Cragmama "Not all who wander are lost…" JRR Tolkien

Yearly Archives: 2014

Crowders Mountain…and an Ode to an Old Blue Backpack

Crowders Mountain…and an Ode to an Old Blue Backpack

This past weekend’s trip to Crowders Mountain was an important milestone in our adventures as a family of four – Baby Z has FINALLY gotten big enough to transition into the Kelty Kid Carrier we used for Big C (our older model is reviewed here).  While her brother started using it just shy of 6 months, my tiny Baby Z hasn’t been able to fit into it until now, a few days away from 7 months.   Our agenda for the day was pretty open – we mainly just wanted to enjoy a beautiful fall day out on the rock as a…Read the rest of this entry →

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It’s Apple Mania Week at Our House!

It’s Apple Mania Week at Our House!

The temps have started to go down, and it’s finally starting to feel like fall!  For our family that means prime climbing season…but it also means the local apple orchards are ripe and ready for pickin’!  I love apples, and they are one of Big C’s favorite foods as well, so this year I decided to dedicate an entire week to cooking nothing but apples (well, maybe we’ll cook a few other things too, but apples will be our main theme!)  My hope is that we  can find a few go-to recipes that we love enough to establish a family…Read the rest of this entry →

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Gear Review: The Luci Lantern from MPOWERD

Gear Review: The Luci Lantern from MPOWERD

Our family got the chance to try out the new Luci solar-powered lantern on our Labor Day climbing/camping adventure to Tennessee.  I had originally planned on mentioning it in the trip report, but we liked it so much that I thought it deserved a post all on it’s own! Luci is an innovative idea from MPOWERD, a company that “develops and manufactures game-changing micro-solar energy products for use by people living and playing on and off the grid.”  At first glance it might just seem like any old solar-powered lantern to hang around camp, but it’s cool factor is so much better…Read the rest of this entry →

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Climb Time for the Whole Family (What Works for Us!)

Climb Time for the Whole Family (What Works for Us!)

It’s my theory that eavesdropping on a family’s Sunday night dinner conversation is one of the quickest ways to figure out what’s most important to that family.  The weekend is over and everyone is setting their sights onto a new week, planning out the logistics of who’s doing what, when and how.  Which activities/events are the first up for discussion?  You know, those things that you want to MAKE time for, despite how busy you are?  Each family’s discussion will be different of course, but the logistical conversations are often the same – how to make sure ______ gets to…Read the rest of this entry →

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Bitybean: A Bit of Babywearing Heaven!

Bitybean: A Bit of Babywearing Heaven!

It’s no secret that our family is into babywearing in a big way.  While I’d like to picture us as a peaceful, attached family that wears our babies purely for the many physical and emotional benefits it brings to our young, the truth is that most of the time we do it for convenience sake.  (That and because a sleeping baby on your chest is one of the best feelings in the entire world…)  That may explain why we have 5 times as many babywearing apparatuses as we do children.  Or it could be because the Cragdaddy and I are…Read the rest of this entry →

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“Not all who wander are lost.” —JRR TOLKIEN