Sadly, our week in the Galapagos with our friends the Swanson family was over and we settled ourselves into our seats on a flight back to Guayaquil. It had been a long day of travel from Isabela to Santa Cruz to Baltra. Everyone was looking forward to a week’s worth of downtime on the Ecuadorean coast. … Continue reading Olon, Ecuador and the Epic F**king Day →

I consider myself a positive thinker. Not necessarily a rose-colored-glasses-wearing optimist, mind you, but a person that tries to see something positive in any situation, regardless of how bad things might be. Positive thinking sometimes gets a bad rap. It can be difficult for many people to understand what’s so wonderful about finding the silver … Continue reading Laser Focus on the Upside →

Is there something nagging at you? Something you want? Something that would make your life better? Something for which you’re longing? Most people smooth over that want the same way you would smooth out wrinkles on a freshly made bed with your hands. Don’t. Spend time with that nagging sensation. Nurture it. Pick it up … Continue reading On Choosing a Path →

When we visited our friends the Swansons last December in the frigid hinterlands of Boston, they decided after a few shared bottles of wine to meet us somewhere in the world for a little adventure. Two weeks in Ecuador and the Galapagos sounds like just the right amount of adventure, they agreed. In the end, … Continue reading The Galapagos Part 3: Isabela! →

Our son Braeden is six years old. He is homeschooled, and every morning we sit with him for 15-30 minutes of structured “school time”: reading, writing, and math. One sunny morning last week we had finished reading and writing and were working on a page in his math book. He started off strong, hammering out … Continue reading The Magic Power of Focus →

Braeden and I floated on the surface, peering through our masks at a murky underwater playground. Sea lions, nearly a dozen of them, playfully darted around each other in a high-speed game of tag. A curious juvenile repeatedly turned in our direction, nosed up to within a foot of our masks so we could see … Continue reading The Galapagos Part 2: Santa Fe and Bartolome →

We’ve been fortunate to visit some pretty incredible places over the past two years. Angkor Wat. Paris. Ha Long Bay. “The Beach”. Sagrada Familia. The list goes on. We’ve also been lucky to have family come and visit in more than a few locations, but we hadn’t yet had any friends come join us on … Continue reading The Galapagos Part 1: The Gateway →