Fire! Fire! Fire! Emergency Preparedness + LuminAID Spectra Giveaway

Sharing is caring:

Today is the last day to enter this giveaway! Make your entries now!

Last week there was a wildfire near our house.

Photo Credit: Tiffany Fox on twitter @ParkCityTV

We live in the mountains near Sundance Resort in Utah. Our fire department reminds all the homeowners about wildfire danger every year. As full time residents in a largely vacation home area, we are part of the community emergency evacuation team,willing to go door to door should an evacuation be needed.

Luckily last week’s fire didn’t threaten our community directly, but it did burn over 720 acres of forest land and spewed smoke throughout the county.

Photo Credit: ksl.com

When natural disasters threaten our daily life its good to feel prepared. Just a week before the Wheeler fire started burning Mountain Dad and I went through our emergency preparedness plan and updated our emergency “Bug Out” bags. We now have a backpack with clothes, diapers and emergency supplies in our kids closets, ready to grab in case of any emergency. In addition to that we have three days worth of food and water stored in the garage, ready in case we’d need to quickly evacuate.

It feels good to be prepared, but as we put everything together I had to wonder about each item we included. Would we have fuel to cook our food? Would we survive if it were winter? The one thing I didn’t have to worry about was light, thanks to a nifty new solar charged lantern from LuminAID.

Mountain Dad purchased the LuminAID PackLite 12 earlier this summer. The compact, inflatable light can last 12 hours on a full days charge, and can retain its charge for up to 2 years. It’s inflatable, waterproof and conveniently clips onto your pack or in your tent. My kids love it since it’s like playing with a light up balloon.

I feel good knowing that if there were an emergency I wouldn’t have to worry about running out of batteries in my flashlight. Instead I can just pack up the LuminAID PackLite 12 and go.

Our friends at LuminAID have generously offered to sponsor a giveaway in connection with this post. They’re offering a new LuminAID PackLite Spectra – a multicolored, inflatable, solar light – to one lucky reader. I got to see these in action and they are super cool.

With 9 color settings it’s like the PackLite 12 in party mode. The Spectra is also a lightweight, easily packable lighting option, solar charged with a long battery life so you won’t have to worry about finding your way in the dark.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter and you could see how cool these lights are for yourself. Plus I’m willing to bet your tots will love the changing colors.

Thanks!

Aquabot Review and Camping in Logan Canyon, Utah

Sharing is caring:

This post is part of a series of weekly gear reviews. Check back most Wednesdays for reviews of cool gear for outdoor families.

The whole mountain family headed up to Logan Canyon, Utah for an end of summer campout. Along for the ride were cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and lots of fun. We tubed the river a bit, hiked Tony Grove Nature Trail and of course had a fire and played cards in the tent. That last activity is the real reason my kids go camping. Forget about nature, let’s play Go Fish!

Next to the cards my tots’ favorite activity was spraying each other with water. What made that easy was a nifty water bottle attachment we received from Lunatecgear.com. The Aquabot.

Convenience and function are the top criteria I use when I’m packing for an outdoor adventure. The Aquabot filled those requirements and was really fun to boot. It changes a regular water bottle into a squirt gun, mister and hose all in one. With a few quick pumps you can pressurize the water in your bottle, making your drinking container double as a sprayer. This is especially convenient trying to clean sand off of feet or dirt off of hands as we found while camping in Logan Canyon, Utah.

How does Aquabot work exactly? I’ll leave that to Big E and little g to explain.

Big E especially liked Aquabot because of its high powered spray. I can’t blame him, who wouldn’t be impressed with 25 ft of soaking ability? The only problem there was that he liked it so much he sprayed the water out before even hitting the trail and had to drink from my water bottle instead.

The three settings – stream, spray, and mist – are controlled by a variable trigger and can even function upside down. The Aquabot fits any standard wide mouth water bottle (nalgene, camelbak, lifestraw) and includes attachment points for a lanyard. The cost on their website is $20 per unit, $27 with the bottle.

Pros:

Fits water bottles I currently own.
Can spray, mist and stream making a water bottle multi-use.
Really fun for kids (and adults)
Lightweight – 4oz
BPA free

Cons:

Kids sprayed it out before drinking from it
When pressurized it can be hard to remove top (just release the water stream)

At times it felt like the Aquabot was little more than a glorified squirt gun and if I didn’t have kids I probably wouldn’t get one unless I was frequently at a beach or needed to clean off in a hurry. Since I do have kids, I do like it. I just can’t think of it like a water bottle, at least not until Big E learns what rationing is.

Fire! Fire! Fire! Emergency Preparedness + LuminAID Spectra Giveaway

Sharing is caring:

Today is the last day to enter this giveaway! Make your entries now!

Last week there was a wildfire near our house.

Photo Credit: Tiffany Fox on twitter @ParkCityTV

Luckily last week’s fire didn’t threaten our community directly, but it did burn over 720 acres of forest land and spewed smoke throughout the county.

Photo Credit: ksl.com

I feel good knowing that if there were an emergency I wouldn’t have to worry about running out of batteries in my flashlight. Instead I can just pack up the LuminAID PackLite 12 and go.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Enter and you could see how cool these lights are for yourself. Plus I’m willing to bet your tots will love the changing colors.

Thanks!

Summer’s End Seeking Adventure Photo Journal

Sharing is caring:

It’s always bittersweet when seasons change. Summer is all fun, sun, play, and outdoor adventures Once fall hits it’s school, chill and structured responsibilities. This year in order to hold on to summer just a bit longer I partnered with four other outdoor family bloggers to share some of your summer adventures.

Jennifer at Hiking Along sent me the first #seekingadventure shot. But there are so many more to see at The Kid Project, Adventure Tykes and Play Outside Guide. Enjoy this montage of photos that fit the theme: Seeking Adventure. Hopefully they inspire you as much as they did me.