Can we get a do over? 🙃

I’ve typed and deleted this email more times than I’d like to admit.

I meant to send it last Monday, but never pressed "send".

I love a good fresh start at the beginning of a new year, but honestly… the past month has been hard.

A close family member spent almost a week in the hospital this month and is still recovering, which has felt really heavy.

The news every day hasn’t helped either.

On top of that, we had a dreamy international trip planned to celebrate Senya’s first birthday — something we were so excited about — and we ended up canceling it because it felt like too much right now.

Cue the mom guilt, because we did big trips for Juniper’s early birthdays. But deep down I knew trying to force the trip when our hearts weren’t in it wasn’t the right move.

In today's newsletter:

• Senya's 1st birthday
• Scary story from our camping trip 🫣
• Instagram growth
• How I'm getting a fresh start

Celebrating Senya's 1st Birthday

Instead of the big trip we had planned, we had a quiet weekend celebrating and reflecting on this first year as a family of four 🥹

We took a little trip in our campervan to one of our favorite areas in Oregon.

Hiked to some one of our favorite waterfalls.

Soaked in hot springs where cell service doesn't reach.

Had a family movie night on the projector inside our van.

And didn't turn off airplane mode the entire time.

I’m full of equal parts gratitude and wishing time would slow the heck down. It might sound silly, but I honestly didn’t realize life would speed up even faster once we had more than one child. IYKYK.

This could have been so bad...

Okay, so imagine this:

You roll up to your campsite in the woods.

No cell signal. Unbuckle your 2 children from their carseats.

Then decide you want to repark the van because it's a little slanted.

But when you put the keys in the ignition... it doesn't start 👀

This is exactly what happened to us on Senya's birthday and I had a minor freak out until Ben reminded me that we carry a self-jumping power bank.

It is essentially jumper cables, but you don't need another car around (which is super helpful if you are in a less populated area, like we were).

Ben jumped the van (no other car needed), and voila! We were up and running.

This $80 device literally saved Senya's birthday. And the next day too because each time we parked that following day, we needed to jump the battery 🙈 (I think we used it 7 times!)

Anyway, when we got home, we got the van checked out and sure enough, the battery was bad so we replaced it and are all good to go now.

But it could have been a really bad weekend if we didn't have this device.

The exact self-jumper we have

(I can't share direct links in an email, but the device I'm referring to is the first one in this list.)

This is in no way sponsored (though the link is an affiliate), I'm just sharing because I'm personally never going on a road trip without this again!

Even international road trips! We brought it on our Norway trip just in case since we were going to some pretty remote areas. Thankfully, we didn't need it. (And yes, you can fly with it!)

Growing Instagram

On the work side, one of our big goals for Two Wandering Soles this year is to grow our Instagram.

We’ve had the account for more than a decade, but for most of that time it’s really been a place to connect with all of you. Share deep thoughts & pretty pictures.

Now we’re being extra mindful about creating helpful content.

Think: visual mini guides to the places we visit. I work really hard to fill this content with hidden gems & tips you can't just find anywhere.

It takes me way longer than I want to admit, but it’s already starting to grow (10,000 new followers in the last month!), which is encouraging.

If you aren’t following along yet, we’d genuinely love to see you over on Instagram (👋🏼 & send us a message to say hello!).

Maybe this is my fresh start?

I know I already said it, but I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately. The year didn’t start with the fresh, new energy I envisioned.

And part of why I kept deleting this newsletter is because I didn’t want to show up in a downer mood.

But I also know that a lot of people are having a rough start to the year, and if that’s you, know that you’re definitely not alone.

I wanted to end this by sharing something that kind of shifted my mindset lately:

I recently learned that the Lunar New Year — which begins on February 17 this year — marks the transition between two very different zodiac years.

I've never really read into this stuff much, but for some reason, this kind of clicked with me.

And maybe it will for you too...

🐍 Year of the Snake (ending):

• A time of shedding old layers
• Introspection
• Moving through challenges beneath the surface
• Slower, heavier emotional energy

🐎 Year of the Fire Horse (beginning):

• Forward momentum and fresh motivation
• Movement, freedom, and dynamic energy
• Taking action and embracing change
• A symbolic “reset button”

So maybe my year isn’t starting “late”… maybe it’s just synced up with the lunar calendar?? 🙃

I told Ben I want to re-do the New Years count down!

If the year has been off to a weird start for you too, maybe it can be a do-over for you too!

Wander on,

P.S. We also have a few fun local PNW adventures coming up in the next couple of weeks that I’m really excited to share, so stay tuned for those!