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What You Need To Consider Before Overlanding With Family

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Spending time with the family as you venture out into the world creates great memories to share later. But before you hit the road and stray from the beaten path, there are some parts of your journey to consider. Read on to learn what to consider before overlanding with your family and make a great family trip into the wilderness.

The Weather

One of the most crucial parts of any overlanding trip is the forecast. Consider the weather you and your family will experience on the trip and determine what you need to prepare for it. Thunderstorms may cause slick mud, which presents risks of sliding on steep grades or getting stuck.

Heat waves may tucker out the kids and increase the chance of heat stroke if you have inadequate hydration or cooling methods. Look ahead at the forecast to avoid storms or dangerous weather. Mother Nature is unpredictable, but having a better idea of what the meteorologist foresees will increase your chances of having a decent trip with your loved ones.

Packing

Depending on the size of your family, packing may be a tricky objective. Storing numerous bags, food, and people in one vehicle may be a challenge, and it’s an important part to consider before overlanding with family. You’ll have an easier time packing if you have a larger, more reliable vehicle like a camper, van, or SUV.

For example, a number of overlanding upgrades for your VW SUV can help with cargo considerations, such as a rear-mounted cargo carrier. Add a makeshift storage shelf that increases carrying capacity and organization with an extra storage level.

Roof racks will also help you carry more items on top of the vehicle and save elbow room for the family inside. Consider every way to utilize space in the vehicle for an easier time packing and transporting cargo.

Your Route

Although overlanding is about exploring, you still need to have a route for the journey. There are a finite number of paths available when you go off-roading. These paths are marked on other maps by overlanders who’ve charted them.

Choose the best routes for your family overlanding trip that provide a clear way into uncharted areas and back home. Do your best to stay near the path as you test new paths and chart new courses for other overlanders.

It’s always a great feeling to get outdoors with your family, and exploring the world is an excellent journey the kids will love. Consider these parts of your overlanding journey and keep everyone safe and ready for adventure.

Outdoor Family Excursions To Try This Summer

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Can you believe it’s summer already? It’s finally time to hit the road for family fun and create unforgettable memories. This summer, you should make it a priority to spend more time outdoors. You can do many things, such as fishing by the lake or biking with the kiddos. So pack the sunscreen, bring the Bluetooth speaker, and gather some snacks because we’re about to go on an adventure! Keep reading for a few outdoor family excursions to try this summer to make this break unforgettable.

Go Fishing With the Family

Spend your summer by a body of water! Relax with your family at a nearby lake, spring, or beach. And for an activity to do during this excursion, consider fishing. This is a great way to educate your children about the natural habitat while teaching boat and fishing safety. You can end the day retreating to land to have a nice picnic, reminiscing on all the big fish you caught!

Plan a Camping Adventure

Another great way to spend the summer break with your family is to plan a camping adventure. Camping is a wonderful time for your family to bond and tell silly fireside stories. Building a campfire and toasting marshmallows while gazing at the stars is a classic way to kick off the summer season.

If your child isn’t ready to head out to the campsites, you can host a camping adventure in your backyard! You can create the same camping experience in the comfort of your property. Bonus points if you set up an outdoor movie screen for a summer movie night.

Go on a Summer Hunting Trip

Another fun outdoor family excursion to try this summer is going on a hunting trip. If your family is interested in hunting, there are various opportunities around the country to try it. From feral hog hunting in Texas to squirrel hunting in Michigan, you can find a challenge for you and your family. Florida is also a great option because it offers year-round hunting and invasive species hunting challenges during the summer. To plan a family hunting trip to Florida, do some research and get the proper licensing and permits.

Bond With the Family Over a Hike

Challenge your family to complete a beginner hiking trial. Immerse yourself in the beauty of nature while walking along family-friendly paths. Keep things simple and go for trails that are shorter distances. Be sure to pack lots of water, snacks, and sunscreen. Also, ensure your kiddos stay on the path to prevent accidents or injuries. You can make the hike a nature scavenger hunt or environmental lesson. Either way, hiking is a memorable experience for the whole family.

Fun Ways To Increase Your Kids’ Physical Activity

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It’s unfortunate that many kids today don’t live as active of a life as they should. Physical activity is incredibly important, as it helps promote a long and happy life with fewer health risks. Moreover, staying physically active also provides us with endorphins that help us maintain our mood and stress levels. However, encouraging our children to get off the couch can be difficult—especially when we have to compete with streaming services, social media, video games, and so much more. But there’s no need to worry since there are many fun ways to increase your kids’ physical activity.

Work Out With Them

Some kids like to imitate what their parents do. While that can be intimidating, it’s also a great opportunity to show by doing. If you work out and maintain an active lifestyle, so will they, as they want to be just like you. As such, you might consider taking them along for one of your workouts. Or if you’re looking to get active yourself, you can start together by working out with them.

Make It a Craft

If your kids are more interested in crafts, you can still prompt them to move by mixing the two together. But how does this work? You can start with a fun craft like making a rocket out of pool noodles. In fact, there are a couple of exciting pool noodles activities for kids to do and interact with. Once they finish their rocket, you can head outside and toss it around. They’ll have so much fun chasing after the rocket and trying their hardest to throw it as far as possible to see it fly.

Try a Silly Game

Of course, a fun way to increase your kids’ physical activity is to do so without them noticing. That’s where a silly game always comes in handy. You can make up a fun game where you prompt them to find the nearest orange object as quickly as possible. Or you can head to your local arcade and entice them with a game of Dance Dance Revolution. These are incredibly fun yet physically demanding activities they’ll enjoy doing so much that they won’t even realize they’re breaking a sweat.

Fun Activities That the Whole Family Can Do

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Having a family is incredibly exciting, but finding something everyone can do together can be hard. There’s always one person who isn’t interested in the particular activity or gets left out, and then no one has a good time. You need to find some activities that everyone can do together and enjoy all at the same time. Read on to learn about some fun activities that the whole family can do together.

Play a Board Game

Everyone has played a board game at one point or another, but playing one as a family can be a little different. Everyone in your family probably has different preferences due, in part, to their age. The older kids may want to play something more complex than the younger kids, so it can be hard to find the right game at first. However, with that said, trying out many different games can be lots of fun. Sure, there will be some duds here and there, but that won’t ruin the evening. The fun comes with finding the right game for you. Once you do, you’ll have years of game nights that everyone looks forward to!

Go Off-Roading

Off-roading is a fun activity that almost anyone can do, and it’s an experience no one will forget. Whether you have a Jeep or a Toyota, you must prepare it for your off-roading adventure to ensure that everyone stays safe and has fun. Then, it’s smooth sailing from there! Everyone can pile into the car while you go on some unique trails and view sights that no one in your family has seen before. However, you must remember that going off-roading also means the experience will be a little bumpy or uncomfortable. Listen to everyone and slow down when necessary to keep everyone happy and feeling good!

Have a Movie Night

While everyone in your family may like some different movies, that doesn’t mean you can’t all enjoy the evening watching one together! Creating a movie night is exciting. And having multiple gives everyone a chance to choose a film they enjoy. Order some pizza, make some popcorn and drinks, and then settle in for a cozy evening. Since you’re the parent, you should probably let the kids pick the movies on most weekends to ensure they stay entertained. However, at the end of the month, the parent’s movies can come out, and you can show your kids some of your favorite films of all time!

The whole family can have fun with these activities and not feel left out! Of course, every family is different, so you shouldn’t just do these activities without listening to the opinions of everyone in your family. Take their opinions and figure out what works best for everyone!

How To Start Learning About Your Family’s Genealogy

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It’s amazing to think about the long lines of ancestors we have that we don’t even know about—these are the people we have to thank for us being here on Earth. We’ve all seen popular companies that promise to tell us about our genes using small samples of our DNA. These companies can provide pretty accurate assessments of our genes, but they can’t tell us much about the actual people who got us here.

Thankfully, that’s where the study of genealogy comes in handy. If you want to cure your curiosity and learn more about your family’s genealogy, this is how to start. The best part is that your kids will love this activity and feel excited to learn about where they came from.

Start Your Family Tree

You can easily include your kids in this part. Start with a large piece of construction paper and markers, and have the kids make the tree as you fill it out. This part is to help you get a better understanding of what you already know and what you still need to learn about your family. Start with yourself, and go as far back as you can. Before long, your family tree will look like a puzzle you can’t wait to solve.

Gather Everything

The next step in learning about your family’s genealogy is to gather every family document you can find. No piece of information is too small, so gather diaries, photographs, letters, baby books, and newspaper clippings. These bits of data will help you connect emotionally with your ancestors and give you a great starting place to delve into your research.

Request Records

You can actually request family records from the government. This is a great option if you know or believe your more recent ancestors immigrated to the United States. Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, you can obtain their immigration records and learn all about when and where your ancestors arrived.

Home Improvement Projects You Can Do With Your Kids

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It’s always a good idea to teach your children valuable new skills. Sometimes when you have some projects around the house that need doing, it’s a good idea to involve your kids. Of course, several projects that require heavy equipment or sharp instruments may not be the best place to start, but here are some home improvement projects that you can do with your kids to get them started.

Installing a New Doorknob

Whether you’re remodeling, upgrading, or just replacing a knob that’s giving you trouble, installing a new doorknob is a great DIY project for younger kids to gauge their interest. Typically, the only tools you need are screwdrivers that match the necessary screws and a little patience. This is an excellent project because it’s relatively low risk, and if your child makes a mistake, it’s easy to take the screws out and try again.

Measuring Home Skirting

If you live in a mobile home, your house probably has skirting to protect your pipes from external damage related to weather or temperature. Unfortunately, weather can beat up the skirting, and it eventually needs replacing. The full replacement may be a bit too much for small builders, but one way your kids can help with this project is in the preparation.

Many kids love playing with the tape measure. Before replacing your skirting, it’s a good idea to measure the length and width of the exterior of your home and put it into an online skirting calculator. Have your kid grab the tape measure and run it to the other side of the house, allowing you to get the correct numbers. The kids feel involved, and you save a bit of running.

Lawn Care

Maintaining a proper lawn or garden is a valuable step in home care. Depending on your kids’ age, you could show them how to use a lawnmower or focus on watering the grass to keep your yard looking fresh and clean. Learning how to care for a lawn or garden is a great home improvement project for your kids and gets them outside now and then. If you use a sprinkler to water the lawn, offering a bit of summertime fun running through it is a great motivator.

How Important Are Backpacks in Children’s Lives?

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Backpacks serve purposes beyond tugging around your things. They also become a personal item you carry along as if they were an appendage.

We must understand how backpacks play a significant role in child development and why they are necessary throughout childhood and into young adulthood. This article covers how important backpacks are in children’s lives.

Bridging the Gap

A lot changes when a child becomes old enough to go to school. There is a huge difference between home, which is all a child knows, and school, which is new and exciting. As great as school can be, they still need that comfort. Backpacks provide that comfort because they are a part of home that you can take with you.

This helps to ease them into the world early on. Kids also like to compare details about their backpacks with their peers. They become topics for conversation. Through backpacks, bonds and friendships are made.

Keeping Organized

It’s hard, if not downright impossible, for a child to keep everything together. This is why backpacks are so necessary. If you can keep all your things and resources together, you will be successful in school.

Holding Belongings

Backpacks hold more than just books and papers. They also hold a child’s nearest and dearest possessions, like their favorite toys or clothes. Snacks and lunches are also another huge thing that keep kids going throughout the day. Backpacks are perfect for this reason.

If kids use them properly, backpacks do a wonderful job of maintaining their motivation. When you shop for a backpack, make sure you search for the ones with the best quality.

Now that we have opened the discussion, we can easily see how important backpacks are in children’s lives. It is something that goes with them everywhere. Of course, it’s important that we recognize this as we grow older so that we remember how important they still are!