1000 hours outside

Through the {this moment} series I came across a fairly new blog whose premise I really, really love: little shoutout to '1000 hours outside'! I am in no way acquainted or affiliated with them but they speak from my heart. I didn't think I needed help in the 'spend more time outdoors' department, after all the kids even go to a nature preschool two days a week! But who knows - 4 to 6 hours per day in the winter really is a challenge!

I think I'll play for the first week of December, to see if we can get to 18+ hours. Being so inspired I asked the two younger kids if they wanted to go on a nature walk. Little did I know that the newly minted 5yo had a plan hatched and ready to go. It was most wonderful, she led us through the woods on the trails in our neighborhood, explaining as she went. Cedar wood is great to keep moths away (something that has been on our minds lately...), and what is that skat? Dog? Koyote? Probably not deer (I'll spare you the picture, though I did take one, for further investigation!).

 When I pointed out the 'parachute seeds' and let some of them fly, she replied very serenely 'oh yes, milkweed seeds, they do that'. We found a vine to swing on, and then took 'the long way' home.

I must have been a good student because at the very end she trusted me to show me the secret hideout she, her older sister and some neighborhood kids have built. It felt very special to be let into her world. (Side benefit was finding her little sister's lost raincoat there... oops!)

This picture shows you a (hairy?) woodpecker. Can you see it, right in the center? It really is tiny, I used a zoom that represents the way we saw it from the ground, mostly to make a point: Children never cease to amaze me with their level of observation and attention to detail - I may well have missed that little guy.

We ate our lunch on the patio, watching the bees fly like crazy. Wonder if that was fall's last hurrah?