Empty Nest Adventures
Life after the kids are grown
Boy Scouts from a Mom’s Perspective
Posted on September 5, 2017 by Empty Nest Adventures
Both of our sons are Eagle Scouts and I was recently asked to write a post for the national Boy Scout blog, The Voice of Scouting. It was quite an honor, and you can read it here:
https://voiceofscouting.org/one-moms-perspective-on-scouting
Boy Scouts enriched our family in numerous ways. We learned valuable information in many areas, had lots of quality time on camp outs, ski trips, and hikes, and volunteered countless hours in the service to others.
I will be forever grateful to Boy Scouts for its part in helping our sons become the wonderful young men they are today.
Category: UncategorizedTags: Boy Scouts, Colorado, Moms
Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
Hunter S. Thompson
Happy Mother’s Day, friends! Sending love to those of you who, like me, have only memories of our moms. My mom was a west coast, So Cal girl her whole life, but she was an east coast girl at heart. She loved seasons and especially fall colors. Last week I found this park on Long Island. I sat in this spot for quite awhile looking at Connecticut way up there in the distance and thinking about her and how lucky I was to have had her while I did. “You’re only dancing on this earth for a short while...And though you want them to last forever, you know they never will.” #amothersloveneverdies
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#mothersday #newyork #northshorelongisland #missmymom #focusonthegood #emptynestadventures
It’s been a great week in the city but I’m ready to get back to the mountains. #rockymountainhigh
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#colorado #14ers #hiker #highaltitude #optoutside #exploretheworld #getoffthecouch #elevation #emptynestadventures
The Vessel is a must see. You can get same day (free) tickets. We climbed all over that thing because the shadows and time of day make it look different from each vantage point.
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If you love books and reading, like I do, you will love the NY Public Library. Luckily my son is a reader so we brought our books and spent a couple of hours in the reading room. Of course I had to get my library card.
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Holden looked up skating spots in the city and we trekked all the way up to Harlem and North Central Park to discover the city had chunked away the edges of the blocks so people cant skate there. Disappointed. BUT, as we were walking though a subway station, a couple of police offers yelled to Holden, “Hey, it was just Eric Koston’s birthday. Do a kick flip.” (Which is Koston’s signature challenge where you get one chance to nail a kick flip.) So in the middle of a crowded station, Holden successfully completed the challenge. #proudmama
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We didn’t find a skate park, so we just went through Central Park. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom. As the wind blew, it looked like pink snow. I’ve never seen a carpet of pink petals before. And as an unexpected bonus, we ran into my buddy Alexander Hamilton! I’m visiting his home today.
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#nyc #vessel #nypubliclibrary #centralpark #lotsofwalking #manhattan #mothersonvacation #skater #iloveny #bigapple #americathebeautiful #emptynestadventures
One of the things I love most about Instagram is “meeting” people from all over, even though most of them will only remain friends in the virtual world. Yesterday my son and I were lucky enough to meet one of my very first blogger friends, Aixa and her husband, Dan. @moodandmystery It felt like I had known them forever and we were just picking up where we left off. They showed us all around DUMBO, took us on the ferry and even drove us all the way back to Long Island so we didn’t have to take the train late at night. Thank you both for an evening we will always remember. 💗#nyc
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#dumbobrooklyn #newyork #newfriends #exploreyourcountry #foggyweather #brooklynbridge #eastriver #mothersonvacation #bloggers #emptynestadventures
It’s my fourth time here but the first time I’ve flown over the city. It beats the Holland Tunnel. #nyc
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#newyorkcity #freedomtower #911memorial #brooklynbridge #manhattanbridge #williamsburgbridge #manhattan #eastriver #arielphotography #emptynestadventures
Last night my younger son and three of his friends put on a dinner party for 100 people. It was an escape room/mystery/physical challenge/team building event up at a ranch in Rist Canyon. They’ve been working on this since August. Holden was in charge of all the indoor puzzles and would come over to test them out on me periodically. They blew me away with their creativity! I was notified a couple of weeks ago that their head chef had to bail, so I stepped in and with the help of my friend @lscarb2 we pulled it off. Cooking dinner for 100 is no joke. It was so cool seeing all these kids come together to create and participate in something like this. #proudmama
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#coolkids #cleanfun #puzzles #creativity #useyourmind #goodfriends #cookingfor100 #colorado #ristcanyon #emptynestadventures
Throwing it back to when we hiked the Inca Trail a year and a half ago. Those are 500 year old “look out” ruins overlooking Machu Picchu. We just booked our plane tickets for Nepal. I can’t stop singing Cat Stevens. I have a feeling EBC is going to make this traipse through the Andes seem like child’s play. #tbt
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#andes #peru #incatrail #machupicchu #ruins #hiking #trek #highaltitude #ontopoftheworld #wearebutaspeck #abovetheclouds #ancientcivilization #incas #exploretheworld #adventure #beautyinnature #optoutside #takeahike #pushyourself #emptynestadventures
A few years ago I did 23andme. I’ve been contacted by several distant relatives and we’ve been able to figure out who our common ancestor is, but the best one happened a couple months ago. I got an email from a woman named Jennifer and we figured out that my granddad and her grandma were brother and sister. We share a great-grandfather, Benjamin Harrison, whom my son, Gray Harrison is named after. Jennifer told me that she has a mug that my grandma (her grandma’s sister-in-law) had made for our great-grandfather Benjamin Harrison (my grandma’s father-in-law), and she is sending it to me. So, while my husband told 23andme to destroy his DNA because he thinks it’s all a government conspiracy, my DNA has connected me with a family heirloom and a really cool cousin! It’s been fun discovering all we have in common, and pretty funny that we are connected with a lot of the same people on IG. This gorgeous photo is courtesy of my newfound cousin and kindred spirit @msnightfall #mojavedesert *
Swipe to see a photo of my grandma (the maker of the mug) and me. She died when I was 5 and she was only 58. It’s hard not to feel like we both got ripped off. #familyiseverything
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#23andme #cousins #dna #familygenes #hikers #travelers #photographers #adventurers #outdoorlovers #lifeenthusiasts #californiaraised #emptynestadventures
