People seem surprised that we have kept our Costco membership even while living in such a tiny space. Either we are crazy, or there is more to Costco items than large, bulk purchases. I prefer the latter explanation.
Truth is, we are probably addicted to some of the items they carry, and even though the packages may be larger than a regular grocery store, its worth squeezing them in for the cost savings in the long run. In addition, sometimes it really just is convenient. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll notice my occasional rant about loathing grocery shopping. I really do. Its very difficult to price shop, build up a pantry, coupon or any other cost saving techniques. When I buy in bulk from Costco, I feel that I’m getting at least a marginally better deal than the grocery store.
Costco is also predictable. While we sometimes can’t find an item (e.g. Dave’s Killer Bread), its usually not difficult to stock up on our regular items. The layouts of the stores are all the same and we know right where to find everything.
We also have a Visa card through Costco. We get 3% back on gas, 2% back on restaurants, and 2% back on travel expenses. We make enough back between the Executive Membership and the Visa to more than pay for the Costco Membership (hello? Have you SEEN our gas bill every month?). Plus, we usually have quite a bit leftover that lends itself to a spending spree sometime in April. I’m sure they planned it that way.
The food court. Seriously one of the cheapest meals for a family of 5 (even if its not exactly healthy).
In celebration of our recent appearance on the cover of Costco Connection magazine, I thought I’d revise and republish our 2014 list of items we typically purchase. Its actually changed quite a bit in that we’ve added a few things we simply can’t live without. Somehow we always find room.
Items We Buy A Lot
Frozen Strawberries (for smoothies, pancakes, and muffins)
Multigrain Tortilla Chips
Cherry Tomatoes
Grapefruit
Cara Cara Oranges
English Cucumbers
Bananas
Organic Spinach
Rotisserie Chicken
Frozen Chicken Breasts
Chicken Apple Sausages
Cheddar Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Kodiak Cakes Flapjacks
Real Maple Syrup
Love Crunch Chocolate Granola
Cereal (Oatmeal Squares, Frosted Mini-Wheats, Cinnamon Toast Crust)
Mixed Nuts
Dave’s Killer Bread when I can find it, Sprouted Honey Wheat Bread when I can’t
Items That Last Us Quite Awhile
Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
Natural Turkey Lunch Meat
Ground Flaxseed
Chia Seeds
Organic Chicken Bullion Base
Butter Quarters (freeze most of these as well)
Honey (the 3 bears one)
Gummy Vitamins
Dove Body Soap
Kirkland Shampoo & Conditioner
Vegan Protein Powder (for everyone but me, I use Shakeology)
Johnny’s Garlic Seasoning Spread
Quinoa and Brown Rice Packets
Fig Bars
Cliff Z Bars
Stretch Island Fruit Strips
Triscuits
Almond Butter
Nutella
Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ Sauce
Kirkland Signature Salsa
Coconut Milk
Paper Towels
Single Serving Hummus (I usually freeze more than half of them)
Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges
When We Have Room or Just Occasionally For Fun:
Potstickers
Orange Chicken
Canned Chicken Breast Chunks
Papa Pita’s Greek Pita Flat Bread (found in *almost* every Costco we’ve been to. Except Nevada.)
Cheese Tortellini
Pesto Sauce
Bagels
Coastal Aged Cheddar Cheese (this stuff is seriously AMAZING)
Broccoli Florets (if I plan a whole week’s worth of dinners with broccoli in them)
Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches
GoGurt (then we freeze a lot of them)
Items We’ve Given Up on Buying
Avocados (I just can’t nail the ripeness and they usually go to waste)
Toilet Paper
Cheese Sticks (my kids won’t eat them all)
Eggs (as much as we eat them, I can’t fit it in my fridge!)
Milk (only room in the fridge for 1 gallon)
Fruit Snacks (I just don’t like my kids eating them)
Carrots (once again not enough room for such a large bag)
Oatmeal Packets (much to the dismay of my children)
Wow. That is quite the list. I’m sure I forgot a few, but I’ll add more in as I think of them. What are your favorite items to buy at Costco? Anything you can’t live without? Personally, I still jump for joy anytime we can leave the building with a purchase under $100. Tell me I’m not alone?
To date our kids have earned 112 Junior Ranger badges at the various National Park, National Historic Sites, and Monuments run by the National Park Service. Its a great way to learn more about the parks we visit, often giving us direction and more information about the wildlife, geology and history (see our list of badges).
We find these booklets are a great learning experience for kids and adults alike. Sam and I have learned a lot about our National Parks by helping our kids complete their activities. These badges aren’t just for kids though! Anyone can complete the work and be sworn is as a Jr. Ranger so don’t be afraid to ask next time you visit a NPS site.
We decided its time for a little Junior Ranger 101 and tried to tackle the most common questions we hear. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask!
What is a Junior Ranger?
The Junior Ranger program is an activity based program conducted in most parks across the country. Potential Junior Rangers received a booklet from the visitor center, and upon completion are sworn in and received a patch or badge. The motto of Junior Ranges is “Explore, Learn, Protect!” and the activities reinforce these values through puzzles, question and answers, observation, and outdoor activities. Each program is unique to the park and they vary widely. Some have been newspaper fold outs, some are extensive booklets with amazing graphics, some are simply printed in black and white and stapled together.
Where Can I Earn a Junior Ranger Badge?
Most National Park sites have Junior Ranger programs. Many people don’t realize they are even in a NPS run site – when we visited the St. Louis Arch three years ago I was shocked that there was an entire museum below ground run by the National park Service. Its official name is the “Jefferson National Expansion Memorial” and yes, there is a badge. I’m still waiting for the chance to get back there and earn it.
Wildlife refuges often have badges (we earned our first one in Florida last year), and many state parks also have their own programs. California’s program is quite extensive and time consuming as its designed for local kids to visit multiple parks over their summer break. Humboldt County also an an EdVenture Quest where kids can solve a riddle to earn a patch (California Jr. Ranger Program & Redwood EdVentures Quest). Colorado has one badge for all the parks, while Arizona has a unique button for each park.
Earning badges in beautiful parks with friends is the best!
Chances are, if there’s a visitor center they probably have a program for kids. You just have to ask.
How Does the Program Work?
Our first stop at most NPS sites is the Visitor Center where we pick up our books. Rangers are generally excited to hand them out and are supportive of kids wanting to learn more about the park! Books in hand, we take a look at the activities required. There are usually different age groups with various requirements. Older kids have to do more complicated activities, while younger kids have activities that are more appropriate to their age. The best part is that as they get older our kids are more capable of doing it one their own! At this point, Cara still needs quite a bit of help but she’s getting there now her reading skills are up to snuff.
Once you’ve completed the book, take it back to the visitor center and have the ranger check it over. They make sure the kids have done enough work and check their answers. Some rangers are extremely thorough (Saguaro National Park) and others give it a cursory glance and call it good. Depends on how much time they have or how many kids are lined up to pass off their books. The ranger then signs their certificate, and the kids line up for their pledge. After raising their right arm the kids repeat the pledge after the ranger. My favorite pledges involve promises to “eat their vegetables” and “obey their parents”. After they’ve been sworn in, they get a handshake and their badges!
Getting sworn in as Jr. Rangers in Dry Tortugas National Park, Florida
Does it Cost Money?
Most of the programs are free, but a few charge a nominal fee. Yosemite has both a free and a paid version (you earn a patch with the paid book), and Yellowstone charges $3 per book. I think they just get so many visitors that it would be cost prohibitive to provide the program for free at those parks.
What do the Badges Look Like?
Each badge is different. We’ve learned that some have the generic NPS logo (the arrowhead, bison, river, tree) on them, while others have a graphic specific to the park. The latter are definitely our favorite and now the kids are disappointed when its just the “regular” one.
Some parks have wooden badges and we are finding these more common. At first I thought they weren’t all that great, but slowly they’ve absolutely become my favorite ones. We’ve found wooden badges at Yosemite, Zion, Marin Headlands, Muir Woods, Chiricahua and Fort Bowie to name a few.
We’ve also run into a few metal badges. They tend to be smaller, but also are unique and fun to collect.
Most parks no longer have patches. I feel like budget cuts have made it impossible for parks to keep offering these. Sometimes you can buy a Junior Ranger patch in the bookstore (they are usually around $5) or if a park still has some, they offer the choice between a patch and a badge. We snagged up some of the last patches White Sands National Park had as they said they aren’t getting any more.
Only SOME of our badges!
Junior Ranger Hats & Vests
Some visitor center bookstores have a collection of Junior Ranger items. We’ve seen binoculars, books, pencils, and most importantly: hats & vests. We bought our kids hats when they had earned their first 5 badges, and then vests once those started to fill up. If we loaded ALL our badges and patches onto the clothing I’m sure I wouldn’t even be able to see my kids anymore! It does create quite a stir when they walk into a NPS site all decked out.
Photo with a tourist at Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming
For awhile we sewed patches on the back of my kids’ vests, but then it got crowded! I still love having them on there, even if the kids don’t to wear their vests anymore. I think they just got tired of all the attention, plus the vests just got HEAVY.
At some point, I’d love to create a wall hanging for the badges, or even a quilt with a map of the USA and sew on their patches. There’s lot of options, but for now we collect and then drop them off in storage when we swing through Utah. We just don’t have room for all of them right now!
Other Options for Earning Badges
If you can’t make it to a National Park, or miss out on earning a badge don’t worry! Many of the parks have the booklets available for download on their sites and then you can mail it in (see our post How to Mail in Jr. Ranger Booklets to Get Your Badge).
You can also mail in your books if you don’t make it the Visitor Center before it closes, or just run out of time to get it done.
There are also badges connected to multiple parks, or even no parks at all. We’ve earned the Ocean Steward Badge (picked up at Olympic National Park), Wilderness 50th Anniversary, Junior Night Ranger Explorer (coolest patch ever!), Paleontologist, Underwater Explorer (picked up in Wisconsin and turned in in Florida), Historic Preservation, and the Centennial Jr. Ranger.
We’ve also printed off the Junior Archaeologist Book, Cave Explorer, and the Underground Railroad. I have these on hand and we work on them occasionally to supplement our school work. Eventually we’ll mail them in to collect our badges!
Web Rangers Online
Last, but not least, there’s also a Web Rangers program! It is an online activity for kids where they learn about, History, Nature, Puzzles, Science, Parks and Animals.
After logging on, each child gets to design a ranger station. From there, they can explore many activities about our presidents, animals, sea, earth, and lots of other topics! My kids also like that there are lots of fun puzzles to do to.
As they complete activities, a bar graph on the side moves on the category of Easy, Medium, or Hard. When you finish all of the activities the “lamp of brilliance” turns on and you can submit your name for a patch!
Related Articles – For more information check out these other great articles on the Jr. Ranger Program!
My husband, Sam, and I completed our first backpacking trip together in New Zealand’s rugged mountains four months after we were married. Actually, it was my first backpacking trip ever. While he grew up with parents who frequently went into the back country, we were more front country, car camping kind of people. Despite the flies, the rain, and the incredibly steep trails, I was hooked after that one experience.
Knowing how incredible it feels to wake up in a tent on top of a mountain, we agreed that we would love to share that experience someday with our kids. This last year we finally reached our goal, completing four separate excursions in various states across the U.S. We watched our kids struggle up steep trails and bundle up against cold, windy weather but then also lift their faces in awe as they soaked up an early morning sunrise.
So, how did we do it? How did we go from tent for two, to trailside with five? Here are eight tips for taking your kids into the backcountry for the first time:
Plan Carefully.
There are many questions to consider when planning your child’s first backpacking trip. What are your goals? How many nights do you want to do? How far can your kids hike? What is there to do once you get there? Are you going to start after dinner? Early in the morning? How steep is the trail? Is it a long drive to the trailhead? Knowing your kids and their limits (generally speaking) can give you a good idea of where to start.
Many of our overnight hikes leave around 2pm, hike five miles to the campsite, eat dinner, have a lazy morning and hike back out around lunchtime. Simple, easy, yet a great way to unplug and be together as a family. Other families I know grab Subway after work on the way to the trailhead and hike a mere mile or two in before setting up camp for the night. Know your goals and then research the best way to accomplish them.
Start Simple.
Long before we loaded our kids up with a pack we hit the trails. We hiked short trails, long trails, hikes in the mountains, and hikes in the desert. Our kids could hike up to ten miles, which we did repeatedly over the course of a year. Our first backpacking trip, however, was a short 3.5 miles. We’ve gradually increased the distance over time, but we’ve found that hiking with a pack is a different experience for a kid. My husband has memories growing up of even shorter, one mile hikes to backcountry sites shouldering his small backpack and water bottle. The idea is to get your kids used to hiking in to their campsite wearing a pack whether it’s one or ten miles in.
Take Your Time.
On multi-day trips, my husband and I often remind ourselves we have ALL DAY to hike with the kids. The beautiful part of backpacking is that often there’s not much to do besides hike, so taking all day to hike that 3.5 miles not going to crimp anyone’s schedule. Smell the flowers, throw rocks in the stream, take a longer snack break and don’t push too hard.
Pack Plenty of Treats.
Well-thought out and distributed candy, snacks, and gummies can help motivate even the most reluctant hiker. Quick carbohydrates and sugar are often the perfect pick-me-up. We often have a mile limit or a goal to reach before we sit down to pull out the treats, which keeps the kids from asking every five minutes if they can have skittles. A special treat for reaching the “top” is also a welcome bonus. Our kids love Australian licorice, skittles mixed with toffee covered peanuts, mini M&M’s, and Pull-and-Peel Twizzlers.
Simple Meals.
While you may enjoy a gourmet backcountry dinner, chances are your kids are just hungry. In addition to plenty of snacks and treats, we do Freezer Bag Cooking for dinner and breakfast. All dry ingredients are prepared beforehand at home and then sealed in a freezer bag before getting tossed in our packs. Once mealtime rolls around, we boil water, add to our freezer bag, stir, let it sit in a cozy for 10 minutes, and voila! Dinner is served. Our three kids typically share a meal, while Sam and I eat a second. Our favorites so far are Cheesy Bacon Onion Mashers, Chocolate Protein Oatmeal, and Chicken Thanksgiving Dinner.
Be Prepared for Boredom.
Let’s face it. Most kids are addicted to screen time and even when they are conditioned to get outside often there’s still going to be whining about being bored. At camp, my older two kids will happily read on a Kindle for an hour or two, but after ten minutes my five year old is complaining because no one will play with her. We’ve learned to be strategic about how much time we will have at camp, whether or not there is anything nearby to explore, and to bring card games and even toys to play with once we get there. Packing a compass for scavenger hunts, a GPS unit for Geocaching, or a pocket knife for whittling sticks are all fun ways to spend time together once camp is set up.
Ultralight is Best, but Don’t Stress About Gear.
Between the two of us, we carry most of the gear. From the tent to the sleeping bags, cooking gear, and the food, most of it is packed into our two larger bags. Over time we’ve been able to make adjustments and swap not-so-light gear out for less weight as we gradually increase our distance, but start with what you have. At short distances, ultra-light gear is not as important. Let your four year old wear her Winnie-the-Pooh backpack and bring her stuffed animal. You can see our gear list here.
Have a Good Attitude.
The best thing you can do to help your kids have a good attitude and appreciation of the experience is to have a good attitude yourself. If your kids hear you talk about how much you enjoy the view, how much you appreciate the challenge of that ridge in front of you, and the good memories you have of other backpacking trips, your kids are likely to adopt a similar attitude. If they hear you complain about how dirty you are, how much you miss your bed at home, and the pains you feel, they will likely adopt those feelings too. Having a good attitude can be a challenge, but the payoff is worth it!
While we introduced our kids to backcountry camping fairly spectacularly manner, camping for two nights on an island in Lake Superior is not feasible for everyone. Our main goal, however was to have the experience end solidly with a “backpacking is really awesome” mindset for the kids no matter where we went. We feel it was a success since the kids happily followed that up with three more trips over the next few months.
Backpacking, or doing anything outdoors, with kids involves a different mindset. Suddenly we weren’t doing this for us, we were doing it for them. The miles are shorter, the terrain a little easier, the views maybe not quite as majestic, but the time spent together hiking, setting up camp, and snuggling in our sleeping bags while the stars wink overhead is irreplaceable.
There are many perks to the traveling lifestyle, but there are also a lot of activities and hobbies we have put on hold. When we were selling the house and most of our stuff, I looked longingly at the guitar I had bought 6 months previously. I had every intention of learning to play, but naturally life got in the way and I never found time to dedicate to practicing. I grew up playing the piano and love to have music in our lives which is something we’ve definitely missed!
Last summer, Sam found a company called jamstik+. We don’t have room for a full size guitar, but the jamstik+ is small, compact, and lightweight and comes with an app to actually teach me to play. We contacted the company and they graciously sent us two jamstik+ guitars so Rachel and I could both learn how to play. Over the last 6 months we’ve written about our experience in three different posts for their blog (Part I & Part II), but I figured it was time to post over here as well!
The Guitar
The jamstik+ connects to our devices via Bluetooth, so there are no cords between the jamstik+ and the device we are using. Its also smaller than a normal guitar, and a bit harder to hold in your lap. We’ve found using the included neck strap helps keep it in a more comfortable position.
When we’ve gone back and forth between a regular guitar and the jamstik+ over the last few months, we have noticed the difference in fret board in size. Also, friends that can already play the guitar take a minute to get used to the smaller fret board and fingerings! Overall we’ve had success transitioning between the two and Rachel has already asked for a “real” guitar once we settle down somewhere.
Where to Buy:On Amazon or use code “CurrentlyWandering on jamstik.com for 15% off your order (more color choices here!)
The Lessons
JamTutor is their lesson app. Its easy to get set up and the lessons progress fairly naturally. The lessons include picking single notes, strumming, chords and introduce “Arcade Mode” which is a fun way to play with background music. Kind of like “Dance Dance Revolution” video games where you have to step on the correct arrows as they scroll down the screen. Arcade Mode is Rachel’s favorite and she spent close to an hour one day just going through the different challenges.
My favorite part about the jamTutor app is that we can start and stop as needed. I realize that for some that may be de-motivational, but for me it’s a perk. Sometimes life gets crazy busy and there is little time to practice. Not having the guilt of paying for lessons is such a blessing! Granted, it can be hard to get started again, but we’ve found that repeating a few lessons or arcade challenges brings us up to speed very quickly.
In a small space, it is also nice to have a guitar with headphones! Rachel can play right next to Sam while he’s working and both are able to accomplish their tasks. Occasionally I’ll have her practice without headphones just so I can hear her progress, but mostly she will have them in.
Learning Songs
Rachel has far surpassed me in skill as she is assigned practice for school and I get, well, lazy. Distracted? Otherwise engaged? She’s been fairly diligent and has learned to love and look forward to playing. I’m so proud of her. I love listening to her sing and even our other two kids will sing along with whatever song she’s playing.
She now practices songs mostly using the FourChords app. From their website: “FourChords Guitar Karaoke is the fastest way to learn new songs! The songs are displayed in adjustable karaoke-style display with easy chords, an acoustic backing track and lyrics. Songs are re-arranged into easy versions, no knowledge of tabs or sheet music needed. Each song includes chord charts.”
Her current favorite songs are: “Eye of the Tiger”, “Gironimo”, and “Pompeii”. Using the app, she’s easily able to filter songs by chords. She can choose to exclude the pesky B chord, for example, and only look through songs she knows the chords for. She loves there are culturally popular songs as well as achievement awards that keep her motivated to practice! She’s also learned a few strumming patterns (something not included in jamTutor right now) and can easily switch between chords as she plays. I’m very jealous.
Last week out in the grasslands we utilized Sam’s video skills and put together a little music video of her playing. Notice the drone footage. Yep. More on that later!
The Giveaway!
Now to the REALLY good part! We’ve teamed up with jamstik+ to give away a guitar, travel case, and a 1 year subscription to the Four Chords app! We are super grateful for their generosity and can’t wait to get this instrument into one of our reader’s hands. Use the widget to enter below. Contest ends on February 5, 2017 at midnight Mountain Standard Time. Good luck!
I sat outside on my yoga mat with my eyes closed and just breathed. It was cold outside in south eastern Arizona, but the sun warmed my upturned face. The kids were off in the grasslands playing in their “fort” and I could hear them laughing in the distance. For a moment I was content to just be me.
For so long I’ve kept an unhealthy pace. Not content to simply write about our adventures and traveling from a journal perspective, this blogging adventure morphed into more of a business. In order to be a “blogger” I created a laundry list of items to check off my list. Work with brands. Acquire advertising revenue. Make money. Gain followers. Attend conferences. Grow my audience. Somewhere along the journey I lost track of our original goal: Help and inspire families through outdoor adventure and travel. Soon that goal was buried under a pile of “supposed to’s”. [perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”What if we are normal and quiet and happy? Does that count?” -Brené Brown[/perfectpullquote]
Page after page in my personal journal over the last year talks of unhappiness, discontentment, and an overwhelming feeling of not being good enough. I’m not a good enough blogger. I don’t have enough time to keep up with all the projects in my head. I’m a horrible wife. I’m not a good enough mother. I’m a terrible at traveling full time – I can’t even keep things together. I paid too much attention to social media and somehow the majority of my self worth was determined by how many followers I had, or how many likes a particular photo received.
Its not a healthy way to live.
Last December I decided I was done. Done with pretty much everything. I was upset, depressed, and really just couldn’t get things together. I desperately wanted things to change and I finally had the courage to start saying “No”.
Its amazing the peace that a little two letter word brought into my life. Facebook came off my phone (I can’t even begin to tell you how angry it makes me), I put one of my Instagram accounts on hold, I left a group the core group of amazing women working on the 365MileChallenge project. While I still have companies and brands I love and plan to work with, I stopped soliciting new ones and have been more selective of the projects we take on.
We invented a card game. I can’t tell you how ridiculously excited I am about that.
I decided to focus my blogging more on telling our story. I carry my Kindle with me everywhere in an effort to read good books instead of mindlessly scrolling on my phone. I’ve made an effort to exercise regularly again, eat healthy, and we’ve slowed our travel pace considerably. 18 days at McDowell Mountain in Arizona was a balm for my fracture soul.
[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”I give myself permission to slow down. I’m finally succumbing to the fact that I don’t have to DO and that I can just BE.” – Kelli France[/perfectpullquote] But, most importantly I turned my heart back to the Lord. With all my new free time I’ve concentrated on beginning my day with scripture study. Even if its just 10 minutes before I get up and get the day going, I feel more at peace and focused. I make sure that I pray every day. We are working hard as a family to keep the Sabbath Day holy. One of my good friends introduced me to an online institute class that is sponsored by her stake in Utah. Sisters in Scriptures is taught by truly inspired women and I’m grateful they’ve made their classes available as podcasts. Learning more about the Doctrine & Covenants through this class has also enriched my Sunday study of the same book of scripture.
Slowly but surely I feel myself pulling back from the black void I felt was imminent in my future. Looking back I feel that perhaps I overreacted. It really couldn’t have been that bad, could it? Its amazing how easily our mind adapts and glosses over the bleaker portions of our lives. It WAS that bad, but now instead of listening to my gremlins I take time to remember what I’m grateful for. When my inner demons tell me I’m not good enough I can respond with “Yes I am. I am enough. I don’t need to prove myself to anyone.”
