Nature Walks and Outdoor Play

We are surrounded here in Connecticut by many lakes with beautiful trails.  The kids and I have met my childhood friend Crystal a few times to do some exploring outdoors.  Because of my dislocated shoulder we’ve been limited in our outside adventuring the last few months.  I have been so grateful for her help in our adventures.

The first place we explored was Wintergreen Lake.  It was super duper cold and we all wore so many layers.  Emily is great at getting herself warmly dressed (she also has the highest tolerance for cold in our family), but Nathan and Laura need help so it does take a decent amount of effort on my part to get us ready to set out.  It is always so worth it though.

The lake was frozen in most places and we even saw some dogs and men walking on it, which of course led into a great discussion of why that isn’t a great idea.  The kids did throw some rocks on the lake and loved hearing the sound it made and denting the ice. We also found a huge fort structure made out of branches that we all fit inside.  Crystal carried Nathan a good chunk of the way while I had Laura in the ergo carrier.  We made it about halfway around the lake before heading home and making a batch of cookies and hot chocolate for dinner.

This week we went to a lake in Derby for a walk. It snowed earlier in the day and was absolutely gorgeous with fresh snow.  The whole place smelled strongly of pine and it felt like we were walking in the woods at Narnia.  The kids used pine branches to sweep as we walked and we had a great snowball fight.  Laura was determined to walk while holding my hands and did so for the second half of the adventure after we found the waterfall.

As the temperatures hover around freezing we are finding it easier and easier to get outside to play.  The snow has been coming and coming the last few weeks (it also melts quickly) and we’ve enjoyed shoveling, having snowball fights, and building snowmen together.

When it isn’t snowing we are trying to get out on walks in our neighborhood.  We live next to some really incredible mansions and it is fun to look at them.  We have also been pushing the limits of our double stroller.  I successfully loaded 4 kids on it last week, which Emily documented for us.  She also went back and took pictures of a unique fence – chicken wire filled with rocks.

Andrew is still biking a few miles to and from campus every day no matter the weather and we finally got him a new winter coat and pants for commuting in rain and snow.