How to Connect with Your Kids Amidst Busy Schedules & the Siren Calls of Technology, Interview with Greta Eskridge

Ginny: Welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. I love saying that because it means I'm going to talk to someone I really love. And today it's Greta Eskridge. Greta, welcome. 

Greta: Hello. Thanks for having me.

Ginny: So this is Greta Eskridge. You may know her on Instagram as Ma and Pa Modern, we can talk about that a little bit, too. It's a fun name. Greta Eskridge wrote the book Adventuring Together, How to Create Connections and Make Lasting Memories with Your Kids. It's fantastic. I read it this past week, we're going to be talking a lot about adventuring together. And then she also has another book coming out next spring. So, Greta, welcome. Could you take us a couple of minutes and tell us about you? Tell us about your family.

Greta: Yeah, I love you. So I'm Greta and I'm a second generation homeschool mom. I mean, I was home schooled a long time ago, 

Ginny: I didn't know that. That's really unique. 

Greta: Yeah, it's fun. There were a lot less of us back in the olden days. Yeah, my parents were pioneers. But I loved being homeschooled so much that I always planned to homeschool my own kids. 

And I'm going to tell you a funny story and where we're going to get sidetracked already. Yet when I started dating my husband, like we weren't even dating, like we were hanging out, we were hanging out and I told him I was 18 and I said, Hey, you know, when I have kids, I play in the home school. So if you're not OK with homeschooling, you probably shouldn't hang out anymore. 

Ginny: Like, right from the get go. That's it. These are my expectations. 

Greta: This is really important to me. So clearly, I loved homeschooling because I wanted to homeschool my own kids. And in between homeschooling myself, being homeschooling myself and homeschooling my kids, I taught public high school for five years. I was an English teacher and I loved that as well. It was a lot of fun, but when my first baby was born, I knew the time that I would have with him is short and it's true. He's almost 18 now. It has flown by. And I just decided, that's it. We're going to start homeschooling now. 

So all of my kids have been home with me the whole time we have for 17, 15, 13 and 10. And one of my favorite parts of being a homeschool mom is that I get to spend a lot of time outside the four walls of our home and adventuring and just exploring and learning. I always say that the world is our classroom. 

Ginny: Oh yeah. Isn't that the truth? Yeah. We have some similar things I taught in the public school for five years. I taught high school math. I loved it. I really loved the kids. 

Greta: Me too. 

Ginny: Your book is interesting because your book doesn't talk about homeschooling at all, which is actually like, you know, it's for anyone. Right? And I and our audience is going to is kind of a mix of people that are in different stages. So I didn't know I didn't know that you were a second generation home schooler. That's so neat. 

Greta:  And I wanted the book to be for anybody. I feel like the message of connecting with your kids, however you choose to do it for us. We love to connect through having adventures and especially being outside a lot that's applicable to all of us. Every parent wants that. Every parent needs that, every family needs that. So I tried really hard to provide ways and ideas and inspiration for all kinds of families, too. 

Ginny:  And you really did. I mean, the book is fantastic, and each chapter ends with like a whole list of ideas of different types of topics. So I really love that it included practical things. OK, can we start with? I want to start with a certain topic from the book. Is it because it's kind of like, Well, we met at the Wild and Free conference just this past fall. That's a homeschooling group. It’s moms that really want to slow down. And hopefully I'm not butchering that.

So anyway, so last minute I got asked to speak at the conference and you know, I was nervous. I'm nervous about everything - so totally nervous. And it was completely new and you're really sweet, but you know, you just feel like I don't really know. And so, you know, we brought our whole family down to Tennessee, to Franklin, and we were stretched. But all of these blessings come out of being stretched and sort of stepping out of your comfort zone.

So one of the topics you talk about in your book quite a bit is being stretched and that stretching isn't easy and adventures change us. You say they take us out of our routines, our homes, our neighborhoods, our people and make us grow. They push us into uncomfortable places and we're offering a great gift to our kids because out of that discomfort comes all kinds of valuable learning about themselves and the world around them. So, um, so would you want to tell us a story? Do you want to just talk about some ways that your family has been stretched and sort of the growth and the blessings that you've seen come out of that?

Greta: Yeah, it's time to have someone read my book to me because sometimes I forget what's in there. Sure. And then you read it to me and I was like, Oh, that brings back a lot of good memories and just reminds me, like, I really do believe that it just put it in the book because it sounds good. I really do believe that because I think for a lot of families, we have a lot of luxury, like a lot of freedom to live a comfortable life. And that's a gift that a lot of us are able to enjoy.

And along with that, though, comes the ability to to get pretty comfortable and to be settled into routines and to do things the easy way and doing things, the easy way feels good sometimes. Well, a lot of times, actually, let's be honest, but we all need to be pushed and to be pushed outside of our comfort zone because I really believe that's where the best growth happens. 

And so for my family, we live in suburbia. We don't have farm animals that we have to take care of. My kids are not walking through the snow to catch a school bus. Their life is pretty comfortable. And so I thought, Well, how can I help them experience a little discomfort? How can I help them be pushed so they can grow? 

And for us, that's come through a lot of outdoor adventures, things like hiking and camping because you're stripped of those comforts that make life easy. Whether it's pushing yourself physically because you're going on a hike that's making you tired and hot and weary and thirsty, grumpy or you're camping in the rain and there's mud and it's cold and you just want to go home. 

And so for years, what we've said as a family is this kind of slogan. “It'll make a great story later,” and we try to have that mentality. We're in the middle of something that's uncomfortable, and we kind of wish it was over and we'll say it'll make a great story later and try to use that to help change our hearts right and push through and we’ve been saying that for years. I always wondered, are my kids really listening? So here's the story that you asked for. 

A few years ago, my two older boys went on a camping trip without the family. They went with Boy Scouts. They're very involved in their scouting trip and they were camping on an island a couple of hours away from home. We live in Southern California, so they had to take a boat to this island in the middle of September. We have great hot weather in September here. It's not stormy, but out of nowhere a storm came up and my boys had not packed their rain gear because we checked the weather. There are no storms in sight. And they were not being good Boy Scouts. They were not prepared for the rain here. 

So I'm thinking, Oh my gosh, they're backpacking. So they had all their stuff in their backpacks. Their backpacks are going to be soaked, they're going to be out there hiking from the boat across the island to their campsite. It's going to be miserable. There's nothing worse than camping when everything's wet, you're muddy. And I just kind of felt bummed out and like I, my mother heart wanted to protect them. Even though I say, like this, comfort is good. There's that battle we have as mom. Yeah. 

So anyways, they come home at the end of the weekend and I say, you know, their home buddy and I'm like, How was it? Was it? Were you cold or were you wet? Was it awful? And they both looked at me and they said it was awesome. I was like. They said it was so loud. The rain came even when we were on the ship going over and the boat was tossing my 15 year old, he's a crack up. He goes, mom. It was like when I had to pee, I was standing in the bathroom and trying to pee, it was like, I was standing on star tours at Disneyland and I was just cracking up. 

Ginny: So like, he'll remember that forever. 

Greta: He will. And they said, We're like, as we were doing it, mom, like, you're muddy and kind of uncomfortable and getting a little irritated. But we took the trash bags that you set for our wet towels. We made ponchos out of those and we said it'll make a great story later. And I was just like, Hey, they're listening. They know a lot of it. And it's worth it. It's really worth it. 

Ginny: Yeah, I love this topic because nobody really talks about this. I agree with you when you said, for the most part, I think we try them as a society, we try to keep our kids really comfortable. This is as a society, right, that everyone gets a medal. Even I heard in one of the screened documentaries where they talk about how, kids, they can just turn to their phone. They always have something to turn to, so no one is working through their discomfort. Or more uncomfortable, I guess, would be the word uncomfortable feelings.

And even I don't know if you know Linda McGurk; she talks about there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing. She was saying, you know that this is when kids are uncomfortable physically or in any sort of way, this is helping them develop grit and resilience. And so to hear you say you want to push your kids into discomfort. I don't hear anybody saying that. 

But it's good. I mean, it's so right on because life is not easy. And so they have to have this skill set to be able to work through and we can teach them that just do outdoor adventure, which has a whole bunch of or indoor adventure. It's something new, just has a whole bunch of other benefits as well. 

Greta: I think too, like we I mean, not every parent is this way, but I personally struggled, especially as a younger mom or a new mom with younger kids like wanting to control everything. And if I just did everything right, then they were going to sleep through the night. They're going to eat whatever I told them to, they were going to behave. You know, all the boxes would be checked and then I would feel like I was doing a good job. 

But what I realized was that wasn't always good for me. It wasn't always good for them. And it certainly wasn't the truth because it was taking out the reality that our kids are individuals. I can't control everything and make them always do a certain thing to get a certain outcome. 

And instead, what I realized I wanted for me and for them was to create people who were able to be flexible because being able to bend when the wind blows and not break is a really important skill to develop, not just when you're a little kid, but through the rest of your life. 

Like to be a flexible person, to be able to be traveling and things go wrong and you're like, You know what? We'll figure it out. It's all going to be OK. We missed our flight, but there's always another flight like being able to not have every misadventure turn you into to create a tailspin. And you're just, you lose it. Like, I want to raise kids who are resilient and who can look at misadventure and say it'll make a great story later. And how can I bend right now? How can I bend when the wind blows? Instead of being blown over and it's hard for me, I see those that lack in my life that I tend to not want to be flexible. I tend to not want to pursue regret. I tend to want to take the easy way out. And so I know I need to work on that in my own life, and I want to help my kids work on that now. So hopefully by the time they're adults, they're in a better spot than I am. 

Ginny: I think that that topic of modeling comes up a lot in your book. So you talk about doing it for yourself. You say it's important for us to want our kids to grow, to be exposed to new ideas, meet new people and have new experiences. We expect that as a normal and natural part of childhood. However, as parents, we sometimes forget that this is important for us too. And so you talk about this, maybe you can tell it about it, about it. 

You took a surprise camping trip with your kids, without your husband, you know, and you said in there when they say, Where are we going? Where are we going? And you say, I've never been, you're actually doing it for yourself and for them in your modeling. So that seemed like a really fun idea. Do you know what story I'm talking about where you told the kids, pack your bag? Will you talk about that a little bit? 

Greta:  Yeah, it was good. It pushed me outside of my comfort zone because I was going somewhere. It was only a few hours from home, but it was someplace I had never been and I knew I was going to lose cell service. There's an element of comfort that comes when you have your cell phone on, you're like, Well, if I get lost, I've got my maps. Google Maps can take me out. I can call somebody to come rescue me if we get a flat tire. 

But I knew, like I was going to reach a point where you would be out in the boonies and lose. Health service. So I printed maps of a head injury, knew how to read them, and I surprised the kids, which was really fun and we were just driving. We drove over our mountain pass and they're like, OK, can you tell us now? And I really don't know. Forgive me. I've never been here before. I have pictures of it, and we pulled off the road finally and are just driving down this dirt road and in the distance, the kids like a canvas, like Teepee, and they're like, Are you kidding? We're staying there. Yes, we are. Yeah, it was just us out, literally in the middle of nowhere, there was one house and we walked down to the house to check in. And so that was the owner of the Teepee and his house was amazing. We get to talk to him. He built it out of like homemade adobe bricks and met his dogs. 

And all night long, it was just me and the four kids listening to coyotes howl and saw the stars. And it was beautiful. And it was a big adventure for all of us. 

Ginny: And you're so glad you did it. And it was, and that was stretching you. You have a quote in your book from Frederick Douglass that says “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” 

So I got a lot out of your book, you know, from this concept of just being stretched and celebrating, being stretched and looking for opportunities to sort of break out of your normal routine we had when my kids were little. My husband traveled a lot for work, and so I had time. And it's interesting that you call it misadventure. I think it's just kind of like, it's like that concept that you talk about, there's so many layers and variables to life. You just can't control it. So you go on this adventure and you think it's going to look one way. And then, you know, I think a lot of times it looks different. And that's part of the learning. 

But when ours were little. I had like a three month old. I think they would have been two, one in three months. And I took them camping, my husband was out of town and my in-laws were staying at a campground, you know, in Michigan. Michigan has beautiful campgrounds. It was a couple of hours away, and so I had to and they stayed at the campground. And then maybe a mile away, there was like these barracks. It was like a group camp or something where you could for pretty cheap rent, like there were 20 kids like a youth camp or something, right? And there was just all these bunk beds. So I can do that. I don't have to set up a tent. I just have to bring, you know, stuff for the bedding. 

So I packed up, got all these little ones right, drove there. We stopped at Big Boy on the Way. I mean, you have these little memories like we'd never I never taken them out to eat and it was fun and we stopped at a restaurant. And anyway, so we get there, I unpack it all by myself. I got these little ones there running around. I got the baby. And um, and we are supposed to stay, I don't know, for the week and in the middle of the night the three month old is get gets that croup cough, you know, just all of a sudden barking that cough. Try to call my in-laws to drive the mile over, sleep in the sleep, in the bunk beds with my other kids. 

And then I spent the entire night in the shower, you know, like pressing the button, you know, in the campground shower to get that steam right? And then and then the morning came and we packed up and headed home. 

But I don't regret that. Yeah, I don't regret it. It was great. I mean, it wasn't what we expected, you know, but it, um, I'm so glad we did it, you know? And then I did it more often, like we did other ones. And you talk about that in your book, you talk about you starting small, yes. And then you're able to build off that. 

Greta: it's really true. Yeah, for them and for us, like, I guess like they realize, Oh, I can do it, I can do this thing that I didn't think I could. And we realize, Oh, OK, I can do it, you know? And yes, like, that's the thing. Like to be experiencing that together because there's so much in parenthood that I think we're like saying, Hey, you know, you could do this because we have the benefit of we're adults. Like, It's not a big deal for us. And we forget sometimes that it is a big deal for them because they've never done it. 

They're not 40, you know, they're right or. And so we lack a little bit of empathy. And that's one of my favorite things about adventuring with my kids is because it puts us on a level playing field, even though I'm 40 and I have the benefit of more years of experience in the moment, those moments when the campground is a mess and there's mud everywhere or you're you're on their trail and it's hot and you don't have much water and you're like, Are we going to make? If the playing field is level right here, you're just experiencing it together, and that's where the connection grows because you are walking through a hard thing together, and that is this creates such a beautiful bond. 

Ginny: Yeah. OK, so one of the things that I have written down here is just what is adventuring together. So you say adventuring together simply means getting outside the confines of your regular routine. You talk about how your dad's gift to you was taking the humblest of moments and turning them into a grand adventure. You say my adventure credentials aren't that amazing. So I love this about you. Like, this is not this is not taking your kids hiking down into the Grand Canyon, although I think eventually you can get to that. But this is about. These are about smaller trips. Like you say outside of your routine, you have a weekly adventure group that gets together over and over again. So what counts as an adventure? 

Greta: Well, I think that you start wherever you are. So when I started adventuring with my kids, we went to a nature center and walked on a marked trail for less than a mile. And it was an amazing adventure because we were just getting started. So wherever you're at, it might be reading books together. Like, I have a whole chapter on adventuring through books because when I was growing up, I had ventured a lot outside and did more adventurous things with my dad. But my mom loves being inside, having tea, and gardening. She's not a go outside and go on a big adventure person, but we read books together. And that was how we adventure. And she also has some physical limitations. So she wasn't taking us hiking and we were adventuring for books. So there's lots of different ways you could adventure. You start wherever you're at, and that's where you grow from. 

Ginny: Yeah, I love that you talk about you can adventure through books and you have a whole chapter in here near the end, near the end of the book about indoor adventures, about museums, about adventuring through books, and you have book lists and you talk about even adventuring together to learn new things like calligraphy or learning to play the ukulele that all of these things count. They stretch us and we look back and we feel like they're worth it and they're way there. Ways to make connections? 

Greta: Yeah, yeah. I think learning things together is a wonderful way to adventure. A couple of years ago, one of my sons and I joined a gym together as he was preparing for a really big hiking trip. And that was an adventure working out together every morning. So there's just so many different ways to do it. And I think popular culture has sort of conditioned us to believe that an adventure means your kids are strapping on helmets and ice picks, and they're zip lining through the jungle, climbing a glacier in Iceland. But that's not the reality for most of us. And we need to remember that there are all different kinds of adventure and they all count.

Ginny: You have some really cool things I wrote down in here from your book, you say you don't wait for the real adventure. Small adventures count, small adventures matter. Small adventures bring joy. Small adventures are stepping stones to bigger ones. 

That's been our experience, too. You know, I mean, and even when we go to the same places over and over again, there's something new like we went apple picking or in Michigan, which is apple orchards every fall. I mean, we've gone 60 times, 75 times. I don't know. We've got a ton, you know, you go to all the different ones, you know, once the fall hits and the last time that we went this year, we saw a mouse and my mouse with all her little babies hanging out underneath and she was running through the grass, you know? And so, you know, that's an adventure. It's something new. Um, so I really love that your book promotes and celebrates. It doesn't have to be some big thing. I love that you said this elevates your day to day life a little bit. 

Greta: Yeah, yeah. I mean, as a mom where that for me was really the turning point when I realized that I wanted to, that I needed to pursue adventuring with my kids was I had three like four and under and I was home every day and I was really getting trapped in that. I like that control like I do everything, just so everything will turn out just so. And I was getting frustrated when it wasn't, and I sometimes would feel like the walls were closing in like this. This is all I'm doing like, you know? Blocks stories sweep up the crumbs, make sure they do nap time at the right time and, you know, and I needed to get away from that routine and that to-do list and really just look into my kid's eyes and to really enjoy being with them and to really have fun with them. 

And for me, that meant going away from home and outside of that regular routine and say, it's OK. If we missed nap time today, it's OK if you know it's not the regular schedule and instead just step outside and have fun. \

Ginny: And yeah, and it does elevate your life. And even if it's just a little bit, you know, it's a change, I really relate to that. You talk about the bickering would stop. You know, so for moms that are in those years, those are hard years. Those are really hard years. I think around eight is when it changes, like around eight. They understand what day of the week it is and they really can maybe they can fry an egg, you know, or something, I mean. But up until then, that lasted longer for me than I was expecting. You know, I thought by three or four, you know, but it lasts a while where, you know, it's just that there's that day to day grind. 

Greta: Yeah, I mean, now I can say we're going camping or going on a hiking trip. And I just I just like, get ready and everybody knows what to pack. They know what to do. Like, I don't have to. I don't have to do anything. But that's had years of practice so that now with teenagers and a ten year old like, I can just say, let's do this and we can.

Ginny: And that's, yeah, that's fun. Yes. And you're in. You're glad, though, for those early times because, you know, like we have, we just got out of the fall here in Michigan, and there's all these really fun little places to go in the fall and big haystacks and the kids run. And you know, and I'm watching this sort of transition of like, Oh, they don't really like this anymore. You know, we've we're growing out of these different things, and it's a little tricky because I still have a little one. And so totally we're trying to balance that. But I'm watching, I'm watching them grow out of these places that used to be so delightful and it's sad, you know?

But then I'm so glad. I'm so glad that I did it when I did it, when it was so hard and we had to pack so many things and everyone cried. You know, and you know, you're just glad that you have those memories. 

Greta: So yeah. And you built. I feel like then you've created in your family a culture of. Adventuring together, a culture of exploring together and enjoying life so that even when you're transitioning to the next stage to you, you might not be doing those same kinds of adventures that you're still. The expectation is just the culture is this is what we do together. So we're going to find new things to do in the fall, right? Yeah, because that's just what you do and that's who you are as a family. And that's really special because now people ask me all the time, they're like, Well, this is great for little kids, but how do we do it with the teenagers? And you just keep doing it. You don't stop just because they're teenagers. You keep doing it and you maybe need a change. Those teens are probably going to push you a little farther.

Ginny: Yes, oh yes. We have done the coolest things. My kids are jumping off these cliffs. I'm like, It's really, really cool to watch. 

But we were in North Carolina, has a ton of waterfalls on the other side of the country as you. But all these waterfalls and so there's this one called Graveyard Field, which is kind of a spooky name. It was just beautiful waterfalls. And like all these rocks and you're trying to like maneuver and there's a swimming holes. And I don't know, there's so many cool things. So your kids get older now you get to go off and do these, these new things. And I slipped at one of these places. I slipped. I wouldn't have gotten really hurt. My daughter grabbed me. She was like six. The tides have turned. So I agree with you. It just gets more fun and more fun because there's so many cool things to explore. 

Yeah, I think one of the important things here is that if we're going to adventure with our kids, we have to have time for it. And so you talk in your book about time pressures, you say we live in a day and age where there are so many things vying for our children's attention and even more for their hearts. There is an endless array of activities to take part in texts to send the newest shows to binge watch their apps to explore a societal need to keep up with the fun that friends, acquaintances and even strangers are having. You talk about this everyday call of technology, and we have to be diligent about carving out consistent time for adventure. Connections aren't created by accident. 

Let's talk about our society and time and the pressures and lessons, and you know what may seem like wasted time maybe actually turns out to be really valuable. How do you guys schedule your life in your time and how do you leave space for adventure? 

Greta: Well, I think it's helps that we decided from the very beginning that we would have a day of our school week that was set aside for adventuring and that we considered that a learning day, even though there was not like quantifiable data that my kids don't come home and write a short essay about what they learned on Adventure Day. There's no tests about what plans they saw on Adventure Day. So there's not like I don't like I said that kind of quantifiable data. Like there's nothing that necessarily shows proof or evidence of what they've learned on that day. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't count. I think that there is a lot of pressure to have evidence to show something, to have something to show for what we've accomplished. 

And that's just not always the case, and I don't even think it's always necessary. I think that the experiences that happen organically, the learning that happens organically when we're out having an adventure, those things count and they matter, even if we don't have some sort of paperwork to show for it. 

Ginny: You know, John Holt talks about that. We're so test heavy that we've forgotten that we can see when kids are learning, you know, he said. You just see it. You just know, like, you know, your kids are growing, you know, they grew from that experience. When your daughter catches you because you're slipping down the waterfall, you know? You know, she has grown from when she was a toddler. And so that was something that really stuck out to me. 

And even like, that's what we see in nature, right? Like, how do you know the flower is growing? You know, we don't go out there every day with a little ruler, you know, make a graph and check off old new leaves. You know, you just see it. You see growth. Growth is evident. And so to not have to have pressure of evidence all the time is such a freeing thing. 

Greta: Yeah. And I think, too, that just being willing to create your own family culture that is different from the culture around you and to say that we are going to make and spend time together outdoors or exploring or reading a book together, whatever it is. And as your sources of connection and adventure, that's different from what the world is doing. 

Like, you know, maybe it's choosing to not play a sport every season, taking a season off or choosing to say, actually our sport is hiking together or sailing together because we can connect better that way. 

Whatever it is like being willing to be different and to walk to the beat of your own drum, that's hard to do. But it can be really liberating and it has been for our family. It has been very liberating and I think it has been very connecting for us. 

Ginny: Yeah. And here you have a 17 year old, so you can see that your child grew, you know, your child grew with these immeasurable activities and. And so it was worth it. I really, you know, we already do a lot together, but I was really drawn into your book, you know, like I want to do a surprise trip and you know, it can be these small things about, but then they're really exciting and it does become your family culture. John Taylor Gatto, he talks about the art of building a family. And, you know, and it's like, I think we put a lot into building our home. You know, there's so many, there's so many home things, right? Like, you know, and I'm not good at decorating. This is like the one spot in my house. Like if you were to see the other side of the camera, it's totally trashed. I’ve got this one cute little spot. 

But there's blogs and in magazines and all these things about the art of our, of our esthetics, of our home. But you're talking about the art of building our family culture. 

Greta: Yeah. Well, I think even that's a really good example because you can show with pictures and movie videos and reels, you can show your home being beautifully decorated. But how do you show the growth of your family? That's harder to measure in a quantifiable way and to show it online and to make it appealing. But you know, a freshly painted room with some new pillows and cute stuff on the wall. You can, you can see that. And so it's easier and it feels more accessible for a lot of people because there's like steps. You know what I mean?

Ginny: You can copy, completely copy. Like people are like, Buy it here. Here's the link. Whereas this is like, you can't buy it. You’ve just got to it. You have to do it. It is the unique expression of your own family because your adventures, even if you went to the same places as someone else, every time your experience is, there are going to be different. 

Greta: Yeah. And what everyone is able to do. I mean, even like financially like, that's different for every family and that's changed for us as a family over the years, you know, and we've been able to do some different adventures now than we were able to do in the past. This year, I was able to take my kids. We actually were able to fly in to go places in different states, which was something that my kids didn't even get on a plane until they were 13 years old. That was the first time they flew. So just people we're at, we're all at different places.

But again, it doesn't mean you hear adventure wherever you're at. For whatever limitations you feel like you have, it doesn't mean your adventures don't count. It just means you need to learn how to blossom where you are and not compare yourself to other people. And that's a really important one. 

Ginny: Yes, it's your own family. It's your own family that you're building.The book is so great that I love the book so sweet. I love the book. I really got so much out of it that I'm a book I don't know. Do you write in your books? 

Greta: I read and write, and I use tabs to like,

Ginny: So I mean, I get it. Oh, that's good. I mean, I wrote all through this book, there are so many. There's so much I got so much out of it. But one of the things I thought was really neat was that you had practical tips at the end of each section that was at the end of each chapter you talk about. 

Greta: Important to me, but I struggle with practical stuff, so I am glad that I can go in there and it worked for you. 

Ginny: There's really good ones. So I think it's a great book because you give all these jumping off points that still keep things unique. You talk about doling out candy, which I've totally diner. So I'm glad you wrote about it in the book. You know, when I would hike with our little kids, I always had suckers. Yeah, because sometimes that's all you can do is hand out a sucker and they're in your pack and they're screaming. And so you just have a dum-dum and occasionally, you know, so you talk about handing out jelly beans and M & Ms one at a time. You talk about playground stops and long trips. You know, you talk about starting small with, well, marked trails. So. I think it's hard to come up with, like you said, it's hard to come up with practical tips. But you did a really good job at it and every chapter has them. 

Greta: Thank you. I mean, it was also hard for me because I didn't want to be giving people stuff that felt too basic. 

Ginny: But it wasn't.

Greta: The wonderful part about writing a book is that you have this editor who reminds you to remember that there are other people reading the book and it's not. You're not writing it for yourself, and everybody's at a different spot than you. So you need to remember where you were when you first started and what would have helped you. And then I found that it was really fun to write those tips because I wanted to be able to provide people in all different stages of the adventure with ideas. And I'm really glad that you you who is somebody who's you know this is you're pretty adept at this for you to feel like you 

Ginny: even you even said in your book, There's always room for growth, you know? And so this made me think about a lot of different things like, I mean, we've never done a surprise trip. You know how you know, I mean, like, not easy, but like I could be like, pack a bag, you know, or give them a list. This is what you need. We're leaving in the morning. Or I mean, there were ideas on there that made me want to just jump right in. And and so, you know, and then even all the indoor ideas in the book. And so I love that that's at the end of every chapter and you were really real. You say someone is always unhappy, tired, bored, hungry, sick, mad, grumpy, frustrated or disappointed. As much as I want everyone happy all the time, it doesn't happen. I mean, I'm not happy all the time. 

So even to say that, like I think if people adventure and they've got kids that are crying like my kids cried for the first 10 years, someone cried at least once on every adventure. Then they were OK. You know, I gave them a sucker, whatever. 

But you're always glad. You're always glad that you did it. Always.

Greta: And my kids are really good now at reminding me of the times when I was the one who was grumpy crying, and I never realized we were so mad that one time remember blablabla and like, Yeah, I remember. Right? And we laugh about it now. That's a really wonderful thing because we can measure the growth. Like, you know, this mom has gotten better at handling this adventure. They've gotten better at it. Like, that's a measurable growth of how we are able to handle things going wrong or getting lost. Or, you know. I mean, the cooler malfunctioning and all of our food getting spoiled and how we handle that. Those are all things that we can look back on and say, Oh man, I remember that happened. But now we can show we can laugh about it, or we can talk about how we grew better the next time. Like, we can prepare for that. 

Ginny:Opportunities for growth. I loved that Frederick Douglass quote. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Can I tell you one story before we end? Then I'm going to ask you one more story. We last. Not even a year ago. Like right after Christmas, there was this Airbnb that was brand new down in Tennessee. So it had openings over the holidays. And so we went down for like three days. You know, we leave early, we drive down Tennessee. I think we were there for three days. We came right back home because then it was like New Year's and it was booked again. But this little Airbnb and we did this hike with our kids called the Window Cliffs and it looked cool. It was like these creek crossings, like eight of'em. And then you get to the window cliffs, which we didn't know what they were, but it was called the window cliffs and it sounded cool. 

So we started out on this hike. And it was just a total disaster. Greta, it was like the creeks were like not creeks. They were super high. There were ropes that you had a hold on to cross, but the ropes were sometimes in really deep parts. It was winter. It was warm-ish, but it was like in the 50s. So we're crossing these creeks and like, you're having a balance and you know, you got there and everyone's like, No one's happy. Their feet are wet. You know, there's like eight to cross to get to the window cliffs and eight to cross. It was just more treacherous than we were expecting and harder. And then we were on a time crunch because it said the gates were going to close at five o'clock in the evening. So all of a sudden we're rushing and we get to the window cliffs and they were so lame. 

It was like the pinnacle and it was just nothing. It was nothing. I think it was rocks that maybe had an opening. We were like, What is this? And we're having to get back to the beginning. And then the very end of it was like, you know, you're basically like climbing straight up for like, you know, I mean, you feel like you're going to die. 

You know, but we talk about it all the time, all the time. That's remember that hike. Remember that hike. I mean, the kids tell their friends about it, you know? So like you say in your book, you do these things, you take a risk and it's worth it in whatever the ways you know, whether it's you really loved it or it just becomes a story. Yeah. And it made you grow. You know, it's worth it. 

Greta: So it bonded you together. Yes, it is a connection because you had an experience together and adventures really do connect us. So even if it's just to laugh at and what a waste. [01:00:35][12.5]

Ginny: And there's nothing better at the end. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you say, how do you do it? You just do it. You do. And you lose your control and you just live and so it's great. I just absolutely. I adore this book. I adore it. It's called Adventuring Together by Greta Eskridge How to Create Connections and Make Lasting Memories With Your Kids If people want to find you, Gretta, they want to find more about your book if they want to find more about you. And you have another book coming out real soon. Where can people find you? 

Greta: The easiest place to find me, actually is on Instagram. That's where I hang out the most. You can search for me on Instagram by just looking at Greta Eskridge or my handle is @maandpamodern. Those are two easy ways to find me there. 

I also have a website and a blog where I post occasionally. I regularly, but you know how it is. And that's just GretaEskridge.com and I travel and speak. So maybe one of these days I'll be in your neck of the woods. You can find my speaking schedule also on my Instagram account and on my blog. So GrettaEskridge.com dot com or Greta Eskridge on Instagram, and that's where I'll be. Come find me. 

Ginny: Yeah, what's coming out in the spring?

Greta: My next book is called 100 Days of Adventure, and it's actually a book for kids and how they can. They can adventure through nature activities outside with our cooking books, just basically get them to engage in the real world, and there's lots of opportunities for them to invite their parents into the adventure to invite their friends or their siblings. Because again, the idea is to use the adventure as a tool for connection, because that's what I'm all about. I love connecting with people and I love building relationships. 

Ginny: Yeah, although I'm excited about that. Kids are going to love it. I think kids are really drawn to the Off-Screen things. I think so because they know their bodies know this is what life is really all about. Well, we'll be looking for that, and we always end with a favorite outdoor childhood memory of yours. 

Greta: Mm hmm. Oh gosh. Well, I think that one of my favorites was really simple, but just going on bike rides with my dad and my brother, he would take us to like some kind of back part of town and where there was back roads, not a lot of traffic. So we could actually ride in the street and we would explore new places. And for me, that was just the absolute best because I loved being places that I had never been before, even if it was in my hometown. And so just going for a bike ride, exploring, feeling like I was having a grand adventure and I loved it.

Ginny: I love these simple answers. It doesn't really take much, I think, to impress a child. 

Greta: Yeah, it was doable - somewhere new to bike ride, find a place where you can bike in the street. Yeah, you know what I mean? I mean, that's awesome. Yeah. 

Ginny: Well, Greta, thank you. Thanks so much for taking the time to be on. I cannot wait to share your book with everyone who hasn't read it yet. I was like a late bloomer here. I should have read it a while ago, but I so enjoyed it and we’re doing some of these things and I can't wait. 

Greta: I can't wait to hear about the surprise trip. We haven't done it for a while. 

Ginny: So oh yeah, I would definitely keep you in the loop because I'm really, really excited to try that out. So thank you so much, Greta.

Greta: Yeah, thanks for having me.