We are a family of one Jeep, two parents, two kids, one adult child, and two standard poodles. Like most typical 21st Century families, we’re all extremely too busy. Most of our days consist of cold coffee, waffles without syrup, curbside grocery pick-ups, long commutes through terrible traffic, hectic days at the office, quick kisses in passing, sports practices, schedules, forgotten homework, piled-up laundry, socks that have been single for months with no hope of finding their mate, arguing with teenagers, hormones, repeating “turn off Fortnight, dinner is ready!” every single night, going to bed too late and waking up too early…just to do it all over again. Our family always makes it through the day but, we are exhausted! Our energy tank gauge hovers on “E” most days. (Except the poodles…they are “living their best lives”)
Bree 
Pepper
When our family’s tank needs refueling…we fill-up the Jeep!!
“Research shows that time outdoors can lower your blood pressure and release serotonin to the brain, creating a feeling of happiness”. Do you think those researchers were harnessed in a Jeep, sitting vertical on a loose-rock incline or dropping off a 5-foot ledge and thinking “gee…my blood pressure sure feels low right now?” Ha! Probably not! However, for our family, harnesses, inclines, ledges, rocks, trails, creeks, woods, and obstacles excite us and brings us together. If you’re not a jeeper, you may not understand how we could possibly get excited over purposely putting ourselves in a “but did you die?” situation. But, we love it! Why? Because it’s not just about the hair-raising, blood-pressure-rising, “are we going to die” situations. It’s about being together, it’s about campsites surrounded by friends, it’s about sitting around a campfire sharing stories from the day and laughing about stories from times already had, it’s about our kids not being glued to a screen, it’s about our kids learning to always help out a fellow jeeper, it’s about bonding, it’s about raising money for charity, it’s about hot chocolate on freezing cold mornings, it’s about memories. And most importantly, it’s about refueling our family’s tank.
So, if your family is running on “E”…find a way to refuel your tank. Maybe jeeping isn’t your “thing”. Find something that is. Find something that allows you to spend time together, forget the stress of everyday life and all of those sad, single socks.
The Useless Blog 