I’m a mother of two boys, ages 11 and 15, and a host mother of several exchange students (from Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark). We live in Minnesota, north of the Twin Cities where I am an engineer at a medical device company.
Surrounded by walls at work, my mind often drifts to my next hiking or camping adventure. One of my passions has always been the environment, ever since I was in elementary school. I spent many summers growing up at Quarry Hill Nature Center in Rochester, MN, first as a student, then a volunteer, and eventually a teacher. I enjoyed these summers outside, hiking in the woods, kayaking in the pond, and teaching children to care for our planet.
I also think about what I would like to do next, and how I could be more focused on preventive medicine than building devices aimed at tackling a disease so far in progression that it requires medical treatment. And this is the point that my passions of health and taking care of our planet merge together. My thoughts revolve around the environment: nature’s impact on us, and our impact on nature - having access to clean air and water, healthy food, and places of beauty to play and rest in.
Water, air, and places of beauty are limited resources for which there is much competition. These posts are my ideas to help your children fall in love with nature, to fight for these resources, to protect our planet, and to benefit in having a healthy and adventure-filled life.
The world I want to leave in the hands of my boys isn’t a digital world; it’s a place filled with mountains and canyons, coral reefs and forests, adventures that don’t go as planned but result in stories laughed at over the years, and dreams that come true with the right amount of planning and practice, no matter how big the challenge
In this website, you will find my favorite places to visit (including trail ideas for kids of various ages), tips for camping and travelling with your family, activities to teach children about nature, and ideas for how to educate yourself and speak out about local and national issues that have an impact on our environment.
