Living Deliberately

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately . . . .” - Henry David Thoreau, Walden.

As founders of Chasing Windmills, we struggle everyday to live deliberately. Unlike Thoreau, we did not journey into the woods and construct a log cabin.

For us, we had kids. On that day in November 2012, our lives changed forever — not just because we now had two tiny little human beings looking to us for nourishment and love, but because our newborn children inspired us to begin living deliberately.

We began asking questions that we had long neglected or taken for granted.  Questions like: what do I need in my life to be happy? What inspires my heart, my mind, and my soul? What are the essential elements of my life? And, importantly as new parents, what do we want to bring into our children’s lives? What do we want to share with them? Who are we as parents?

In a word, we wanted to live deliberately — to truly think, for ourselves, what kind of life we wanted to lead and create as a family. This journey had led us to many different places, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, as we plotted the course of our lives.

Professionally, this journey led us to Chasing Windmills: our vision and our way of sharing the adventurous spirit of childhood through the natural goodness of merino wool. We felt inspired by a community of parents with a profound respect for and appreciation of what Mother Nature provides. We wanted to be part of this community, to throw our creative energy into a profound movement, and to share a piece of ourselves in the process.

Merino wool — a super soft, natural, renewable fiber — is the means through which we connect with other mamas and papas who wish to live deliberately. Through Chasing Windmills, we are a small part of their much grander journeys, and for that we are forever grateful.

In our quest to live deliberately, we make choices each and everyday about how we live and what we consume. In little ways, we seek to remain true to ourselves and to our children. We bring re-usable bags to the grocery store; we compost through the City of Denver’s new composting program; we purchase offsets to neutralize the carbon impact of shipping worldwide; and we carefully consider what and how we consume everything from goods to clothing, preferring those created with natural materials.

As an apparel brand, we recognize our responsibility in bringing, we hope, something of value and significance to the market. Never wanting to “sell” to someone, we strive to connect with parents who see wholesome goodness in what we make.

As a culture, we are beginning to move away from disposable plastic water bottles (as more and more people carry their reusable water bottles) and away from plastic grocery bags (to paper and bring-your-own reusable bags).  There is a shift away from plastic and to the natural.

Chasing Windmills is part of this journey too, away from plastic-based synthetic clothing fibers and to natural renewable fibers like merino wool. Every year, 8 million tons of plastic enters our oceans. With nothing on Earth evolved to biodegrade plastic, it just floats there — year after year after year.

Much of this floating plastic comes from washing synthetic clothing. Microfibers wash away and make their way into waterways.

Merino wool, on the other hand, is naturally biodegradable. It returns to organic matter, returns to the Earth.

It’s one way that we live deliberately, conscious of our impact upon our planet.

In our quest to live deliberately — whether as parents, co-founders of a company, and all the other hats we wear — we will struggle at times. But it is that struggle, that process of discovering who we are and what we wish to share with this world, that gives us the sense that we are not alone.

We are with you.

When a Caterpillar Becomes a Butterfly

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it’s going to be a butterfly.” -R. Buckminster Fuller.

Our merino-loving kids turned four years old in November. For their birthdays, one of their aunts sent them a butterfly tent with a coupon code to order caterpillars.

We waited all winter and spring before ordering those caterpillars. After all, we didn’t want to release butterflies into our backyard during winter’s chill or during the inevitable spring snowstorm (this year, it was early May when spring’s snow arrived in Denver for the last time).

After months of patiently waiting, we finally ordered the caterpillars at the end of May. Our kids watched the caterpillars double and triple in size before creating their cocoons. We then carefully transferred them into the butterfly tent…and waited.

Every morning for a week or so, our kids would wake up and check on the cocoons.  “When are they going to hatch, Mommy?” “When are they going to become butterflies, Daddy?”

And then it happened the morning of their final day of Waldorf preschool. Mama was pretty choked up, seeing those butterflies spreading their beautiful wings. We thought of our own little kids — growing up and evolving before our eyes.

Awhile back, we wrote about the profound freedom of “holding the question,” resisting the temptation to define our children too soon and, instead, giving them the space and time to emerge as their own unique confident selves. As parents, we relate to the urge to know who our children will become; what they will do with their lives; how they will contribute to the world; where they will find meaning and contentment.

But we can never definitively answer what metamorphoses our children will undergo, from caterpillar to butterfly, throughout their lives. We can only set the conditions for them to emerge on their own. We can provide them with tender patience, a home full of love, and a sense of adventure and exploration.

In the end, however, our children just may surprise us. And, perhaps, that’s just how it should be.

Denver Starlight Market - Spring Recap

There's nothing better than connecting with mamas, papas, and little ones in real life. We held our 2nd Starlight Market, this time in celebration of spring and right before Mother's Day. With tasty treats, cocktails, mini photo sessions, flowers, and of course small business shopping, it was a festive and fun day for all.

Big thanks to all who came out, and especially to our friends:

Venue: Suzy Holman of the Denver Photo Collective

Vendor Booths: Hazel Village, Chasing Windmills, Izzy & Ferd, Give Lovely, Wunderkin, Remy & Rose Soap, Lil Bellies, Lana's Shop, and Premastyle

Treats: Cookies, brownies, cupcakes baked with organic mixes by Foodstirs and pasture-raised eggs and butter by Vital Farms

On site portrait station photographer: Alexandria Ramon (who took the last photo in this post of my kiddos!)

Summertime Merino

Want to know Mother Nature’s secret to keeping your kiddos cool and comfortable during the warm summer months? It’s merino wool!

Our summertime adventure collection — graphic tees for good, pocket tees, shorts, and hoodies — is made from super soft, breathable, moisture-wicking, temperature-regulating 100% merino wool. Merino is the ideal fabric for summertime adventures, big and small.

But we get it. When we were kids, we never thought of wool for summer months. When we thought of wool as kids growing up, it was that heavy coarse sweater that we pulled on to keep us warm during winter’s chill.

Merino wool is different. Sourced from a specific breed of sheep roaming mountainous New Zealand and Australian meadows, merino wool provides next-to-skin softness. And specifically for our at play collection, we have designed all of our tees with a super lightweight merino fabric, keeping those kiddos cool and comfy all day long.

In fact, researchers have found that 100% merino wool is better than synthetic blends at keeping the wearer dry and comfortable in warm conditions.

Mama Nature endowed merino wool with some pretty incredible attributes, including its ability to wick away moisture, stay fresh (thanks to its anti-microbial properties), and help maintain a consistent body temperature. After all, merino sheep have evolved to keep comfortable in all the extremes of heat, cold, and wet that nature can throw at them.

And, as parents, we've realized how merino even saves some of our sanity when it comes to summertime travel. Because of its relative weightlessness, merino wool is easy to pack.  And, if you wash one of our merino tees at night in a hotel sink and hang to dry (because kids always manage to dirty more clothes than you plan for, right?), you’ll find a fresh and dry t-shirt in the morning — ready for the day’s adventures!

Thanks, Mama Nature. Always looking after us.

In Appreciation of Earth Day

“When I was a boy in Scotland I was fond of everything that was wild, and all my life I’ve been growing fonder and fonder of wild places and wild creatures.” — John Muir, environmental philosopher and founder of the Sierra Club.

Chasing Windmills was born from nature and all of her gifts. Grateful to Mother Nature, we partner with ethical and humane ranchers in New Zealand to source our merino wool. Mindful of our own daily impact, we commit to offsetting our carbon footprint from our home office energy use and shipping worldwide.  

We are dedicated to the adventurous idealist, to those mamas and papas who wish to share nature’s goodness with their children from birth, and to those kids and grown-ups who are fond of everything wild.

As a family-run business, our kids often see us working. Recently, they asked us: “Mommy and Daddy, what are our jobs?  I smiled and responded, “It’s your job to play and get dirty!” And they love their jobs :) Whether they are inventing whole new worlds in their own minds, digging outside in the dirt for worms, or riding their bikes, our kids take their “jobs” seriously!

Like our kids, we take our jobs seriously too. We have a responsibility to preserve Mother Nature’s goodness for our kids.

And so, to celebrate Earth Day, we will be donating 100% of profits from our graphic merino tees for good to the Sierra Club. In the words of its founder, John Muir: “In God’s wildness lies the hope of the world — the great fresh, unblighted, unredeemed wilderness.”

For us, it’s a small investment in the hope of the world. We are forever grateful to you, the supporters of Chasing Windmills, who fulfill this vision. Together, we are committed to making the world a more beautiful place.

Sharing One of Nature's Little Secrets

“Look Mama and Daddy, the flowers close up at night and then open when the sun warms them up.”

Standing in the backyard with our little girl, we were looking at the tulips in our garden—a telltale sign of spring’s arrival.  That’s when she very matter-of-factly told us about how the tulips close at night and open during the day.

I had never before noticed how our tulips follow the transition from day to night.  I felt like my little girl let me in on one of nature’s secrets.

I asked her, “How’d you know that?”  She said that she just watches the flowers.  When she leaves the house for preschool in the morning, they are closed.  And when she returns home, the flowers are open.

So I looked it up.  Scientists call this process “nastic movements,” as flowers respond to various stimuli, such as sunlight.

Like most kids, our little girl didn’t need a textbook on flora and fauna to understand how flowers react to their environments.  She just relied upon her keen powers of observation.

And it got me thinking.  What else am I missing all around me?  What other phenomenon do I observe everyday without ever really noticing?

Our children—yours, mine, all of ours—have a special gift for observing the world.  They look at nature with discerning and open eyes.  They notice the little details, Mama Nature’s little secrets, like tulips opening and closing as day fades into night.

Now, when I leave the house in the morning, I look at our tulips—still closed from the night’s cold.  I smile, knowing that they will soon open their blossoms with the morning sun.  And I smile with gratitude, being able to soak in and see the world through our children's eyes.

Shortcutting Causes Erosion

We’re all for forging your own path.  On our more courageous days, we fancy ourselves trailblazers.

But we also need to be mindful of the footprints we leave behind.  Along one of our weekend family hikes, an elegant sign greeted us at the start of our trail: “Shortcutting causes erosion”.  If we are mindful of our where we step, our kids and their kids can fall in love with nature too.

It’s why we consciously minimize Chasing Windmills’ footprint.  Our home office subsidizes wind power.  We offset our home office energy use and shipping, thanks to the good people of TerraPass.  We use recycled materials for our mailers. Our merino fiber is naturally renewable, with the sheep being shorn once per year. And, best of all, merino is biodegradable- all thanks to Mama Nature.

Yes, those are little things.  But we must believe that little things make a big difference.

Little things like avoiding shortcuts on a mountain trail.

Tees for Good

“A waterfall begins from only one drop of water.”  - P.K., The Power of One

The drops of water that make a more beautiful world are not always grand heroic gestures.  Sometimes it’s as simple as the everyday loving acts of kindness that we witness in our own children everyday.

We see it when our little girl shares a favorite toy with her brother.

We see it when our little boy hugs his sister after she falls and scrapes her knee.

And we see it in our partners when they find the resolve in their heart to calm a little one’s tantrum with peaceful and patient love.

In the grand scheme of things, a child’s decision to share a toy or give a hug are small acts.  But, it is those small acts of kindness that will eventually create a waterfall.

And, as a company that cares about the lives it touches and the environment it graces, we want to add a few drops of water to the waterfall too.  

Today, we’re excited to share another small way in which we can contribute to that waterfall.  With each purchase of our graphic merino t-shirt, we will donate 10% of proceeds to the following organizations whose missions aligns with the inspiration behind each of our tee designs: 

* "Go Outside" - The Outdoors Alliance for Kids (OAK), dedicated to connecting children and families to the great outdoors; 

* "Follow Rivers" - The Sierra Club, founded in 1892 by the naturalist philosopher John Muir and committed to safeguarding nature’s land, water, and air; and

* "Adventure" - The National Parks Conservation Association, committed to protecting and enhancing the National Parks for current and future generations.

So, next time you purchase a graphic merino t-shirt from us, know that you are one drop. And together, we might just start a waterfall.

Denver Starlight Market Recap

We started our holiday season by pulling together some of our favorite local Denver brands and small shops for one super sweet pop-up shop for families. It was so nice meeting so many wonderful families, and the whole time felt like one festive playdate. We are looking forward to making the Starlight Market an annual event!

Big thanks to all of our friends:

Venue: Hosted by Suzy Holman of the Denver Photo Collective 

Vendor Booths: Chasing Windmills, Hazel Village, Lana's Shop, Free Babes, Monroe Workshop, Hadley Girl, Remy & Rose  

Snacks: Popcorn bar by PipCorn and star cookies by Katherine's French Bakery

On site portrait station photographer: Luis of LP Images

Holiday Shipping Break (Dec. 19-28)

Our shop is on a holiday shipping break from December 19 through December 28, as we take a chance to soak up the goodness of the holidays with our family.  So what does that mean for you all?

USPS Priority Mail shipping is on us for all domestic orders during placed during our shipping break (Dec. 19-28).  All U.S. orders will ship out, via USPS Priority Mail, on December 29th.

And for our international friends, you'll save $8.00 off of your usual shipping costs during the holiday shipping break too.  A little something for everyone.

There's no promo code necessary (the shipping costs are zeroed out for our US customers and discounted for our international customers at checkout).

Hope you and yours are enjoying the holidays too!  Oh, and stay tuned...we're also working on a complete re-stock of our windmill-printed thermal long johns to be available by end of January!

With gratitude,

Sarah & JP (Co-Founders)

Respecting the Goodness that Mother Nature Provides

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” -John Muir.

When we started Chasing Windmills, we sought to create a connection between childhood’s earliest moments and the natural world. We desired to plant the seeds of respect for what Mother Nature provides and to inspire children and parents alike to live in harmony with nature.

This vision underscores a commitment to the natural beauty and sustainability of our environment. In the year-plus since we launched, we’re grateful for our connections with customers all over the world — from right here in Colorado and throughout the U.S., to Canada, and across the ocean to Europe, Asia, and Australia.

We are grateful that our growth helps us share our vision and spread the natural goodness of merino wool. However, we are also mindful that our growth involves a greater impact upon the environment. Delivering packages worldwide relies on fossil fuels.

That is why, today, we are excited to announce that Chasing Windmills is committed to offsetting every pound of carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere from our home office energy use and shipping — including sourcing our wool from New Zealand and Australian partners, heating and cooling our home office, shipping bundles of merino worldwide, and driving to and from the post office.

Through the good folks at TerraPass, we’ve purchased carbon offsets to ensure that renewable energy projects and methane-capture projects offset our environmental impact. 

As naturalist John Muir once said, “Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike.” Our children rely upon the beauty of Nature to inspire their imaginations and, as they grow, we hope they may always count Nature as a true friend and companion.

We thank you, our supporters, for being part of this journey with us. And here’s to all of your “self-appointed inspectors of rainstorms and snowstorms”* who find so much beauty and inspiration in the natural world. 

*Henry David Thoreau on his childhood exploring Nature.

6 Ways to Wear our Long Johns

True, beautiful, and good. These are the qualities we look for in clothing and toys for our own children. Lately, we've been thinking of adding another- versatile. With the urge to simplify our own lives and closets, we are pretty happy that our merino thermal long johns check off so many boxes. Here are 6 ways to wear our long johns day and night.

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1. Everyday pajamas

Image by @fawnandforest

With one sock on, one sock off or the blankets kicked off, you can sleep easy knowing that your little one will still be warm and cozy in the goodness of merino wool. Merino wool naturally helps regulate body temperature, so our long johns ideal for getting a good night's rest.

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2. Matching Sibling Jammies

Image by @lee_kristine

Because who doesn't love twinning? Mix or match colors for all the little ones (up to size 8T ;) in your life.

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3. Christmas Jammies

Image by @burtsbrisplease

We've heard our windmill pattern looks like stars, snowflakes, and magic. Whatever you make of them, they are the perfect festive and cozy jammie to wake up in on Christmas morning. Plus, you can still wear them every other day of the year. Again, we love versatility :).

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4. Loungewear

Image by @melissaclickphotography

No need to rush to get into those day time clothes. Spend those slow morning lounging, playing some music, and lounging some more.

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4. Activewear

Image by @iamjesshunter

Merino wool is a naturally high performance fabric. It's breathable, moisture-wicking, and odor controlling all while being super soft and cozy. So keep on dancin' in the wild in our long johns and you'll feel as fresh as can be.

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6. Baselayer

Image by @partyforthree

Layer up! When the snow finally falls, our long johns make the perfect baselayer underneath those snowsuits for reasons noted in 5. But we can keep going. Merino wool is also quick drying, and still retains heat even when wet. Plus it's naturally antibacterial, so when your kids don't want to peel off their long johns, relax and hit the sledding hill one more time ;).

Shop all merino thermal long johns here.

Designing Thermal Long Johns for Daytime Adventures and a Good Night's Sleep

If you’re like us, you’re drawn to the true, beautiful, and good things in life. You’re inspired by simple and profound moments when your true self emerges from the excess. And you appreciate beautifully crafted, multi-functional items that simplify your day-to-day.

With those ideas in mind, we designed our Thermal Long Johns as both a high-performance base layer and your kid’s softest and coziest pajamas. Sure, I guess we could have made one set of long johns and another set of pajamas, but that would just add unnecessary clutter.

Instead, we created something truly exceptional that can be worn day and night — keeping your little one warm during those daytime explorations in the great outdoors and cozy during nighttime.

To achieve this vision, we started with a super soft merino wool from New Zealand. Merino fibers trap tiny pockets of air that insulate the wearer against hot and cold temperature swings, which means that our long johns help your little one maintain a consistent and comfortable body temperature — whether she is outside or inside.

Plus, merino wool wicks away moisture, doesn’t hold odor, and is super soft. The end result: your child is warm, dry, sweet smelling, and cozy all day and night. Mother Nature endowed merino wool with these attributes through patient evolution, and our kids are the beneficiaries.

And, your daytime adventurer might even get a better night sleep in our Thermal Long Johns! Researchers at the University of Sydney found that wool sleeping apparel and bedding increases the the total sleep time and improves sleep efficiency.  It could be the softness of the fabric; it could be temperature-regulating qualities; or it could be the moisture management.  Whatever it is, a good night of sleep is welcome news for any parent.

When your kid wakes up after a good night sleep, you don’t have to strip off the merino long johns. Head outside! If snow is falling, throw on the snowsuit over the merino long johns, and walk to that sledding hill with your child, build a snowman, or just catch snowflakes on your tongue.

And to us, that’s what it means to design something true, beautiful, and good. You and your little one can just focus on what really matters — exploring this big beautiful world together.

Fall Break!

Our shop is on fall break, as we take a few days to soak up the goodness of fall with our family.  So what does that mean for you all?

Priority USPS shipping is on us for all domestic orders during Fall Break (October 11th through October 16th).  All orders will ship out on Monday, October 17th.  

And for our international friends, you'll save $8.00 off of your usual shipping costs during Fall Break too.  A little something for everyone.

There's no promo code necessary (the shipping costs are zeroed out for our US customers and discounted for our international customers at checkout).

Hope you and yours are enjoying the fall season too!

With gratitude,

Sarah & JP (Co-Founders)

Sitting in the Shade of Our Crab Apple Tree

If you've taken a peak at the look book for our thermal long johns, you might have spotted a few tree stumps adorned in moss and ferns. Well, those tree stumps now reside in our backyard. Our kids love to jump from stump to stump, precariously teetering upon each before they catch their balance.

When we picked up the stumps awhile back, the woodsmith included a few thinly sliced large wooden rings for our kids to play with. He told us that, in a few months, the wooden rings would dry up, crack, and fall apart.

And so, this past weekend, our little boy accidentally dropped one of his wooden rings, and it cracked into two. He quickly looked up, his eyes full of tears, when I said, “Oh wow!  Look, you made two pieces now!” It somehow worked. Tears dried up quickly and he excitedly told his sister about his good fortune.

So naturally she took her wooden ring and dropped it in the bark. Nothing happened. So she threw it down hard against the bark. Nothing happened.

I was about to tell her to throw it against the concrete, but I stopped myself. Why should I interject? She and her brother were happily playing together, and no one was asking for my help. So I sat back.

And sure enough, she figured out that her wooden ring would break into many pieces when dropped upon the stone steps leading up to our backdoor. For the next thirty minutes, our kids continued to break apart their little wooden rings, counting how many pieces they each had, and just laughing with each other. 

For my part, I rested in the shade of our crab apple tree and just watched them. I marveled at their ability to become so singularly focused on one thing, to lose themselves in an activity with each other, to experience the world without distraction.

Childhood is beautiful and spontaneous. As grown-ups, we organize so much of our lives (oftentimes out of necessity to run our households and businesses), but kids live moment to moment. It’s why they are quick to smile and quick to cry. Their senses and emotions are always engaged.

And I wondered what would’ve happened if I had interjected. Would they have happily played together for the next thirty minutes? I don’t think so. 

As parents, we want to be involved in our kids’ lives. But sometimes the best thing we can do is to step back and let them figure things out for themselves. Kids are natural scientists, experimenting each and every day, testing out their worlds to better understand their environments and each other.

It’s a small thing — breaking apart dry cracking wooden rings — but it allowed our kids to practice problem-solving skills and engage each other. I need to remind myself to step back more often and just watch childhood’s magic unfold.

Because I tell you what…it’s pretty great to sit in the shade of that crab apple tree.

Merino Wool: A Field to Garment Story

In our modern society, we are often disconnected from the source of what we consume — whether it’s what we eat or what we wear.

And like an increasing number of people, we feel a sense of loss. We yearn to be connected to the natural world and to understand our place and our footprint.

That yearning is at the heart of Chasing Windmills. We’re striving to create a connection to the natural world from the earliest moments of childhood. We succeed if we plant the seeds of appreciation for what Mother Nature provides and respect for living harmoniously with her.

For us, it all starts with the merino sheep. Our merino wool comes from ZQ Merino certified ranches in New Zealand and Australia, where sheep live exclusively on free-range, pasture-based farming. The sheep are cared for by ranchers like Philip Rive, who grew up riding his pony in the mountainous meadows where his merino sheep now graze.

Once a year in the springtime, Philip’s merino sheep are brought down from their rich pastureland to be shorn. Our New Zealand-based merino fabric supplier then transforms those super soft merino fleeces into the fabric that serves as the soulful base of everything we make.

Our fabric provider is also a Bluesign Systems Partner, further demonstrating our ecological commitment from farm to fabric to finished garment. Bluesign's aim, for example, is to reduce the ecological footprint of the textile industry and realize environmentally responsible textile production worldwide.

If you’ve never felt merino wool before, you’ll be surprised by just how fine and soft it is. Unlike some other wool fibers that are thick and scratchy, merino sheep produce the softest and finest wool you’ll find anywhere. Caring for a merino sheep with such a soft and delicate wool fleece is not easy.  It takes ranchers who truly love what they do.

From field to garment, the story of merino wool is a labor of love — from the ranchers like Philip Rive caring for his sheep to the worker-owners at Opportunity Threads who make our garments.

To us, supporting merino wool is not about buying a commodity in a supply chain. It’s about investing in a way of life, or better yet a way of living in harmony with nature.  It’s about caring for the story behind what we consume.

It’s a story we’re proud to be part of.

Camping with Kids: A Few Tips for Mamas and Papas

Camping with kids — It’s rarely easy but it’s often worth it.  

Sure, it can be a wee bit frustrating trying to set up a tent with your kids tugging at you and jumping on top of the collapsed tent.  And, if you’re like us, your five senses might play tricks on you as the wind rustles over your tent at night.

But then again, you get to experience sunrises as a family, picnics underneath a blue sky, and the joy of watching your kids explore the natural world.

As camping families go, we’re definitely not your rugged outdoors family.  But we love being outside together, and we appreciate Mother Nature’s goodness.  And so, we plan an annual camping trip and hope for the best.

If you’re considering a family camping excursion, here are a few tips:

Reserve a Campsite.  Some of the best campsites in the West are available on a first-come basis, which is great for adventurers without kids, but a little stressful when you’re traveling with young campers.  

When we pulled into the Pinyon Flats Campground at the Great Sand Dunes National Park this summer, it was nice to see a placard with our name next to a reserved campsite.  When our kids are older, we might be willing to wing it more…but not just yet.  You can research and reserve a campsite at a national park on recreation.gov.

Car Camp.  When you think of the most idyllic campsite, you might picture your tent pitched in a grassy meadow alongside a bubbling brook far from other people and modern amenities.  But those places are tough to get to, especially with kids.

So, for the time being, we’re camping at car-accessible campsites.  Sure, you’ll have camping neighbors at nearby campsites, but our kids quickly made friends with the family next to us.  And, best of all, you don’t need to lug all of your gear miles into the woods.  It’s nice to have a home base with your car nearby your campsite.

Prepare Your Meals Ahead of Time.  There’s nothing like a hot meal cooked over a camp stove.  Removed from everyday comforts, a hot meal is such a treat outdoors.  But it’s really not necessary, especially when you have kiddos running around the campground.

We cook pasta salad ahead of time and bring plenty of fruits, jerkies, and nuts.  Packing a cooler ahead of time makes mealtime so much easier.  Of course, we still “cook” one item over a fire — roasted marshmallows for smores!

Bring Your Kid’s Favorite Blanket or Stuffed Animal.  Kids love having a little piece of home with them inside the tent — it’s comforting for them and, hopefully, helps you all get a good night sleep! Our kids snuggle with their Companion Blankets, adding a touch of softness to the crispness of a nylon sleeping bag.

Wear Merino Wool! We carefully select a super soft merino wool fabric as the soulful base of everything we make, but don't let its softness fool you -- our merino offerings are high-performance clothing too.  Naturally anti-microbial, temperature-regulating, and moisture-wicking, our merino tees, shorts, and hoodies will keep your little one active and cozy on a camping trip.  And, coming September 15th, our long john jammies will make moms and dads envious of their comfy little kids.

An Olympic Lesson

When we dream, we often dream of a victory, of an accomplishment, of reaching our wildest hopes and aspirations.

But no one dreams of coming up injured in the biggest race of your life.

That’s what happened to Derek Redmond in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.  The British runner led the 400-meter finals midway through, but then his dream shattered when his hamstring cruelly snapped.

He immediately grabbed the back of his leg and went down on one knee.  Medics rushed to his aide, but he shrugged them off.

He hobbled onto his one good leg and struggled forward to finish the race.  That’s when his dad ran onto the track and told his son, “I’m here, son.  We’ll finish together.”

With a father supporting his injured son, the two men crossed the finish line and fell into each other’s arms, tears flowing.  The elder Redmond later said, “I'm the proudest father alive. I’m prouder of him than I would have been if he had won the gold medal.”

With the Olympics in full swing and medal counting underway, we love this story for its heart and soul, for the love between a parent and child, for the courageous human act of trying, for the humble pride of finishing even when victory is out of reach.

We all want our kids to succeed and reach their life goals, big and small.  But we also want our kids to trust the journey, and recognize that our human spirit can carry us to beautiful yet unexpected places.

As Derek Redmond’s experience shows us, life’s hardships sometimes pop up when we least want them to.  But in the midst of those hardships, if we can find the spirit to persevere like the Redmonds, then we will have attained something beautiful and worth celebrating.  

We will have attained an expression of love in its purest form.

And so, we hope that our kids measure their self-worth by effort, dedication, and love, not just by results. We hope that they are grateful for the successes in their lives and strong enough to overcome the disappointments. 

And we hope that, when they need us, we’ll be there to help pick them up and walk across the finish line together.

Seeing the world through fresh eyes

When we talk about the fresh eyes of childhood, it’s usually a metaphor.  But in truth, scientists tell us that our brains actually prime our eyes for what we are about to see.  

Think of it as a mental shortcut: the eyes oftentimes see what the brain expects, thus saving us the time and energy from visually scanning and processing our entire environment.

As adults, we’ve seen and experienced much. Our minds have a database of experiences to prime our vision — to give us a sense of what to expect.

But kids don’t have that database yet. They rely on their vision to see and experience the world.    Our kids are awash in new experiences, creating memories, exploring the world, and processing the richness of their environments.  

It’s one reason why, as parents, we love to see the world through our children’s eyes — and that’s because we are pausing to see the world for what it is instead of what we expect.  It’s thrilling to see the world through fresh eyes.  It’s a gift that our children give to us.

And it’s also why we love to follow our kids’ leads.  A few weeks back, we camped at the Great Sand Dunes National Park and explored the dunes with our kids.

When we approached the dunes with their towering mounds of soft sand reaching 750 feet high, we followed our three-year-old twins.  They ran up and down the soft mounds, grabbed fistfuls of sand and watched the grains disappear through their fingers, and just explored this totally unique landscape.

Before we had kids, we’d been to the sand dunes, so we knew what to expect this time around.  Our eyes didn’t have to wildly scan the surroundings to take it all in.

But following our children around the dunes allowed us to see them again with fresh eyes, to appreciate nature's wonder, and to focus on beauty that we might’ve otherwise looked.  We're pretty thankful for the world we see through the fresh eyes of childhood.

Camping with Kids at the Great Sand Dunes National Park

“Whatever happens, don’t bail.”

That was the advice from my outdoorsy brother who feels most at home and at peace hiking into a mountainous wilderness and staking a tent somewhere off the grid.

But that’s not exactly us.  Truth be told, we prefer a mountain cabin — four walls, comforting wood stove, and a bed — to the ruggedness of a tent.  

And so, when I told my brother last year that we were taking our two-year-old twins camping for a night in Evergreen, Colorado (just 30 minutes from our home), he gave me simple advice: “whatever happens, don’t bail.”  In other words, don’t pack up your tent and drive the family back home at the first sign of distress!

Well, we made it with flying colors through our first camping trip in Evergreen last year, despite a very loud donkey at a nearby farm that “hee-hawed” throughout the night.

With one successful night under the stars to our credit, we ventured out farther this year — to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in southwestern Colorado.  Arriving in the afternoon, we set up our campsite and headed straight into the Sand Dunes.

What are the Great Sand Dunes?  Mountains of sand as soft as you’ll find at any beach, sculpted by wind to form peaks reaching 750 feet high.  We didn’t expect to hike very far into the Dunes because we thought our kids would soon say: “Carry me! My little legs are tired.”

But something happened…they outpaced us up the Sand Dunes.  Half-running, half-scooting up and down mounds of sand, they quickly reached a sandy peak and then another and then another.  It was one of those rare moments as a parent where you sit back and smile, knowing that your planning and hopes aligned for a brief moment.

Of course, on the hike back to our campsite, we carried our kids a good ways, but we were all in good spirits after exploring the Dunes.  I started a fire (a primal source of pride for any dad), while Sarah de-sanded the kiddos before dinner.

And then the wind started.  At first, it was just a minor annoyance when it became impossible to sit near the fire without smoke rapidly changing directions into whichever area we placed our camping chairs.

But the real fun started when we crawled into our tent for the night.  The wind intensified, making our nylon tent ripple and wave like a flag.  And then came the wind-blown sand, working its way through the vents of our tent and covering us in a thin layer of sand.

Sarah and I looked at each other, both of us wondering if it made sense to spend the night in a hotel in nearby Alamosa, Colorado.  And then I remembered my brother’s advice: whatever happens, don’t bail.  

We didn’t bail.  We made it through a windy, sand-filled night with our kids sleeping better than mommy and daddy.  

When we awoke with the sun, it was a perfectly still morning — no wind and clear blue skies.  We crawled out of our sandy tent to bask in the crisp morning air and enjoy bagels for breakfast. 

But instead, swarms of hungry mosquitoes awaited us.  They too liked the still morning air.

Sarah and I looked at each other for a second time: should we head into town for breakfast?  But again, we didn’t bail.

Instead, we hiked a few hundred yards from the forested buggy campgrounds to the soft sands of the Dunes, where no mosquitoes buzzed.  We laid down a mat in the sand, felt the warmth of the sun, and enjoyed a family breakfast in the quiet stillness and majesty of the Sand Dunes.

And I smiled.  Without the winds, there would be no Sand Dunes.  Without the mosquitoes, we wouldn’t have enjoyed a breakfast picnic in the Sand Dunes.

We’re glad we didn’t bail.  In camping and in life, the rough spots sometimes pave the way for happiness.

Our breakfast during a crisp cool morning at the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

// kiddos pictured wearing our merino hoodies and beanies.