The final zoo on the epic #Notarule Tour was in Sioux Falls South Dakota. We got to plug into a literacy program at the Great Plains Zoo in which Jason was the guest author.

He got to share some stories from Penguins Can’t Fly, then read the crowd an owl book, introducing screech owls as “rule breakers!”

Then we got to unveil the rule-breaking animal guest, Aries the screech owl. You’d assume it’s a baby because it’s little… nope! You’d assume it is loud because of it’s name… nope! Or that it even screeches… nope! This owl is breaking rules left and right, as his head turns 270 degrees!!

Our kiddos in the audience…

Afterwards we busted out the washable markers and ugly cookies!

Thou shalt not draw on yourself. #notarule

Lovingly drawing mustaches!

Dress up fun!

Now that’s one ugly cookie – woo hoo!

Thou shalt not have facial hair as a child. #notarule

What a sweet rule breaker!

Nice ‘stache!!!

A creative application of cheese puffs!

Ugly cookies!!

Ben’s had a lot of practice this summer!

Bugle nose.

Lucy managed the ugly cookie station like a pro!

Ben managed the dress-up station.

So great seeing Escape Adulthood Summit alumni, Carrie, and her super fun family!!

What a good sport!

Marty, of course!

Later we found the real penguins!

Post book tour zoo fun.

Lucy’s favorite animal!

Ginny being brave:

A Penguins Can’t Fly sighting…can you spot it?

Marty in concrete!

Thanks to the Great Plains Zoo and all the folks who came out and had fun with us. What a great day!

We were excited to spend a beautiful Sunday at Como Zoo in St. Paul Minnesota to help promote Penguins Can’t Fly and encourage people to break rules that don’t exist. Especially popular at this stop was the opportunity for parents to draw on their children:

It’s fun being permission granters!

And the results were pretty spectacular: 

Of course, the ugly cookies were also a big hit, as usual.

The fun part is trying to get the frosting colors to look as ugly as possible.

Superfan Bill shows off his work of art…

The most challenging thing is trying to figure out how many cookies to bring.

This batch didn’t take long to disappear. After running out of cookies, some kids took it upon themselves to break another rule and decorate their plates!

Our friend Teresa stopped by for some hula hooping fun. She brought some extras, and had we been outside, we would have been able to let folks go for a spin. As such, it was a little too crowded for that…it was the only real disappointment of the day.

Lots of old friends stopped by, including Cristy and her merry band of friends.

Cristy (in the blue t-shirt) is the one who kindly gifted us with the handmade stuffed Marty that has been accompanying us on the tour:

As always, it was so great to connect with fans and meet some new ones!

Ben plotting out which animals to see first after this “book tour is over.”

Proud to be a rule breaker!

Dress up insanity…

Another great day!

Thanks to the Como Zoo team for the great hospitality and fun day!

The photos above are some of our favorites, with locations like Green Bay, Louisville, Duluth, McDonald’s Hamburger University and even Metropolis (the hometown of Superman!) represented.

As fun as it is for me to hide these prints all over the place, I’d love to offer YOU the chance to get in on the fun! Would you like to Hide Marty? Here’s the drill:

1. Email me if you want to play, with the subject: Operation Hide Marty. (Please include a snail mail address in your inquiry.)
2. I will send you a signed and numbered print to hide in a public place somewhere in your neck of the woods.
3. Once you’ve hidden it, send me a “clue” photo that gives people an idea of where to look.
4. We’ll post your clue and if someone finds the print and shares a photo of themselves with it online, we’ll send that person a free signed copy of the book!

This is an exercise in tinkering, so we’ll partner with the first 12 entries and see how it goes. Wanna participate? Email me!

The #Notarule Tour has taken us to some interesting locations. A bookstore, of course, but also some zoos, ice cream parlors, and an old bank. It’s been a fun chance to experiment, and one of the most “experimental” stops was St. Charles, Illinois.

That’s where we had our first ever house party.

It all came about after all of the locations we had in mind for the Chicagoland area fell through (mostly due to store owners with Adultitis). After one with a full-blown case treated my wife rudely, I took to Facebook to vent. And Beth, who had attended an Escape Adulthood Summit with her husband Chad, offered to host us. At her house.

After confirming she was serious, Kim and I mulled it over. We decided that “Book tour stops shalt not take place in people’s homes” was definitely #notarule. We have long been fans of house concerts, in which traveling songwriters perform for a few dozen people in someone’s living room. Kim and I have been to a few in Madison, and the cozy, intimate setting is super cool. Intrigued by the idea of putting our own twist on it (no one would want to hear me sing, that’s for sure), we decided to give it a shot.

We ended up with about 15 adults, and some children as well, who entertained themselves outside and downstairs. The group was split between the living room and the dining room, and I spoke from the foyer, which joined the two rooms.

I was able to tell some stories from and about Penguins Can’t Fly, and answered questions about the creative process. We also gave everyone the chance to bring something for “Show & Tell,” which was my favorite part. Here a woman named Lauren shares her epic toy keychain collection!

Everyone who wanted to got a chance to take center stage and share their thing. Then we got into a fun discussion about rules…like which ones people were most fond of breaking, and which ones gave them the biggest challenge.

We gave everyone a “goodie bag” in the form of a custom Adultitis First Aid Kit, filled with fun stuff for escaping adulthood.

We had a little table set up with books and artwork for people who wanted to bring a souvenir home…

…or have their book defaced. :)

Of course, many of the activities from our standard tour stops were also incorporated, including the “Thou Shalt Act Thine Age” photo booth…

…and the chance to decorate ugly cookies (and wear fake mustaches).

Regrettably, we never got a picture with our gracious hosts, Beth and Chad, even though we really enjoyed chatting with them after the party about life, family, and big dreams. Here’s one from the archives of the duo having fun at the 2013 Escape Adulthood Summit.

We had a lot of fun and learned some things too, which is a good thing because we’d like to do more of these in the future. In fact, here’s something to think about: If you think it might be fun to host one of these, you totally can! We put together a free guide that gives you everything you need to know. It’s not very hard and it’s a ton of fun.

If you’d like US to be a part of it, feel free to invite us! Although we can’t make any promises, who knows? We may already be traveling to your neck of the woods and perhaps we can arrange to sync our schedules. At the very least, Kim and I are open to creating a custom welcome video that you can share with your guests. If you have any ideas, we are open to hearing them! Email us!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Ice cream parlors are among the best Adultitis Hospitals, and we recently visited two as part of our epic #Notarule Tour.

The first was at Pied Piper Creamery in Nashville, Tennessee. This cool place was in a neat little neighborhood and featured some creative flavors, such as “Trailer Trash,” which is Vanilla with Oreo, Twix, Butterfinger, Nestle Crunch, Snickers, M&Ms, and Reese’s Pieces. Lucy was a big fan of that one. I really enjoyed my choice: “Oatmeal Raisin in the Sun.”

Not only was it a beautiful night for hanging out, but we got to reconnect with old friends, and meet new ones, too. It was also cool to meet some people in real life that we’ve been connected with for years online!

I think Ginny was just happy to be out of her car seat.

Our other stop was in Zionsville, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis. The Scoop is one of the most adorable little ice cream parlors there ever was. Loved their sign, too!

The kids had fun on the rocking chairs on the big front porch, a centerpiece designed to harken back to the slower-paced days of yesteryear.

It was great meeting Alice and Steve, who pulled up in this classic beauty! (Vintage filter added for effect.)

Great to see our dear friend, Michele, who gave us the tip about this sweet shop.

So nice to meet Lisa, who maintains a labyrinth nearby (another type of Adultitis Hospital.)

The Tiller family posed for this silly photo that Adultitis was none too happy about!

Sprinkle-coated shout-out to our great hosts and all the people who came out to say hi and buy a book or print!

Is the #Notarule Tour Coming to a city near you? Find out here.

I was sitting on the beach reading, and I looked up from my book to a most wonderful sight. It was of my daughter Lucy, clutching a boogie board, being escorted to the shore by a strong wave of saltwater. The entire ride lasted barely five yards, but the transformation in her was light years from a few hours earlier. The initial introduction to this unfamiliar ocean vessel was marked with trepidation and more than a few tears.

Her triumphant, tooth-deprived grin was one of my favorite moments from our recent 11-day, 7-state, 2,300 mile road trip with three kids under seven. (The second epic leg of the #Notarule Tour is coming in September.)

Another special moment was seeing the pride and joy in Ben’s blue eyes as he began to master his “muscles,” the green camouflaged floatation vest that enabled him to independently venture beyond the pool’s steps. Like Lucy, he wasn’t sure about this new thing, but once he got the hang of it, there was no stopping him.

For both of them, like many things in life, the hard part was finding the courage to go for it.

Frankly, my favorite part of the trip might just be the fact that we did it. (Although the soul food at Mrs. B’s in Montgomery was right up there.) We planned our trip thoughtfully, and I hoped for the best, but it turned out even better than I imagined.

It certainly wasn’t easy. We posted the highlights on Facebook and Instagram, because most people don’t stop to capture the bad times. Besides, I doubt anyone wants to see an hour-long video of an exhausted 20-month-old too stubborn to sleep. Trust me, I was there for the live performance.

Twice.

But we did it. We made it to the other side closer as a family and with neat new memories we wouldn’t have otherwise had.

The whole thing started with me getting an invitation to speak for an association of Medical Group Managers in Destin, Florida, a place I’d never been. People who heard about it said, “Oh you should really take the family.” One thing led to another, and it turned into this 11-day road trip that was part business trip, part book tour, part family vacation, part crazy.

It was harder to pull off than me just flying down alone. It would have been easier to wait till Ginny was older and more “travel ready.” But who among us is guaranteed tomorrow?

The minute we saw the emerald Gulf waters from our hotel room in Destin, I was so glad we did it. Had I went the easy way and traveled solo, I know I would have spent the whole time wishing I’d have figured out a way to bring the family.

My goal with this post is not to convince you to travel with kids, spend time in Florida, or wear camoflauged life vests. (Although I recommend all three.)

It’s about being aware of those opportunities to dance with adventure that quietly float into our lives, and the practice of not dismissing them simply because they are hard.

Most of the time, the reason we didn’t do the things we wish we would have is because they were too hard.

Too scary. Too risky. Too uncomfortable. Too uncertain. Too…something.

And yet the hardness is what makes the end result so worthwhile.

Mark Twain was right: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.”

Playing it safe, doing what you’ve always done, and sitting on the couch binge-watching MacGyver is easy.

Living a great story is hard.

But don’t let Adultitis fool you into thinking it’s not worth it.

The Madison stop for the #Notarule Tour was held on Saturday, in conjunction with the beloved Art Fair on the Square, and it was a huge success! We originally wanted to hold it at the local zoo near the penguin exhibit, but like many zoos we ran in to, they weren’t that interested. As fate would have it, the exact morning we got a thumbs down from the zoo is the same day we stumbled into the Dream Bank for the first time.

The Dream Bank is a neat community space sponsored by American Family Insurance. It’s in an old, renovated bank, and they offer all kinds of free community programs, from small business seminars to Pinterest parties. It was love at first site, and we started a relationship that not only includes this Tour stop, but a bunch of presentations Kim and I will be putting on in the next year.

It was such a perfect space for our message, many people commented how they couldn’t tell where their stuff ended and ours began.

Taking advantage of Art Fair on the Square and the fact that my book is chock full of artwork, we made this event part art show, part book signing, part rule-breaking extravaganza.

There were plenty of familiar faces and lots of new ones, as well. A lot of folks who stopped by saw the article in the Wisconsin State Journal or heard the interview on Wisconsin Public Radio.

We were excited to have NBC show up to do a little feature that ended up on the 10:00 news (as seen above). The reporter came during the only real lull in activity, which worked out well, as it gave us a chance to talk without having to make too many people wait.

Of course, we had the ugly cookie decorating station:

This is my friend Teresa. We’ve known each other since high school.

She is actually the person who introduced me and Kim. In fact, way back in 1995, we scheduled a time for the three of us to meet for ice cream and Teresa was way late, which allowed for Kim and I to have a long talk and get to know each other. The rest, as they say, is history. So, if it weren’t for Teresa, it’s probable that none of this Escape Adulthood stuff would have ever happened!

She was a good sport and agreed to let me draw a mustache on her for the TV camera.

The footage didn’t show up in the final clip, but she wore her new-found facial hair proudly!

My friend John came out with his family all the way from Indiana. I went to art school with John, and we’ve had lots of good times together.

My friend Jason and his family are in the middle of a cross-country road trip in their new RV. They totally went out of their way to be able to join in on the festivities. It was a great surprise to see them!

Here’s Tony, my new best friend. He came with his wife Jo to help us out. Tony took the money, and Jo took a lot of the photos seen here (look for the gal in the purple hair).

This is my agent Michelle. She is just the best. I know all authors probably say that, but it’s only because they’ve never worked with Michelle!

The Ingalls clan came bearing a gift…

…and then did a great job of breaking the rule, “Markers shalt only be used on paper.”

And everyone seemed have fun NOT acting their age by taking fun photos wearing silly props.

Even our youngest Ginny got into the action!

Our friend Geoff is a busy speaker who brings joy to so many people. He couldn’t be in Madison, but he sent us this amazing video he made to show us he was there in spirit. It definitely brought a tear to our eyes!

Thanks to American Family Insurance, the Dream Bank, and all of the people who came out to play with us. You helped make it a truly special and memorable day!

Have you read Penguins Can’t Fly yet? If yes, please leave a review on Amazon.com. If not…what are you waiting for?! Learn more here.

The #Notarule Tour is a curious cavalcade of unusual events united in the purpose of helping you break rules that don’t exist. Fueled by the message of my new book, this is one unconventional book tour, with stops at all kinds of unexpected places.

We’re taking advantage of the great opportunity to experiment, and we’re really having fun with it. We just had our first stop at a zoo, and in the next week, we have two more unique events going down.

The first is this Saturday in Madison from 1:30 – 3:30 pm at the Dream Bank across from the State Capitol. In conjunction with Madison’s beloved Art Fair on the Square, this is part art show, part book signing, part interactive experience featuring ugly cookie decorating! This is our big hometown release party, and we couldn’t be more excited about it! Get details here.

The second is happening on Monday, July 13, in St. Charles, Illinois. Bummed out that we couldn’t secure a spot at Cookie Dough Creations in Naperville, we had a superfan throw out the idea that she and her family would be willing to host a stop at their home. After verifying that she was in fact serious, we figured, “what the heck!” and are excited to invite you to an Escape Adulthood House Party! All are welcome, but we can only accommodate a total of 50 people for this intimate evening gathering. Learn more about the event and how to RSVP here.

For more tour stops, visit https://escapeadulthood.com/blog/2015-notarule-tour

Upon our arrival, we were excited to be stationed directly across from the penguin exhibit. Fitting.

It was a beautiful evening, and we had a steady stream of folks stop by to say hi. We even sold a nice stack of books!

As advertised, we had a bunch of fun rule-breaking activity stations for people to enjoy. Ben used the special coloring pages I made to demonstrate that contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to color inside the lines.

We also have a jar of free scrunchies next to a sign with the rule, “Only children shalt wear pigtails.” Definitely #notarule.

The “Thou Shalt Act Thine Age” station featured a bunch of silly props for dressing up and taking fun photos. That was a hit for kids of all ages.

But the top attraction, not surprisingly, was the ugly cookie decorating station. Because cookies don’t have to look beautiful. And they most certainly CAN have cheese balls on them, if you like.

Oh, and here is the young man who found the signed print I hid for the Find Marty Art Drop.

It was behind a bench near the penguin exhibit. Not only did he get to keep the print, but he earned a signed book, too!

Thanks to everyone who came out, as well as NEW Zoo & Adventure Park for hosting us! Can’t wait for the next one.

Wondering if we’ll be in your neck of the woods soon? Check out the official tour page.

One highlight was that there were representatives from each of the first three Escape Adulthood Summits on hand, including these three (and a few others who didn’t make this photo):

Besides the opportunity to buy Penguins Can’t Fly before its official release date, attendees were also encouraged to engage in a variety of rule-breaking activities, including decorating ugly cookies (notice the penguin shape!):

We think the caterers did a great job of mixing up some of the ugliest frosting we’ve ever seen. And the sprinkles reminded us of kitty litter – perfect! We added Cheese Balls and Bugles to help take the ugliness to new levels.

The first “Find Marty Art Drop” also happened on Saturday. The photo below is a clue to where I hid a limited edition signed and numbered print, with a little Marty attached to it. I have not gotten word yet on who officially found it, but I checked the spot a few hours later and confirmed that the print was definitely claimed. If you want to be the first to hear about future clues, make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Here are some other fun pics from the day. Thanks to everyone who was able to come out and make it such a fun event. And a special thanks to Eileen at the Book Mouse for hosting us! (She still has a few signed copies left, so if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by to grab one!)

To learn more about where the #Notarule Tour is heading next, click here.

The 2015 #Notarule Tour is a curious cavalcade of unusual events united in the purpose of helping you break rules that don’t exist. Fueled by the message Penguins Can’t Fly, this is one unconventional book tour. There will be stops at zoos, ice cream parlors, national landmarks, a few bookstores, and even an art fair!

Rather than repeating the tried-and-true (but insanely boring) model most “book tours” subscribe to, our goal was to tell a better story by creating fun, memorable, and engaging events and experiences. Most stops will feature opportunities for you and your companions to break one or many rules. Some stops won’t even provide any opportunities to buy books (although if you bring one for me to sign, I’ll give you a free signed print!) A few will offer the opportunity to decorate ugly cookies!

Find Marty Art Drop
Every stop will feature a “Find Marty Art Drop,” in which a small cache of goodies (including an adorable tiny toy penguin, a signed and numbered limited edition print, and instructions for claiming a free copy of Penguins Can’t Fly), will be hidden. Clues will be revealed on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and the winner is the first to find it!

#Notarule Tour Notables:

• Number of states: 13
• Number of cities: 25
• Number of zoos: 5 (we tried for more, but many of them have Adultitis.)



• I will be bringing along my family (a wife and three kids under seven) for the majority of the stops. This may or may not be certifiably insane. But it’s guaranteed to be memorable.
• I have a limited amount of time reserved for media interviews. If you would like to schedule a time for a lively chat, please contact his publicist Michelle Cashman at Michelle.Cashman@stmartins.com

Click here for an updated list of cities and dates!