Adventures

Start an Annual Holiday Tradition with Friends

December 7, 2019 by Cassie

Every year I look forward to our annual outing to see the Nutcracker with my daughter and one of my best friends and her daughter. We all meet for lunch and see a matinee on one of the Saturday or Sundays in December. Beyond the Nutcracker being a beautiful show and a perfect way to ring in the season, it is a really meaningful time every time to get to see our daughters grow up (they make fun of us now) and get some quality time in my friend. This year will be our fourth time, and I hope to one day be celebrating our 50^th.

Despite the holiday season being hectic, it’s actually really easy to factor in a nice little tradition. You all know it’s coming in advance and can plan far ahead, and have something awesome to look forward to.

Who will you start a holiday tradition with?

Make a Stomp Rocket

March 30, 2019 by Cassie

Making a stomp rocket is a great, easy, fun activity for a weekend afternoon. The first time my kiddo made one, it was at an outdoor 5th birthday party activity and kept the kids, and their parents, all busy and happy for hours.

All of the materials are easy and relatively inexpensive to purchase, including the PVC pipe which you can find at a home improvement or hardware store.

What a great DIY project or a fun activity for a kids party or an adult/family BBQ at a park! If you are using this activity for a group of kids (or any group), have the PVC pipes and other materials pre-cut so they can put the launcher together themselves, with little or no help.

Here are is great how-to post on How to Make a Stomp Rocket Launcher.

You can also get fancy with the official directions from NASA here!

Blast off!

Plan Life’s Next Big Adventure

June 15, 2018 by Cassie

You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this. ― Henry David Thoreau

When my grandparents were of retirement age they set out on a new adventure. They bought an orange VW camper in Europe and drove it all over traveling for three months. I imagine them spending hours on the road or lying in the camper naming all the places they’d like to go next and planning more adventures. They brought the camper back to the U.S. and not long after started a travel agency business.

For the next decade, they traveled all around the country and the world. Before that, travel had been limited to my grandfathers deployment in two wars and a visit to see my Aunt and Uncle during their peace corps stint. After that, my Grandmother would go on a new journey to care for my Grandfather as Alzheimer’s brought devastating loss.

It makes me so happy that they spent that time, and I am so proud of them for finding those moments.

There is always life to go and live. Where will you go on your next adventure?

Choose to Take the Happy Way

March 11, 2018 by Cassie

When I was nine, my aunt, uncle and three cousins were moving from 10 minutes away from us in California to Australia. Our whole family was so sad to see them go.

On the way home from saying our final goodbyes, everyone was still in tears. Halfway to our house, my mom announced that we’d take “the happy way home.” My brother and I were intrigued, we had never taken the happy way.

My mom made a turn on a street we never drove on and went a windy route, up and over the hill, to connect back to the street we usually drove up. It was a detour that only took an extra few minutes, but it was a change of perspective, and made us all feel better.

What’s amazing, is that it stuck. That route forever became the happy way. When I’m in my home town and feeling blue, I take the happy way home. We never talk about it explicitly, but I have been in the car numerous times with my mom or my brother and we have taken the happy way when we needed it. Once my brother and I drove back from our Great Aunt’s memorial service in silent reflection, and when he put his blinker on to make the random turn, I felt a little better.

The happy way reminds me of the power we have to choose the path we’ll take. That sometimes one simple turn is all it takes to change how you’re feeling, viewing things, allow you to begin to heal.

There are so many times we need to take the happy way home, for losses or setbacks big and small, for others, or ourselves. I’m not sure what form yours will take, but be open to choosing to take it.

Photo by Martine Jacobsen on Unsplash

Adventures

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