There is something about snow and cold that makes me want to drink lots of coffee, hot cocoa, and make the largest breakfasts that I’ve ever eaten. Looking out from my breakfast room at the dozens of birds at the bird feeder over the last 48 hours (and 29 inches of snow), I get why the birds are plump – they have to survive the cold. Me? I’m warm and cozy inside except for walking the dog and two days of constant shoveling, which by the way, is fantastic exercise, but not at all “fun”.

“Mom, I’m bored,” declared my seven year old this morning. “Will you come and watch me play Wii?” That soooo didn’t sound like fun to me, so I politely declined and suggested we sled together outside. “I’ve been shoveling for two days,” I said.  “Now I want to play.” Over two days, the boys played in the snow while we shoveled, but we had not yet played outside together.

While the boys finished watching Sponge Bob, I declared, “Come outside when the show is over; I’m going out now to get the sledding run ready.” There is an art to the perfect sledding run, which is really never finished and is so fun for my boys and I to aspire to “finish.”

I walked outside, snow up to my knees, and it was a physical effort just to get to the sledding run 20 feet away, which we started before there was over two feet of snow on the ground. The sledding run is not big, maybe 50 feet long on a gradual slope leading to trees, and we had built up a ramp only two feet tall.

Finally reaching the sledding ramp, I was going to have my work cut out for me. First, I had to find the sleds that got left outside under two feet of snow.  Oops. But, the boys soon joined me and finding them became a treasure hunt. Second, I attempted to go down our run – now buried in two feet of snow – and I immediately sank two feet. Because I could barely walk in the snow, I literally crawled 50 feet through the snow to start packing down the snow. This may sound absolutely horrible, but I was laughing hysterically the whole time and finally collapsed at the end of the run and turned on my back, just gazing up at the large white oaks covered in white.

And then, once I finally got the sled half-way down the run, I had to lay on the sled on my stomach and start “swimming” with my arms, scooping the snow out of my way to continue forward. I could have sworn I was doing the butterfly (which I have never been able to do in the swimming pool), and suddenly I didn’t feel guilty for not having officially “worked out” in two weeks.

So who needs a treadmill?  Just start acting like a kid, and play in the snow. Just remember to keep a water bottle with you; you’ll need it.

Rebecca P. Cohen is the author of the upcoming book, 365 Days Outside: A Mother’s Journey to Improve the Well-being of Her Family and Founder and President of Rebecca Plants LLC, a gardening and outdoor lifestyle company that inspires families to spend more time outside together. Rebecca is also creator and producer of the television series, Get Out of the House, inspiring you to create memorable moments outside every day. To learn more, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com.

Copyright 2010

Rebecca Plants LLC

You’d think that when my kids had so much fun last night after I forced them to walk the dog with me, that they would be excited this morning to do it again. Nope. As I explained to them yesterday, my rule is “When everyone is well, Mommy doesn’t walk the dog by herself. One or both of you has to come with me.” Yes, this is a rule, in part, because I want to get my kids outside and in part that it’s their responsibility to their pet. And it works.

Yesterday, after my older son fussed “It’s not fair!” countless times and when I said he had no choice, he headed out the door and brought his football with him. Instantly, he had a grand time, tossing the ball back and forth with his brother and me while we walked. We even picked up a neighbor who came with us, and the kids had a 45-minute outdoor play date, running around with the football and in the snow. I got the dog walked, the kids exercised and happy, and I didn’t even have to provide snacks or dinner for the play date!

Back to this morning. My younger son, who is five years old, volunteered to come with me to walk the dog. We suited up in our snow gear, which always takes a little while – but it’s worth it. He brought along a small bouncy ball and proceeded to kick it back and forth with me on the walk. Half way around the neighborhood, where the road dead ends and you’re forced to turn left, there is a patch of woods on the right. “Mom, can you watch my ball for me?” my son asked, turning as if to walk away. “Sure,” I said. “But where are you going?” “I want to check out something over there.” he replied confidently. “OK,” I said nervously. The direction he was going in had many obstacles in his path: large boulders moved by construction bulldozers, tree debris, and even some pipes. He found a walking stick and worked his way around the obstacles to a patch of 10’ x 10’ shallow ice that his brother and the neighbor found the night before.

About 50 yards away from me, he got to work. Doing what? I have no idea, but he was very focused and it seemed he was in his own world. I sat on a mound of snow likely left by a snowplow earlier in the week and just sat and watched him. Snow was falling, and I savored a peaceful moment, in awe at his comfort, curiosity, and confidence. After 10 minutes, he looked up and stretched out his arm for a big, happy wave to me, and then resumed his work. After another 10 minutes, he shouted, “Okay Mom, now it’s your turn!”

I walked toward him unsure of what was going to happen next. “Mom, I’m going to take you on an adventure,” he said smiling and turned to walk in a direction we had never gone before, straight up a 25-foot-high mound of dirt. I followed him, but I said hesitantly, “I don’t really like this,” in a way that meant I was scared and unsure rather than ‘this is dangerous and we can’t do this.’ “It’s going to be great Mom, you’ll see. I’m going to show you something amazing.” And with the confidence of a great mountain explorer, he hiked up the rocky, unsettled and frozen dirt hill with small patches of grass and likely many hibernating critters (there were lots of holes). He checked the firmness of the ground with his stick before he took each step and led a crooked path to the top. Looking in the distance and smiling, he said, “Look at this view!” It was a cool view – certainly higher than we’ve stood before in our neighborhood, looking out onto a wooded area. He explored the top of the dirt hill for a minute and then he said, “Now to go back down, which I’m not sure how to do, but we’ll find a way.” “Why don’t we go back the way we came?” I asked. And he replied, with his face showing me he was figuring it out, “You can’t always do things the same way.”

Coming back down the hill, I was done exploring, but my son was clearly just beginning. “Come on Mom, let’s continue our hike! Can we have a picnic today? It feels like it’s been a long time.” I really had no excuse for needing to go back home; today is a school snow day as the Washington, D.C. area anticipates 1-2 feet of snow. We were suited up in our snow gear, warm, and the falling snow was beautiful. The fresh air and exercise was not only good for my son, it was good for me too. I clearly was exercising the limits of my comfort zone for new experiences, which is not a bad thing.

Walking home, my son declared, “Well I’m staying outside all day, and nothing can stop me. There are a million, quadrillion, crillion, billion things to do outside. You can watch TV for hours and then be bored. Why not go outside and have fun?”

So go have fun outside today, no matter where you may be.

Rebecca P. Cohen is the author of the upcoming book, 365 Days Outside: A Mother’s Journey to Improve the Well-being of Her Family and Founder and President of Rebecca Plants LLC, a gardening and outdoor lifestyle company that inspires families to spend more time outside together. Rebecca is also creator and producer of the television series, Get Out of the House, inspiring you to create memorable moments outside every day. To learn more, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com.

Copyright 2010

Rebecca Plants LLC

“Rebecca, you have to see this before the sun comes up,” said my husband as I lay under the warm and toasty covers. I willed myself out of comfort, and sure enough, it was an amazing site. All I could see was the outline of trees completely covered in white, powdery snow as far as the eye could see. I stared in awe for a moment.

“Mommmmmmmmmmmmm!” my seven year-old cried. “My head huuuuuuuuuuurts!” which pulled me back into my morning mom duties. “School has been cancelled,” my husband said. “I have a busy day; I’m going to go ahead and get on the road.” And as if it had been an instant, he was gone to work.

“Warner, stop!” my seven year-old yelled to his five year-old brother.” “You stop!” he yelled back. All I could think about were the business-related items that I wanted to get done, and well, since returning home from a business trip seven days ago on a red eye, I have been caring for my sick older son, who had a persistent 102 fever and splitting headache for seven days. I had a momentary pity-party for myself – there are far worse things that could have happened and there is far more suffering in other places that put the situation into perspective. Upon taking my older son’s temperature, it was finally normal, and I breathed a sigh of relief. He is ok.

As he lay on the couch watching TV, calling over to me to get the remote for him that was on the coffee table two feet from his body, I said, “you are going to have to practice being well today. You’ve gotten too used to feeling bad.” Yesterday, I prematurely took him on a walk to pick up his younger brother from school and his fever went back up, so I knew he wasn’t faking his lethargy. “I’m just tired,” he said.

Upon hearing a noise, I turned to the window to see a neighbor using his snow blower to clear our driveway. What an amazingly kind gesture. I was about to take blueberry muffins out of the oven (don’t worry, I’m not that perfect; I keep quick boxed mixes on hand for warm muffins on snowy days), and my younger son and I suited up in snow gear to take some out to him to say thank you.

As soon as I stepped outside with my younger son and the dog, I looked up, and it was as if my lungs magically opened up with a cleansing breath that balanced the breath-taking view that was in front of me. While I saw that the trees were beautiful an hour earlier, there was nothing like stepping outside to experience it. And with the sight of powdery snow everywhere, my cares and worries were gone – just like that.

So, while the Washington Post has an article today about how local residents have had enough of the four snowstorms this season, I say, “bring it on.” Because most tasks we think we need to race to likely aren’t as important as taking a moment to breath deep, experience the beauty around us, and practice being well.

And when my younger son and I got back from walking the dog, my seven year-old had gotten his snow gear on, ready to go out and play.

Rebecca P. Cohen is the author of the upcoming book, 365 Days Outside: A Mother’s Journey to Improve the Well-being of Her Family and Founder and President of Rebecca Plants LLC, a gardening and outdoor lifestyle company that inspires families to spend more time outside together. For Rebecca’s Curiosity Cards, a set of 50 portable question and activity cards for fun family time outside, visit http://www.rebeccaplants.com/cards.asp

Copyright 2010

Rebecca Plants LLC