bugs and animals. And showing her how important and what we have been given. Maybe we should meet in the middle for a camping trip.?

  5. I tell myself that at least it will get easier over time. And even with our modified hardcoreness we are still more active than most people we know.

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