Whew, April was another month that just felt insanely busy. Between travels, school, work and life, it feels like we just never slow down! I guess that’s what happens where you decide to make the most of life. Maybe August we’ll slow down a little… what do you think? I think it might be unlikely. But here’s what we got ourselves into in April!
Travel Planning This Month
Matt and I finally sat down and plotted out the top things we want to do for my Mother’s Day trip to South Dakota. We’re really excited about that! Matt and the kids will be visiting two new national parks and new state(s), and I’ll be visiting one new national park! I cannot wait!
We also started doing some light planning on Nomad Summer – our nickname for our upcoming June away! We aren’t getting to crazy about planning each and every day, but we’re routing out things we want to do and how to fit them into a day so we can basically pick an adventure that fits the day. I’ve been making a big word document based on location. I can’t wait to see how that goes!
Travel This Month
My mom and I took a 30 hour girls trip to Memphis! While it may seem crazy to spend 1/3 of a trip driving for less than 24 hours in another state, what can I say? It’s in my blood to wander. We went to see the rotating exhibit of Thomas Dambo Trolls called Trolls Save the Humans in Memphis Botanic Garden. It was a really beautiful exhibit and I’m so glad that my mom finally got to see a Dambo Troll and I think she’s just as hooked as I am!
Then that next weekend, I spent 36 hours up in Hermann, Missouri with a group of 9 other ladies all with the sole purpose of celebrating my very best friend’s upcoming wedding. If you’ve been around for a while, you know Stacey is one of my OG travel buddies, but more than that, she’s been my best friend for the last 15 years. It was amazing to get to celebrate her!
We took a little weekend trip to Kansas with Matt’s family. It ended up being a lot different than we planned, but that was out of our control. More on that in the section below. But even with all the craziness, we did a tiny hike, saw a small section of the Storytelling Festival in Downs, Kansas, saw the world’s largest ball of twine, and got to spend time with Matt’s family!
Travel Laughs & Mistakes This Month
On my Memphis trip with my mom, I started to have a pretty bad toothache. Ugh. Turns out I had an abscess and had to get an emergency root canal. Fun. This also caused me to miss the first evening of Stacey’s bachelorette party, but I rallied and made it up the morning after my root canal.
April seems to be the weird vortex of Murphy’s Law around here. We got all the way to Downs, Kansas only to discover that our cabin reservation was altered without being informed to a cabin with two twin beds… for two kids and two adults. There were no hotels anywhere near there, so we ended up having to drive allllll the way back to Manhattan and allllll the way back to Downs the next day. It was a lot of driving and the kids had a bit of a rough weekend with it all. But it was out of our control and we made the absolute most of it as best as we could!
Blog Posts From April
March 2025 – Monthly Roundup: This is a monthly roundup, just like this one, but from last month’s adventures.
Kid-Friendly Campsite Activities Our Whole Family Loves: We have a lot of experience hanging around campgrounds with our little ones. After over two years as a camper family, we have discovered a lot of ways to keep the kids entertained and engaged while we’re at campsites and wanted to share them with you guys.
Well, We’re Now on the Search for Trolls: Last summer I fell in love with Thomas Dambo’s troll statues. I finally got around to finishing my post on the low-key obsession that I have with these works of art.
Things to Know Before You Visit Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: This is the latest in our “Things to Know Before You Visit” series! This national park comes at ya from the Big Island of Hawaii!
Local Adventures in April
Our local adventures have been pretty limited to local Greenways. This month I didn’t get quite the number of miles in that I was hoping for, but I’m still happy that I’ve been outside so much. I spent time on 5 different greenways and trails.
We did have a really fun evening adventure to see Sesame Street Live with Matt, the kids and my in-laws! (Thanks, Mémé and Pops!). The kids had never really watched Sesame Street and my favorite quote of the night was from Charleigh about The Count, “He’s terrifying, but beautiful.” Haha!
4 By 4 Women’s Hiking Club continued to be a success this month! We had 74 women hit Busiek State Forest on a much more technical hike than our first one. This included a pretty intense stream crossing, which the women absolutely loved – I loved seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces. It felt like such an empowering experience to hold that space with so many women – some of which had never had an adventure like that. Then, 60% of us went back to the brewery and just spent time hanging out with other like-minded women. Also, shoutout to the 5 women who showed up early to the hike with me to pick up trash since that was on Earth Day! I can’t wait for May’s meetup!
Best Thing I Ate in April
This is a toss-up. I got to eat one of my favorite meals in town (quesabirra tacos from Señor Julians) and I had it twice if I’m being totally honest, but I also had two really good brunches while traveling. I had amazing biscuits and gravy and home fries from Brother Juniper’s in Memphis, and I had the delicious blueberry lemon french toast I had at Ainsley’s Place in Hermann, Missouri. So, I’m just going to pick all three!
What I Read in April
I finally finished Why We Need to Be Wild – One Woman’s Quest for Ancient Human Answers to 21st Century Problems. It was a really great read. I found a lot of inspiration for my everyday living. And while I don’t think I’ll get as extreme as the author did, I learned a lot. I am currently reading Earth Worship: A Woman’s Philosophical & Spiritual Connection to Our Wild World. It’s good. I am on a big interconnectedness kick, but so far, I am finding this book to be a bit repetitive but I’m only a few chapters in, so I’m hoping I’ll like it more as I go.
In my audiobook journey, I rounded out the Harry Potter series. It’s fun to listen to because I am so familiar with it that I can really go through them pretty quickly and have them on in the background. Which I did a lot of this month. I went back to the Stephanie Plum Series as an easy listen again, but I honestly wasn’t feeling it. I discovered that the first Lord of the Rings audiobook is free on Audible, so I am listening to that and finding it to be more captivating and less like background noise.
Quote of the Month
The whole point of life is… to change, to evolve, to grow. Don’t resist it, embrace it.
Most Popular Blog Post in April
The most popular post on the blog this month was, again, Thing to Know Before Going to Moab, Utah. This always brings me joy when this is a top post because I truly love Moab and put a lot of work into creating and updating our Moab content.
Most Popular Instagram Post & Reel in April
Home & Life Updates in April
I did mention that I had an emergency root canal that honestly took over a week of my life. I was a little like a zombie while I was in pain ahead of getting it. I just took loads of ibuprofen and slept as much as possible. It was absolutely not fun and felt like a time thief.
We are seriously limiting screen time in our house. I’ve personally become less interested in watching TV, and I am trying to foster that in my kiddos too. After school we take them outside immediately to play. I’m trying to achieve 1000 hours outside with the kids this year and we’re pretty on track, I think. It’s just feeling so good to be getting outside more and more and succeeding in my plan for that. I even built the mud kitchen we got them for Christmas this year. It was a simple assembly, but that kinda stuff always makes me feel like a badass.
We also have really enjoyed watching the cycle of spring blooms come and go in our yard. And Charleigh and I did something fun and special and she got to make a little double fairy garden! It turned out so cute!
Also, at the end of the month our house was hit by a tornado. This sounds really dramatic, but we were honestly so lucky. It was an EF0, but it rolled through our town and literally right over our house. It ripped the hard cover off of our truck bed, tearing up our truck a bit, lifting the cover over our roof, over our neighbor’s roof and four houses down. Others had portions of roof blown off, windows busted and trees snapped, but every person was safe. Thank goodness! Matt was the only one home and he was safe in our basement.
To end on a positive note, we had lots of really sweet, simple moments with family and friends too, including Easter celebrations! April was a reminder of soaking up the simple and sweet and knowing you can get past the tough.
What’s Coming in May?
May starts our truly busy travel season. We’ll be gone about 20 days next month and I cannot wait! We have a few weekend trips – including Stacey’s wedding!!!! But we also have our first week-long trip to the Badlands for Mother’s Day. I’ve been wanting to camp for Mother’s Day for years now and Matt made it happen for me this year! Also, my dad and I have our father/daughter hiking trip to New Mexico this year! We’ll be hitting up three national parks that neither of us have ever been to! I cannot wait!
The kids’ school year will come to a close this month, and that means that our lives will change so much, but I cannot wait for that! My work schedule will change a bit with my kids not having school during the day. I am looking forward to so many days outside with my kids, little adventures with friends and family, and just making the most of my time with my family.
1 Comment
India Safaris
May 5, 2025 at 1:43 amWhat a whirlwind of a month! I love how you pack in so much adventure, family time, and meaningful moments—even with unexpected twists like a root canal and a tornado (so glad everyone’s okay!). Your flexible travel style and focus on outdoor time with the kids are so inspiring. Can’t wait to see where May takes you!