We’re in This Together

Five years ago, GoExploreNature.com was born. At the time, I was knee deep in grief over the loss of my dad, who had been the driving force behind my love of nature. My goal with this blog was to provide nature-inspired adventure guides for the places in Los Angeles that the kids and I visited as part of our day-to-day lives. The Explorers were babes at 4 and 1 1/2.

I don’t remember whether I thought anyone would actually read my posts. I don’t even know that it mattered. Spending time outside with my family was all the healing I needed.

But over time, people did read. And comment. And connect with me on social media. I met fellow bloggers like Michele “IRL” (in real life, that is). Our families shared adventures in Southern California and beyond. And we got real about how challenging it is to raise kids in today’s society.

Meanwhile, this little blog seemed to take on a life of its own. In addition to sharing our Los Angeles adventures, I wrote about backyard nature fun, family travel, holiday nature connections and more. And before I knew it, I was catering a little more to what I thought readers wanted than to what my life actually looked like.

The truth is, life had gotten busy. Too busy. Too full of things I thought we should be doing and less full of things that mattered most to our family. My “babes” had grown into school-aged kids with new demands, challenges and interests – yet lots less time to spend on nature adventures.

It is with all these thoughts and emotions swirling in my head that I met with Michele and her kids at a park one day in June. As our kids were playing and making discoveries of their own, I got up the courage to say the words I’d been dreading, “I think I’m done blogging. I just can’t keep doing it alone anymore.”

I thought Michele would simply offer some kind words of understanding and move on. Instead, she told me she understood. She, too, wanted something different from her blogging experience. Before we left the park that day, we’d decided to do something neither of us had planned: Team up.

My biggest hurdle in growing this blog was a lack of technical know-how or interest to take things to the next level. But Michele was willing to help. To take me from where I was to where I wanted to be – a feat I simply could not have achieved on my own.

When it comes to getting families outside and into nature, we want to be that kind of a support for you.

Our new tagline really says it all. Easing families into the outdoors. We understand that being a parent today is hard work. We’re facing the same challenges you are – too many demands and not enough time, energy or interest to make it all happen.

Sometimes you can’t do it alone. We’re here to help.

That’s why we’ll each continue to write regularly on our own blogs, me here at GoExploreNature.com and Michele at FunOrangeCountyParks.com. You’ve come to know (and love!) our work, and we’re not going anywhere.

And it’s why we’re teaming up as Nature. Play. Trips. – to combine our knowledge and experiences into something tangible that you can benefit from. Like weekly newsletters, seasonal printables, e-books and more.

We hope to take away the stress and challenge of getting outside with your family. We’ll share what works (and doesn’t) for our families so you can decide what works best for yours.

After all, we’re in this together.