Greening Sam and Avery

spring clean up

It was pretty nice this afternoon so we headed to the park. 

I brought some trash bags in our wagon thinking that since the melt has finished there might be some trash left behind that would need to be picked up. 

We filled two big bags, like this one, full of trash!

After the pond and park were all cleaned up we had some time left to play!

Love this park because big trucks and sand toys get left behind for the whole neighborhood to play with!

The puddles at the playground were awesome and still filled with some ice and slush. The girls thought this was very fun.

And then we found one little spot that hadn't melted yet but had a little stream of melt water running through it. 

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, the puddles and just all around the park! 

It was great outdoor play! Have you checked out the outdoor play party this week? It is filled with really fabulous ideas. 

outdoor play party - santa style clean up

Hello Outdoor Play Party!

We are filled with the Holiday spirit at this house and decided we needed to do something nice. I am trying to teach my girls that there is more to the season than giving presents and lots of beautiful decorations.

So, I told the girls that we were going to play Santa for the day. Since he does something nice for us we should "be like Santa" and do something nice for other people. Sam responded by saying "Then Santa will see me being nice and put me on the nice list!". Not exactly the lesson I was going for but I guess it is a start!

Anyway, we got our Santa hats on, grabbed some trash bags and headed to one of our favorite parks.

The girls (and our friends Petyon and Taylor) got very into finding trash! I loved seeing them so committed to getting every piece of trash.

It was a pretty good clean up for only being about 30 degrees! And everybody had a good time.

Great way to combine outdoor play, exploring and a helpful clean up project for our community.

 Now on to the feature of the week! Happy Little Messes had a great idea this week to save some big seeds and let her kids "plant" a autumn garden. I love the idea of kids getting seed planting practice, digging in the dirt and using gardening tools just like they see their parent's using.

Great outdoor play Happy Little Messes! Thanks so much for sharing.

How did your kids play outdoors this week?

Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us! Here’s just a few guidelines for sharing.

• Any kind of children's outdoor play is welcome. If it happened outside, then please link it up!

• Please do not share any competitions, promotions, or posts that are not related to Outdoor Play.

• Please remember to link back to this post and help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play!

• Each week we will feature an activity from the previous week. By contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished.

tenney park and lock, madison

We took friends to Tenney Park and Lock today. It has become one of my favorite spots in Madison because of the combination of natural play areas, water and playgrounds (a favorite for my girls!). The girls love looking for all the wildlife that is around Lake Mendota, the creek and "pond" (may be a branch off of the river or the lake I am not actually sure). There are tons of big trees, wildflowers, a beach, rocks to climb and much more! Plus two different playgrounds within walking distance of each other that are great for little ones.

One of the things that is so great about this place is that it is in Madison, almost right downtown. Having places like this to go so close to the city means that even those families living in the most urban settings have a place nearby to play outdoors and see some natural areas.

Apparently today I was sick of taking pictures of my own kids and just wanted to take pictures of our friend's daughter! She is a cutie!!!!

Had a great weekend with friends and some fun outdoor play time. It was almost 100 degrees today so we didn't get to explore as much as I would have liked but the little girls (and all the grownups!) were just too darn hot!

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

If you are headed to Tenney anytime soon I have a plan of action that I would suggest! 

Start your adventure at the small playground right by Lake Mendota, there is a parking lot right there. Then use the distraction of the big lake to draw the kiddos away from the slides. If you brought beach stuff you can head to the beach right from there. A short walk from the playground and beach is the Tenney Lock with a nice wildflower path, fish to look for and a great pier out on the lake to explore. Cross the street from there and you can head to the creek. There are birds, muscrats, beavers and tons of fish to find around the creek. Head to one of the stone bridges to get to the island that has soccer fields and another big playground. Once your kids have had enough for the day the walk back and be a way to point out more of the natural sights (and wear them out just a little bit more!).

This may seem really specific but I have discovered that one of the most helpful things when you head out on an outdoor adventure is knowing the location really well and having a plan for what you will do when you get there. Hope this helps someone that might be in the Madison area enjoy this fun place just a little bit more!

Day 362: meeting the family to see some elelphants

Our whole group of 31 people is meeting at Elephant Rocks State Park today. We will explore, have a picnic lunch and wait here until we have all gathered and our campsites are ready for us at 3:00pm this afternoon.

I have been to this park many times but it has been years! I can't wait to see the beautiful views and boulders again and share all of this with Chris and the girls.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

Since this is the first day of our three day adventure I thought I would share a little bit of back story about what we are doing.

Growing up my family spent three days camping and canoeing with our extended family every summer. At some point, I think I was in high school, the older cousins were getting married, moving away and everyone's lives were changing in a way that didn't make the family float trip possible anymore. We went just our immediate family for a few years but then when my older sister went away to college even that stopped. Now, 10 years later, we are ALL getting back together to do the family trip again. We all have kids of our own now and there will be faces not there that aren't with us anymore. But the memories will will flow out of each of us I am sure! I can't wait to reconnect with cousins I haven't seen in ages and introduce them to my girls.

Those family float trips are some of my best memories growing up. I learned more about the outdoors and my abilities on those days then during any other time in my life. I have no idea if this will once again become an annual thing. Since some of the family is coming from Turkey and many are coming from other states I highly doubt we will do this again, at least as the whole big group. But even getting to do this just one more time is incredible!  

Hope you will come back on Day 365 to see all the pictures! 

Day 360: the big storm

The benefit of a storm that keeps both my girls up for most of the night? The fun world of water that it leaves behind the next day!

We had some awesome exploring time this morning with the cousins.

AND MY CAMERA IS WORKING AGAIN!!  Every blogger NEEDS to have a professional photographer for a sister, it really comes in handy!

 
Each kid was told they could bring one "toy" on the adventure. The balance bike may not have been the best choice but we had fun with at on the way there and the way back anyway!

 
 
 
 
 
 
It was a great outdoor adventure this morning.

How have your outdoor adventures been this week?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

This is a big week for the this little blog! We are headed out on Tuesday for a three day camping trip. My little girls will be checking out some of the spots that I grew up knowing and loving surrounded by 31 members of my extended family. This is the family that I went floating and camping with every summer growing up (more on this at a later time!). It has grown exponentially since I was little and I cannot wait to see everyone. So, while we are out camping I will be COMPLETELY unplugged. I will provide you with links of where we are and what we are seeing but I won't be able to share pictures and stories from our trip until we get back. With all the flooding that is going on in Missouri I am not sure that we will be able to do the float that we had planned but the camping and exploring will still be great!

The one year anniversary is coming up. Super excited to have this trip to help us celebrate the journey that we have been on.

And don't forget to visit The Gift page on the sidebar and enter to win! 

Day 331: finding new parks

I mentioned that we have been spending a lot of time at parks lately. We have three neighborhood parks within easy walking distance and several other parks within bike riding distance. With all those parks right around us some might think it is crazy that we also seek out parks all over our city (and other cities!).

But I have my reasons!

1. New parks mean new playgrounds. Even though my girls are content (or would be) to play on the same playground day after day I do think it is good for them to get exposed to new challenges. Each playground has slightly different equipment, slightly different takes on the basics like stairs and slides. Watching the girls stretch their comfort zone, their muscles and their skills is a good thing.

 

2. New friends. Going to new parks always leads to meeting new families and new kids. Sam and Avery are both pretty outgoing kids and will quickly join in games or parallel play with other kids. Even if it is just a one time encounter (as is the case most of the time), playing with new kids and meeting new people is always a good thing.

3. Breaking up the errands. When we have errands that need to get done in different areas of the city I will keep my eyes open as we drive there, or even look up online before we go,for a new park that we can stop at. Outdoor play and trips to the park are great incentives to keep the girls well behaved while we get through the errands. And a great alternative to sweets, snacks or new toys that are often used as incentives.

4. New sights! But the best reason to seek out new parks is that they are often attached to great sights, green spaces or places to explore. You just never know what kind of natural areas you might stumble upon.

Our most recent new park revealed a lot of great sites!

 
 

Sam and Avery got to watch a fisherman bring in a very large carp!
 
 
 

We had a great adventure at a new park that included tons of outdoor play, exploring green spaces, seeing fish, ducks, muscrats, geese, turtles, herons and more, and breaking up a long morning of boring errands!
 

________________________________________________________________________________________
The Nitty Gritty!

Please know that I am not discounting the value of local, neighborhood parks. We visit the ones within walking distance almost daily. I think it is of the most importance that cities build and maintain great neighborhood parks. But for the reasons I mentioned above I think it is also important for parents to seek out new parks on occasion.