A Minute out of the Norm: Take A Hike
This past Sunday I could feel the monotony of our weekend settling in. Soccer was Saturday; Church on Sunday; No school, no major running around to be done. I was quite content to sit in the family room and read. My boys though were at each other like cats and dogs. It was getting cool out so it was not quite as comfortable to sit outside and play. We had… aghast… a possible case of the Autumn Doldrums.
With Hubby deployed it is not as easy to pack the kids up and get moving, but it is so very necessary. So we packed a couple water bottles. Put on our best hiking shoes. Donned fall jackets. And drove to our favorite metro-park. Once we were on the trail the boys ran ahead of me, stopping every two minutes to tell me something really-cool they just saw. I walked behind them and breathed in the smell of peace amongst the chaos of life.
Half way into the walk *E* and I decided to look for signs of fall. The trees weren’t quite changing yet for us – but maybe one in a hundred had 5 or 6 orange leaves. It will be fun to go back in a week or two and see how much it has changed. (Funny side note: the three year old, *C*, also enjoyed helping us find ‘signs of fall’. However, he would point to each mile-post or trail map and yell “MOM, A sign, A sign.” Oh how I love him.)
We looked for animals – but you can imagine that little boys yelling ‘MOM, CHECK THIS OUT’ … kind of scares the animals to the recesses of the woods. (Who can blame those animals? There are times “MOM…” makes me want to run to the recesses of my bedroom.) There were, however, plenty of dogs bringing their owners for walks that fine-sunny Sunday to keep the boys’ animal quota up, thank goodness.
It was a nice hour long walk. The boys (6 and 3) are at a good age, no stroller required. We used our walking and running feet, and got lots of good exercise. Here is a quick related article, Youth Obesity Leads To Serious Health Complications.
I didn’t set out on our hike for the purpose of exercise. I set out to keep the boys’ from killing each other, and dragging their mother down with them. But there were so many positives that came out of it. Take the time this autumn to get out and enjoy the sites and reap the rewards!
– Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.combyLeanneonTuesday, September 30, 2008
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