It was a Sunday morning when Brooks woke up and asked, “can we go on a hike today?”

Our answer: Yes!

With our 2 + 2 + 2 (careers + kids + dogs) our work weeks are an all-out sprint. You blink and it's Friday!

With that in mind, Jana and I are protective of our family time.

Our kids are little (4 and 2), but they’re impressionable, and they love nothing more than a special afternoon with Mom and Dad...especially when it’s their idea!

We visited our friend Chris Miller at the Lehman Sanctuary, a nonprofit environmental education center minutes from our home.

Fun fact: Chris and I grew up in the same small town outside of NYC, on the same tiny street, and met here!

The Sanctuary is gorgeous, with old growth forested wetlands, an Eastern Pine hundreds of years old, a wildflower meadow, a rain garden, and so much more.

Chris encouraged us to pick up the rocks and logs along the trail to see what’s underneath, and, of course, to gently put them back where we found them.

We saw beautiful red salamanders, multicolored mushrooms growing on logs, all kinds of birds, bugs and critters. Our kids loved it! Brooks is still asking us questions about what we saw that day.

Family time doesn’t have to be elaborate, expensive, or complicated.

For those of you living the #ModernParentJuggle like we are, don’t be afraid to say yes to spending your precious time together, filling your cup with what you love as a family.

That might mean saying no to a birthday party or a baby shower…and guess what? That’s OK!

Our weekends will only get busier in the coming years as the kids grow up, but Jana and I are committed to preserving this time together, understanding we’ll never get it back.

Check out the Lehman Sanctuary: https://www.lehmansanctuary.com/home.html