Greening Sam and Avery

working off our christmas cookies

Several days of awesome meals, lots of snacking and more Christmas cookies than I can count meant that this morning we all went for a big family hike!

Most the time the hike was on a paved trail, which I am normally not a fan of, but when you have 12 people and five of them are little hikers the paved trail does make things easier.

But there was still lots of great exploring, playing with cousins, exercise and fresh air!

Can you tell that her mom is a photographer? She is always ready with a pose!

A good time was had by all!

Hope you are having a wonderful Holiday Season and a very Merry Christmas! With a little bit of outdoor exploring and play mixed in too!!

Day 325: outdoor playtime

Day 325. I cannot believe we have been at this greening journey now for 325 days. No, there isn't anything special about that number, it just struck me while I was typing it that 325 is A LOT of days. In the life of a 16 month old and a three year old that is A LOT of days. We have gotten outside I would say probably 320 of those 325 days. There were a few bitterly cold days and a few very stormy days that we didn't get outside. Which now looking back is a big bummer, it would have been awesome at the end of the year to say that we went out EVERYDAY. Oh well, maybe that will be the goal for the NEXT 365 days.

Anyway, I have been thinking a lot about outdoor play lately. I really think that getting kids outside, no matter what the setting, HAS to be the first step to connecting kids with nature. Get them away from the computer, the TV, the video games and Ipods. Get them outside in the fresh air, running and playing. Then, once they are more comfortable with just being outside they might be more willing to try bigger adventures or be more curious about some of the natural things that they are seeing outside.

So, today instead of trying to guide Sam and Avery's outdoor play time I just went along with them. We played on the swings, drew with sidewalk chalk, picked dandelions, dug in the mud, watered the garden (and a lot of other areas too!), watched Chris cut the grass, and watched the clouds. We had a great time and burned lots of energy. The learning comes, the connecting to nature happens naturally and the teachable moments pop up when I least expect it; but none of that would have happened if we first weren't playing outside!

It is not always easy to think of what to do outside, especially if you don't have a lot of outdoor space. Wanted to help out with that this week and maybe inspire you to spend MORE of your week with your little ones outside.

Blogs are a great place to start. Here is a list of 10 AWESOME bloggers that have lots of outdoor play ideas.

Just remembering the great oldies-but-goodies can be a great place to start. This is a great list of lots of those old favorites and maybe a few you haven't tried before.

And if you need ideas for ways to spruce up your outdoor play areas check out this great inspiration page at Child Central Station.

If you do get out this week and try out some fun outdoor play ideas with your little ones be sure to stop back by and let me know. You can join the Outdoor Play Link up on Friday or check out the first couple of weeks for more ideas! Check here and here for lots of great ideas.

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The Nitty Gritty!

Two more great resources that I just HAD to share.

If you have a birthday party for your little one coming up it would be great to consider doing some outdoor games or activities. Check out this list of 10 ideas from Disney.

Interested in the philosophy behind outdoor play, research being done about the benefits or studies about things like obesity, risk in play, playground design, nature preschools and more? Check out the resources page at ActiveKidsClub.com. I could spend DAYS going through and reading all of this stuff.

Day 245: sick day

Can you have sick days from blogging? If I could I would have taken one today! Being a daily blogger is hard work people.  I feel the crummies coming on for me, have two sick kids, no one slept great last night and naps did not happen today. How is it possible that they can both be sick, up multiple times throughout the night and still not take even decent naps?

So, on day three of being stuck mostly at home, with low energy kids what did we do?

Avery started her morning out with some window watching. Our newly set up bird feeders are proving GREAT at drawing a big crowd and she is loving it. I think she would spend most of her day standing there watching them if the dog didn't scare them away from time to time!

 

Speaking of Avery...when I let Polly out at one point Avery insisted on coming out on the deck with her. So I let her thinking she would turn around and head right back in, I mean it was only in the 20s maybe 30s. She didn't seem to notice!

 
The brief moment of sun must have felt too good!

 

But the big news from today is that the season of running outside has begun again! And what does it look like to run with a (almost) three year old and a one year old when it is 22 degrees outside?

THIS!

 
I did (maybe!) a mile today but it was AWESOME! The girls did pretty good although Sam seems to think I can talk to her the whole time and that it is okay for her to wiggle around and turn around in the stroller. Gotta change that!

So, yes this is more for me than it is for them. BUT eventually when I get up to the distance that I want to we will be on country roads with birds, grasses, creeks, wild flowers and fresh air! I consider that good outdoor time for them too.

Have you started outdoor exercise routines yet this year? Do you take your kids along?

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The Nitty Gritty!

Our jogging set up: All starts with the right stroller. For me that is the Phil and Teds jogging stroller. My husband's parents bought it for us when I started running again after Sam was born and I LOVE it. I would highly recommend this set up for one child or two. The wheel can be stationary or swivel and the second child feature has a lot of different ways that it can be attached. I started running with Avery in this when she was just an infant; she actually laid down inside it with Sam seated above her. Too hard to explain but it is completely safe for everyone and AMAZING.

Then you have to have your kids bundled up really well! Even more so than when you are going to be playing outside because they are just sitting there and not moving around to keep themselves warm. We layer up with clothing, do the typical snowpants, coat, hat and gloves and then cover both girls up with blankets. The red one is a special stroller blanket that my sister gave me. It has longer sections on both sides so that it can be tied around the back of the stroller. Genius. It works better, in my mind, than even those expensive stroller cozy things that attach and zip up, simply because it will grow with the child, is more versatile and breathes better but still keeps them warm.

Keeping my fingers crossed that temperatures stay at least in the 20s-30s so that I can keep going with the running. I will be very disappointed if we have one more burst of winter that drops us down lower than that.

On a totally unrelated note -

Looking for advice from WI friends. I am feeling overwhelmed with the gardening thing. Does anyone have a good book or online resource that can tell me tips about when to plant, what to start inside and when, when to transfer things to the ground, etc. I would love some guidance so I don't waste all of my seeds this first year!