We’re ready for summer adventures! Our favorite outdoor adventure brand, Thule (commonly mispronounced, but in case you’re curious, it’s “too-lee”, not “th-ool”), sent us two accessories we needed. This post is shared in partnership with them.

First up, this bike rack. It’s the highest weight capacity Thule makes (necessary for e-bikes!) and also works with standard road bikes as well as smaller kids’ bikes. It comes fully assembled and was easy to install, and I can attach or remove it on our hitch by myself without tools. It also folds when not in use, saving valuable garage space. The bikes are secured with multiple points of connection and locking, giving us total peace of mind when on the road. Bonus: it’s in stock right now. If you are looking to carry 4 bikes at a time I was also looking at this with the add on.

One of the best features of this bike rack: full trunk access even with bikes loaded. It folds down like this.

Next up: this cargo box. Originally planned for skis, but also for anytime we need extra space when road tripping. This is the luxury version of cargo boxes. It’s felt lined, opens on both sides, is quiet, and is even outfitted with LED interior lights for access at night. It’s glossy black and very pretty (things I never thought I’d say about a cargo box). We love it. Like so many things right now, do you have to wait a while to get one in stock. At the time of this writing, I found a similar style Thule cargo box currently in stock here.

We are entering the start of the reason why so many people love the pacific northwest: summer. It’s hard earned here, and well deserved. The proximity to the water, lush greenery, all the nearby trails and all our friends ready to play are our reward for making it through another winter.

Thanks to Thule for partnering with me so many times over the years. More on the jogging stroller we still have and use and love and that never fails us, even 6 years later, here. Best suitcases that we use every time we travel here.

I'm convinced there are two kinds of packers in this world: people who pack Everything You Could Possibly Need and people who pack minimally, almost effortlessly, delicately accounting for all kinds of weather and occasions into three coordinating outfits and one easy to manage, well organized, carry on.

I am in the first camp, certainly.

Overpacking is one of my spiritual gifts. Minimal packing is my husband's.

Naturally, it's a joy to travel with me. Once we added a baby in the mix, our packing level went to an even higher, unfathomable level. The soundtrack to our trip prep started to sound something like this: "Hey! Got any extra room in your suitcase for more diapers/wipes/a hair dryer/my ice skates?"

If could pack the kitchen sink, I would.

Thankfully, people change, and I'm learning how to pack more efficiency and effectively. Travel-sized instead of Costco-sized bottles are a start, as well as limiting my shoe choices (still working on that one.) Also helpful: durable, well designed suitcases. Thule, who makes outdoor gear (and our favorite stroller) just released a line of luggage, built to withstand the elements just like their well loved roof racks and bike racks. The two sizes we have are the 30" and the 28". The 30" is ingeniously designed to zip into two bags, one rolling and one duffel, perfect for using alone or together, for separating baby items, or for overpackers like myself still learning how to pack light. My husband loves the laptop bag for work, and it's designed to hook onto the top of either suitcase.

When I pack lighter, I realize that I usually don't even miss whatever's not there. There is always, always a creative solution, and sometimes, having fewer choices can actually make it easier than having too many (capsule wardrobing taught me that).

I started to think about other things I carry with me (figuratively) that actually make my life more difficult or unnecessarily complicated.

Things like, first birthday party expectations. Somehow (maybe thanks to Pinterest and other forms of social media), this event is HYPED. Where did we get this idea that babies needed this extravagant first birthday party? If you want to go all out for it, great, but if you don't? Also fine. We all know this party is more for the parents than the baby anyways.

In June, we will be celebrating Trey's first birthday. But I'm choosing a small, simple party. Nothing fancy, no paper invites, no rented space, no caterer.

I'm taking this off my plate because it doesn't bring me joy to spend the time or the money in this way. I will celebrate the one year milestone in a way that works for us, not how someone else (or society or culture or social media) thinks I SHOULD be doing it.

These days I'm taking more and more off my plate, letting go of thing after thing, lowering my expectations, packing lighter. This "good enough" space of motherhood is so much better than striving for the unattainable perfection.

I'm trying to pack lighter this spring in all sorts of ways. It's a work in progress, but a great place to be.

Shared in partnership with Thule, the trusted outdoor gear brand. We're big fans of their durable designs.