We are back home and had a wonderful time rolling through the desert.  In another life time I think I should live in Wyoming and become a cowgirl.   Our ride back to Colorado was pretty uneventful, especially since we did not stop as much as we did on the way up to Idaho.

One of the images that stick in my mind from this trip is my daughters total fascination with a pig on a spit.  We crashed a party that our friends were invited to. There was tones of kids, lot's of open space, live cowboy harmonica meets Johnny Cash music and a roasting pig. 

We brought the kids to see the pig turning round and round in the fire and Coralie had a lot of questions about the heat, the skin and why the spit went through the mouth.  When the procession of men and young boys brought the pig to the table you found Cora parked at the head of the pig looking inside its mouth with teeth staring right back at her.  She watched as they opened up the pig and pulled out two chickens that was stuffed inside and was amazed to see the skin being pulled off with fat and all of the meat and bones.  Quickly she asked for a huge almost 1 foot square piece of gristle and started munching with the rest of the brew.  She had so much pig meat and fat and then asked who was going to eat the eyes!

It was one of the best parties I had ever attended.  At one point there was a huge thunder storm and everyone ran inside to stay safe.  A few die hard stayed outside stuck on the side of the house while they pocked at the pig with big knives to get some tender meat.  The kids just ran around like crazy and the adults just mingled about with no big agenda.

All kinds of experiences bring you back to nature.  One of them is seeing where your food comes from.  Obviously, Cora has no problem with the whole idea of eating meat.  I don't either but I had to look away.  Maybe if I got myself a huge belt buckle like the ones the guys were wearing it would help in protecting me from the weird vibes I got from the pig.  Or maybe it would make me look more like a wannabee Wyoming girl.

Heidi

Earlier in the day I wanted to start out by saying something like: Even if you strive for simplicity traveling with kids can be crappy, but you will see I came back to my senses.

Today we only drove four hours but we left Victor, Idaho a little late.  Ramona was crying the whole time I was getting packed up and Coralie refused to come get ready when we wanted to leave.  On the way, it seemed like we were moving so slowly because of traffic, construction and stupid stops:  I dropped my apple, two gas stations because one only took cash and two bathroom stops in five minutes.  Then, I started getting sleepy and sad we were leaving good friends behind while Coralie started asking me ridiculous questions I did not have the patience to answer

Now that it is 8: 30 and that both girls are already asleep I feel that trips with children are absolutly wonderful.   Even though Ramona has a 100 fever,  we got to the hotel at 3:00, swam, ate a great meal and tried to go for a walk to pick up treats. The sky suddenly looked scary, the cars did not let us cross the street so we turned around and went back inside.  My great daughters just went along with it and were just happy to jump around the ornamental rocks surrounding the hotel.   We talked about what it meant to be ' caught in the middle of it'  and 'stranded'.  

So it is just like yesterday simplicity is what is needed when dealing with kids and taking it one day at a time.  During one of my conversation with my friend Susan that we were just visiting we both laughed hysterically at the fact that we women tend to be able to create drama out of nothing or that we create anger, frustration and pain out of hard situation instead of taking it a day at a time the way our husbands do.  This husbandly habit makes us go crazy because they don't want to talk about all the details surrounding what is making us angry, yet sometimes it is a much better solution than starting to dramatize the fact let's say that your child has a fever and that you are alone with her in a hotel room.  Going crazy about it is not going to solve anything or give you energy to care for your child.

As I write this I also have to think of my friend Anika who delivered a baby girl- Makala- on Friday.  She was born by emergency C section and weights only 1.9 pounds.  I spoke to Anika on the phone and she was calm, composed and so full of love and hope as she was driving home from the hospital while leaving her little baby at the hospital.   It is taking all of my internal powers to stay composed at this news and to also stay here instead of flying out to help out my friend. Yet, here is Anika talking to me on the phone laughing and truly living a day at a time, hopeful, and realistic.

We have gone backpacking with our kids, traveled for 9 weeks, summatted some mountains and traveled by bike so in no way are we saying to leave the spirit of adventure behind but always think simplicity.

Traveling alone with two kids can teach you that simple activities and gentle planning can be as rewarding as extreme organization.

While visiting friends in Victor, Idaho we had many plans of hiking, visiting National Parks, and biking on pump tracks.  Because of the 92 degree weather we decided to lay low.  Also, the kids were having so much fun just playing outside, picking flowers, watering the lawn and playing in the sandbox that it felt ridiculous to pull them away from their free play.

Ramona came away from these simple experiences in nature with an awe at looking at the wind moving some leaves on a tree.  She pointed and wanted to touch the bark of the tree and move her head back and forth to feel the wind.

As we headed back home from Jackson Hole we saw a moose meandering on a dirt road.  We took five minutes following it and looking at the Moose ( we named Wilson)  eat leaves and grass.  The kids were completely happy with this experience.

O.k so we parents were not fully satisfied with our little walk on the bike path or our wild life watching from the car but it made for a much more pleasant time just being with each other and being able to answer our kids questions and needs.

Being back home and working at 10:30 at night after a full day of simplicity, still makes someone feel tired, but also real glad to not have forced kids to push themselves beyond the capacity of what their little bodies can do and their brains can process.  As every one else has fallen asleep I realize that just taking time to live together is so important rather than always accomplishing all of ones daily work goals.

Heidi

That's right, It's a beautiful world!

The desert is empty and big and so quiet, Maman!

Looking at the expansive landscape rolling by while my two little ones nap in the back seat, I realize how much I love the western landscape.   I can't wait to plan another trip with them.  It would be great to be camping on this trip or hiring pack animals to take us into the deep wilderness for a month of exploration in the mountains.

Then Coralie once again amazes me and says:

What would we do if this river had not been here, maman?

We were stopped  in PInedale, Wyoming at a playground with that was near a small river and we dunk our feet, while Ramona diapers less made laughing sounds and bubbles in the mountain cold water.  The sun was so hot and my daughter so right, what would we do without this simple pleasure?

We arrived to Victor, Idaho in one piece and so happy to rejoice with friends.  Quickly Cora found her way to climbing, jumping, biking and causing havoc with her friends.   I would not want it any other way.

Good night, my eyes are closing.

Heidi

O.k I won't answer that question but I will describe how a trip with three girls looks like. 

Yeah, that is right we mom -being me Heidi 33-, Coralie 4, and Ramon 1  set off on a road trip un chaperoned by manly husband.  ( I should mention that I am not getting this edited since my editor has trusted me to be alone for 12 days)

Today was day one of our grand tour: total 300 miles, 5 hours of driving, joining Carbondale to Rock Springs Wyoming.

So what did we do?

We wanted to leave the house at 9:00 but ended up leaving at 9:30.  Why the delay you ask? Well, ladies have to be presentable.  Coralie decided that we should wear jewelery and lip gloss.  She found necklaces for me to wear, lip balm, bracelets and a ring! Yes, A RING, my engagment ring that I totally forgot about since I took it off when my fingers got so swollen during my pregnancy with Ramona.  Hey, even Ramona got to dress up in her first birthday dress and a beautiful necklace.  Cora also insisted that I wear a cute knitted flower pin.  We took five minutes deciding where it should be placed on my plain black t shirt.  Perfect placement:  botton left corner by my hip!

So off we go and drive a whole 20 minutes, when we have to pull off on the side of the road to find a book.  20 minutes later we stop in Rifle to play in a park, pee and pee again.

We must have pulled off the road at least 2O times.  Peeing was not our only excuse, we also stopped once to cuddle, once to argue, once to change things on the ipod, many times to find a book, toy or snack.

Eating is one of our main past times while driving.  We ate constantly while in the car and then stopped for lunch and dinner.  Our lunch was some decent Mexican food since Coralie declared I Love Mexican Food!  After I asked for the bill she asked for more food.  Of course we had the strange look of outsiders and other family members tried to stop their kids from enteracting with us especially since I readily offered food that had fallen on the floor.

Some of our conversations revolved around pregancy and why some babies and mommy's are sick.  One of my friends is on bed rest in the hospital for a possible 10 weeks.  We reanacted my broken leg accident and spoke a lot about the song YMCA.  Kind of strange since we also listened many times to Walk like an Egyptian, Lady Gaga Bad Romance, M.I.A  Paper Planes, and Skinny Little Bitch by Hole.  I feel like my inappropriate song choice would inspire more questions but I guess not yet some people think that YMCA is a very naughty song.  We also got to listen to a lot of book on tapes and kids music since manly husband was not around to sensor that experience.

But the best of the best came when Coralie started telling me that Fish did not start with E but with F and that othe words started with the letter F and she started: Fun, Fin, Fon, Flun, Funk, Fuk, and then Fuc* and then is just got  really wild:

***ed, ***er, ***ing, **is, flunker, ****her,  any ways you get the picture! 

Keep in mind that she is saying this in complete seriousness, thinking about each word and attentively deciding if they fit in the F word category.

After that I asked that she take a nap and I put on This American Life podcast #413 Georgia Rambler.  This has become my favorite episode and made me want to hit the road for months to meet people with my girls.  Like the large lady we saw in one of our park stay who ran after her kids and called herself the tickle monster!

Hey we got to see a lot of antelopes and oil rigs along the way.

I love the desert so much that I even entertained the idea of looking into some proprety north of Rifle, what am I thinking!

When we got to our hotel without our usual escort, the staff seemed extra compasionate and carrying.   The Holiday Inn Express in Rock Springs Wyoming is really a great place to stay.  The rooms are spacious, the staff great and they have a wonderful pool.  We ordered take out Japanese from the Chinese Restaurant and ate it in the hotels dinning hall.  The food was good and the space excellent.

Now the girls are sleeping  and I am sitting a chair that is more luxurious than anything I own.  All I wish is that I had a glass of wine next to me, so that I would feel all grown up and not just one of the girls!

Heidi

Check out my non edited, tired ramblings tommorow evening.

Dear Friends,

We are a week into our summer vacation and already there are so many things to write about. Our friend Bill took us to the airport in Denver and is storing our car for the summer. We had an uneventful flight to Toronto and everything went quite smoothly.  We got to our hotel in time for supper and a nice swim in the pool.

The next morning we realized that we did not have a credit card with us, so we could not rent car or do much of anything else. In the end, this oversight cost us more than 400 dollars and set us back one day on our itinerary.  We took the opportunity to take the subway to downtown Toronto so that we could walk around on Queen Street. One of the highlights was getting reacquainted with the Canadian delicacy poutine. If you’re not from Canada, poutine is French fries slathered in gravy and topped off with cheese curds. It doesn’t sound particularly appetizing, but it is delicious.

We also realized that more than $120 of cosmetics was taken from our bag in transit.

The camp that offered Erik’s Wilderness First Responder was accommodating and he was able to successfully complete his course.  For the eight days of the course we stayed at Camp Kandalore near Minden, Ontario.  It is a canoe tripping camp.  Coralie is already requesting that we let her attend this camp.  We stayed in a cabin with many holes in the walls and floor and many visiting chipmunks.  We took duck tape and cardboard to the windows to block out the light so that Ramona could sleep. That worked, but we could never get a handle on the chipmunk turds.  The food was also very bad and made us wish we had packed Martin (the CRMS cook) in our bags. We kind of suspected the food would be bad so we had organized to bring a friend’s salsa along but we forgot it in Denver. This was a big disappointment because the salsa is amazing. However, the beauty of the area and accommodating people at the camp compensated for our little misfortunes.

To give you an idea of the temperature: Most days I wore all three of the sweaters I brought and my rain coat.  It rained many days, and when it did not it was so humid that Coralie’s running shoes took three days to dry in the sun.  There were mosquitoes, but surprisingly there weren’t many.

Coralie and Ramona got to play in a lot of dirt.  Ramona ate her first slug and the girls went canoeing and swimming in the lake a few times.  We went on great hikes and discovered what Coralie called a ‘fairy house.’  Coralie practiced her mountain biking skills and saw people practicing archery, kayaking, and canoeing. We also participated in a few camp fires and group initiatives. Ramona, Coralie, and I also spent a lot of time in our hammock, taking naps, reading and playing.

Cora lie talks a lot about her friends.  She also picked out a wedding dress for her wedding (not kidding). She wants to talk to her friends on the phone.

Ramona is doing well but true to her character she would rather be home.

Looking forward to filling you in on the next section of our adventures.

Heidi , Erik, Coralie, Ramona

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Check back weekly because we post some un expected Travel Tips for families who enjoy the outdoors and even for families who simply travel.

Don't forget your credit card at home.

Nothing!

You read it right!  Try to bring as little as possible with you on any kind of trip.  If you are camping your kids will have tones of fun with sticks, rocks, critters and water.  If you are going to another city, country or province your kids will be amazed to be in a new environment and can play easily with new things that you can purchase on the spot.

The things you need to bring is prescpriptions or specific products that your children are not allergic to, if your family has allergies or illnesses.  The rest can be purchased in most places!

Check out our Travel section for other great ideas or read our other sections for specific outdoor sport tips.

Type of Activity:  Time Filler, Consensus Building
 
Group Size:  Best played with 1 or more players.
 
Aim of the Game:  To turn over all 52 cards in a deck without predicting one correctly.  
 
Directions:  Invite your group to sit or stand in a circle.  This can be a lengthy game so make sure they are comfortable.  My favorite way to play is by myself or in small groups of 5-6 people.
 
Shuffle the deck and hand it to one person in the group.  They will be the dealer for the entire round.  Explain that before turning over the first card, whoever is going first must announce a rank of card.  For example, 'Five."  They must say the word out loud and be clear.  The goal is to try to avoid predicting the card they are about to turn over.  If the announcement coincides with the rank of card revealed, the game is immediately over.  So if they announced, 'Six' and then turned over the six of diamonds, the game is over.  Then the cards can be shuffled and the game recommences with the next participant.
 
The game continues in this way until they either predict a card or you get through the entire deck.  This latter situation is more rare than you think.  This game is also made harder by the rule that you cannot make the same prediction in consecutive turns.  Encourage groups not to 'count cards' as well.  If they know that all 4 King cards have been turned over, they cannot just announce 'King' for every turn thereafter.  Enjoy the challenge!  It is actually tough to get through an entire deck!

This is my favorite airplane game to play when traveling alone.  It's also great for kids in the back seat on long car rides!  However, 52 card pickup usually follows this game in the car...

I taught this game to my 6 & 8 year old recently, and they were excited to have a new game to take to summer camp to teach the other kids.
 
Variation:  To use as a consensus building game, ask the group to come to consensus on the number they are predicting before turning the card over.  This takes a lot longer to play, but can help build the suspense of what card is being turned over if the entire group is responsible for the number.  It's quite fun to hear the whole group squeal with "Ooohhh's" and "Aaaaah's" if they predict a ten card and a nine card is revealed, or with other cards that are close to the predicted number.

Large groups:  I also like using this with larger groups as well (40 or less).  Have the group sit in a circle so they can see the cards that are being flipped over.  I usually hold the deck and start with the person sitting to my right.  I then start a 'Speed round' and tell the group we will go around the circle as quickly as possible.  As soon as the person sitting next to them announces their number and I flip over a card, to immediately announce their number and so on  I always announce the value of the card I flip over, so if someone across the circle from me cannot see the cards very well, they will know what was flipped.  Give it a try!  See if your group can make it through the whole deck!

Well, I’m in the third trimester with 62 more days. I predict that this little guy will come a couple of weeks sooner as I will have just finished the 17p injections. I wouldn’t mind if he came slightly early—his lungs should be fully developed at this point.

This pregnancy has not gone quite as I envisioned activity wise with the increased risk of preterm labor and what I think is the HOTTEST summer ever! Even early mornings and evenings are still hot. Plus, it is engrained in me to work out around 3:30 or 4, probably one of the hottest times of day. My body has been used to that for years thanks to high school and college track. In the third trimester I am still doing about the same small increments of walking or elliptical and yoga. I run for 25m increments periodically during my walks, mainly just to see that I still can and remind my body that I am a runner just on a temporary hiatus. Yoga has been a lifesaver. Keeps me grounded, balanced, and leaves me feeling great. Check out my product review of Prenatal Yoga for Partners. That turned out better than expected with my non-yogi husband.

With Allie I try to spend a little time with her outside every day. I had hoped to do a lot of camping, hiking, canoeing, and fly fishing with her. That is obviously not happening, but she is totally happy and easily entertained even if we just play in our yard. There are some days when I stay in and let Dada play outside with her. We continue to go to the pool—which the water in it is pretty warm as it sits in a very sunny spot. It still feels good and is fun for the family.

I fantasize about running on crisp fall days both with and without 2 little ones in tow. Seems heavenly. My first postnatal purchase will be a new pair of running shoes.

Nutritionally speaking, I continue to eat many small meals a day as I do when I am not pregnant. I am still trying to drink more water. I am drinking a glass as I write this.

When I was pregnant with Allie, I did not consume caffeine. With this pregnancy, and keeping up with a toddler, I managed to not consume caffeine for the first 2 trimesters. I have now thrown in the towel and allow myself a tall vanilla latte every morning. It is marvelous and well under 200mg of caffeine allowable during pregnancy. It is also reassuring that my mother started drinking coffee when she was pregnant with me (probably much more than my little morning latte) and had no problems.

We have a trip planned to Florida next week. I am excited to finally travel somewhere. It has been quite a while. I am a little apprehensive traveling this late in my pregnancy, however. It will be just seven weeks before my due date. (Allie was born 5 weeks early!)  We are driving, so plan to stop every hour for me to walk and I will drink a lot of water. Looking forward to doing a little night fishing and lots of time in the water.

At this point I am still very comfortable. Not too big, just look like I’ve stuffed a basketball in my shirt. Wedding bands still fit. Blood pressure has remained the same as if I were running and not pregnant.  Pre-natal fitness is certainly key to having a healthy pregnancy!) I am mainly just getting a little impatient. Don’t like having to hold back and the heat is getting to me.

I heartily recommend daily naps.    I missed my nap a couple of days and felt totally exhausted.

Frankly, it has not quite sunk in that I have a whole little person growing in my belly. Even with hearing the heartbeat, feeling him kick, seeing him on ultrasound, I know it probably won’t really sink in until he is actually here and I can see him face to face. That’s how it was with Allie. I look forward to meeting him. He is pretty active as Allie was. She continues to be on the go non-stop, except when she is sleeping. I think my husband and I are incapable of having an inactive child!  But then, that's a GOOD thing!!

I'll keep you posted!

Kati Rouse

Define Respect.  Ensure that your kids know that their tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions can also be disrespectful.  Discourage these signs of disrespect the same as you would inappropriate language and remarks.

Provide Good Examples.  You and mom are the most important examples, but your children's friends also have a great impact.  Steer your children toward friendships with children who exhibit respectful behavior.  Point out respectful, considerate behavior in others that they admire.

Look for Teachable Moments.  When your child is disrespectful, follow through with discipline - you need to correct the behavior - but take the opportunity to explain to your child why her actions were disrespectful.  Ask her how she thinks she could act differently next time.  And, don't forget to reward good, respectful behavior with a kind word and a nod of approval.

Badari Ambatti is the program manager of customized programs at New York City Outward Bound