Tree Tag and other reasons to RUN!

Yesterday morning we woke up to our last day of winter vacation. After a slow start and a leisurely breakfast my little one said, "Let's go out the front door!" To her this meas outside. We too often leave the house via the garage and thus go from one enclosed space to another. Many times upon getting ready to go she will ask, "Do we have to take the car? Why can't we walk?" I have to say her love for the outdoors was a big part of my inspiration for this year long commitment to go outside every day. And on the flip side there is my six year old who seems all too happy to be inside. This will be good for all of us. By the way, there is a fourth member of the family, my husband. He is a classic City Boy so I'm not sure how many of our adventures he will join us for, but he usually admits that nature is "nice" after I drag him on a hike.

Amazing lichen on one of our Tag Trees

So we bundled up again, finding our discarded boots and coats just where we left them the night before. We headed outside with our little bags but they were quickly shoved into pockets. "The trees are base!" shouted my six year old. And off they ran across the yard. "Mamma, you're the monster, try to catch us," instructed my older daughter. I mimicked a zombie and plodded across the yard. They shrieked and run tagging tree after tree as they went. I pretended not to see them and walked around whistling, they ran past me taunting, "you can't get us!"

For all the looking close and collecting the night before we were now rushing, crashing, and just running running running in the open space. I realized with relief that not every outing this year will require a lesson plan. There will be plenty of time to observe,  now it was time to let loose bursts of playful energy. "I'm riding Blaze!" yelled my daughter as she took off galloping. "I'm on Midnight!" answered her sister. I watched them galloping around and around thinking, this is heaven.