Family Wilds

Sick and Stuck Inside...Again

We haven't published new posts as frequently over the past few weeks for two reasons:

1) Work.  It has been really, really busy for both of us.

2) For about the past week we've been battling a toddler illness. 

Her cough improved, then worsened, and it just seems like it's been hard to get her feeling 100%.  We went through this whole sick and stuck inside thing around Halloween last year.  As with before, that cough and the windy weather have had us playing inside a lot more over the past few weeks.  Here are just a few photos from a little early morning play time yesterday.  She's not feeling 100%, but she's still 100% adorable.

We hope you are all well and outside as much as possible.  If you are, please think of us! :-)

-Pablo and Nea

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Adventure Science Center - Nashville, TN

Our daughter had one last vacation day from school today, and we decided to try a little indoor fun this morning.  We met our friends, the Taylors, at Adventure Science Center here in Nashville (don't worry, we're getting outside time this afternoon!).  It was just me, my daughter, Mama Taylor and her son.  We're all members of the ASC, and enjoy going.  I will say that it is a good science center, but not among the best of it's kind.  Some of the exhibits are oldish, some feel outdated and others seem a little irrelevant.  I also really wish they had an outdoor nature area and natural playground.  However, there is still a whole lot of cool stuff there, and all the toddlers really care about is touching and playing with stuff anyway.  Seriously, look at these two!

  Here are a few pictures from our visit today.  Do you have any fun science centers or museums where you live?  Do you go very often?  It's a beautiful (but cold) day in Nashville; we're looking forward to getting outside after nap time!

Happy Adventuring!

-Pablo

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Extra Christmas Boxes? Build a Fort!

We like Amazon.com, but their packaging is out of control.  For example, we ordered a small hiking compass for our hiking kit, and it came in a box big enough for a pair of boots.  The biggest box they sent us was filled with an art easel, rocking chair and an equal amount of wasted space.  The box was huge.  HUGE!  Instead of putting it straight into the recycling bin we made a quick and easy fort on Christmas Eve.  One big box, a pocket knife, some duct tape and 15-minutes all combined for the little beauty you see here.  So, it isn't pretty, but our daughter loves it and she's not old enough or geeky enough to convince that it's a shuttlecraft from the original Star Trek.  It's a fort and it's still standing four days later.  We're guessing it will be around for a good while.  We may even paint it soon!

 

Happy building (aka, cutting and taping)!

Pablo and Nea

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Holiday Traditions: Opryland Hotel

We recently read a great post by Olivia at OutsideMom.com about family traditions, and it got us thinking about our holiday traditions.  The initial reaction was, "we don't have any, yet".  The next day we found ourselves walking around Opryland Hotel to look at Christmas decorations.  This is something the two of us have been doing for about five years now.  We took our daughter last year (her first Christmas), and here we were again this year. Tradition.  We've identified a few more that we'll write about in the coming days as well.  In the mean time, we certainly hope you all have a great rest of the holiday season!

Happy Holidays!

Pablo and Nea

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Sick and Stuck Inside

She asked to go one a hike more than a few times.  She would even walk up to the Deuter Kid Comfort II, put her milk cup into the side mesh pocket, and then look at us with big blue, begging eyes.  We really wanted to relent and take her outside for a good long hike, or even to just play for a while.  However, our daughter was sick this weekend, the temperatures were low, the wind was cutting at times, and she was in no condition to be running around for too long.  We made it outside a few times when the afternoon temperatures peaked, but not as much as she or we would have liked.  She was sick, and by the end of the weekend we were all sick of being stuck inside. 

We were still able to find plenty of time to be silly and play.

By the way, the wrost vomit smells ever, in case you didn't know, involve goat's milk products. 

We hope you're all well!

-Pablo and Nea

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Film Review: 180 (degees) South

We recently watched a documentary called 180^o South (rated PG) on Netflix about a dirt bag, a truly  loving and revered term, Jeff Johnson.  He completes a trek to and through Patagonia with some friends and with the help of Yvon Chouinard (founder of Patagonia Clothing), and Doug Tompkins (founder of The North Face).  Mr. Chouinard and Mr. Tompkins originally made this trek in 1968. 

They fell in love with the land and soon thereafter began conservation efforts.  These are all the more important now, as massive dams are being built in Patagonia, which could effectively destory large areas of ths land.  It is a film as beautiful and painful as it's history.

Johnson begins in Mexico and eventually finds his way to Patagonia.  During his travels he finds himself a member of a crew with a broken ship, in the company of a beautiful woman from Easter Island, and into sublime South American surf.  When he finally makes it to Patagonia he meets up with some friends and continues his journey to summit a peak that's only been summited by one other person, Mr. Tompkins.

The cinematography and the soundtrack resonate.  It's hard to describe the striking beauty of the lands they walk, the seas they sail and surf, and the people they meet.  The lyrical music, created by the likes of Jack Johnson, Mason Jennings, and Ugly Casanova (which handle the bulk of the soundtrack), on the surface, would suggest a modern simplicity, but when combined with the striking visuals melds into a visceral and emotive experience. 

We would often press pause and discuss what we were seeing and/or thinking.  It was the kind of film that made us reflect on our pasts, present, and future from deeply personal perspectives, and even more deep ecological and global perspectives.  One of our most emotional conversations during 180^o South revolved around our daughter.  We are proud of our experiences and aware that they have shaped us into the parents we are today, but we are also aware that each of us have been rather limited in the global experiences we now wish we had been able to enjoy.

We want our daughter to know that anything is possible.  That sounds cliche, and maybe impossible, but we also know that it only is to the extent that people stop striving for the impossible.  Our daughter will experience more things before she turns 10 years old than we have each experienced up until the time she was born.  We feel confident that we can do this for her, because we will strive to make it so.  Our Patagonia is our daughter, and hers will be the many things she decides it will be. 

We highly recommend 180^o South.  It's an exhilarating and moving film about a set of experiences shaped by global and local South American issues, including cultural, political, economic, and environmental.  This is a film that left us in awe of the world, in awe of the human spirit and human limitations, and in awe of the possibilities.

Trailer

 

*Disclosure: There's nothing to disclose :-) We didn't benefit in anyway from this review.  We just really liked the film and wanted to share it!