Monthly Goal Review: Outdoors in May

May was such a fun month. The weather is finally warm and we have been outside so much. Some days have been TOO hot to be outside and the kids wanted to come back in. We hiked and played and worked in the yard. May was a month full of health and sunshine that was so needed for me, my kids, and my family.

It was my birthday month and I made sure to enjoy it. This meant making sure to take time for myself and relax. It meant self-care and smiles. May also has Mother’s Day so let’s just say I was spoiled! Between gifts, love, and my husband transforming our basement into a spa so that I could relax I truly felt grateful for my life and my family this month.

In case you need a reminder of my goals:

1. Spend an average of 1 hour/day outside with my kids. Setting this as a daily goal motivates me to make an effort every day instead of getting behind and then trying to play catch up. I’m hoping that we will surpass this goal, but for now, I am keeping this as an attainable goal. Plus, I made the goal in the winter and my youngest does NOT enjoy the cold.
2. Hike/walk the year in miles. That is 2,020 miles during the year, an average of 55 miles/day. I am recording my miles every day to keep track of this.
3. 52 hikes in 52 weeks. This includes the trail runs that I have started to enjoy. 

Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram to see the day to day outdoor fun.

These outdoor goals are helping me on my journey to achieve better mental health after postpartum depression and better physical health. I feel so much better when I am on track so I continue to pursue them. Are you ready to crush some goals?

Goal #1: 1/hour outside every day

This month had so much sunshine! It feeds my soul and provides so many amazing opportunities to play. We played and learned in creeks, the woods, and by lakes. There were family walks and just a lot of goofing off in the yard. D found an egg on a walk, colored outside, and danced with daddy while N found new ways to get dirty and they both watched millipedes crawl around the yard.

Water play was huge this month as we needed some cooldowns. I have tons of amazing photos that I took on my nice camera and never edited but here is a quick snapshot of some of our water activities. They included doing an alphabet wash, a slip and slide, and a water fight!

There were moments of pure joy and sweetness mixed with tantrums of an almost 2-year-old. The boys learned to stop and smell the flowers and had long chats with each other hanging out. I got to relax on my hammock, we played superheroes, found salamanders, and returned them to the woods.

Last, we started a lot of home projects outdoors. I started digging out a stump and building a fire pit for Father’s Day (come back in June to see that) got dirty creating my first vegetable garden and built a stick fort in the woods. Our home is becoming an awesome place to play outside the more we make it our own. Trips to the nursery are a little different these days as my oldest got to play cowboy with his mask the whole time but it is just as much fun.

Total time outside for the month: 104 hours

Daily Average for the month: 3 hours 22 minutes

Total time outside for the year: 331 hours

Daily Average for the year: 2 hours 15 minutes

Monthly Goal Review #2: Hike/walk 2,020 miles.

I have been running more, but I also had plenty of days that I just didn’t feel like it. While more of my miles are becoming intentional as I run farther and hike for longer distances, I still find myself marching in place to hit this goal many days. This is okay. I’m a work in progress and without a treadmill, it can be pretty tough to hit those miles! Plus, I like my sleep and haven’t felt motivated to get up before the kids. I’m sure many of you can relate to that!

The point is that I’m moving my body, I’m challenging myself, and I am rising to that challenge. Next month, I’ll push myself harder simply to prove that I can.

Daily Average for month: 5.6 miles

Total Miles Walked this month: 172.5 miles

Total Miles Walked in the year: 878/2020

Monthly Goal Review #3: 52 Hikes in 52 Weeks

Changing this goal to 52 hikes instead of 52 trails last month helped my motivation. I’m running the trails on my own and going back to the same ones over and over. There is so much joy to be found and I swear we find something new every time. In this way, we are still hiking while avoiding the crowded parking lots and trails.

My youngest is even starting to hike some trails on his own! He loves to chase his older brother and is so happy to explore, even if he does move slow. There was one trail we even got to explore some evidence of beavers.

Trail Runs

One thing I have grown to love is running on the trails. It is so freeing and provides a different kind of challenge that I enjoy. There is one trail I like to run on my way home that is a very short loop but has a fairly steep hill to run up. I made my best time up that hill on my birthday! The other loop I like is longer and much harder but is going to be a regular until I master that one as well!

Hiking without Kids on Storm King

For the first time in what feels like forever my husband and I were able to go on a hike without kids. As New York started to open up we dropped them off at Nana and Papa’s house for the weekend. During our precious time, we hiked 7.2 miles in about 3 hours up and down Storm King Mountain. There were times that we were climbing straight up. It was amazing and we both felt more like ourselves after.

Total Hikes this month: 5

Progress Toward Goal: 20/52

Mental and Physical Health Check-In

We are still doing yoga as a couple, but haven’t been super consistent. From now on, we are trying to make sure we do it at least every other day. With all the other projects we have had going on it can be hard to muster the energy to do yoga when the kids are in bed. It has been helping though so we will continue. My husband’s headaches have been better and both of our moods improve when we do it.

Gardening has done wonders for my mood as well. All the outdoor work has been. I’m so proud of the fire pit I have built and the fact that I was able to dig out the stump. It shows how far I have come. Not only was I physically strong enough to complete the task, but I was also mentally strong enough not to give up when it got hard. That strength was fought for and only through hard work and determination was it achieved.

I also started paying attention to nutrition more. You can read about my motivation here.

That was my outdoor goals review of May. I hope that some of what we have done to inspire you to get outside. For more, check out my Instagram or Facebook pages. 

January Monthly Goal Review

February Monthly Goal Review

March Monthly Goal Review

April Monthly Goal Review

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