toddlerado

I am not crafty. I admire those who see an old piece of furniture and can remake it into something I then want to buy for too much money. Or scrapbookers who get the fancy sheets and the stickers and document their kids’ childhoods one theme at a time. I see stuff on Pinterest and think, “oooh that’s nice” but never think to do it myself. It’s good to know your limits.

I do like to take pictures and I like to write and cook, but no crafts for me, please.

So when I decided to start a hiking journal for my kiddo it was a little out of my comfort zone, but I thought it might be a fun, relatively easy project. And with as many hikes as we’ve been on this year it’d be an easy way to keep our memories straight. Was that on Big South or Blue Lake that we slid down the snow?

We are at that crazy age where our eldest will just now start retaining her memories and this thought kind of blows my mind. I’ve already spent five years with her and she is so awesome and full of life and has already given me some of the best memories of my life. To think she won’t remember any of it makes me a little sad. Maybe a little hiking journal will be a way for both of us to remember some of these precious times, and not just from my point of view.

I wanted to keep it as simple as possible.

We made a trip to Target and picked out a memo sized binder and lined paper and some sheet protectors to hold items we might collect.

We snapped in the paper and I labeled the top of the page with the trail name, month and year and then let her dictate what she remembered. We looked at pictures on my phone to help jog our memories. Then she drew pictures of her favorite or most memorable parts of the hike or camping trip. It was a lot of fun for both of us and another memory to hold dear. I may not be crafty but I am definitely sentimental.