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kate pantier

Latest from the Blog

Changing My Food, Changed My Life

Food· Health & Wellness

Two years ago this month, I started a new nutrition journey based on a recommendation by my family physician. I had gone to see him early in January of 2017 because I could not stop getting bronchitis. I’m talking a decade & more of going on antibiotics & steroids 3-6 times a year for upper respiratory infections, strep throat, bronchitis,…
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How To Go Day Hiking with Kids

Hiking With Kids· Tips

My kids & I love to hike. Or maybe, I love to hike & I drag my kids with me?? Ha! Either way, I’ve read a ton of research on the benefits of having kids out in nature & I’m going to make sure mine are out there. We are raising kids in a culture where they are inside more…
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Welcome

Hello! I'm Kate. I'm a native Arkansan, wife, mama to 3, poodle mom, & a nature enthusiast. I love to share Arkansas trails, tips for hiking with kids & how this outdoor adventure lifestyle has changed led my family on a beautiful journey we never could have imagined for ourselves. My biggest passion is cheering on families who want to get outside with their kids!! Because trust me when I say, if I can do this, you can too! You can find me on Instagram @KatePantier & Facebook: Kate Pantier- Adventuring Arkansas or you can read more about me here.

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My first post on this account was of scrambled egg My first post on this account was of scrambled eggs & said, “am I doing this right?” 😂🤣🍳 I started this account 3 years ago & it was so I could participate in a fitness competition & didn’t have a clue or a care on how to use Instagram.
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Of all the social media platforms out there at the time, I was not a fan of Instagram. It made me feel “ick.” For one, I’m a storyteller before I’m a photographer. And let’s be honest, without good visual content Insta isn’t really going to work. Ex: my scrambled eggs. 😂😳
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Three years later, this account has evolved from fitness to the outdoors. It has helped me find a community of really amazing adventure families, fitness friends, & moms who I *LOVE* getting to know.
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But there’s also that ick factor with comparison on social media I don’t ever want to contribute to & I thought it would be fun to tell how I set up my account feed now that I’ve moved beyond weird photos of food & pics of me in the gym mirror.😬
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1. I get 1-2 weeks worth of photos for Insta from one hike. I’m not on a trail every single day taking photos. I have people ask me about that all the time!
2. I take 100 photos for every 1 “post-able” one.
3. I intentionally make sure I have a green or outdoor space photo in order to make sure my feed is curated. And you’ll notice sometimes I have a brick background every 8-15ish photos.
4. I use a preset on all my photos purchased from @lightandairyphotog. I apply the preset, edit the lighting, & then the color. (Scroll my pics to see the edited vs the original.)
5.I write a lot of my captions in one sitting 2-3 days at a time. This way all I do is hit publish on the day of & don’t spend all day online.
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And! Most of my photos are taken between melt downs, tears, scrapes, sibling fighting, & me begging them to give me a quarter of a mile of peace between our next catastrophe.😬 This is your friendly reminder, adventuring with kids isn’t easy.
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Have you been an Insta fan from day 1 or were you a late comer like me? 👇🏻 I want to hear in the comments!
Creeks are for splashing, getting soaking wet, & h Creeks are for splashing, getting soaking wet, & hiking to dry off. I LOVE ✨Summer✨. Double tap if you agree!

@outsidemagazine featured Northwest Arkansas as “An Adventure Paradise” this week!! I’ve got several trail reviews up on my site (a new one today in fact from one of the parks mentioned in the article!), top 10 hikes I want to do with my family in our state, & day hiking tips with kids to get you ready for a visit.☀️🙌🏻❤️
😂 Crazy hair, don’t care. 😂 We went for a 😂 Crazy hair, don’t care. 😂 We went for a hike yesterday & this pic was snapped about the time the kids were tired & over it.

So Todd came up with a game where he “zoomed” them forward at lightening fast speeds & swung them into the air. He told them he was zapping energy into them. I was further up the trail & kept hearing “Zap! Zap! Zap!” I’m pretty sure he played this game with them until his elbows went numb.

I heard all the laughing, so I turned around & took this pic. So glad I did! I think it’s equal parts hilarious, joy, & love all rolled into one photo. Just look at their faces!

Tell me your trail games you play to keep your kids going when they’re over it!

PS A new #CoronavirusConfessions is up on the blog today! It’s a letter from a pediatric nurse & you’re going to love it. Click the link in my profile & click on today’s photo, it will take you straight to the post!
✨Summer✨ is almost here. We’re so so close & ✨Summer✨ is almost here. We’re so so close & we are so so ready. And even though things may be a little different than what we had planned, we are still going to make the best of it.

Our plans are still up in the air as far as our trips we were going to on & we are trying to figure out what is the right thing to do for us. Will all the places we were going to visit even be open, & if some of the places are open, but some of the places are closed do we still want to go? We aren’t sure yet to be honest. We will see, this whole situation is a day by day thing right?

But I do know, we live in a gorgeous state full of waterfalls, lakes, & rivers. Lots of places to explore, nature to see, & hikes to mark off our bucket list. So if a staycation is in the cards for us, the memories will be just as magical as the epic trip would have given us. Our family will still be together doing fun things & that’s all that really matters.💙
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Tell me about your summer plans in the comments. What’s changed? Or is it going to be pretty much what you expected?
I wanted to tell an inspiring & epic story today. I wanted to tell an inspiring & epic story today. But honestly, I didn’t have much of anything to say beyond: yesterday was hard, so we went hiking.

It didn’t fix everything, but it helped. Some days have more tears, sibling fighting, scrapes & falls, & small moments that add up to a very overwhelming day. So we let fighting, irritability, & frustration be taken out on the trail- one foot in front of the other, one mile at a time. End of story, nothing fancy, nothing poetic.

Yesterday was hard, so we went hiking.

How are you and/or your kids doing with all of the changes taking place right now?? Tell me the comments cause I know it’s not easy right now! ❤️
We picked up little guy’s preschool things today We picked up little guy’s preschool things today as the end of the year “send off.” We love & miss our little school so much, they really are like family. ❤️ Seeing them this morning was the ✨highlight✨ of our day.

But for the rest of the day, my to do list is a mile long. I’m slightly overwhelmed with it, but determined to knock it out. I have one kid not having so great a day, school work to be done, grocery lists/menus need made, the budget needs looked at, & then enforcing chore time for the kids. Their favorite part of the day. 🤣😂 Even Covid-19 can’t stop chores! Ha!

What’s been the ✨highlight✨ of your day or week so far? What’s on your to do list you find overwhelming?? Tell me in the comments! 👇🏻 We can celebrate & commiserate at the same time!

PS Don’t you love all the 10 year old silly faces 😆
Covid-19 has reminded me of some ✨important✨le Covid-19 has reminded me of some ✨important✨lessons.

Some of mine in no particular order: I never want to live without my esthetician ever again, I will never complain about going to the grocery store, especially without a mask, I love a good gathering at the farm with family, I’m going to miss not having our annual church cookout this month, I’ll be ready to have a girls night out ASAP, & I will be so ready to not be nervous just doing the most basic of things, like going to church or even seeing a loved one without being scared I’m going to get someone sick. I could keep going but now it’s your turn!

What has this season taught you?? It can be deep, sappy, light, funny. Post it below! 👇🏻
Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful women in Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful women in the trenches of this beautiful gig called motherhood.

To the women whose children are no longer with them, to the sons & daughters whose mothers have passed away, to the women who lost beautiful babies in miscarriage, to foster moms, adoptive moms, step moms, expecting moms, women who have dreamt of being a mother but can’t conceive, & to the women who are pouring love into a person who may not be their child but love them like one nonetheless. I’m proud to stand with all you gorgeous & amazing women.

I’ll be checking out from posting for the weekend, but I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Mother’s Day 💖. How are you creatively celebrating in this crazy Covid-19 time???
I don’t have the words to adequately express wha I don’t have the words to adequately express what I want to say, so I’m going to borrow some. “Here lies the childhood past time of play. Oh, we don't mind play so as long as it comes after the work & doesn't hinder our child/s academic progress, we are okay with play as long as it doesn't affect their test scores. Play is just fine as long as our children's education comes first.

What have we done to childhood?

Just as the frog in the pot doesn't feel the temperature slowly rising, families have been slow to sense the increasing pressures heaped upon their kids in education.

We press into their childhoods in the same way we increase our time on the treadmill or apply more rigorous standards in the workplace. Before we know it, our children are left without a childhood[...] What a scandalous realization that play is actually good for children. That plenty of free time, even boredom prepares them for the future. That time to dream and explore on their own without agenda, without schedule molds their character & makes them better adults. Long live childhood.” -Ainsley Arment, from episode 63 of @wildfreeco podcast

May this time of Covid-19 be a reset on how we view childhood & the space we give our children to be just that, children. Double tap if you agree.❤️
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