November Review – 3 Outdoor Goals for Healthy Family

November in New York brings colder weather and more rain. While I’m all for playing in the rain most of the time, cold rain is a different story. I also don’t like to mess with windy weather. Even with the proper clothes, I just don’t like being outside when it is windy and I know most people agree with me there. November is a hard month for me to get outside and I often felt like I was pushing myself, but it was always worth it as I’d go back inside feeling happier, healthier, and stronger.

November is all about playing in the mud and getting dirty. Dirt play, all day: just like the sign I painted for our yard. There are no leaves left on the trees and all the piles have started decomposing. It is a fun time to talk about composting with my kids since they can watch the process in the woods as well as in our compost bin. While things are much quieter, there were some beautiful moments of discovery of November while playing outside.

I’m so glad that I thought ahead and we all had proper clothing for cold weather, including base layers. This allowed us to play outside longer and more comfortably. Colder air doesn’t have to ruin the fun as long as everyone dresses properly (you too mom!)

Read about cold-weather clothing in Ela Wild’s “What Nature Can Teach Us: Winter”

In case you need a reminder of my goals:

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. Since then, I have surpassed any expectations of myself and would love to hit 1000 hours outside this year.
Hike/walk the year in miles. That is 2,020 miles during the year, an average of 5.5 miles/day. I am recording my miles every day to keep track of this.
52 hikes in 52 weeks. This includes the trail runs that I have started to enjoy.

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. You can follow our journey daily on Instagram!

Are you ready to crush some goals?

Goal #1: 1/hour outside every day in November

At the end of October, I reflected that we were starting to fall into a routine. A couple of weeks into November, we were getting comfortable. I started waking up even earlier to focus on working before the kids woke up, allowing me more time to dedicate to the while they were awake. We were all getting into our groove. While D was in school, I would go on hikes with N, getting him to walk more and more on his own. We even did a few after school all three of us. The weather was cold, but we were prepared!

We still had some epic leave piles in the woods at the beginning of the month and did a lot of chalk drawings. D has gotten really into drawing and coloring lately, creating huge scenes outside while he narrates himself. Can you find the pink elephants on parade in the collage below?

It’s the lower right picture and this drawing came after he asked me to teach him how to draw an elephant. He proceeded to draw pink elephants all over so we started singing the song from Dumbo. Pink elephants on parade!

We also had a lot of fun with our leaf pile scavenger hunts.

I worked on some new additions for our dirt play area in November. It started by getting some old tires and filling them with dirt. Then, we build fairy houses and an entire “amusement park” using sticks and leaves. The boys love to climb on these as well and in the spring, I’m thinking of making them planters for the boys to grow something of their own.

As a family, we discovered a cool new park that is by the butcher we like to go to. We had planned to go for a hike but the threat of rain made up reconsider so we ended up at this cool little park. They had some unique play structures like this giant climbing bug and a nice pond with a bridge to an island that we could walk around. It was nice to feel (almost) normal having a park day, even if the park was empty.

In the last week of November, unemployment struck again. Once again, we are trying to figure out a new routine with the whole family home again. While we adjust to this once more, our outdoor time did drop off. Between the transition and the colder weather, I just started to pour my energy into cleaning the house (not that it looks at all clean) instead of motivating adventures. It’s a balance and I struggle daily to maintain it. One thing is for sure, I’m looking forward to more family hikes (even in winter) and there is a major silver lining in the fact that we can once again reduce our risk of exposure as COVID cases spike. Staying safe and active is how we get through this.

Total time outside for the November: 64 hours
Daily Average for the November: 2 hours 8 minutes
Total time outside for the year: 953.8 hours
Daily Average for the year: 2 hours 51 minutes

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

I am running about 2-3 times a week now and still walk as much as I can. Some days in November, I let myself slack. Honestly, it was part of my goal to protect my mental health. I’m working so hard in different areas of my life that hitting my miles every day didn’t feel as important. The truth is that I was still able to maintain my average and I’m only about 50 miles from my goal! I should easily hit this before the end of the year and I can’t wait to celebrate.

Daily Average for November: 5.6 miles
Total Miles Walked this month: 167.7 miles
Total Miles Walked in the year: 1949.7/2020

Goal #3: 52 Hikes in 52 Weeks

The majority of my hikes were short in length but took forever! Hiking at a 2-year-old pace can be frustrating but I know it is the only way for him to learn. We hiked all the small trails in our area over and over intending to go a little further each time. Sometimes he did great. Every time he ended up on my shoulders for at least part of it. The experience of being outside and exposing him to the trails was always worth it, even when he wasn’t exactly happy about it.

On my favorite hike with him, I ended up carrying him almost the whole way. He just didn’t want to walk it. Once we got to the top, he looked at the view and let out a huge “WOW”, making it all worth it. When I told him it was time to hike back down so we could pick his brother up from school, he erupted into tears. The kid loves his views!

At the beginning of November, I was still working at the forest and was able to do a few solo hikes there before starting work that were so refreshing. There is something magical about being alone on a mountain that I wouldn’t trade for the world, even the cold weather couldn’t stop me.

We did do some small family hikes as well. It is so nice to just get out together, even if it is just for a short mile. We have our favorite little trails to go to and repeat them over and over.

We ended the month with a kid-free hike the day after Thanksgiving. After celebrating the holiday with my in-laws, we left the kids there for a couple of days and drove back home. Almost as soon as we got home, we heading up the mountain to spend some time up there just us. It was so peaceful and the best way to connect: just sitting, looking out over the Hudson River.

Total Hikes this November: 10
Progress Toward Goal: 68/52

Mental and Physical Health November Check-In

By focusing on the silver linings and all the positives in our lives, we choose our happiness. There is plenty to get us down right now, but together, we stay joyful. That is all we can do right now. We will enjoy the extra time together and stay safe as a family. I’m not saying it will be easy. I know we have some tough months ahead with winter rolling in and all of us at home each day. Self-care is more important than ever for all of us and moving forward. Running, hiking, creating, and outdoor time is how I revive myself and take care of my mental health. Everyone has their methods.

While I still haven’t gotten back to strength training, my husband and I do yoga together 2-3 times a week. It has helped us both with chronic pain issues and allows us to stay centered while building strength and flexibility. Maybe I’ll start my strength training back up in December, but more than likely it won’t be until 2021. Sometimes, you just know that adding one more thing isn’t in your best interest. I need to balance my physical and mental health and for now, I don’t want to mess with the progress I’ve made!

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