So...the outside crusade has started in earnest. Perhaps my desire to do this is related to the New Year and the January-ness of life right now. It's nice to have something to count.
Anyway, yesterday (Thursday), the girls were outside a fair amount - but still nowhere near five hours! Ines: 2 1/2 hours (1 1/4 hours at school, the rest at home after school); Manon: 1 hour 50 minutes (20 minute walk after school drop-off, 30 minutes at playgroup, and the rest after school). We were joined after school by some friends for some play and chat time. It was lots of fun. Then the kids spontaneously wanted to go outside...all was well until we had the mitten crisis. Manon wanted to wear Ines's backup mittens, because her regular mittens were so wet from playing at school. Tears, tearing off of snowpants, flinging off of boots....so Manon was out a little later than the other three kids. I thought we'd go sledding but after a bit of this the older girls wanted to go back into the woods. So they headed out there, and a little later the moms and various other kids joined them. Charles brought Manon down a little later still. For the two little ones (three-ish) the snow was deep and hard to navigate - they definitely needed help.
We made completely new tracks in deep deep snow through the garden and into the back pasture, and down the hill. Ines and her friend were deeply involved in teepee making with various branches and twigs, and some digging of snow. As we tromped down to join them I realized how little time we had spent back there recently: there were no tracks or path already beaten into the snow. But it was nice down there. Our Enchanted Forest is tucked into a little hollow and mostly shielded from the wind.
Everybody played while the adults chatted.
The experience reinforced for me that getting outside (the actual getting - putting on snowpants, finding hats, securing mittens, scarves, etc. and then actually walking out the door) is the most challenging part of the whole outside thing in winter. Once outside even the little ones just adapt, and seem pretty happy, even when it's moderately cold.
The other thing I realize is that outside is infinitely easier when friends are over to play....
Still, five hours is going to be a challenge in this kind of weather!
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