It's March 2, and we shovelled our driveway again this morning! Yay!
Yay?! Yay, you say?! Yes, yay. This is Canada, and we need winter. Let me explain.
We are lucky to live in the great white north. The cold, dark winters are blessings in disguise. The drastically low temperatures knock out infectious vector-borne diseases, the vectors that carry such diseases, and invasive plant species. We've had quite a run of mild winters over the past couple of decades, so I'm quite relieved to at last have a nippy one!
May 29, 2014
April 28, 2014
30x30 Nature Challenge
The kiddos & I just went for a fantastic walk through the woods today on a local trail. It's super easy get to, and to complete. Kai wanted to go looking for snakes (there's a great spot to find sunning snakes on the trail), so we packed some snacks, donned our rain suits, and headed out the door!
This is a neat way to promote outdoor fitness ... a 30-day challenge that encourages a 30 minute daily dose of nature for 30 days! A great way to get outside & enjoy spring, as well as health habit formation!
Check out this link: http://30x30.davidsuzuki.org
This is a neat way to promote outdoor fitness ... a 30-day challenge that encourages a 30 minute daily dose of nature for 30 days! A great way to get outside & enjoy spring, as well as health habit formation!
Check out this link: http://30x30.davidsuzuki.org
March 19, 2014
Nature? Yes, please!
This. Is. Awesome.
A couple tackled a 100-day canoe trip, a feat in and of itself, but with their 3- and 5-year olds!!! Yay!!!!!
Check out an article/video here, and another article here! Here's a link the their website … not only are they avid long-distance canoeists, but they've also biked the Andes with their tots!
Limitations are what you make of them. Get outside, away from it all, get to know each other again, and be one with nature.
Now please excuse me while I rethink future work and travels plans. ;)
A couple tackled a 100-day canoe trip, a feat in and of itself, but with their 3- and 5-year olds!!! Yay!!!!!
Check out an article/video here, and another article here! Here's a link the their website … not only are they avid long-distance canoeists, but they've also biked the Andes with their tots!
Limitations are what you make of them. Get outside, away from it all, get to know each other again, and be one with nature.
Now please excuse me while I rethink future work and travels plans. ;)
March 2, 2014
Pupating homonid
Dinner conversations in our house tend to be, umm, unique. Here's the latest peak into our amusing world ...
me: "Kai, come eat dinner"
Kai: "I can't, I'm pupating." (from within an overturned laundry hamper)
me: "Well make it fast, dinner's on the table."
Kai: "But it takes 5000 days" (wow, what species IS she?)
... finally finished pupating, she sits, staring down her pork tenderloin & drying her imaginary wings …
Kai: "What is that brown stuff? Is it nectar?"
Craig: "It's meat flower nectar, good for butterfly wings."
Kai: "Oh, ok."
Have to admit, I never thought the words "meat flower nectar" would ever come out of our mouths.
Mind you, as a friend pointed out, 5000 days + her current age would actually find her maturing into an adult human. Maybe she's onto something.
me: "Kai, come eat dinner"
Kai: "I can't, I'm pupating." (from within an overturned laundry hamper)
me: "Well make it fast, dinner's on the table."
Kai: "But it takes 5000 days" (wow, what species IS she?)
... finally finished pupating, she sits, staring down her pork tenderloin & drying her imaginary wings …
Kai: "What is that brown stuff? Is it nectar?"
Craig: "It's meat flower nectar, good for butterfly wings."
Kai: "Oh, ok."
Have to admit, I never thought the words "meat flower nectar" would ever come out of our mouths.
Mind you, as a friend pointed out, 5000 days + her current age would actually find her maturing into an adult human. Maybe she's onto something.
October 30, 2013
Positive talk can conquer mountains (and neighbourhood trail systems)
I could see this afternoon morphing into one of those days where the kids are grumpy, climbing the walls (my 18-month old figured out how to scale the pedestal sink in the bathroom!), refusing naps, and just being irrational in general. I'm sorry to admit, but these days more often than not result in a grumpy mommy. No one wants a grumpy mommy!
I decided to get out of our postage stamp existence and hit the trail that we're lucky enough to have in our neighbourhood. There was no way I was taking two semi-insane children to the climbing apparatus at our local park, as the last thing I needed was a broken limb due to lack of mental sanity on all our parts. So we set off, like three hobbits on an adventure after second lunch. The 18-month old strapped into his stroller, the 3-year old on her balance bike, and me attempting to corral the gong show along.
When it became apparent that Will was not going to fall asleep in his sweet ride (c'mon, I'd love to have someone push me around while I sleep!), I released the hounds and let him join his sister in some trail craziness. Honestly, it was fun!
The trail is a great place for the kiddos, with a lot to explore and interesting flora and fauna along the way. It completes a rather large loop (large for a 3-year old on a balance bike), which normally would take 45 minutes for me to walk. Today, we took over 2 hours. But it was fun. And we travelled S L O W L Y. This is key to any successful outing with a wee one, no matter the duration. Move at their pace and everyone will be happier.
With me being the biologist mom that I am, any outdoor activity is destined to be educational. We discovered that sumac branches are fuzzy; white pines shed a lot of needles in the fall, exposing many abandoned bird nests; bike brakes are rather ineffective to use while climbing hills; mastered the art of coasting safely and quickly down hills; found two different species of ladybug with no help from me (proud entomologist mom moment); identified different cloud formations (technically and imaginatively); unearthed earthworms; searched for salamanders and snakes; befriended a local cat out for a walkabout; and truly enjoyed ourselves.
Eventually, the wee man succumbed to the soporific effect nature and a stroller have on a tot. With him asleep, the final obstacle was keeping it in B's head that this was fun and she could make it all the way on her bike. Sounds easy? HA! In reality, sometimes I feel as though I can't complete the trail loop. Add to the equation that I inadvertently left he water bottle and snack on the front porch, and it could spell disaster. So I continually encouraged her to keep on truckin'. I'd recall the next landmark we were approaching, and get all excited and make a big deal about seeing it. To call these things landmarks is really stretching it; there's the "silly tree" that grows vertical for a foot, then does a 90 degree turn and shoots out sideways for 15 feet; the storm water retention pond that we like to check out for frogs in the summer and skate on in the winter; random backyards (B loves this, I think she thinks she's spying on them, even though they back onto a trail); grassy knolls to sit on; rock gardens to inspect for critters; the "bendy forest", full of cedars that twist skyward; "dog forest", where we're bound to pass at least one canine out for a stroll; and numerous other oddities that most adults wouldn't think twice about.
Eventually B completed her first full loop of the trail on her own! I was so impressed and proud of her. We celebrated with a granola bar and glass of milk, acknowledging her accomplishment. I sat back in awe and watched as she recalled her journey to her dad, detailing every plant and animal we met along the way. It's experiences like these that shape the people we are, nurture a love and respect for nature, and set up our children to deal with challenges in their future.
I decided to get out of our postage stamp existence and hit the trail that we're lucky enough to have in our neighbourhood. There was no way I was taking two semi-insane children to the climbing apparatus at our local park, as the last thing I needed was a broken limb due to lack of mental sanity on all our parts. So we set off, like three hobbits on an adventure after second lunch. The 18-month old strapped into his stroller, the 3-year old on her balance bike, and me attempting to corral the gong show along.
 |
| B & her balance bike |
The trail is a great place for the kiddos, with a lot to explore and interesting flora and fauna along the way. It completes a rather large loop (large for a 3-year old on a balance bike), which normally would take 45 minutes for me to walk. Today, we took over 2 hours. But it was fun. And we travelled S L O W L Y. This is key to any successful outing with a wee one, no matter the duration. Move at their pace and everyone will be happier.
With me being the biologist mom that I am, any outdoor activity is destined to be educational. We discovered that sumac branches are fuzzy; white pines shed a lot of needles in the fall, exposing many abandoned bird nests; bike brakes are rather ineffective to use while climbing hills; mastered the art of coasting safely and quickly down hills; found two different species of ladybug with no help from me (proud entomologist mom moment); identified different cloud formations (technically and imaginatively); unearthed earthworms; searched for salamanders and snakes; befriended a local cat out for a walkabout; and truly enjoyed ourselves.
Eventually, the wee man succumbed to the soporific effect nature and a stroller have on a tot. With him asleep, the final obstacle was keeping it in B's head that this was fun and she could make it all the way on her bike. Sounds easy? HA! In reality, sometimes I feel as though I can't complete the trail loop. Add to the equation that I inadvertently left he water bottle and snack on the front porch, and it could spell disaster. So I continually encouraged her to keep on truckin'. I'd recall the next landmark we were approaching, and get all excited and make a big deal about seeing it. To call these things landmarks is really stretching it; there's the "silly tree" that grows vertical for a foot, then does a 90 degree turn and shoots out sideways for 15 feet; the storm water retention pond that we like to check out for frogs in the summer and skate on in the winter; random backyards (B loves this, I think she thinks she's spying on them, even though they back onto a trail); grassy knolls to sit on; rock gardens to inspect for critters; the "bendy forest", full of cedars that twist skyward; "dog forest", where we're bound to pass at least one canine out for a stroll; and numerous other oddities that most adults wouldn't think twice about.
Eventually B completed her first full loop of the trail on her own! I was so impressed and proud of her. We celebrated with a granola bar and glass of milk, acknowledging her accomplishment. I sat back in awe and watched as she recalled her journey to her dad, detailing every plant and animal we met along the way. It's experiences like these that shape the people we are, nurture a love and respect for nature, and set up our children to deal with challenges in their future.
 |
| Inspecting some sort of critter on a recent hike |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)