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The GoPro Hero 4 camera has been a game changer for us.
This little camera has completely rearranged the way that we look at photography.
We first bought it to record our daughter’s recovery from shoulder surgery, and we thought it would help her to be able to watch her own comeback. We had several trips upcoming and knew that it would get used for those as well.
We had no idea what we were to learn and what we would come to achieve with this little camera.
Best modern memory keeping device we have right now.
Best modern memory keeping device for our teens.
We’re not like other families.
we have some pretty strict rules around social media.
which might be kind of weird to most people who’ve read our posts about This is how we Tech.
Tech plays a pretty important role in our household.
but social media does not.
Technology is central to our family’s existence. it is our everyday. Jeffrey has been hustling in the IT world since he was in high school. we made our living for more than 15 years running an online business. technology has just always been a part of us and we’ve always been a part of the technology world.
Because of that, our home network has been incredibly high on our list of important things.
We feel kind of giddy about this one, how we do this particular tech. We don’t usually share it. It’s our secret, our claim, because it is basically what makes us, Us.
Basically, we have our entire movie library available to watch, all the time, any at time, any where in the world.
(imagine what that is for a second. yes. we have that. and we hacked it ourselves).
In this house, every one of us has one. this is our family touchstone. we use our phones to stay in contact at all times, via apps, calendars, emails, group texting, gps locating, find my friends, photo and photo sharing, social media, games, evernote, music and more.
We don't have a regular phone anymore and basically just use our iPhones for everything. It is so much more than just a phone, and a way to stay connected. It is our device for almost everything. Sorting our notes, our calendars, our contacts, our emails, our businesses, our homework, a good chunk of our photos and photography, all of our contact with friends and family.
Both of us have been photographers since we were children.
Therefore it is a cornerstone in our life.
We don’t run our “TV" like other families. We've basically hacked our TV technology.
Most people don’t know this about us just by looking at us, but if you are friend to one of our teens you know this…
We don’t have cable (in fact, years ago, we literally cut the cable cord the runs underground to our house from the box — sorry next people who might buy our home someday).
Walking into our house you will instantly understand that technology is deeply a part of our lives. You might not always know it to see us in person, or to talk to us, but spend any time in our home or get to really talking to any of us and you will shortly understand that we are a modern technology family. It is deeply ingrained in the definition of who we are.
Jeffrey has called himself a hack IT guy forever. And he has charmed me with the story that he engineered a powered gate for his family’s guinea pig when he was in elementary school. Our house and family life is basically one giant motorized gate for us guinea pigs. He has filled our lives of technology, and hacked our way into living a modern life.
Our tech may not be the latest and greatest like it might have been years ago when we were obsessed with consuming and acquiring things. Now we are more obsessed with making things work for us while having super great Tech.
When I was a little girl, I was afraid to try things. I was really afraid. Afraid that I would fail. That I would fall down. That people would laugh at me. That I wouldn’t get it right. and then what? What would I do if I didn’t get it right?
I didn’t know. But I was incredibly terrified of trying new things. I hated when people watched me. I didn’t want to play sports, I didn’t want to play games in gym, I didn’t want to raise my hand in class.
More on the Summer GoPro series. Disney Roller Coaster videos turned to pics!
(Click to see our Underwater Selfies and Lake Jumping posts)
Turn the camera on yourselves. At least once. On your favorite ride. You won’t regret it.
THEN.
You can take snaps from the videos. Pictures of individual frames from the video. Booyah!
Continuing with our Summer Go Pro Series.
(See our previous Underwater Selfies post)
If you needed any motivation to buy one of these amazing little modern memory keepers look no further than this series.
GoPro lake jumping selfies.
It's a thing people.
And this squad took tons of them this summer.
They're amazing snaps.
Teenage boys eat A LOT. Or rather they go through phases were they eat a lot and then one day, they stop. only to resume a week or a month or whatever time frame suits your fancy later.
Based on the changes that we have made in our family around food,
Here are my top 10 tips for feeding said ravenous monster in a healthy way that you can manage:
1. Buy more food, buy in bulk
2. Prepare ahead of time
3. Set rules and boundaries and expectations
4. Allow and expect Snacking
5. Don’t shame them
I've spent the last couple of months writing.
And writing.
And writing some more.
and yet I've hardly published anything.
I already posted about my fears.
As I have been reviewing my writing, looking for and finding some more courage to post my writing, I began to think about this:
Reading some of the things I talk about may have you thinking that I am judging you.
You may think that you are doing it all wrong. you may think that I am thinking you are doing it all wrong.
honestly.....
it has nothing to do with you.
and it has everything to do with me.
it is entirely selfish.
This is really hard for me.
the fear is real. the struggle is real.
I am working on crossing my own boundaries.
I worry that no one really cares about what I might have to say.
and I guess I have come to the conclusion that I am not doing this because anyone else really cares. I am doing it because I am compelled to share my story.
and maybe, just maybe, I will say something that might change someone else’s life.
If you are like me you are overwhelmed with information about how to feed your family for a healthy lifestyle.
What to eat, what not to eat, what to spend money on, a lot of guilt and shame about what you shouldn’t be doing and what you shouldn’t feed your children.
As a mother we feel a lot of pressure in how we take care of and raise our children. It seems like this nutrition space has become more and more confusing and heavy with the media and all of the information being thrown at us about feeding our families. I have been feeling this overwhelming sense of Not Enoughness since my babies were born and the breastfeeding vs. formula saga began.
Since I have left my company behind I have been more focused on my family and our homelife. It helps that my children are teenagers and now more easily able to contribute to this part of their lives. I feel really good about the changes that we have made in order to better feed ourselves.
Lasting change happens not with the social pressure to do so, to act a certain why or to be a certain way, but when we decide for ourselves that it is something we want to do. Taking all of the information and turning it around under a proverbial microscope and seeing what actually works for us was what we did.
The number one thing we did to bring our family closer together:
We started to eat dinner every single night at our table.
That one single change. That one thing.
I won't lie and say this change was easy. It didn't go without grumbles and complaints from almost every single one of us. We were used to our life and how we did things. But no one was angry that we were doing it, it was just inconvenient when we were used to having that time to do something, anything, else. But honestly none of the other things were as important as this thing, this time spent together.
Having one pool float is a lot of fun. A donut floating around in the pool is definitely cool, taking pics in it or with it, more cool. Rock star even. But having a whole pile of fun pool floats feels like being a rock star. Living the rich life. It's an easy way to create a trendy space for our teens to hang out with their squad. Honestly, squad goals.
Life with teenagers is always interesting.
They find new ways to use technology. Of course I don't think underwater selfies with a GoPro is new or innovative. But certainly, I was not going to throw myself underwater to take a selfie with it. Though I might do so now. wink.
They have fun. And its infectious.
Working together to make these changes for Jack have made huge differences in his life. We gave him choices within our guidelines and he thrived. He is happier, healthier, more communicative, and more open. He sleeps better, he interacts more with his family, he is just more agreeable and easy going. Overall, we are all happier.
We’re completely different people than we were 2 years ago. Did we change ourselves completely? No, silly. I still hate shrimp, country music and kale. Jeffrey still loves the Amazing Race and Survivor. Halle is still a sneaker head and wants to buy all the shoes, Ari was never a fan of mashed potatoes and she still won’t touch them, and Jack is still a negotiator despite my best efforts to tell him I’m always in charge. At the end of all that though, we are different. and our family is different. We are in a much better place than we used to be.
My parents didn’t really do anything interesting with food. I don’t blame them, I understand it. I fell into the same trap - we used to be so busy that we just put food on the table. we didn’t take the time to really think about what we were doing. like my parents, it was just something that we had to make and provide while we were working full time, but not something that we enjoyed doing and really gave too much thought. it was easy and convenient versus healthy, tasty and good for your family. it used to be hard to think about how to feed our family healthily.
Everything I do with food today I taught myself.
and we certainly do things differently than we did in the house I grew up in.