We rarely have campfires, but when we do my kids love to roast S’mores. After seeing the “So Much S’More to Do” book in a half dozen National Park visitor centers, we decided to buy one. We loved it so much that we gave a book, plus a dozen or so S’more fixings to all of our family for Christmas last year.
Last week we had a little get-together with all of my family here in Minnesota, and my brother has a beautiful, new fire pit in his backyard we just had to put to good use. The girls took a trip to the grocery store for the treats and we had a great evening roasting marshmallows over the fire and discovering new, delicious ways to eat them!
Some of our favorite personal recipes:
S’Less
Directions: Roast your marshmallow until golden brown. Gently pull it off your stick and put a piece of Hershey’s chocolate INSIDE the marshmallow. Let it melt for 1-2 minutes and eat without a graham cracker.
S’Less with Peanut Butter
Directions: Same as above, only use Peanut Butter M&M’s instead of plain chocolate.
Peanut Butter Cup S’Mores
Directions: Use a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in place of your plain chocolate.
A new favorite recipe this time around included marshmallow cream, chopped up Oreos and Keebler Fudge graham cookies. Last winter we had a fire with friends in Las Vegas and I pre-made brownies to use instead of chocolate (Instagram photo).
Other fun recipes in the book are: Peanut Butter & Banana S’mores, Rice Krispie Bar S’mores and even Pumpkin Pie S’mores.
Oh! The possibilities! What’s your favorite way to eat a S’more?
We get asked quite frequently why we chose an Airstream to travel in full time. Many people love how they look, their functionality, their definitive “American-ness” but don’t see them as practical for full time families. Originally, our plan was to buy a Class C RV (the ones that look like a truck cab with a bed over the cab) and travel 4-6 months at a time. Once we were introduced to Airstream trailers and started playing around with the idea of full time travel, we decided we really wanted one and just needed to figure out how to make it work. So far, so good.
There are quite a few reasons we chose an Airstream over an SOB (Some Other Brand) and I’ll give you our top 6:
1. Airstream Trailers Hold their Value. We bought our used 2008 27FB International for a fraction of the cost of a new one ($95,000). With all the upgrades we’ve done included solar, battery box, inverter, antennas, bed conversion, etc. we think we’ll be able to get most, if not all, of our money back out of it. Not bad for living quarters for a few years.
2. Airstream Trailers Are Built Well. On our first mini-van road trip, we visited the Airstream factory in Jackson Center, OH and saw how these trailers are built. While many RV’s use copious amounts of particle board, Airstreams have none. The shell is assembled first, sent through a water spray to test for leaks, and then all the insides are assembled. These also means everything inside the Airstream can fit through the door, which makes remodeling much, much easier.
3. Airstream Trailers Are Modern Without Feeling Like a Badly Decorated Hotel Room. I don’t know how else to describe this one. Most of the RV’s we toured (and we did look at quite a few) felt like badly decorated hotel rooms, or even too close to a house (island in the kitchen, large pantry, huge leather sofa, etc). We wanted different. We wanted a space ship for Earth, not an almost-house. Many people are surprised with how modern and sleek the interior of our Airstream is. We love it.
4. The Airstream Community is Phenomenal. This is a huge one for us. We started playing with the idea of going full time and watched families like @Malimish_Airstream, @Worksology, and @TinFoilHouse on Instagram. We loved how they interacted and supported one another and just wanted to be part of that community. Since we’ve been on the road, we haven’t been disappointed. It seems that having an Airstream is a perfectly acceptable reason to knock on another’s door and just say “hi”.
5. Airstream Trailers Are Small. One of my favorite comments has been, “But there’s not as much storage in an Airstream!” Our answer is, “Yes! Isn’t it great?” Because of the curves, there’s not as much storage up in those corners and I’m totally happy with that. Less stuff = less clutter = less to worry about. We don’t want more room for “stuff”, our goal was to have less.
We are also under 10 feet tall, and about 8.5 feet wide, which is great for parking under trees or in small campgrounds. There’s many places we’ve been able to fit and stay that many of our larger RV friends can’t. I love being IN the national or state parks, not at an RV park nearby because that’s the only place we could fit.
6. Airstream Trailers Tow Really Easily & Get Decent Gas Mileage. Airstream purposely designed their trailers to tow easily, and they really do. I have no problem driving, and most of the time I feel like I’m driving just the truck – not also hauling an 8,000 lb trailer. They are aerodynamic which helps with wind and also improves gas mileage.
While an Airstream is definitely not for everyone, we have really enjoyed traveling full time in ours and don’t regret our decision!
Many times over the years Sam and I have had conversations about family identity. Out of everything we do and are, what actually defines us as “Currens”? When our kids get asked about their family, I want them to know exactly what we are and what we do. For me, family identity is right up there in importance with our own personal identity.
For us, I think our family identity is a pretty good blend of Sam, mine, and our kids interests and abilities. Sure you could argue that full time travel definitively defines us, but so do “geek” things, outdoor recreation, our faith in Jesus Christ, and playing games.
The crazy part, is that full time travel doesn’t seem to be enough of a “thing” for me. Nuts, right? We spend tons of time planning, managing, and exploring, but that’s just turned into “life”. What else do I want to define us? We definitely hike (a lot) and have started the kids on mountain biking, rock climbing, road riding, and we even want to get into backpacking this summer. Maybe we’ll be the crazy full time travel hiking family? Or the totally intense mountain biking Airstream people? Or maybe its just not really important?
What do you guys think of when you hear about the Currens? And does your family have a “thing” that helps define you?
We knew Cara was in the market for a new bike, but we kept putting it off. With how much we ride bikes (including the crazy mountain biking she’s done on her strider- see our YouTube video here), we also knew that a cheap bike from Wal-Mart was just not going to cut it. Since we didn’t know what to do, we just did….nothing.
Then we found out about WOOM Bikes. These are seriously awesome. After learning about this company I knew we wanted one of their bikes for Cara, and after a short email conversation they were gracious enough to send us a WOOM3 bike for review.
Note: The company behind WOOM Bikes is German, so ‘woom’ is pronounced ‘voom.’ Makes sense, right?
The short story is that, as parents, we absolutely LOVE this bike. Cara loves it too and has totally taken off riding as we expected her too. Yes, they are pricey, but they also have a fantastic Upcycle program (if you don’t have younger children to pass the bike on to). With how much we ride and enjoy riding long distances having a great bike for our kids is super important.
For the longer version, read on for our Our Top 6 Reasons WOOM Bikes Are the BEST:
1. Ease of Assembly
I do have some experience adjusting and maintaining bikes, but none was necessary. The bike arrived packaged carefully, and nearly fully assembled. The included instructions were easy to follow, and there were only a few steps. Mostly, putting it together involves tightening screws with an allen wrench. No allen wrenches? No problem. Included in the package with the bike was the allen wrenches needed, along with a pedal wrench needed for attaching the pedals.
All in, it took only 30 to 45 minutes start to finish to assemble the bike and Cara was pretty excited when we pulled the bike out from behind the Airstream:
2. Handbrakes designed for small hands
Neither of us felt comfortable taking Cara mountain biking with just a pedal coaster brake. After talking to a generic bike shop about putting a handbrake on a kid’s bike, he mentioned that most kids’ hands are too small to reach and lack the pulling power to actually stop themselves with a handbrake. WOOM has totally solved this problem with brakes specifically designed for little hands. Cara has no problems using the handbrakes to come to a standstill even from pretty fast speeds.
3. Steering dampener
There’s a small rubber ring that attaches the front wheel to a boss on the frame. This keeps the front wheel from turning all the way around, or a child from turning the wheel too far too fast and eating hard on the pavement. This might sound like a small thing, but really helps a child worry less and feel confidant learning to ride.
4. Freewheel design
USA laws are different in that we require a coaster brake for young kid bikes. This makes it incredibly difficult to get started on a bike because they can’t pedal backwards to line up the pedals for a good take off. Woom has figured a way to design the Woom so that it can have a freewheel and skip the whole coaster brake problem. It is awesome. We just had to make sure she could fully rely on the handbrakes, but since she hadn’t ever ridden a bike with any brakes, there were no bad habits to unlearn.
5. Lighter is Better
Have you ever hefted a generic bike from Wal-Mart or Target? They are HEAVY. Just think of your small child having to pedal that sucker up a hill. Its all work and no fun! The lighter the bike, the easier it is to ride, and the more fun your child will have! WOOM easily takes the prize for the lightest child’s bike I have ever lifted.
6. Great seat
This sounds petty, but when you want your child to stay on their bike for long periods of time, the seat just has to be comfortable. WOOM has done a great job with this, as the seat is comfy but not overly plush.
In addition to the bikes, WOOM also sells accessories you can add on:
Water Bottle
Definitely an essential for kids. Plus, its fun. Be warned that in order to install the water bottle holder onto at least the WOOM3, you have to remove the chain guard. This is not a big deal on a bike with no gears and the chain guard is useless anyway. It is just another USA law they have to comply with.
Gloves
They may not seem that important at first, but after watching Cara ride 5 miles on her strider bike and end with her hands all torn up and red they became essential. Longer distances = more stress on hands, and having your child wear gloves is an easy fix. WOOM’s gloves are great. They are full fingered, but have air vents up the sides of each finger so their little hands don’t get too hot. Plus, they are super cute and Cara loves the ice cream cones!
**We had JUST bought Cara a pair of gloves before the bike arrived (wasn’t aware they were sending us gloves to review as well!!) so that’s what the pink ones are. She loves them equally and will wear them interchangeably depending on her mood.
In Conclusion
We absolutely love the WOOM3! Cara loves riding her bike, and for a family of people on bikes that is really important to us. Since our very first riding session on this bike (pictured here) we have had the bike out many more times in the weeks to follow, and Cara continues to grow in her strength and confidence. After the review period, we have the option to buy the review bike (with a discount) and we will be doing so. I only wish WOOM had been created a few years earlier,so we could’ve started our older kids on them!
For those of you that are more visual here is our YouTube review of the WOOM3:
Tacos are a super easy staple in any kitchen, and when you don’t have a lot of room “easy” is pretty awesome.
I recently found a recipe that I LOVE that doesn’t use any store bought taco seasoning, so I know what’s it in and its all healthy. Plus, we’ve found we like ground turkey just as much as ground beef and A) its healthier and B) usually cheaper.
If I’ve already eaten my daily amount of carbs for the day (its pretty low), I’ll use a piece of romaine lettuce and make a wrap while everyone else has corn tortillas. Not a lot of extra prep and it tastes amazing.
Turkey Lettuce Wraps (works great with chicken too) serves: 6 wraps – (or enough for our family of 5) 21 Day Fix Breakdown: 1 wrap each is 1G, 1R, 1/2B
Ingredients
1 1/2 lbs raw 93% lean ground turkey
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup no salt tomato sauce (4 oz)
6 large romaine
lettuce leaves
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro
avocado & cheese (optional)
Instructions:
Cook turkey (using a little bit of olive oil if needed). Add seasonings and stir to combine. Add onion and bell pepper and saute until onion is translucent.
Add the water and tomato sauce and bring to a boil
Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10-12 minutes.
Top each lettuce leave evenly with turkey mixture, tomato and cilantro.
Enjoy!
We rarely have campfires, but when we do my kids love to roast S’mores. After seeing the “So Much S’More to Do” book in a half dozen National Park visitor centers, we decided to buy one. We loved it so much that we gave a book, plus a dozen or so S’more fixings to all of our family for Christmas last year.
