I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make being outside a priority for Cece, though in her early months I couldn’t articulate why I felt that way.  Giving birth at the very beginning of the covid-19 pandemic made being outside even more of a no-brainer.  There was simply no alternative - no baby and me classes, no coffee shops with other moms, no lunches with old friends, no library story times.  She also has a lot of struggle napping.  So we spent hours a day in her infancy strollering (or babywearing) around our neighborhood.

As the remainder of 2020 came and went, we expanded our outdoor activities to include more people - reconnecting with old friends while pushing the stroller, outdoor coffee meet ups, meeting new moms and connecting with our babies on blankets in our yards.  By the end of 2020 I was hooked on being outside.  

Shortly before the start of 2021 I discovered the 1000 Hours Outside movement which helped solidify my desire to spend as much time as possible outdoors.  Cece started the new year with several new milestones under her belt that made spending time outside easier.  She was sitting up unassisted, crawling, eating solid foods, and was finally properly medicated for her severe GERD.  We spent the year hiking in our local nature preserves, picking berries, enjoying the outdoor children’s museum exhibits, sitting in the botanical garden, discovering the best goat farm, exploring new playgrounds, wading at the lake, attending toddler farm classes, hanging out in our backyard, eating meals on the deck, and still so so many stroller walks on the paved greenway by our house.  As 2021 stretched on, things started shifting back towards “normal” and indoor activities began opening back up.  But I didn’t want to shift with it.  I wanted to stay outside.

At the start of 2022 we picked up a North Carolina State Park passport with the goal of visiting every state park before she went to kindergarten.  In 2021 we happened to hike/play at three state parks very close to our house.  But much like joining the 1000 Hours Outside challenge in 2021, getting the state park passport in 2022 once again propelled our outside time to a whole new level.  We visited six state parks in the first four months of the year, hiking miles in each and collecting our stamps.  I soon realized that we would need to start spending the night nearby in order to make the drives to some of the parks work.  And I figured - we may as well camp in the parks themselves.  I had only been camping twice as a kid, but I felt so confident being outside with Cece for hours on end that I wasn’t intimidated by the idea of extending the time by sleeping outside too.  The first camping attempt, a one mile hike in with borrowed gear, wasn’t technically a success - she just wouldn’t sleep!  But I knew with a little planning and effort we could make it work.  So I bought a bigger tent “for Cece’s birthday” in May 2022 and made our first drive-in camping reservations.  Cece and I went camping five times before the end of the year, visiting four new state parks in the process.  By the end of 2022 Cece was also attending a mostly outdoor farm preschool four mornings a week, further connecting her with the natural world.

(As a side note - my husband, Carter, while incredibly supportive of our adventures, isn’t interested in camping/major hiking himself. And since he works full time and I was a full time stay at home parent - all of our hiking and camping adventures were just Cece and me.)

Friends, old and new, started asking how I was able to camp solo with my 2 year old, take her on long hikes, and spend so much time outside.  Many expressed wanting to take their toddler camping but feeling reluctant without some in-person support.  So with the help of my newest outdoorsy friend, Erin, we planned a group camping trip and invited families with kids under age five to join us.  I spun up the idea of Parenting Off The Beaten Path, and on July 7 2023 we hosted the first Tots in Tents campout at Falls Lake State Park!  We hosted three Tots in Tents campouts that year, helping dozens of families take their young children camping for the first time.

The goal of Parenting Off The Beaten Path is to inspire and support as many parents as possible as they get their kids outside in nature from birth.  I hope this organization will continue to grow and support families by providing resources and education, sharing personal anecdotes, building community, and hosting in person events.

It would be a disservice to paint this picture as nothing but easy, effortless joy in nature.  We both love our time in nature together, but it is hard work, heavy work, emotional work - for both of us!  But the payoff is worth the effort.