16 May 2011

Outdoor Adventures

One of the big components of our life before kids was having outdoor adventures - kayaking the ocean, sailing the harbor, hiking the local mountains and biking the trails. While these are definitely things that don't have to stop when you have kids, they certainly slow down. It's difficult to participate in these activities when you're pregnant and even harder with an infant. But now that the kids are getting older, we're starting to look forward to the times when we'll be able to introduce the kids to these activities and do them as a family. Until then, we're making up some toddler-friendly outdoor adventures.

G is quite good at finding a way to incorporate his love of running with his desire to spend time with the girls. He packs the girls into the double jogger and runs from park to park. He gets some running in and the girls get a ride in the stroller and time at the swings. They all love it and come home tired and happy. This weekend, I decided to come along on one of their adventures and it was a pleasant reminder of how much fun we can have as a family.

First, we walked the half a mile to the train station near our house. There is a trolley car from this station that goes a few stops. The girls love this little train and it stops along our local bike path. We got off the train and the girls were able to walk and run along the bike path (which is fenced in on both sides!) without us worrying about there being cars nearby. They raced along the path, stopping to look at the flowers and the murals along the way. After about a half mile on this path, there is a playground that the girls love. Swings and slides and lots of stuff to climb on entertained the girls until it was nearly lunchtime and we decided to head home.

From here, we walked back down the bike path until we got to our neighborhood and then we cut through the streets until we got home. At this point, LR was fast asleep from so much fresh air and exercise, G and I had gotten a few miles of walking in, and EC was ready for lunch! The girls love adventures like this and while they aren't as fast-paced as kayaking through some ocean swells, they are enough to get our hearts racing. We've traded in our extreme adventures for now, but watching the joy on the faces of our two girls racing along the bike path more than makes up for our new slower pace.

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