Greening Sam and Avery

Day 197: exploring our own backyard

One of my favorite parts about winter is that water freezes. Simple concept I know but it totally changes the landscape.

Like in our neighborhood. Beyond our backyard is this swamping area that we can't really explore or do anything with because it is just so muddy, weedy and hard to get through. But right now it is all frozen and there are trails, tracks and tons of new areas to explore.

So this afternoon, with two cousins joining us, we set out to explore the trails and creek that are just beyond our backyard.

 
 
Parker (Sam and Avery's cousin, my sister's middle child) exploring on her own

 
We were too busy taking pictures of the fort we found!

 
 
It was a tipi fort that someone had been constructing and we added a few sticks.

 

Me and my sister!
 
 
I show Sam the same things all the time (rabbit tracks, squirrel tracks, mouse holes, rabbit homes, etc.) and sometimes I feel like she gets pretty bored/annoyed with my enthusiasm. But Bailey and Parker were eager to see things, ready to be shown and wanting to explore! It was awesome!

 
 
 

But everyone kept falling and getting cold. So we headed home.

Thank you FreshArtPhotography for the amazing photos! So fun to have a ton of great photos to match the good day we had today.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

I was ELATED when we found the tipi fort. I built a lot of forts when I was little. It was a common occurrence and something that I loved doing. But for some reason I have thought that fort building was kind of an "old" activity, that kids didn't do that anymore. It made me sad. When I saw that fort and this great space for fort building tucked back by a creek my heart jumped. My girls may grow up knowing the same joy that I had growing up.

But while we were eating dinner the adults all started talking about it and I was reminded that all the places I use to build forts in have been bulldozed down, paved over or otherwise removed. My family commented how it just isn't safe for kids to be left alone for that long, to explore a "city" creek, or to be in wooded areas like that by themselves. I was shocked. My parents let me do it? Why not now? If we give our kids the right tools can't we trust that they will be okay?

I am really curious what other moms are doing these days. Do you let your kids go off on their own and build, explore, walk creeks, play in the neighborhood, walk to school, ride bikes, etc.? I did all those things growing up and assumed my girls would do the same.

Am I wrong? Living in a dream? Nieve?

Day 195: when nothing else works

I had HAD it! The girls didn't nap, well not really. Sam has discovered that she can knock on her wall to wake Avery up in the next room. AWESOME!

Several punishments for Sam later I had a mad at me Sam and an awake but very crabby Avery. We tried playing, reading, crafting and me ignoring them while talking to Aunt Jojo (this last one really failed! wonder why...). I had to do something with the final hour before dad came home. I was DONE.

So we bundled up and headed out. It was another nice day so I knew we could go for a long walk. The second Sam got in to the garage she became determined to go for another bike ride. Fine, except the dusting (about an 1.5) that we had the night before was still lingering on most of the sidewalks. People don't really see the need to shovel that small of an amount (clearly they don't have a two year old that wants to ride a tricycle in the middle of winter!). But she was determined and I didn't have any fight left in me. Bike ride it was. I pushed the stroller and we headed out.

Sam instantly got stuck.

But she fought through it and with a little help from the front tire of the stroller pushing on the back of her bike we made it on our walk. It was great exercise and fresh air for all of us. No one whined, cried or hit anyone else! We got back home and minutes later dad drove in, a miracle!

This was not the plan for today. Today we were suppose to be making these really neat ice crafts, but that will have to wait for tomorrow. So check back tomorrow when hopefully the plan won't be all messed up by sleep deprivation and tantrums!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

What do you do? As a stay at home mom when you have reached your limit and you just can't deal with one more whine or one more puzzle, what do you do with your kids? For me I have to go outside. Of course it is not the only time we go outside but it saves my sanity a lot! Being outside for us seems to be a magical cure that takes away crabbiness, whininess, tiredness and needing-mommy-ness! But I would love to hear what other moms do when their patience is totally fried.  

Day 193: bikes are not just for summer anymore

Sam asked me today if we could go for a bike ride and my immediate response was "no sweety its winter". But then I thought, if she wants to, why not? So we bundled up and headed out. Me on foot and Sam on bike.

 
She thought it was hilarious when her bike got stuck in snow or slipped on an icy patch.

We headed down to the creek to take a look.

 
 
Not enough ice to walk on (obviously!) but was fun to look at and throw sticks in!

Then I told her it was time to head home and she said she wasn't ready, she wanted to bike the long way home! Okay, I thought, pretty sure that we would get to about the farthest spot possible from home and she would be frozen. With disaster surely awaiting us we headed out the long way home.

We spotted birds nests and cool mushrooms along the way.

 
 
And then we found these great little plants!

 
Just laying there, dried and perfect for picking by little 2.5 year old fingers.

 
Someone once called these chinese lanterns, but I am not sure if that is correct. The mom of the birthday girl on Saturday had these for the little girls to use to decorate their fairy houses and when I saw them I couldn't resist! So Sam and I picked a few to bring back home. She loved it and thought they were some kind of fruit. I convinced her not to eat them and just to help me pick some. Can't wait to see what we will come up with to do with these things!

So if you have your bikes stored away some where for winter I would suggest getting them back out! It worked great for some outdoor exercise time for us.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

I am getting really impatient for spring to come. I have been finding a lot of family camping, backpacking and hiking adventures out there and it is making me antsy to get out there and do some bigger adventures with my girls! I am ready for camping. I am ready to try a little backpacking (okay, maybe a short walk to a campsite from a parking lot, but still!). Or maybe a canoe trip, some kayaking or other boat rides! I want to get adventurous and all this cold and snow is not very accomodating for that. I love winter camping but I think temps in the negative numbers at night might be a bit too cold!

Come on spring! I am ready!!! 

 

Day 192: exploring a frozen lake

If you see snowmobiles, ATVs, ice fishing shanties, cars and even trucks on the ice you can be pretty sure it is safe to let you family head out to go for a walk! So we did.

We bundled up and headed out. The ice was making the most amazing sounds (did put the fear of falling into frozen water into both Chris and I but we knew it was normal so we pressed on!) and there were tracks to follow, big chunks of ice to explore and ice fishing holes to look into .

My camera skills on my new Nikon are still a bit sketchy and in the bright sunlight with bright white snow all around us I could not for the life of me get the manual setting to work so I finally switched to automatic to at least get a couple of shots. Still not great but at least I have something to show for all my hardwork!

 
 
 
 
Sam loved making tracks in the snow and sliding around on the ice where there was no snow. We also got to watch as an ATV went past us and she thought that was amazing. Polly also had a great time running around the lake!

It was only 17 degrees today so we lasted just over an hour out on the lake and walking on the trails a bit at the park but we will absolutely be going back to the lake again. It was a hit.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

If you have a lake near you (and it is cold where you live. HA!) I would absolutely recommend checking to see if it is frozen enough to walk on. A general rule of thumb for ice thickness requirements is 4 inches of clear ice (clear ice means no bubbles or snow coverage, both of which can weaken the ice) for a human to walk on, 6 inches of ice for a snowmobile and 8 to 10 inches for cars and light duty trucks. These measurements are for clear ice and relatively still water (not rivers or other areas with currents).

For more ice safety tips head over to the WI DNR.

Hoping we might get the chance to do some ice fishing with Sam and Avery this winter but first I have to meet someone in this area with an ice auger and some fishing gear! Anyone know somebody?

Day 153: motivation for my daughter

Dear Sam,

   You WILL learn to like the cold.  We live in Wisconsin and you have outdoor loving parents, so we will be spending time outside every month of the year.  Okay, maybe you won't learn to like the cold but you will learn to tolerate it.  To be outside for more than 5 minutes without breaking into a complete and utter meltdown.  I am convinced that I can show you how to handle and enjoy the cold. I have only lived this far North for six years but I have figured it out and I will help you do the same.  We will get through this phase. 

Did I baby you too much when you were younger and not take you outside enough?  Did I not dress you warm enough at some point in the past so that you are scarred and can't handle it now?  Or do you just like to whine? 

When I first moved to Wisconsin someone told me that the way to deal with the winter was to find some way to enjoy the cold.  You had to have something about the long winter that you looked forward to and could keep you active or the short days, lack of sun and cold temps would drive you crazy.  Even though your dad and I have not really picked up any one winter sport in particular we do enjoy getting out in the snow, going for winter walks and attempting every winter sport that we get access to. We find things to keep us going, to make us happy and to be able to enjoy the outdoors despite of the cold. And I hope you do too. 

Our walk today was pretty miserable. You cried A LOT and we walked really slow.  I know its hard to walk with all those layers on.  But it is something that we need to do.  Just get outside, get some fresh air and some exercise.  We need that. So get ready, because I will continue to spend the 45 minutes it takes to bundle you and Avery up, get you all ready and then head outside.  Some days we will play in the snow, or refill our bird feeders or maybe even build a snowman.  But other days we will just go for a walk. 

We will learn to enjoy the cold!

I love you.

-Mom

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

Looking for suggestions on good quality, heavy duty and NOT itchy hats, gloves and scarves for babies and toddlers.  If you have any brands that you love please leave me a comment!

Thanks.

Day 149: sharing my past

During the holidays it is not always easy to find time to get outside.  Not always easy to take a break from family.  Today I made it happen. 

When we got back from Sam's first movie (we saw Tangled which was great, loved the music, but was a bit too much adventure and excitement for Sam!) I made Sam and Avery go for a walk with me to my old stomping grounds.

I grew up here,  

 
across from this.

 
My "green" space.  It is actually a private all girl catholic high school but it has many acres of old oak trees, a pond and (when I was growing up) a back lot that was completely abandoned and overgrown.

 
 
It is surrounded by houses but this little patch of green lead to more exploration, adventures and excitement in my youth than you could imagine.  We caught frogs and tadpoles, chased geese and ducks, built forts, dug holes, climbed trees, followed squirrels and rock hunted.  Almost everyday my best friends and I found ourselves somewhere on the grounds of this school.

 
So today I took the girls there.

 
 
 
I spent HOURS of my youth on this property and it was amazing to see Sam enjoy the same place. I also loved that I saw evidence that other young kids were enjoying this area.  Like a small fairy house that we found.  Sam was so exicted!
 

The back lot where we built an extremely elaborate fort with different rooms and water colletion systems has been bulldozed down and removed. The wild area no longer exists.  My parents tell me that the school decided long ago that it was a hazard and unsafe for the neighborhood.   We loved that spot. 

I can't wait till my girls are old enough to really understand and appreciate my stories from our times on the school yard but for now I am happy to spend a small portion of our holiday weekend on a walk around the pond with my girls.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

Do you have an area from your youth that you have shared with your kids? Do you have "wild" memories and activities that you have not yet done with your own kids?  The activities that we grew up with (building forts, climbing trees and exploring) will NOT be passed on if we don't encourage it and fight for those spaces to still be around! Protect the wild spaces in your neighborhood as passionately as you protect your own kids!

 

Day 133: slow down

No, I am not talking about this blog which still seems to be running slow enough already.  People I have contacted Typepad several times with no luck; they don't like to answer emails from loyal clients apparently. I have removed several of my widgets and reduced the number of posts on the home page.  If ANYONE knows anything about what might be going on with my blog, steps I can take to figure it out, or someone higher up at Typepad that I cen pester, I will pay in tree cookies (OR REAL COOKIES!!!) for that information.

On to our day....

We enjoyed a slow walk, finding the small things and savoring the moment. 

We found...

a bird's nest, although Sam's first guess was that a racoon would live there.

 plants that were taller than us.

some of the last little bits of color Fall had to offer.

a seed pod that looked amazingly like a boat.

and places to explore with our eyes, ears and hands.

And we ended our slow walk by allowing the two year old to lead us back to the car.  Giving me a change to slow down and work on my skill of patience as we walked in circles through a tall grass prairie field!

When you slow down you not only catch more of the small things that nature has to offer but you also create the kind of memories with your kids that last.

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

Have you slowed down lately?  What did you find?

These photos were taken on our walk today at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Monona, WI.  Once again the girls came with me to pick up some things from work.  We stayed a little bit longer to enjoy the grounds.

 

Day 124: phonics scavenger hunt

Okay, its really just a regular scavenger hunt! But exciting for us all the same because we are starting to incorporate words into our hunting!  Every other time we have done any kind of scavenger hunt it has been the 3D variety or picture variety (okay those links go to the same place, which is also just the page on the right side bar about scavenger hunts!) but now we are adding words to our pictures. 

Sam really liked adding this to our adventure this morning.  I didn't force too much learning of the letters but when she found something on the card we would talk about what it was and I would point out the word and letters to her.  She loved when the words had the letter S in it!  She is very into the S.

Here are some pictures from this morning.

Love that there was still frost on the ground.  It was the perfect cool morning walk and actually got me excited for getting outside in cold weather!

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

Here is the hunt that I made for Sam and I to do today at Governor Nelson State Park.

Download Phonics walk

Just like any other hunt that we do the pictures are super simple and can be changed very easily.  I am excited to start getting more exact with her though.  She is starting to recognize certain bird calls (geese, ducks, crows) which makes me think that if we got good bird feeders set up and kept them maintained maybe I could start working on simple bird ID with her as well.  I think she could learn chickadee, cardinal and grackle pretty easily.  But I know that I don't want to force this kind of information on her.  At this stage it is not about her learning the details, just about the experience!

Now that I know Sam likes these cards I think I will make a bunch of different ones (for all seasons) and get them laminated.  Then simply punch one hole and stick them on a ring.  Simple game/activity to take along whenever we are out on a hike!

These cards would be super easy to make without the pictures if you had an older child going on the walk with you that needed to practice reading skills.  This way you could do the same hunt with different aged kids but have it be a challenge for both.

The cards would also be really easy to make in multiple sets and taken on a walk or field trip with a class of students.  This could add an additional learning element to a school outing that is also fun for the kids. And a great way to get them exploring and noticing details! I think it is great when teachers come up with creative ways to get the kids focused on where they are and what they are doing that isn't just a worksheet. 

Day 110: she is greening me

Me : Okay ladies.  Time to go to the post office.  Let's hop in the car please.

Sam : Mom, we don't need the car.  We take the stroller to the post office. 

Me : You want to walk to the post office?  It's a long walk.

Sam : You walk.  We ride in the stoller! Silly mom.

Me : You are right.  Okay, let's walk to the post office.

I was tired, my knee is still hurting (stupid torn catalidge) and it would have been so much easier to just take the car. But my daughter knows that in the past we have walked to the post office because it is less than a mile from our house.  Most likely she just didn't want to get back in the carseat or just wanted to ride in the stroller and be outside but whatever her reason was it kept me from using the car for the simple errand.

___________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

Do you take the car for errands that you could do by bike or by walking?  Do you encourage your kids to ride bikes to friend's houses instead of having to carpool them everywhere? 

Our neighborhood and small town is very walker and biker friendly so walking to do errands in our town is convenient and simple.  How biker and walker friendly is your town? Are you courteous to walkers and bikers when you are in a car, even when you are in a hurry and they are in your way!?

This week think about the energy that you are using each time you get in your car and think about if there is a way to make the trip more effecient or to avoid it all together.  And when you have to use the car make sure you are encouraging biker and walker use by being EXTRA courteous to those that are on foot or smaller wheels!

 

Day 96: leaf people

Saw this yesterday while I was in the blogging worm-hole.  Of course I didn't write down the blog, instead I thought to myself  "oh I will remember where I found this".  HA!  Now, just one day later I HAVE NO IDEA!  So please let me know if you have been in the blogging world lately (as in the last few days) and saw this done somewhere as I would love to give her credit and let her know how it went.  This is happening to me too much, need to start writing things down (although I swear I followed her blog but now it isn't turning up). 

Anyway, we made leaf people today.  It took a TON of coaching the first time. 

I had to walk her through what we were doing, pointing out the features on my face and helping her figure out how to put the glue in the place where she wanted the leaf. 
But by the second face she did it almost on her own.  They aren't exactly totally different, but I was proud of her for doing it on her own.

 

Proud older sister showing off her face to little sister!  And they have corn husk hair.  Don't you love the corn husk hair?

________________________________________________________________________________________

The Nitty Gritty!

The faces were a big hit.  We didn't have enough leaves to make any other faces or whole people.  Sam wants to make a whole leaf family to hang on the wall, including Polly our dog. 

And we did get our outside time today.  A long bike ride to a near by park, leaf collecting, a visit to the corn field by the park and some backyard play time.  Two hours.  And it wasn't even hard today.