Happy New Year, friends! I hope your holidays were filled with love. We had the BEST holiday season. I loved just spending time with our daughters and my husband. We made so many memories!
I wanted to share with our community a challenge my family agreed to do this year. You may have heard of it… 1000 hours OUTSIDE challenge!
It can be REALLY hard to WANT to go outside in the winter, when it’s 7°F outside, and actually do things. I mean there are the usual outside activities like, sledding, snowman building, skating and snow ball fights, but what about those cold days, where there is just no snow.
I wanted to share some tips, ideas and some links that I have found super helpful! The team over at 1000 Hours Outside has a ton of great resources and that’s what I used to start finding fun activities. I will link their website here.
Make sure you have really good snow gear! That’s my top tip. Invest in a nice warm winter coat. We went with the Columbia Bugaboo II coat for both of my daughters. I like it because it’s a 3 in 1, so the can wear it all year long! My younger daughter always gets the hand me down snow pants from her older sister. Insulated boots are a must, too!
Another tip, make sure you prep the water for cocoa BEFORE you go out! That way it’s ready when you come in from the chilly outside.
Next year, my husband and I are going to try to make an ice rink. We thought about doing it this year (and we may still if I can convince him), but he’s afraid by the time we get it up to use, it’ll be time to take it down (LOL). There are so many great ideas on Pinterest and google on how to build. When we do ours, this year or next, I’ll be sure to share that tutorial!
Another fun thing I saw was building an igloo! A friend of mine, her husband and her two kids are actually working on one right now! I can not wait to see how it turns out! we have our fort (I will insert a picture below) and it is so fun. I love watching the girls use their imaginations when they’re in it!
How do you track each of the 1000 hours you spend in the great outdoors? A coloring sheet of course! They have so many options for trackers. They hold a contest on their social media each year to design the next years trackers. If you’re crafty, it’s a great opportunity to share your art.
I hope you use these tools and resources to help enjoy winter again! I’ll update you in the spring with how many hours we will have on the tracker!
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