I love our cabin. A tribute.
▲ 531 r/CabinPorn

I love our cabin. A tribute.

I love our cabin.

The cabin is great because it is 4 seasons of varying enjoyment. I love our log cabin, and I love the time we spend with our two little kids (3 & 7). We've been coming here ever since our son was born.

In the summer it's warm, never too hot up here in the mountains. I walk around in bare feet all day. We hang out on the porch swing and listen to the birds. We play at the river, go swimming, fish. It's active, we're tired, we walk around in swimsuits. Grilling out on the back deck without shoes or a shirt. The dog chases squirrels and swims for hours with us.

In the fall we bring in wood for a fire. We wear sweatshirts in the evening. We go on long walks on gravel roads. We go hiking nearby. We walk down to the creek and walk across trees and go barefoot in the water. We go down to the river and make little bark boats and skip stones. The world is orange and yellow and we make giant piles of leaves to jump in. We make bread, cookies and pizza.

In the winter the cabin is covered in snow. We have a thin path to walk up to the porch because I only shoveled a little bit. The fire is roaring all day long as we stay close. But we venture out to play still. We build snowmen and make snow angels. We read books and play board games. We use the telescope to look at the stars because it's not passed their bedtime when it gets dark. The kids help me fetch wood, and we keep a good supply right outside the door. At night, just before bed, I like to go alone and look back at the red glow of the fire in the dark room.

In the spring the creek is running so strong from the winter melt. We play games down there and walk across the logs. We trim the hedges and tall grasses. We use the firepit outside and remember the bugs. The trees blossom and there are wildflowers in the woods. We go hiking and play at playgrounds. We watch the birds and look for woodpeckers.  We make fresh bread and grill some hot dogs. We sing songs on the porch swing and we open all of the windows. We let the breeze roll through the cabin and we nap during the day. 

u/optikalefx — 4 days ago

Our Cabin

I love our cabin.

The cabin is great because it is 4 seasons of varying enjoyment. I love our log cabin, and I love the time we spend with our two little kids (3 & 7). We've been coming here ever since our son was born.

In the summer it's warm, never too hot up here in the mountains. I walk around in bare feet all day. We hang out on the porch swing and listen to the birds. We play at the river, go swimming, fish. It's active, we're tired, we walk around in swimsuits. Grilling out on the back deck without shoes or a shirt. The dog chases squirrels and swims for hours with us.

In the fall we bring in wood for a fire. We wear sweatshirts in the evening. We go on long walks on gravel roads. We go hiking nearby. We walk down to the creek and walk across trees and go barefoot in the water. We go down to the river and make little bark boats and skip stones. The world is orange and yellow and we make giant piles of leaves to jump in. We make bread, cookies and pizza.

In the winter the cabin is covered in snow. We have a thin path to walk up to the porch because I only shoveled a little bit. The fire is roaring all day long as we stay close. But we venture out to play still. We build snowmen and make snow angels. We read books and play board games. We use the telescope to look at the stars because it's not passed their bedtime when it gets dark. The kids help me fetch wood, and we keep a good supply right outside the door. At night, just before bed, I like to go alone and look back at the red glow of the fire in the dark room.

In the spring the creek is running so strong from the winter melt. We play games down there and walk across the logs. We trim the hedges and tall grasses. We use the firepit outside and remember the bugs. The trees blossom and there are wildflowers in the woods. We go hiking and play at playgrounds. We watch the birds and look for woodpeckers.  We make fresh bread and grill some hot dogs. We sing songs on the porch swing and we open all of the windows. We let the breeze roll through the cabin and we nap during the day. 

Sometimes I think about working more, or finding ways to make more money. But why? I would only do what I'm doing now. I am so lucky.

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u/optikalefx — 4 days ago
▲ 619 r/camping

Woke up camping on fathers day, had to do all the work, no complaints.

The kids are starting to get old enough where they want to help now. So they actually gave it their best 5% effort.

In all seriousness though, I have some recommendations to make camping with young kids a lot better. Been fine tuning these for years now. For reference, I've been taking my 2 kids camping since they were 6 months old.

  1. Table cloth. You avoid splinters, easy clean up, just feels nicer, and you can get them at the dollar store.
  2. A camp stove of any kind. In the early morning when you just want coffee or hot cocoa but don't feel like doing all the work for a fire - you can use this to boil water fast and you're all set. Bonus if you have a little pot attachment you can do eggs or whatever.
  3. Tiny camping tables. My god, the number of ways we use these little guys. For cooking, absolutely essential. Foot rest for reading. Inside the tent to stop bending over too much.
  4. Headlamps. You'd think everyone has them, but no. Some people carry around those big flood lights. No thanks, my daughter wants constant uppies.
  5. Camping bread. It takes 2 seconds to throw together day-of in a zip lock back. Flour, yeast, salt, sugar. Then one morning just warm water. The kids love to slosh it around. That night, you throw that bad boy on a pan on the grill and the kids go apeshit over fresh bread. Couldn't be easier.
  6. A blackout tent. This was new for us this year, but holy cow. A tent that is basically a giant blackout curtain was crazy. We slept till 8am most mornings. You heard that right. 8am. And nap time? 2 hours. 2 HOURS.

Anyway, last trip for us this year, as it's getting too hot now. But wanted to share.

Happy Fathers day ya'll!

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u/optikalefx — 14 days ago
▲ 245 r/esp32projects+2 crossposts

My son wants Alexa, I gave him Dadlexa instead.

This was one of my more stupid projects lol. My son wanted an alexa like his cousins have at their house. I told him I wasn't getting a smart speaker in the house.

But, I said I can make you one instead.

Intro the Dadlexa, its an ESP32 board with a mic and speaker. He can wake it up with "Hi ESP" and ask it questions, and it sends the voice recording to telegram on my phone. I can then respond in telegram with my own voice response, and the Dadlexa will play it back.

Demo https://www.youtube.com/shorts/jZzEirH1VK8

u/optikalefx — 21 days ago

My happiness engine. What are you looking forward to?

I always told my friends and family during their low times, that having something, anything to look forward to helps bring the mood back up. I've been a programmer for 20+ years, haven't made an app in 10, but I finally got back in the game to solve this problem for myself.

I call it Looking Forward. It drops a widget on your home screen and gives you that little lift of what fun thing you're looking forward to happening. Tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now.

It connects right to your calendar, so it's super easy to say "I'm looking forward to this".

Also, i'm a BIG supporter of owning your software. So this app has no ads, no subscription, no data collection, no ai. It doesn't even have analytics. I literally have no idea how many people are actively using the app, just total downloads. But people love sending me screenshots of their home screens. I love that.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/looking-forward-app/id6767392816

I'm looking forward to camping soon, and the last day of school. What about you?

u/optikalefx — 25 days ago
▲ 29 r/daddit

This particular spaceship kit was always annoying because on the inside of this tent was a bunch of metal poles that had to be connected in a specific way and tied with ties that were always breaking with little plastic pieces that would always get lost

Well, today, I beat it. I was able to get this thing up in like three seconds with this Pulley method. And it works so well.

u/optikalefx — 2 months ago