Welcome to Our Adventuring Family!

Like many families out there, we’re busy. Sometimes too busy. Deciding which activities to do and which ones to say no to can be challenging. Add in some health challenges and it can be even more complicated.

Eighteen years ago my celiac disease was triggered and it has affected my life ever since. The first ten years we didn’t know what was wrong or why I felt so exhausted and was in so much pain. Gradually I began to cope with the symptoms and became more functional, but I still didn’t feel great. During those years my autoimmune system continued to attack my body, causing long-lasting damage.

Eight years ago I went gluten free and it’s made such a difference, though I still struggle with the effects of so many years of untreated celiac disease. The pain is gone but I still have bad days. I never eat gluten, but other foods are problematic. I have a hard time digesting grains and if I eat too many, my body lets me know.

Despite the years of feeling crummy, I still tried to be as active as possible. As my body has healed I’ve been able to add in more activities. I started running again and have completed a full marathon, six or seven half marathons, and many shorter races.

Some small changes we’ve made

In June 2015 I started a goal of completing 40 races by the time I turned 40 in June 2017. I ran race number 40 in November 2016, seven months ahead of my deadline. Accomplishing that goal has gotten me thinking about future goals and what areas in our life could use a little work.

Jeremy and I are both introverts who are content to stay inside, reading books or sitting in front of a computer screen. Add all those years of forced inactivity and we now have some bad habits and we’re no longer used to spending much time outside.

In 2016 we made several changes to our weekly schedule. In the spring we started going for almost-weekly hikes at a local trails park. The park was closed if it was too wet, but we managed to go pretty consistently.

In the summer we started taking weekly field trips to National Parks sites. We live in an area chock-full of historical sites, yet we hadn’t visited most of them. We kept saying we’d do it soon, but “soon” never came. We’re currently on hiatus since it’s winter and most ranger programs are minimal to non-existent right now. Before we halted for winter we were able to visit a number of parks and battlefields.

Now, I’m not suggesting you go out and run 40 races (it was a lot of work, time, and money!), but scheduling so many races did help me get outside more, regardless of the weather. Making field trips and hikes a part of our weekly schedule set the expectation for all of us that we would be getting out of the house and doing something active.

This has been great since we tend to stay inside during the summer because of the heat, humidity, and bugs and we tend to hibernate in the winter because we get cold weather, but not much snow. Cold weather without snow isn’t very fun, in my un-scientific opinion.

Dealing with the side effects of celiac has left me a bit wimpy when it comes to being active in the heat and cold, so we didn’t do a lot when our daughter was young or the boys were babies. The youngest is now a year and a half old and I want to set a better example for all the kids, so it’s time to get to it.

This all makes it sound like we don’t do a lot of outside activities, but as I thought back over the past few years, and earlier, I realized that we have done a lot of things outside, just not as consistently as I’d like.

So follow along as we form better habits and spend more time outside, exploring the world around us. It’s not an easy transition since toddlers and chronic health problems continuously throw a wrench in our plans, but we will succeed.