Do more than belong: participate. Do more than care: help. Do more than believe: practice. Do more than be fair: be kind. Do more than forgive: forget. Do more than dream: work. -William Arthur Ward
Search Results for: bucket list
Spring Bucket List Progress: #1 Seed Starts Video!
We’ve accomplished our first item from our SPRING BUCKET LIST! Georgia and I took some time this weekend to plant pole bean and snap pea seeds. We’ll keep them inside in small pots until the weather warms up a bit more. We also want the seeds to grow into nice, sturdy, and healthy plants before transferring them to our raised bed outside.
For now they will sit in our sunny front window along with the lettuce seeds that Georgia planted at forest school. Bergen also started a few bean seeds at school. I expect he’ll be bringing them home soon, and we can add them to the mix.
Savoring the Season with a SPRING Bucket List: 2018 Edition
With flowers blooming, temperatures warming up (just a bit), and our beautiful region transitioning from a long winter, it’s time we planned a few fun spring adventures! Schedules can fill up if we’re not careful, so I love plugging in intentional outings that we can look forward to. It’s also important to us to celebrate the best that this incredible season has to offer!
If you aren’t familiar with our seasonal bucket lists, here’s the scoop: Each season, we create a list of about 10 fun adventures or projects that are specific to the season.
We dig through our favorite nature books, think about our favorite happenings of that particular season, and look at our calendars to gather the best things that nature has for us. To learn more, check out our summer, fall & winter bucket lists of past years.
Here’s our 2018 Spring Bucket List in no particular order!
Savoring the Season with a Summer Bucket List
We are well into summer, but Bergen (my 4.5 year old) and I just had a chance to sit down, and come up with a list of things we wanted to accomplish this season. When we create this lists (past lists: end-of-summer, fall, winter, spring), I often think about what we already have planned and on the calendar, and we brainstorm and look through books to come up with ideas that are quintessential to that particular season. Then I consult my husband Slaed, and he fills in the gaps with anything we might have overlooked.
The end product is a list of 10 to 15 items. Some involve travel, some involve the outdoors, we have day trips, city outings, even crafts. I’d like to be able to get to every single item on the list each season, but that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes it does, but often we get to most of it!
Savoring the Season with a Spring Bucket List
Now that the real spring weather has returned to Seattle, and we are back to mild temperatures after a bout of hot weather, it’s time for us to get cracking on our spring bucket list! If you aren’t familiar with our seasonal bucket lists, here’s the scoop: Each season, we create a list of about 10 fun adventures or projects that are specific to the season.
We dig through our favorite nature books, think about our favorite happenings of that particular season, and look at our calendars as a way of being more intentional with our time and to take advantage of the best things that nature has for us. To learn more, check out our summer, fall & winter bucket lists.
Here’s our 2016 Spring Bucket List in no particular order!
Savoring the Season with a Winter Bucket list
We’re celebrating our days slowing getting longer and longer after the recent winter solstice. It’s a little hard to believe, but in less than a month’s time, I can already tell a difference in the afternoon! We’re getting just a little more out of that sun on our daily walks before dinner.
To help us appreciate all that the season has to offer, we’ve (yes, Bergen and Slaed had input) put together a list of 11 winter inspired activities for us to focus on, and hopefully accomplish! Depending on your location, you might be able to gather some winter inspiration, and get into the fun right along side of us. Included in the list are nature and outdoor focused activities that we would like to get to this season.
Savoring the Season with a Fall Bucket List
When I took the time to sit down to compile our end-of-summer bucket list, I wasn’t sure if it would actually work for us. To be honest, I thought we might get around to a few things here and there, but ultimately would be left with some disappointment.
Not the case!
Maybe my doubts helped to drive the force of accomplishing or rather getting to enjoy each of our items, but I’d also like to think that creating the plan gave us a road map to navigate our way out of summer. Choosing items with each family member in mind also gave us some guidance on those occasions where we may have been stuck with the question, “What should be do this morning, afternoon, evening, etc..?”
A quick wrap-up post will come soon so you can catch a glimpse of all the end-of-summer fun, but in the meantime, since our first “go-round” went so well, we’ve created a fall bucket list! Included in the list are nature and outdoor focused activities that we would like to get to this season.
With our great Pacific Northwest region in mind and with the help of the Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book, for a little more inspiration, we came up with 10 things that we think will allow us to completely savor fall. You’ll also hopefully notice that they all involve getting outdoors in some way or another. We want to make sure that the inevitable rains don’t keep us from taking advantage the beauty and goodness of fall in the Seattle area.
Savoring the Season with an End-of- Summer Bucket List
We still have several weeks before our little guy embarks on the brand-new adventure of life as a preschooler. I know the summer isn’t really over, not until September 22, and the fun at home doesn’t stop just because someone is in school for a couple of mornings a week.
However, I still feel like it’s necessary for me to make sure that we’re getting the most out of the summer season. After all, as much as we really don’t mind it so much, Western Washington isn’t exactly known for it’s spectacular fall, winter & spring weather.
To accomplish this savoring, I just took a few moments to jot down a quick list. I even consulted Slaed (husband) and Bergen (now 3-years old), so this list reflects all of our contributions. Also, to help with some inspiration, I referenced the The Kid’s Outdoor Adventure Book to make sure that were weren’t missing out on any quintessential summer activities.
When it was all said and done, I came up with 11 items. I made the list last week, and what do you know, we’ve already accomplished several! To see some of those in action, visit our instagram feed. I may have had a certain trip to the coast in mind when brainstorming… Just because we did something once though, doesn’t mean we have to check it off the list and move on, and yes, just because the calendar says it’s “fall” doesn’t mean the “summer” fun stops!
Savoring the Season with Spring Bucketlist: 2019 Edition
I’m hopping in early with our SPRING BUCKLET LIST, because we are ready! We are ready to say goodbye to snow, and ice, and cold. We are ready to welcome a little color back into our landscape, and can’t wait for the temperatures to warm up…just a bit!
I want to challenge you to do the same. However you feel about the upcoming season change, jot down a quick list of special things you want to do with your family to celebrate spring. I love how this exercise helps with intentionality, and allows us to prioritize our most treasured and valued family activities.
If you aren’t familiar with our seasonal bucket lists, here’s the scoop: Each season, we create a list of about 10 fun adventures or projects that are specific to the season.
We dig through our favorite nature books, think about our favorite happenings of that particular season, and look at our calendars to gather the best things that nature has for us. To learn more, check out our spring, summer, fall & winter bucket lists of past years.
Here’s our 2019 Spring Bucket List in no particular order!
Cold Weather Packing List for Families with Babies and Young Children
We still have another month of so left until spring begins, so instead of retreating indoors waiting for better weather, we are embracing it. We’ve actually had some snow days here in Seattle, which is pretty rare for us, allowing us to pile on our cold weather gear and head outside to play.
In addition to enjoying the cold and snowy weather “in our own backyard”, we also recently headed to Mount Rainier National Park for a snowshoe and sledding adventure. A lot goes into planning and packing for a trip like this, so I thought I’d share our Cold Weather Packing List geared toward families with babies and young children. Georgia, our 2-year old, is particularly sensitive to cold temperatures, so we have to be extremely careful and intentional when dressing her to head outside.
University of Washington Cherry Blossoms (Video) + Why We Love Family Bike Rides!
We are back with another fun family bike ride to share! One of the many ways Seattle celebrates spring is with the cherry blossoms. As I talked about in our spring bucket list, one of the most fantastic displays is in the quad on the Univeristy of Washington campus. We decided to hop on the bikes on a week day afternoon to catch a glimpse of the beautiful blooms. While we didn’t get to see the display at peak, that was a-okay with us. A week day, and non-peak means less crowds!
With our cherry blossom report, I also wanted to back up, and share all the reasons why we love bike riding in the first place. There are so many benefits to bike riding. Because of this, I’m really motivated to incorporate the activity even more into our everyday lives.
When Introducing a Young Child to Nature +News & Inspiration//18
News::
- Maybe I sound like a broken record…but we are just so excited! We head to DISNEYLAND this weekend for spring break!
- And speaking of spring break…tell us about your spring break adventures!
- Did you know April is National Kite Month? We have kite flying on our spring bucket list, so we definitely have to make it happen soon!
Inspiration::
- Do you listen to audio books? How about with your kids? I love how Brandi from Mama Knows It All found audio books as a way to connect with her daughter! Perfect for upcoming spring travel.
- Backwoods Mama has a new post on all things spring! There is tons of inspiration including free printables, and prompts.
- Book of the Week: Run Wild by David Covell. Georgia received this book for Christmas this past year, and I can’t believe I haven’t shared it yet! In essence, it’s a playful story sharing the joy of nature. We’ve read it many times, and Georgia even shared it with her forest school class. But I JUST noticed something new upon reading it tonight. The boy sitting on the couch being encouraged to go outside at the beginning of the story is actually looking at some sort of screen (phone or tablet). I love this tie-in to our modern day struggles.
- Promo of the Week: Join Airbnb & get $40 off your next booking of $75 or more!
Share a favorite audio book with us in the comments! I recommend Charlotte’s Web.
Come join the conversation! You can keep up to date with each and every post by subscribing to the blog via email. We’d also love to have you join us on all of our adventures by “liking” our facebook page, following us on twitter, and joining us on Instagram! If you enjoyed this post, please “like it”, “tweet it” or “pin it”!
Please note: Some affiliate links are used throughout the post. If you purchase through our links, we receive a small commission. Thanks for taking a look, and support our website!
Spring Family Bike Rides +2 Kid Towing Options
Happy FIRST DAY OF SPRING! Apparently Seattle wanted to show off in the weather department this year. Record snow fall this winter. Record breaking temperatures (79 degrees yesterday) this spring. Conditions are likely to get back to normal, but I must admit that I’m little worried about what we have in store for this summer! Near perfect weather has motivated us to start taking more family bike rides.
Georgia’s recent transition from balance bike to pedal bike couldn’t have happened at a better time. She wants to ride her bike to school, ride her bike to pick up her brother from school, ride her bike while we do our afternoon walk to the park, and on and on. With conditions like this, it’s so easy to accommodate her requests!
Unfortunately, she’s not quite road ready. As she gains skills and confidence, when we go on our longer family rides, she has 2 options. She can ride in the Yepp Seat on Slaed’s bike or the Chariot Trailer on my bike. We are playing with the idea of somehow getting her bike to fit into the bike trailer so that she can at least pedal around when we get our destination. It’s just a little too big through. If you have any ideas, let me know in the comments!
Denver’s National Western Stock Show with Kids
This past January, we helped make one of my husband Slaed’s Bucket List dreams come true. We got to attend Denver’s National Western Stock Show as a family! Since Bergen was a baby (he’s now 7.5 years), Slaed talked about taking us. He has fond memories of going as a kid, and when such a huge event happens every year in your home town, it’s a big deal!
Most folks would be planning a trip to Colorado in January around the slopes. I guess we do things a little differently. Instead of a ski getaway, our family planned our long Martin Luther King, Jr holiday weekend around cattle and horses.
You Just Have to Look +News & Inspiration//15
News::
- St. Patrick’s Day is on Sunday! Don’t forget to wear your green. Any traditions in your family around the holiday? There’s a rumor that there may be some funny leprechaun business happening in Bergen’s 1st grade classroom. I can’t wait to hear about it!
- Even better, the first day of spring is Wednesday, 3/20! I just posted our spring bucket list yesterday. Take a look, and I challenge you to create one for you and/or your family!
- Bergen starts Little League next week! Are your kids in spring sports or activities?
Inspiration::
- If you’re not such a fan of or overwhelmed by all the mud that spring can bring, Tales of a Mountain Mama has a helpful post this week! And if you didn’t see our recent “spring cleaning” post, check it out!
- First Aid is on my mind since we recently received our First Aid-themed Think Outside Box. I also found this post from Play Outside Guide to be super helpful! Are you certified in First Aid?
- Book of the Week: The Curious Garden by Peter Brown. We were inspired to check this picture book out of the library thanks to Bergen’s school reading challenge (to read a book by the author), and it couldn’t be more perfect for this time of year! The book is inspired by Manhattan’s High Line Park. Have you been?
- Promo of the Week: 3/15-3/21, REI Outlet is taking an extra $20 off when you spend $100 or more Discount is automatically applied at checkout. There’s a great deal on these Bog Insulated Rain Boots!
What are you celebrating this weekend or upcoming week?
Come join the conversation! You can keep up to date with each and every post by subscribing to the blog via email. We’d also love to have you join us on all of our adventures by “liking” our facebook page, following us on twitter, and joining us on Instagram! If you enjoyed this post, please “like it”, “tweet it” or “pin it”!
Please note: Some affiliate links are used throughout the post. If you purchase through our links, we receive a small commission. Thanks for taking a look, and support our website!
How to be Outdoors More in the New Year
Do any of your new years goals or resolutions have to do with getting outside more? I sure hope so! As we have been going about our days, I’ve tried to take note of the ways and reasons we get outdoors. I put together a quick list in case you are looking for some motivation, inspiration, or just need a fresh start.
Fall Inspired Treats: Peanut Butter Acorns
On one of our neighborhood walks this past week, we stopped at one of our many local Little Free Libraries. While Bergen and Georgia poured over the children’s book selection, I found an October issue of Country Living. Even though it dated back to 2014, I figured that it may still have some fun fall-inspired ideas.
Soon Bergen had taken an interest, and scooted up next to me as I flipped through the magazine. Sure enough, the adorable peanut butter acorn cookies caught our eye, and we began to make plans for a Friday after-school baking session. We are big fans of acorns, and find so much joy in finding them perfectly intact before the squirrels, crows, and other critters get to them!
Summer Hiking Gear for Kids
One of the many reasons I love hiking as an outdoor activity is because of it’s simplicity. If you can put one foot in front of the other, relatively speaking, you can hike! Passing along this love to our kids has come naturally, and it seems to work particularly well because there really isn’t a lot of stuff involved. We can figure out where we want to go, toss a few things into a daypack, and we’re set for a fun adventure in nature.
Each season brings it’s own unique characteristics, and thus changes what we might need to brave the elements, though summer is probably the simplest of all. And since there are still plenty of summer days left this year, here’s our round-up of some of the best, and most useful items for kids to explore the outdoors on these hot, sunny days.
Biking with Kids: Transition from Balance Bike to Pedal Bike
As you may have heard in my recent Spring Bucket List post or from our instagram and facebook updates, WE HAVE A NEW BIKE RIDER in the family! Yes, in just a matter of a couple of weeks Bergen (our 4-year old) has mastered pedal bike riding, and is now riding his bike to school, riding on our daily afternoon walks (up to 3.5 miles), and just generally having fun tooling around the neighborhood!
Now that we are on the other side of it, I will say that the transition from balance bike to pedal bike is fairly quick and easy. But at the same time, I want everyone to understand that the transition for our child did not happen overnight, and it didn’t happen without a lot of hard work and practice, and unfortunately a few tears.
Exploring Nature with Kids: Conifer Cone Search
It’s the first day of spring, but Bergen and I just ticked one last thing off of our winter bucket list: A Conifer Cone Search! It ended up being quite spontaneous. We were out on one of our usual walks as a family through the Washington Park Arboretum. Along the way, Bergen was paying particular attention to all the conifer cones (aka: pine cones) on the ground and under trees.
Hiking with Kids: Olallie State Park’s Cedar Butte Trail (North Bend, WA)
In order to feel less guilty about all the junk we’d consume at our Super Bowl extravaganza last weekend, I decided to take the kids on a good calorie burning, heart pumping hike. I don’t really need an excuse to go on a hike, but this was a great way to get the kids out of the house while Slaed (born and raised in Colorado & devoted Denver Broncos fan) prepared, stressed and prayed, for the big game ahead.
As you might have read from our Winter Bucket List post, I’m hoping that the three of us (Georgia, the 1-year old on my back in the carrier) can conquer Little Si this season. The mileage, at 4.7 miles round trip, isn’t something that I’m extremely concerned about, but more the mountain climb and elevation gain (1300 feet). So in preparation, we are training with hikes that are a bit easier, but have relatively similar distance and hill climbing.
Olallie State Park’s Cedar Butte trail definitely fit the bill as another good hike to get ready for the more difficult Little Si. It’s also less popular than it’s neighbor, Rattlesnake Ledge, which was bustling with folks and crammed with cars in the parking lot as we drove by.
To give you an idea of our hiking experience, I once again documented the journey with a video!
Olallie State Park’s Cedar Butte Trail
Hiking without Kids: Lake Valhalla near Stevens Pass, WA
It took some advance planning, and a bit of preparation, but this past weekend, I got the chance to hike without my kids. While I love hiking along side my children, well..carrying one of them, and either chasing after or encouraging the other to keep up, I needed the chance to trek at my own pace.
Good-Bye August//8 Memories and Highlights
Last year right around this time, I put together an end-of-summer bucket list. I wasn’t ready to part with summer and still felt like we had a lot more to pack in before the cool weather and rains set in. This summer of seemingly endless sunshine has been a little different, and instead I’m feeling like a need to hold on to the memories we’ve already made. So since August is the 8th month & our youngest’s 8th month in the world, I’m preserving 8 random memories worth celebrating and sharing from our full & glorious 31 days! Even if we’re now in the middle of September.
1. Happy Birthday to Slaed!
We celebrated the best dad and husband in the world with a hike around Discovery Park, plus lunch and peach slump at our beloved Chinooks restaurant.
[Read more…]
Day Tripping: Tacoma’s Point Defiance Park
Travel with a brand-new baby, unless absolutely necessary, isn’t something we planned to do right away. We planned to take it easy, one day at a time, and gauge the new addition’s temperament and needs. We thought we might venture out, but nothing got written down on the calendar, if you know what I mean.
The thing is though, we’re still those same people who love to explore and stay active even when a tiny bundle is around. Once the family visits had died down, and we had a free weekend, we thought we might as well try out a day trip.
Tacoma isn’t too far, under an hour’s drive from our home in Seattle, and we had on our bucket list to visit the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. We’re members of our own Woodland Park Zoo, but we were curious as to what was happening “down south” and knew it was an outing the whole family could handle.
Easy Backyard Activity: Pine Cone Bird Feeders
Late last week after a busy morning of running around and getting errands and chores accomplished, I realized that we were in need of some creative time. We’d collected pine cones earlier in the week and they were ready and waiting to be a little bit more useful than just a lazy “center piece” decoration.
I’ve loved working through our fall bucket list just as much as our end-of-summer list! It feels so much easier when all your ideas and aspirations are already documented. This way, when the time is right, I can consult the list and know just what to do. Pine Cone Bird Feeders are on our fall list, and even though they are super easy to execute, I’d been putting them off in favor of more active adventures that had us leaving the house.
I read about the simple idea in one of our favorite outdoor activity references, The Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book, and knew the feeders were something we would be able to not only accomplish successfully, but also enjoy!