My New Favorite Hang Out

I am so excited to talk about what might be one of my new obsessions...maybe not on the caliber of my Disney obsession, but it's up there. I'm talking about, my hammock!

Back in August, Jared and I went up to his family's reunion up in Pennsylvania. They live in Amish country. It was one of those times where I actually felt like a grown up because they actually let us rent a car from the airport and drive it three hours into the country. One of the favorite stores to visit while we are out there is called Peight's. It's kinda like Amish Walmart but the food quality is way better and the goods are much cheaper. One of those goods we bought was a hammock for $15. It's tiny and made of cotton rope but we finally got it put up on our back porch a few months after the trip at it quickly became one of my favorite spots. I love going out there and doing my quiet time. Reading my Bible and drinking my coffee is way better when enjoying the fresh air and letting the wind rock you back and forth.

Loving my hammock from PA

One issue is that it's a one person hammock. So if Jared and I wanted to hang out on the back porch, we didn't have two hammocks to hang out in. So inevitably, we would end up on opposite sides of the porch...one in the hammock and one at the patio furniture.

Fast forward to Christmas. REI was having a sale on their ENO hammocks and so I went ahead and bought one for Jared. It's a double hammock so I knew it would actually fit his tall frame unlike the Amish hammock would. He was very excited about it. And I have a live photo to prove it.

Jared with his new hammock!

Problem is, after Christmas is winter. Not hammock weather. So fast forward to spring when we finally get to try it out. Then Jared get's an idea.

"You know, there's all these cool hammock tents that they make for backpacking. We could use them and go backcountry in the woods and it would be so much more comfortable then sleeping on the ground in the tent."

Thus, a whole new adventure unfolded.

I give Jared credit. He did his research. He scoured YouTube for the best hammock set ups, things to think about, quality reviews, etc. He landed on a company called Sierra Madre Research. Not only are they great quality, but they also help provide clean water to communities that don't have access. Their story is actually one to check out and it is definitely worth your time.

So after watching all the youtube links that Jared sent me I finally got a sense for what he was wanting to do. And I was game. Skeptical...but game.

We then invested in a second hammock (the Pares from Sierra Madre), even bigger than the one from ENO that works with Sierra Madre Research's design. It's big enough for both of us if we only wanted to take one hammock and not bunk (good idea for cold weather, but not for hot). It came in a great package and I immediately went and set it up out on the porch. It was certainly super comfy. But it's one thing to set it up on your porch and a completely different thing to camp with it.

Loving how it folds up so small!

Testing it out on the porch! This thing is huge!

But we are people of planning (haha) and since we already had a camping trip down to Brenham planned, we just figured we would test out our set up as well. Jared learned what knots we needed to tie (I'm still working on that). And let me tell ya, it worked great!

I found it very comfortable. I made a couple of bug nets to go around the hammocks thanks to an instructable I found and Jared used a tarp to keep rain off us. We experienced two good solid Texas storms while out there but we were nice and dry. Duchess finally learned that under the tarp was better than outside the tarp. I was super comfortable. Jared read that when you sleep in a hammock, your back gets cold because of the thin hammock fabric. So before we left, he had me run to Home Depot while he was on a trip and buy Refectix, an insulator that they sometimes use in attics. It reflects 95% of your body heat back to you and we could definitely tell a difference when we slept on it in the hammock vs. not. I put my sleeping bag on top of that with our small camping pillow and I slept great, despite the storms going on.

Jared with our set up (tarp off at this point)

Speaking of which, that was another place we saw the hammock system really excel. Even though they weren't being good neighbors, we helped out the boy scout troop that pulled in next to us the second night we were out there. The morning after the biggest storm, they were talking about how their tents got flooded. The way the campsites were configured, we would have gotten flooded too because of where all the water was flowing. In a hammock, we didn't have to worry about that as we were off the ground and had made a homemade gear back to keep our stuff off the ground too.

So all in all, I'm sold. We are investing in a legit hammock tent set up called the Nube from Sierra Madre. The 2.0 version comes out June 2016. We plan on taking this set up with us when we go to the Smokies this year and even to Yosemite if the terrain is favorable. And, we figured if we have it, we might as well use it at Disney World since we are staying at the campgrounds for our trip!



Until then, you will find us on our back porch, in the hammock together. Saturday afternoon we had a wonderful nap in the hammock while a small cold front came in and a gentle rain was coming down. So peaceful. These are the moment's I'll remember.

Geocaching Trip to Brenham, TX

In case you want to watch our trip and not read...here is the Go Pro footage from the weekend! While these videos were primarily used for scrapbooking purposes, if you would like to see the places we got to go, you can check out the youtube playlist for this trip below!

So as explained last week, Jared and I went on a camping trip to Brenham where we also attended a Geocaching Mega Event. This was our first ever event of this type and we were very excited!

First of, we ended up camping at Nails Creek State Park. It's not my favorite State Park ever, but it does has a very long trail that goes all the way around the west side of the lake. It's almost 30 miles long if I can remember. Jared and I walked four miles of it the last time we were here. It was pretty, but nothing too memorable.

What was interesting is that they had many of the camping spots closed down because of flooding. So all the available spots were equestrian locations. We picked one in the back corner where there was a little bit of privacy. Good thing too. While we were alone on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday we had almost a whole suburb of people join us. They were blasting music and talking really loud. I honestly don't understand why people do that. It's so inconsiderate and personally against everything I believe camping is about.

Anyhow.

The Geocaching event taking place was hosted by the Texas Geocaching Association. It is an Amazing Race style competition where they hide around 100 geocaches in the area. There are regional teams (think North Texas, Central Texas, East Texas, etc) and those team race to see how many geocaches they can find over the course of three or four hours. There's special points awarded for teams that find geocaches first and things like that. It was a very cool concept.

Geocachers celebrate milestones with coins. Here's our coin from the event!

While we understand that Jared and I are abnormalities for work schedules, we were a little surprised at the demographics of the group. There were hardly any 20-somethings there and mostly older, retirees at the festival. Also, there seemed to be a ton of people that were more interested in drinking than doing geocaching. So much for making new friends that we would want to hang out with.

First event of the weekend.

One thing that was very awesome though is that Brenham and Washington County have a geotour, where they have a list of geocaches at interesting or historical places that you should visit. Theirs included the place where the Texas Declaration of Independence was signed, the cute little town of Chappell Hill, the original location of Baylor University up in Independence and the church where Sam Houston was baptized. We also got to see the location of Sam Houston's house. While it put several miles on the Jeep, the tour itself was incredible. The weather was impeccable and we loved driving through the country side with all the bluebonnets starting to bloom. We got a really cool geocoin for completing the tour (you get clues in each geocache that you then have to write on a "passport") and we loved seeing all the cool historical spots and shops in town.

Bluebonnets in bloom at Washington on the Brazos

On the porch of a store in Chappell Hill where we had to
walk up and down Main Street to solve a lab cache.

Antique carrousel in Brenham

Location where they signed the Texas Declaration of Independence

Example of a clue in the geocache!

Up in Independence at the site of Sam Houston's house (it's actually across the street from us)

 Speaking of cool shops in town, we of course had to stop at Blue Bell while we were there. There was a cool pottery place as well and of course, the airport!

Blue Bell!

Our crew grabbing a cache at a winery!

The other thing that was very cool at the event was the introduction of Lab Caches. These are geocaches that are only available for a certain amount of time (in this case, the weekend of the event) and were field puzzles you had to complete. They ended up coinciding with many of the geotour spots so we were able to complete them in a reasonable amount of time. However, it was sad to see that on the leaderboard, there was a ton of cheating. Someone completed the puzzle in 0h0m. Hmmmmmm.....

Our congrats message for completing the lab caches!

However disappointing our fellow humans can be sometimes, we loved the lab caches and the tour. These were actually the highlights for us as the event seemed a little disorganized with a lack of information and communication to those wanting to come see what it was all about.

Next on the blog, I really want to share our new obsession, hammocks! So look for that in the next week or so!

Details about our hammock system next week!

Starting a Fire

Candlelight services remind me of how powerful a little light can be.

A couple of weekends ago Jared and I got the chance to go camping! As I've said in previous blogs, I love camping so much. It allows us both to get away and gain perspective on all the stuff that goes on in life.

On this particular trip, we actually tried out our new hammocks! Which was helpful since it stormed two out of the three nights we stayed and tents in neighboring campsites apparently flooded. Just another perk of hammock camping, which I will probably elaborate on in a future post.

But something Jared and I talked about was actually how hard it is to make a fire. We have become quite good at it over the years, but it's not as easy as everyone thinks.

First you have to have something that starts the fire. Your standard match or lighter would be typical here. You would use that to start the fire with something that catches fire quick. They have little sticks that you can use. Pine needles, lint, cardboard, all would be those quick catching fire starters that would work really well.

Then you have to have small twigs that can catch the fire. These need to be small, dry pieces of wood that will not catch fire as easily as the fire starter but will hold a fire longer.

Finally, you get to medium sized logs. Again, not catch fire as easily but will stay lit much longer. And last but not least, the big logs.

What I told Jared while making our fires this last camping trip is that this can be applied to ministry building. I hear so many people say, "It just takes a spark to get a fire going!" But it also takes a ton of prep work and tending in order to keep it going. If you try to do ministry with just the flame starter, you will burn out in seconds. If you try to jump from the fire starter to the big logs, the big logs will never catch fire. Then, if you don't keep adding wood to the fire, the fire will eventually burn out.

Ministries are callings that God has given to those who believe in Him. It starts with a fire starter, Jesus, who give that fire to us, his beloved. When we receive this fire of faith we are saved. Then God usually gives us a calling. A fire to build. But if that person cannot do the work that it takes to keep the fire going, the calling will never be the shining light that a dark world so desperately needs.

So whether you work in full time ministry or you are a pilot like my husband who talks about Jesus to whomever is in the cockpit with him, you have a calling. You are meant to be a fire to those who are looking for light. Do the work of pursuing Jesus and keeping the fire alive and let's change our world with the love of Jesus.

Camping at Enchanted Rock State Park!

A couple of weekends ago I got to go on a fantastic trip with two of my very best friends, Ashley and Amy! We backpacked around Enchanted Rock State Park and had a blast!

Up at the top of Enchanted Rock!

We hiked, had great girl talk, had to take a trip to Fredericksburg for a stove malfunction, and also did some geocaching!

GPS was vital as we didn't have cell service for a lot of the weekend.

Found a benchmark at the top of the rock!

This tree looks like a Toucan! 

For the full scoop (and to see my friend Amy's fantastic doodles) you can check out the electronic scrapbook here!

Camping at Dinosaur Valley!

Every year for my birthday we go on a camping trip. There is something about getting out in nature and disconnecting for a while that makes me happy! So we packed up the car and headed out to Glenrose, TX and Dinosaur Valley!

Nothing like some dinosaur models to greet you as you enter the park!

In 1908 there was a massive flooding in the Paluxy river where old fossilized tracks were uncovered by years of heavy sediment. A year later, a man named George Adams found large, three-toed tracks. We now know these to be theropod tracks. But it wasn't until 20 years later that a team of archeologists came to study the riverbed and study the tracks. That team found tons of tracks, which then allowed us to understand the hight, gait, migration patterns and, yes, even what hunted other dinosaurs! In the 1970's, the state park was made to help preserve these tracks.

One of the many river bed spots where you can view the tracks. 

These tracks were awesome!

What's also awesome about Dinosaur Valley is they offer primitive camping! We were really excited as we hiked over the river and through the woods, literally, to our camping spot! Part of the trail actually goes along the bottom of a river bed!

All packed up and ready to head out!

I title this one, Mobile-Maddie

Once we got there is was time to make camp. We set up all our gear, ate dinner and watched the stars before we headed to bed. 

Next morning it was time to get up and go geocaching! I was really close to my 400th geocache and so we had a really ambitious goal of getting over 15 caches in two days.

Our little camp!

I am so in love with my little coffee maker!

Hiking along the river bottom

We set off and looked at the dino tracks before hiking up the hill. We found some of the caches on the way!

Spectacular view of the entire park!

Loving the view, weather and company!

Went to this really cool spot as a virtual cache where we had to hike down a gully to get to the water fall!

We hiked all the way over to the other side of the park and found a cache placed way back in 2001! These are really rare and it was cool to read all the old logs. We then found a nice shady spot and ate lunch!

The backpacker's way of preparing lunch!

Feeling pretty proud of ourselves so far!

We helped our fellow cachers out by adding new logsheets where the originals were getting full.

We then hiked our way back over to our campsite, finding a couple of really fun natural pools of water (where we happily spashed around for a while), and some wildlife!

Duchess sniffed this guy out and we relocated him away from the trail a bit.
He had covered himself in mud to cool himself off!

We hiked over nine miles day one. But then we realized we were going to have to find some geocaches outside the park to make my goal. So we got in the car quick and found some really cool old cemeteries...and even drove across a river crossing (safely, of course)! It was really cool to see other aspects of the little town and the surrounding countryside.

 We then made it back to our campsite for dinner. We have some pretty fantastic gear that I thought I would share. We found gluten free MRE's from Alpine Aire and they were tasty! Our bugaboo camping pack was perfect and I loved our new sporks that we found at Cabella's. Multifunctional, they didn't sacrifice on the primary function of getting food to my mouth!

Love our little sporks!

Dinner!

Of course, what is camping without S'mores! No ground fires were allowed at our campsite, so we had to opt for gas roasted marshmallows. Also, it's hard to find the gluten free graham crackers we had in Houston. But, we substituted gluten free snickerdoodle cookies and HOLY COW! Incredible!

Roast little marshmallow!

Perfection

Everyone was tired after our day of play, including the geodog. We called for some "In-tents" stretching so we wouldn't be sore the next day!

Tired geodog

"In-tents" stretching!

Next morning we headed out to find two more geocaches on the other side of the park.

We found my 399th geocache!

Then, we sadly had to say goodbye and pack up our campsite.

Butterfly came to say goodbye!

I'm all packed up!

So is Jared!

Now it was just a matter of hiking out! Easier said than done!

River crossing...again!

Putting my balance to the test!

My final geocache of the trip, my 400th, was the Dinosaur Valley Earthcache! So awesome to learn all about the different types of dinosaurs that used to live in Texas!

We loved this camping trip and had so much fun exploring. We see us coming back and enjoying the hiking trails and little rivers all throughout the park as a way to unwind and relax. Super awesome experience. Hope you get to so someday too!