At the end of last month, I went on an ambitious canoe camping trip with my husband, kids, and five of our friends. I say ambitious because our kids are four and seven, and up until this trip, we had only been on one- or two-night car camping trips. Spending three nights out in the wilderness, carrying everything we needed into the woods and paddling ourselves from campsite to campsite, felt a little intimidating.

Long story short, the trip was incredible. I can look back now on all of those days of anticipatory anxiety and laugh a little, telling myself that next time I won’t be so worried…even though I know I will.