Families that Move Us

Growing up my parents bought us some land, built us a house, and we lived in a pretty underdeveloped part of FL and so we had plenty of woods, and creeks, and the beach was just a bike ride away, and even though we stayed home pretty much every single day, our backyard seemed endless. We were always adventuring as kids-- unsupervised, without helmets, BB guns slung over our backs, cherry bombs in our pockets, and we knew the woods as well as we knew how to navigate Saturday morning cartoons. There was a balance to my childhood that I have not been able to recreate for my own family yet. I struggle with it. Its nice to stay home and be comfortable, but I lost the explorer somehow. A few months ago I was looking at my instagram feed. Specifically at my own grid, and realized that almost every picture with the kids and Cole were taken from home. I was like, "geez! How many pictures of us in this dumb living room do I need?" You can learn a lot by looking at an instagram grid, and for me it was a gentle shake of the shoulders to get out of the damn house!With all the travel I have been doing for work, and with the demands of The Littlest Buddy and his need for routine, there are always plenty of excuses for us to stay still when I am home. LB is the most comfortable at the house, there is no getting around that. And after I have been bouncing around from airport to airport, I feel like I need to just be still for awhile so I can do it all again, and so often times we will spend days in a row not leaving the house beyond an errand or two. As much as Cole and I make a big effort to create thoughtful spaces at home for the kids to be comfortable in and love, we definitely dont want to create little home bodies either. Below I have posted four instagram grids that have become roadmaps for me. Im not going to be casual about the influence the people I am posting about have over me. Im not going to pretend that they havent totally moved me, these four families that I have posted here have this perfect mix of home and adventuring, and it has been all kinds of inspiring for me. It has made me look deeper into where I live, and to seek out the experiences and the places that I have connections to. Each one of them have mastered phone photography in a way that when I see their pictures I think "Holy shit! That was taken with a phone?!" But beyond their obvious skills of composition and understanding of how light wakes up our emotions, they just live great lives-- unapologetically and purposefully, and I began to learn from them. I began to look at the time we have and how we could use it better, Cole and I are strategizing on ways to get LB to want to venture past the Wii and Xbox to find his comfort. We know he loves the beach, and could live in water, and well good thing for us we live in Florida. They have even made me think about our own backyard, if we have to be home, why not make our backyard a little more magical, or a place that feels like an escape. A place to play, to learn, to feel excited about. So thank you to the families I have posted here, and if you are on instagram I strongly encourage you to take a look at their feeds and get to know them a little. They are all great teachers, and they bring me a ton of inspiration and happiness. I just cant say it enough. You can follow Jason along on instagram by typing in his username: jaseybops And you can follow Denise along on instagram by typing in her username: denisebovee Also be sure to check out her photography blog -- denisebovee.netYou can follow Yan along on instagram by typing in her username: yanpalmer And be sure to take a look at her photography at -- Yan Photo And you can follow Kristin along on instagram by typing in her username: kristinrogers Also go see her photography site at-- Kristen Rogers Photography Another family that has been a constant source of inspiration to me has been Gabrielle Blairs (Design Mom), and to hear her casually mention without an ounce of trepidation in her voice at all that they were packing up their family and moving to a farmhouse in Normandy, France, and to get to see them now, and see how much they have all grown and thrived within this new experience is just joy. I just like these people, I like how much work they put into their kids, and listening to Gabis husband Ben speak about family just about had me choked up. I was nodding my head along to everything he said, and with how much thought Cole and I are putting into trying to have more children, it all just really hit home pretty hard. They have just launched a web series that I cant wait to follow, and it was filmed and edited by the insanely talented team of Tiger in A Jar. I could write entire posts and pages about how they have been a huge source of goodness and inspiration as well, and I encourage you to look at all of their work. For now, I am happy to post the first ever episode of Olive Us and cant wait to see more of these. For anyone that has been feeling a little trapped at home, all of these people have really played a big role in getting me moving. The internet surely makes the world bigger, but I am so happy to have found people that keep me wanting to get off the computers, off the couch, and living more. Theyre the best! Have a great weekend.