Several years ago, we found out we were relocating, again…after only 1 year in our new location. This would be our 8th move. It filled me with this sense of panic that we didn’t really get to experience the town and surrounding areas. And as the over analyzer that I am, I realized that we had let life’s busyness get in our way. We had become complacent on lazy Saturdays after a long week of work. Don’t get me wrong, lazy Saturdays are needed at times, but not when it becomes EVERY weekend. Which was exactly what we were doing.

The next morning, we sat our children down to let them know we were moving again, there were lots of questions and worry. During our talk, my history loving, 1st grader said, “but now I’ll never get to visit Jamestown!”  It was something we had promised her we would do, but kept putting off during those lazy weekends. It was then that I realized that she too was feeling the rush of moving so soon, of leaving an area we were just getting to know. That night, we created our first “Before We Move- Adventure List.”  We all sat down and created a list of the things we wanted to do before we moved. This included a cupcake party with friends, a trip to Washington DC, a trip to Jamestown, Virginia, and a week with each grandparent, since we were moving across the US. To us, it was important to give our kids the control of deciding what we would do in our last few months before moving. It was a busy time with getting the house ready to sell, packing for a move, and Hubs moving a few months early, while the girls and I stayed to finish the school year. However, Hubs was able to make it happen by flying home each weekend.  It was during this insanely busy, stressful time that I realized we had been missing out on so many adventures. Those weekends spent checking off our Adventure List were absolutely amazing. During a time when I really could have used a lazy weekend, I found myself looking forward to our next adventure. 

We were having so much fun that we decided to make an Adventure List for our new location. The girls and I had never visited Colorado, so we spent evenings searching on Pinterest, watching tourist videos on Youtube and checked out books from the library.  Our adventure list filled up pretty fast (if you haven’t visited Colorado, you definitely should). 

From the moment we made our first Adventure List, we have been addicted to exploring. This doesn’t mean we do not have a lazy weekend, but we spend more weekends checking off our Adventure List than we do sitting around the house. This means more time to enjoy the nature around us. Nothing takes away the stress of a long week like the view from a campsite!

So if you find yourself relating to the beginning of my post, I encourage you to start your first Family Adventure List! You can check out my post on How We Organize Our Adventure Lists.  If you are new to camping, check out my Camping page or you can start with this post: Why You Should Take Your Family Camping