Hi @REI-JohnJ !! My kids are now 3 and 6. How are you currently getting outside with your kids? What activities are you participating in? We have been participating in 1000 Hours Outdoors this year and have less than 20 hours left of the challenge!! This organization/campaign is awesome, definitely worthy of a quick look-see. We are getting out while homeschooling mostly. Covid had forced our hand down the path and we've fully embraced it at this point. We take our entire school day into the forest at least once a week. We do road trips around Oregon and Washington and bring the schooling! National monuments, parks, forest... fantastic supports for homeschoolers (and all humans!) for education. We are camping, road tripping, hiking, backpacking, kayaking!, and completed one bikepacking trip this summer. What motivates you to go outside with your kids? A life lived outdoors in never a life wasted. If there's any hope in saving this planet, it's in showing our children how vital, beautiful, and amazing it is. I grew up camping with my dad, he passed suddenly 4 years ago and that hit me very VERY hard. It also made me even more determined to give my children the connection to our planet that I experienced. What are some of the challenges to getting outside with your kids? Full disclosure... my husband doesn't share this passion. My biggest challenge is doing it alone, or rather as a solo adult. Taking my 6 year old daughter into the backcountry alone took some bravery. Taking a 6 year old and 3 year old on a bikepacking trip, patience. Road tripping, dispersed camping, and seeing all 3 units of the John Day Fossil Beds this summer, ok that took lots of things. What kinds of gear and clothing are your kids using? Is it more general purpose or specifically designed for an activity? We have the exact gear we need to get the job done and make experience easier and better in the process. Less is more. Lighter is more. Easy enough for a young child to operate is essential. On trip this last weekend our Exped Synmat duo sprung the worlds smallest leak and I'm devastated. I'd love to bring it in to REI and get help finding this suggestion of a hole... it lost enough air that I couldn't sleep comfortably but my 42 lb 6 year old slept on it the next night and didn't notice a thing (reinflated)! I have 2 tents, a Kelty Rumpus 4 and a Big Agnes Tiger Wall Platinum 3... If that tells you anything... are we in a campground or the backcountry? We LOVE LOVE LOVE our Reima rain bibs and REI kids rainshell coats... we live in Oregon. I shop REI year round to find all the garage sale items and outlet deals. We just HAVE to stay dry out there... If we're dry, I can keep us warm. At this point I've got us so well dialed in that I now buy the same items in the next size they need and don't mess around with trying out something else (now if REI toddler rain shells would come with velcro straps on the wrists hahaha!!).
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