Greening Sam and Avery

outdoor play link up and an honor

So for personal reasons that will be revealed soon enough I have had to step away from the online world (really the computer in general!) for a while. Which means that this week if you want to find the Outdoor Play Link Up you should head on over to 

Mama Pea Pod 

Learning for Life

The Golden Gleam

Kitchen Counter Chronicles

 

I will be back soon with news of what we are up to, features from the past link ups to share and the outdoor fun we have been having!

Also, I wanted to say a BIG THANK YOU to  Curly Bug for honoring me with not one but TWO blogging awards last week. 

   

Such an honor to have someone acknowledge your hardwork and let you know that they enjoy what you are putting out there! Thank you so much for thinking of me and including me in a great list of blogs. 

 

our life right now...

is all about the deck!

Demo, repair, add beams, fix stairs, replace almost everything...for twelve hours a day for the past several days you can find me here. 

Oh and we also fixed a doll highchair! Can you find it?

I cannot tell you how blessed we are to have my dad showing us all the steps to getting this deck project done. He is doing all the repairs to make it safe and sturdy. And my mom is being grandma extraordinair plus cooking all the meals! Their help is incredible. 

But I am going to be (and have been!) absent from this space for a bit.  Be back soon!! 

the rockies with our little ones

There is no way I can sum up this trip in words. Where to start? 

Well, I will start by telling you why you should take your kids where we went!

We backpacked in the Rainbow Lakes area in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. It was a bit tough to find a campsite that wasn't too close to the lakes but once we found one it turned out to be great for the kids. The hike in was super easy for the girls, even carrying their own backpacks. And the campsite was a quick hike away from several different lakes; lots of places to explore! 

And the views from anywhere in the area were just incredible!

And if catching critters is of interest to your little one these lakes are FULL of great critters. We could see leeches, waterboatman and caddisfly nymphs just be looking down into the lake. 

So the setting that Uncle Craig picked was pretty perfect for little ones! 

There was lots of family time, good food, exploring, cousin bonding and reconnecting with the outdoors. 

We did have a bit of weather issues...hail, lightning, thunder and lots of rain.

But knowing what has been happening all around Colorado we were all just fine with the wet weather! Plus it forced all eight of us into one tent for cards and games which led to lots of laughter and fun! 

*This last photo is taken from the top of Mount Evans which we drove up so the kids could really get a sense of what the top of a mountain looks like!

We had a pretty incredible time! 

To see all of our photos from the vacation check out my facebook page. 

outdoor play link up - some dos and don'ts of hiking with little kids

My girls are mid-west hiking champs. They can do miles of trail without a whimper or whine. But mountain hiking is a whole new beast for us and one that we are still learning how to tackle. This week we have had a few chances to get the girls out on some trails. We have made mistakes, learned, changed plans, gotten better and made some great memories. 

So, some DOS for the mountain trail: 

1. Do bring along a reward of some kind. There will be steep parts that will be really hard for little legs. Give them some kind of reward for getting through the rough spots. This could be candy (as simple as one or two jelly beans) or fruit snacks or something else that they love. 
2. Do stop more often than you normally would on a flat trail. Don't make them think you are stopping all the time to make them rest. Find other reasons; an interesting plant, a good view, etc. 

 

3. Do play games along the trail. We become found of a princess trivia game. We took turns quizzing each other on best friends of princesses. Example - which princess has a best friend that can change colors to match anything it is standing in front of? If princesses aren't your think you could play this game with superheros, animals, sports, plants, constellations, etc. 

4. Do set reachable goals, but even if those aren't met still make sure your kiddos feel the end of their hike is a victory of some sort. We had to stop mid hike on our first mountain hike this week but we made sure the girls still knew how proud of them we were and all the great things we had already seen along the way. 

Some DON'Ts for the mountain trail:

1. Don't underestimate how much difference elevation makes! It is a huge factor in how far little legs can go. 

2. Don't time hikes around what works best in your day. Time them around what works best for your little ones. We got on the road and when we didn't get to our destination as quickly as we thought we still set out on our hike. With no lunch packed we hit the trail at 10:30am for a pretty sizeable first mountain hike. BAD MOVE! 

3. Make them leave wanting more. If you push them too hard on their first trip out the next time you ask them if they want to hike their answer may not be the one you were hoping for. Start small and work your way up (literally if you are climbing mountains!). We learned this the hard way with our little ones this week!

I love that even though I consider our family very seasoned hikers we are still learning new things and constantly being challenged. More about our camping and backpacking later! 

This Week's Feature

Not many people think of gardening as outdoor play but for us watering, weeding, planting and harvesting are all just fun things that we do together in the yard. I was super excited to see another mom embracing gardening as outdoor play and her story is very fun! Check out this week's link up from Curly Bug - Digging Up Carrots.

 

Now On to This Week's Party! 

A few guidelines for the party...

- Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

- If you'd like us to further share your post (e.g., on Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest), please just include a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

- Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back.

- Each time we will feature an activity from the previous party. 

- By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished. 

Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week! The linky goes live every second Friday at 12:01 GMT+1

 

 

travel day one - a book to get me ready

I am on VACATION!  WOOHOO!  Which means I wrote this post several days ago and scheduled it to go up so that I could take a break from the computer and make memories with me kids! Sure they are just riding in the car memories at this point but still we are on VACATION!

The car is loaded down with all our camping and backpacking gear plus all the clothes and extra things that we need just for a great visit at Uncle Craig's house in Denver. The girls could not be more thrilled about this trip and excited about all the things that we have told them we will be doing. They have NO idea just how many hours they are about to spend in the car...I decided it was better to surprise them with that fun! HA!  

This is a much needed break. A much needed recharge for our family and our first big camping trip as a family of four. Chris and I have both camped all of our lives and we have both backpacked before we were together and as a couple. SO I am so excited to do all of this with the girls and get to experience all of this as a family. With hopefully many more of these in the future.   

But, before any of this could happen I needed to get ready. Which for me meant reaching out to all of you for advice! Go here to see all the great posts that were linked up and be sure to add your own if you have one! Thanks so much to Creekside Learning, Kitchen Counter Chronicles, Curly Bug,  Adventure Tykes and No I Will Not Carry That Rock for linking up and giving me so much great advice! 

Getting ready also meant I needed to find a good book. And I found a great one!

The Down and Dirty Guide to Camping With Kids by Helen Olsson. I got lots of great advice for what to pack, what to expect and advice on how to handle different situations from this book. The most seasoned camper or backpacker may not need the gear section but if they are taking along their kids for the first time they may really need the "Five Ways to Curb Whining" section. And an early childhood educator may have no problem keeping their kids entertained at the camp site but may really struggle with knowing what kind of trip to plan and how long to plan it for. There are literally sections in this book for everyone!

Well organized, well written and a quick read make this a great resource for anybody that plans on taking kids out into the wild for a camping, hiking or backpacking trip!

Okay, I will be popping on here occassionally over the next 10 days but my posts will be brief. If you want to hear more about what we are doing and see photos you should follow me on Facebook! I am going to try and get stuff up there a bit more often. But again, I am on VACATION and plan to be unplugged making memories with my family as much as I can!

fundanas on the trail

This past Christmas my mom gave me two Fundanas. The girls have been too young to really do much with them but I have used them before with groups through work. Anyway, Fundanas are bandanas that have either scavenger hunts or bingo games on them that are all nature related. 

I am super excited to pack the two that my mom gave me for our camping trip this week. A bandana is one of the most useful things (at least to me) on a camping trip of backpacking trip. It is a towel, washcloth, neck wrap, hair wrap, napkin, tie it up with rope and its a bag, etc.  So many uses! And now we can have them along as a toy too! With aunt and uncles along the girls may really get into playing a game or doing a scavenger hunt at a break along the trail. 

If you camp, hike or backpack I would certainly suggest that you pick up a few Fundanas for your backpack! You can find them on Amazon OR go to Imagine Childhood. 

a few preschool books to start your week

Got a few new-to-us books for you all to check out this week.

Flying Eagle, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen

This book has great pictures! The story is all about one eagle's struggle to find a meal for his family. The girls loved seeing all the animals that the eagle was flying over. And it is a neat way to portray just how hard it is for some animals to get the food that they need.  The writing is very poetic and the pictures are very artistic.

Dolpins on the Sand, Jim Arnosky

So many great books from Arnoksy! This one deals with the natural occurrance of dolphins getting caught on dryland. People show up to help the dolphins and eventually get them safely back to the water. It is a great story about how humans can really help animals and make a positive difference in nature.  Love the message that this one sends to young kids!

White Owl, Barn Owl, Nicola Davies

When you finish reading a book with your child and their reaction is to ask to take immediate action just like what happened in the book, that is an awesome thing! This story is about a young girl and her grandpa that build an owl box to be able to observe an owl more closely. And what they get in the end is a great experience with an amazing bird! Of course Sam now wants to build owl boxes to put in our backyard. I see a project in our future.

So, head to your library and check out a new book or two! And if you have read these I would love to know what your little ones think of them.

 

outdoor play link up - our week of outdoor play

This week I tried really hard to have something new for the girls to try during our outdoor play time each day. 

Here are the fun ideas that we tried out (and the great bloggers that shared the ideas!) -

I made our first colored ice cube fun this week. And got the idea to make some ice boats from Mama Mia's Heart 2 Heart. 

The big blue one really worked out well.

The little ones that I tried, not so much!

And eventually we just needed to see what the water would look like when they all melted together so the girls grabbed a white metal bowl from our mud kitchen. 

If you make ice boats I would suggest making LOTS and not getting them all out at the same time. When these melted quickly in the 96 degree heat my girls instantly wanted more and I had not planned for backups! 

 

We also set up a "walk the plank"! I got this idea from Adventures at Home with Mum and her pirate themed party. Her set up is way more extensive than mine but the girls really loved having this new feature in our backyard water play. 

Both girls did lots of balancing, jumping off and Sam even discovered that she could swim underneath the plank! 

Here is the way I set it up. 

This Week's Feature!

This week my favorite outdoor play idea combines art, outdoor play and a creative way to avoid buying expensive wrapping paper. Check out FootPrint Wrapping Paper by Mulitple Mumy. 

Isn't that adorable and SO clever? Love this! Thanks for sharing!!

Now on to the Party! 

A few guidelines for the party...

- Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

- If you'd like us to further share your post (e.g., on Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest), please just include a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

- Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back.

- Each time we will feature an activity from the previous party. 

- By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished. 

Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week! The linky goes live every second Friday at 12:01 GMT+1

 

 

let's go catch something

Gotta love a post nap child that looks at you and says "mom, let's go catch something!". What else can a mom say but "OKAY!".  I was then instructed that "we will need nets, some buckets and our sucky things." HA! I knew right away she meant their new bug suckers. 

So off we headed down the street to our nearby prairie area and our local stream. 

Just two sisters on a walk looking for bugs!

We caught a few little water bugs and nobody fell in so the trip was a success. 

BUT the biggest lesson that we learned is that The Bug Sucker is not a good tool to use to catch bugs out of water. Before I could even suggest to Sam to not try to get the bug out of our bucket with the bug sucker she was already making yucky noises and telling me she shallowed something! HA!!  She put half the tube down in the bucket and of course when she went to suck up the bug got a mouth full of water. So funny. But she learned a lesson today and now we know to only bring those "suckers" when we are cathing land bugs! 

our new bug tool

This weekend a colleague of mine introduced me to The Bug Sucker. He had a whole bunch of them and actually sold me two! I thought they were interesting and such a unique bug tool. 

The idea is that there are some kids that do not like to touch bugs but it is still great for them to be able to safely collect bugs and study them. The bug sucker uses your breathe to pull the bug into the tube to be able to look at them up close. 

Check it out in action!

You place the end of the green tube over the bug that you want to catch. 

Then you put your mouth on the part that looks like the top of a water bottle. Then you simply suck, like you are drinking through a straw. You have to suck pretty hard but because of the shape of the tube and the water bottle top you aren't in any danger of sucking up any bugs or major debris. 

See the pill bug that Sam caught?

Sam wanted to try again and again to see how many bugs she could catch. But then after a while she looked at me and said "Can't I just pick them up with my fingers?" HA! Love that kid. 

But not every kid is as bug friendly as Sam. You may also have a child that hasn't quite mastered the skill of being gentle. This is a great tool for those kids that have a tendency to squish the bugs that they are trying to catch. 

Here is The Bug Sucker up close. 

And I just love the label!

I really think these should be a standard bug catching tool in every preschool classroom or nature center program!

They are awesome!!!  

So, I did some research and figured out where my friend, David Stokes, got these from. You can find them HERE.

If you have one of these I would love to know what you (and your kids) think of it!