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Hi there! We are the Curren Family. We traveled full time in our Airstream from 2013-2017 and now split our time between our small condo in Teton Valley, ID and the road.

As avid, outdoor, travel and adventure enthusiasts we are here to provide tips, advice, and inspiration to help you develop healthier and stronger family relationships.

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The Truth About Our Outdoor, Adventure-Focused Family

Death Valley_29

During our recent trip to Utah we had a surprising conversation with my family when I mentioned I was past ready to go on a hike but my kids weren’t going to like it.

“They aren’t going to like it?” my dad asked.

“Oh no,” I said. “They are going to whine and complain.”

I received looks of skepticism from all the adults in the room. After seeing picture after picture of our outdoor adventures, my family had apparently reached the conclusion that our kids never resisted our activities.

Let me clear this up: Our kids whine ALL the time about going outside to hike or bike or just even a walk. “Mom! This is NOT a short walk”, or “I’m tired” and even “I don’t want to go” are very common phrases in our household. Many days the kids would rather stay inside reading books (Rachel and Andrew), playing Lego’s (Cara), or sitting in front of a device playing Minecraft (all three).

The thing that makes the difference is that we go anyway, even when it’s hard. 90% of the difficulty is getting out the door and not giving up when ten things go wrong in the five minutes before you turn on the car and drive away. We’ve tested this theory over and over again throughout the last two years and every single time we all come home in a better mood. Every. Single. Time. With that kind of a track record, how can we not go?

I admitted in a past blog post that we are cheaters. Suburbia IS hard to get away from. Outdoor sports are less conveniently located, and its difficult to find wilderness (or even something resembling wilderness) in many places. In that sense, we have it easy because often just the act of getting OUT of the trailer is enough. There’s usually a bike path, or trails, or something in every state park we’ve stayed at so proximity is not the problem. We just have to overcome our mental laziness, which can sometimes be extremely difficult to do.

Just yesterday, our experience proved true yet again. After hearing complaints from ALL three children, we all went mountain biking as a family. It was chilly, difficult, and long. Cara even fell off her bike three times during the ride. It was very dark when we finished, and everyone was tired. But we were happy. We had accomplished something difficult together and all three children had smiles on their faces.

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  • I can SO relate! We did a big 24-day cross-country road trip with our travel trailer to see several national parks this summer, and I posted lots of pictures of our children having amazing adventures. But, if you ask my younger son about the trip, he’ll tell you straight up he would have rather stayed home all summer. Even though he says that, I know he doesn’t mean it.ReplyCancel

  • That photo is amazing!ReplyCancel

  • Danielle

    I just went on a hike yesterday with two whiners 😉 my two oldest do amazing now and very rarely whine but two middles are still learning to be tough. My boys used to while so much though. It was like nails on a chalkboard…ReplyCancel

  • The More We Explore

    What a great post. Thanks for the insight. I remember resisting hikes as a kid, but now I’m so glad my parents took me.ReplyCancel

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