What’s special about the horizon line?
It’s where everything comes together. The horizon is where the sky meets the sea, deserts meet rivers, and mountains meet the clouds. New beginnings spread in all directions, just waiting for you to come check them out.
The best part about the horizon is that it’s constantly changing. From light to dark, jagged to smooth, the line evolves as our perspective shifts.
Our family strives to live on that line. Not just the physical horizon, which is both beautiful and challenging. But also the spiritual and cultural horizons, where people and ideas intersect.
The name of this blog reflects how we live: on the edge, always moving, reaching a little farther toward that rising sun.
Our story
We met in Missoula, Montana in 2005. Rob was wearing a rasta-striped hat and stuffing pizza in his mouth. Brianna was walking barefoot on the sidewalk, coveting his pizza. We became fast friends. Four years later, we became more than friends.
In 2010, Bri told Rob she’d always wanted to sail across the Pacific. So we saved money. Got married. Made googly-eyes at enticing maps of tropical islands. Then in 2013 we quit our jobs, sold most of our stuff, and rented out the house for a few years.
Our year-long voyage across the South Pacific Ocean cost almost nothing, since we crewed on other people’s sailboats. We also learned a ton about bluewater sailing. After visiting a dozen different countries, swimming with hundreds of sharks, and eating our weight in mangoes, we posted up for several months in the Kingdom of Tonga.
Talon was made in Tonga.
That’s when the adventure got real.
Settling back into American middle-class suburbia was the roughest leg of our trip. Returning to bills, a mortgage, and responsibility with a capital ‘R’…well, it felt overwhelming, to say the least.
Our first reaction was to leave again. Set sail somewhere, anywhere. But the bank accounts barred the way, and reality slapped us in the face with the fact we need to stay put for a while. At least until the coffers refill and the baby gets all of his vaccinations.
I hope you’ll join me as I chronicle the daily disasters and triumphs of being a new mom who sometimes feels like a square peg jammed in a round hole. These stories will include the many misadventures of modern-day parenting, and full admissions of mistakes made along the way.
So we shifted course, traveling for a few months in Southeast Asia before heading home to explore a brand-new horizon: parenting.
It took some getting used to. Like: how do you deal with diapers during a three-day backpack? Or: are we insane to take a toddler canoeing next to crocodiles? We figured it out, though. And even decided to have another kid! Lyra was born in 2018. Like her brother, she was a champion tent-camper as an infant and was sailing with us to tropical islands before she was even six months old.
have appeared in The Washington Post, BBC, Outside, Backpacker, Mamalode, Scary Mommy, Working Mother, and High Country News. Read some of her recent stories:
Rob is a photographer, outdoorsman, and all-around Mr. Fix-It (or, as our friends call him, “MacGyver of the woods”). He works for Trout Unlimited conserving rivers and streams.
When we found out we were having Talon, we were living on a sailboat in the Kingdom of Tonga. Shortly after squealing in glee, we made a pact to keep adventuring with our kiddos in tow.
Four years later, Lyra came along, and we kept heading outside together. As often as we could. Sometimes to the local playground and sometimes to the top of a mountain.
Exploring outside makes us happier.
As we learned how to bring our children along on adventures, we made plenty of mistakes along the way. It wasn’t (and still isn’t!) always easy. But it’s always (always!) worth it.
All four of us are happier when we play outside, whether it’s ice-skating on the pond near our home or a three-day fishing and floating adventure in the wilderness.
Through the years, we’ve created systems that make each outing go more smoothly, and taken careful notes on the best places to bring kids each season.
Now we want to share the lessons we’ve learned with all of you. The goal of “Adventure Families” is to help parents bring their kids outside.
Life is more fun outside.
Swinging from branches, wading through streams. Hiking and biking, skiing and sledding. Watching birds or going fishing. Rafting, sailing, climbing and puddle-jumping.
The sky’s the limit for ways that families can play together outdoors! And Adventure Families is here to help. We’re building a community and resources for parents who like to get outside.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain sums it up best:
Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn’t do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.