2019 is coming up fast and a lot of people are thinking about their new years resolutions and goals for the upcoming year. Two years ago I changed my frame of mind around resolutions. There are always the same ones like, save more money, loose x amount of weight, go to the gym so many days a week, etc. There is nothing wrong with these resolutions, but I wanted something different.
It is Christmas time which means we are looking for that perfect gift. The gift that won’t break a few hours after playing with it or won’t be thrown in the corner a couple days after Christmas. I am getting to the point that when I look for gifts for my daughter I want to try to make sure it is something that she will truly enjoy or use. Below are some of my daughter and my favorite kids gifts.
Lately I have been receiving many messages from friends asking about winter gear for their children. I am honored that they trust my opinion. I thought I would share the items that are must haves for my daughter in the winter.
Base layer: A good base layer is important for the colder days. Wearing a good base layer under your children clothes helps them stay warm. My daughter loves the ones that are fleece lined. Make sure they do not have cotton in them as cotton retains sweat.
Winter Jacket: I know this is an obvious one, but with the amount of time we spend outside I do not skimp on a winter jacket. Every year around Veterans Day we hit up the local Columbia Outlets for their sale and to get our winter jackets. Columbia Jackets have never disappointment us. Many of them are water resistant. They provide a lot of warmth, are not too bulky and the zipper works well and has not broken on us yet.
Snow Pants: Just like the jacket we also get our snow pants at Columbia Outlet and have had success over the years with them. We have tried other brands, but the zipper always break or holes are worn in the knees. My daughter prefers the bib kind so snow does not get in them.
Socks: Darn Tough Socks have been the only ones that keep my daughters feet warm and dry during the cold winter days. They are also tough and last as long as your child does not grow out of them will last I know they are pricy, but if you get a hole in them, Darn Tough will replace them for free.
Boots: We have tried a variety of winter boots, but have found that Boggs are the only ones that are easy to get on, keep her feet dry and warm and keep up with her busy outdoor schedule. She has never worn through the boots, only worn the pattern of of them.
Hats and Mittens: We do not really have a favorite hat and mittens. My daughter likes a variety of hats. We have found that water resistant mittens are the best and her hands do not always stay warm in gloves. I recommend your child try out a variety of them to find what works best for them. Consignment shops or online facebook pages can be a great place to get them without spending a lot of money.
Some form of microspikes/crampons/stabilicers: The last couple winters have been very icy making it difficult for little legs to hike or just be outside. We have found that some form of extra traction on the bottom of the boots. This year we will be looking for better ones. Once I find a good pair for her I will share them. If you have any ones you love, please let me know. I will say that I have had members in my hiking group use Yak Tacs and they have not been good for the ice around Southern NH New Hampshire.
Snow Markers: These are more for fun. My daughter has spent hours using these in the snow. Once you run out of the dye you can just use water and food coloring and keep the containers.
If you are looking for some additional ideas you can check our my Blog Post on the my Top Outdoor Gifts for Kids.
If you are looking for some Winter Activity suggestions check out my Winter Fun page on my website.
This post contains affiliate links for which I may receive a small amount of compensation at no cost to you.
For the last couple of years my daughter and I have been trying to finish the Fire Tower Challenge where you visit 5 out of the 16 fire towers in New Hampshire. We will do two then lose motivation or get side tracked and not finish. Well this fall I was determined to finish the challenge. Below are the fire towers that we visited.
I know it is September and we are winding down on Waterpark Season, but we are lucky in New England to have an array of waterparks to visit. Even though we have some cold months we can visit indoor water parks. I have not visited all of the water parks in New England, but I have visited many of them. Below I will highlight the ones we have visited in no particular order.
Mt. Monadnock in Jaffrey, New Hampshire is supposedly the second most climbed mountain in the world. We are fortunate to have it just a few miles from our home. My husband and I have hiked the mountain a few times since living in the area, but we had not hiked it with our daughter. I have been a little hesitant because sometimes hiking with kids is not always fun. The last few months or so she has been asking about hiking a 4,ooo footer or Mt. Katahdin, but we have told her that she has to hike Mt. Monadnock before hiking the others.
It is the end of the school year and we are continuing our tradition of going on a family camping trip. My daughter has been asking to go to Moose Hillock Campground in Warner, NH and we finally make it. The campground is locate literally in the middle of now where. It’s about 30 minutes from Lincoln and 45 minutes from Plymouth, NH. This has been one of our most favorite camping spots. Below is highlighted why.
This is not my typical blog post about our adventures in the outdoors, but I wanted to share our recent trip with my followers. In the beginning of May my family and I took our first big family vacation. A trip to Disney World in Florida. I have been to Disney World several times in my childhood and young adult years. With that being said the last time I visited was about 11 years ago, as you can imagine a lot has changed since then. This past year we have been planning our trip and I could not do it without the help of an amazing Travel Agent, Rachel with Middle of The Magic Travel . She booked everything for us except our flight, gave us great suggestions and was able to change reservations and assist even during our vacation. Below are some highlights from our trip.
My daughters school does a six week after school program twice a year. Once in the Fall and once in the Spring. My daughter has done some pretty fun clubs such as arts and crafts, photography, dreamcatchers and legos. When the flyer went home this winter for the spring session they were asking for volunteers. My daughter said to me, “Mom they will let you do a hiking club, you should do it.” The first thing I thought was, that sounds like tons of fun, a way to get outside more and encourage the younger generation to love hiking as much as I do. Then I thought, ugh another thing added to my plate, because let’s not lie we all think that from time to time. After my internal struggle and my daughter begging me to do it I reminded myself that this is why I work less hours, so I can do more activities with my daughter. I reached out to a fellow teacher friend who agreed to do it with me.
Recently, I have been seeing many blog posts, studies and reading material about how kids are not getting enough time outside. I have seen the recommended time at a minimum of three hours up to six hours a day. This had me thinking, “we are an outdoorsy family, I’m sure we meet this requirement.” I thought about my nine year old daughters’ typical school day during this month of March. In the morning she goes to a before school program that focuses on kids being outside. She is usually outside 30 minutes prior to the bus picking her up. Then she goes to school. After lunch she has recess, which is about 30 minutes. I pick her up from school, she comes home and does her homework. If she does not have basketball then we go for a 30 minute walk. That is it for outside time. An average day she is outside for only about 90 minutes, which is way below the recommended time. I guess we aren’t as outdoorsy as I thought. Our weekends are different as we have more time and there is usually at least one outdoor activity a day planned that is a couple hours, but that is only two days out of the week.
I recently wrote a blog post about How the Outdoors has Helped Me Live a Simple Life. Not an easy post talking about our struggles, but an important lesson for us. I thought I should give my wonderful readers an example of a day trip or activities that we do to keep ourselves entertained without breaking the bank.
When having a child involved in extracurricular activities, sometimes your weekend time is taken up by their commitments. The last couple months our daughter has had basketball every Saturday. I love watching her and her friends on the court, but I was starting to itch for a day trip. We are in the process of saving money for a big trip in May so I am being overly cautious of our spending. With finally having a Saturday free and it being the start of vacation week I wanted to do something fun.
What if I live a simple life? Have you seen the various blogs posts or memes talking about wanting to live a minimalist lifestyle? Then you see ads about the next new car, the bigger house, what we should be wearing or doing. Basically how to keep up with Jones. The struggle is literally real between wanting a simple life and keeping up with the Jones.
Growing up I lived a comfortable life. We had a nice house and nice cars. Due to my parents work I was lucky enough to have a summer home and our main home. We traveled around the country frequently, had many adventures around New England and I was able to go to Spain in High School with my Spanish Club. My friends and I grew up boating, snowmobiling, spending time at various friends camps as well as participating in various activities.
I love winter. Before you start the hate mail, I know winter is not for everyone, but when you live in New England we are blessed with this season for at least four to five months so why not find ways to enjoy it. I love hiking in the winter, the cold provides a refreshing crispness to the air along with magnificent views you do not get during other seasons.
Parenthood is not easy, there are so many parenting books, websites, blogs, social media posts all telling us how we should and should not parent. Are they right or are they wrong? This is a question that will be asked forever as new scientific studies come out and opinions change over time. The one thing that is consistent is that we want to raise well rounded, happy children. How do you do that? If someone finds out please let me know.
At the beginning of the year I was looking for a new way to challenge myself. With the help of Hike Like a Woman I learned of the 365 Mile Challenge. When reading the requirements of this challenge I thought it would be easy to get in 365 miles within the year. I walk and hike a lot, and when we have snow I cross country ski. The requirements of the challenge is do to 365 self propelled miles either walking, hiking, running, bike riding, paddling, snowshoeing or cross country skiing. My daughter, eight at the time, wanted join the challenge with me. We printed off two of the tracking sheets and off we went.
Fall is here, one of my favorite times to explore New England, with the crispness in the air and beautiful colors starting to pop, it is hard to resist a day drink. Even though we had a 1001 chores to do around the house, I did not want to pass up on the beautiful fall day. After soccer we jumped into the the truck and took a ride to Vermont. Our goal was to initially hit the larges corn maze in Vermont, but when we realized it was over two hours away we had to change direction.
Being in the outdoors has always come natural to me. When I was just a couple days old I went from the hospital in Presque Isle Maine, into the woods of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway where my parents worked. I live about 60 miles from town until it was time for me to start school. I was fortunate to spend 16 summers and a few winters on the Allagash. Here is where I learned to swim, canoe on lakes and white water, primitive camp, hike, read a compass, snowshoe, cross country ski, snowmobile, live in a cabin without electricy or the modern conveniences of home and overall survive in the wilderness.
