As I was working my way through a long list of house chores this past weekend, I realized something:

This was the first weekend in a very long time that we didn’t have plans to go somewhere and adventure.

Usually, my weekends are spent packing the van or loading up the Pathfinder with bikes, backpacks, snacks and a whole lot of fuel. Because technically, our summer started in January.

We were in New Zealand, where it actually was summer, and we spent the next several months doing what we love most: getting outside, exploring new places and going on adventures as often as possible.

Since then, it feels like we’ve barely stopped.

We’ve hiked and packrafted. We’ve backpacked. We’ve climbed, biked and paddled. We’ve spent weekends in tents and cabins and countless nights in our VW van. We’ve explored new trails, new rivers and new corners of the map.

And then, of course, there was the 10-day birthday VW van trip that took us all the way to the coast to finish out our birthday month.

It’s been an incredible year. It has also involved an absolutely ridiculous amount of packing and unpacking.

Pack the van. Unpack the van.

Pack the backpacks. Unpack the backpacks.

Stuff the sleeping bags. Air out the sleeping bags.

Find all the socks. Refill the snacks.

And repeat.

And somewhere in all of that packing, unpacking and adventuring, we started noticing something else changing: What our boys were asking for when it came to fueling all of those adventures.

Real food + fuel for long days

Let’s make something clear, we’re a real-food family. Our kids eat good meals, plenty of whole foods, and we’re not interested in living off energy snacks. But when you’re hiking, paddling, biking or backpacking for hours, there’s a point where your body needs quick, easy energy to keep moving. In short, it needs sugar.

That’s where energy snacks and 4 Hour Fuel come in. And over the course of this year, we noticed the boys naturally shifting toward what worked best for them. It was subtle at first. We’d pack a bunch of snacks for a hike and come home with most of the gummies and crackers still sitting there, while the 4HF smoothies were long gone.

Then we’d hear:

“Can I have a smoothie?”

Or:

“Do we have Horchata?”

Or my personal favorite:

“Can I have 4HF?”

And we’d look at each other and laugh.

“When did this happen?“

We weren’t pushing it. We weren’t telling them what they should choose. In fact, we had brought the 4HF for us but they were asking for it. And as the months went by, that became more and more obvious. By this summer, we were carrying more 4HF smoothies then ever. Suddenly our packs were lighter and the trash at the end of our backpacking trips was much less.

The ultimate test: adventure

This is really how we use 4 HOUR Fuel ourselves. It goes everywhere with us. Into the van, into the backpack, into the race bin and yes even into the cooler (we mix up a smoothie and put it on ice on a hot day).

It gets pulled out when we’re several hours into an adventure and need something that’s easy to get down and gives us the energy to keep moving. And after spending the entire year putting it through the ultimate family field test, our boys had apparently developed their own favorite:

The 4HF smoothie. By the time we reached the La Pine Loop Family Adventure Race last weekend, that’s all they wanted.

“Can I have a smoothie?”

“Do we have 4HF?“

And honestly, that made us pretty darn happy.

Because 4 HOUR FUEL was created from our own years of endurance racing and figuring out what our bodies actually want when we’re moving for a long time. We wanted something that tasted good and provided a combination of carbohydrates, protein, fat and salt — fuel that could actually keep up with us. And we wanted it to taste and feel good on days 3, 4 and 5 of a race or mission.

Watching our kids grab the same stuff during a long day outside has reminded us that endurance isn’t just something that happens during a race. Sometimes it’s a nine-year-old hiking up a mountain. Sometimes it’s a seven-year-old paddling across a lake. Sometimes it’s getting through a full day of exploring before crawling into the back of the van. And sometimes it’s an adventure race with your family.

This summer gave us a lot of miles, a lot of dirt, a lot of laughs, a few tired legs, and more memories than we could possibly count.

And somewhere along the way, our boys figured out something we adults have been learning for years: When you’re going to adventure all day, you need good fuel. Apparently, they’ve got that part figured out. Now we just need to keep the smoothie supply stocked.

Here’s to more adventures

If there’s one thing this year has taught us, it’s that as the kids get older the adventures are getting longer which means more fuel, more dirt and a whole lot more fun. Of course, there’s a lot more laundry, packing, unpacking but I’ll happily do more if it also means more outside time.

From New Zealand to Oregon, from mountains to rivers to the coast, this has been one giant year of getting outside together in a much bigger way.

And as we look toward the many adventures that lie ahead of us, we’ll probably do what we always do:

Pack the bags, load the van, fill the 4HF stash and go see what’s out there.