About Me
Hi, I’m Frog Mom a.k.a Laure Latham. The “Frog” in Frog Mom comes from my being French but also from my love for nature. I have two daughters born in 2003 and 2005 and I’ve taken them on outdoors adventures since they were babies.
Here are a few things about who I am and why I do what I do.
Where did I grow up?
In a galaxy far, far away. I was born in the South Pacific on a small island called New Caledonia. Located smack between Tahiti and Australia, it is the closest island to paradise. My childhood memories include munching on dried bananas and guavas, exploring rivers and snorkeling around coral reef islands. My two brothers were such spirited children that I became a tomboy early on – survival skills learned the old school way, fighting each other with weeping willow branches, building kites or sharpening branches to make bows and arrows. When I was a teenager, my family moved to Thailand at age 17, I moved to France. There I studied business and law, became a tax attorney and this could have been that if I hadn’t moved to San Francisco with my husband. Eleven years later, I am a professional outdoors writer and business copywriter, published a hiking guidebook in San Francisco and still love discovering new adventures wherever I go. Since September 2012, home is London.
What do I do?
When I don’t blog or write new chapters for my novel, I work in corporate communications. Inspired by my outdoors adventures with my girls, my book Best Hikes with Kids: San Francisco Bay Area was published in 2011. I also freelance as a journalist for parenting and travel websites. This is my professional writing website.
What I love?
Dark, bittersweet chocolate – mostly with nuts and citrus.
Never hike without chocolate in my backpack.
Tea – Earl Grey with blue flowers, smoky Lapsang Souchong, crisp Gen Maicha, oriental rose tea or earthy Pu Erh. When I’m out and about, I bring tea in Thermos hot water bottles.
Open water swimming – love swimming outside, whether in lakes, waterfalls, rivers or the sea. I’m currently training to swim the English Channel solo in 2023.
Star Wars – I’ve been a fan since my teenage years. Don’t like Episodes I, II, and III though. Favorite character is Han Solo.
Books – historical and adventure fiction, dystopian YA, natural anthropology, explorer journals, nature writing.
My girls – my best junior adventurers. My everyday inspiration.