The Daily Outdoor Challenge

What would happen if we made a commitment to spend special time EACH and EVERY day outdoors?

I'd venture to guess that we would feel:

• more relaxed
• more connected with our family
• more connected with the Lord
• more productive with the rest of our day
  

I'd venture we would be able to:

• think clearer
• focus better
• enjoy life more

Recently, I was asked about spending time outdoors with my little one's.  Living here in the desert it is often assumed that the summer months just aren't conducive to spending time outdoors.  To a certain extent that is true and one of the main reasons why we do much of our formal academic learning during the hot summer months.  Because really, what else is there to do when it is 115 outside?

But what if...  what if, we turned that perception around and found time {albeit possibly at the beginning and the end of the day} to enjoy time outdoors?

I'm taking on the challenge of spending a minimum of 20 minutes outdoors each and every day with my children.  I'm not talking merely adding up time running to and from my car to the next air-conditioned building.  I mean fun, carefree time enjoying God's beautiful creation and playing with my children outside.

I often boot them outdoors because the benefits to letting them unwind are monumental.  But I think it is time that I give myself the boot too!

Each Friday, I'll be posting a diary of our outdoor adventures and I'd love for some of you to join me.  Do you think you can commit to spending some time outdoors each day with your kids?  It could be as simple as taking a walk, playing basketball, inspecting bugs or working in the garden.  I'd love for you to come back and share either by linking up a blog post or sharing your adventures in the comments or on our facebook page!  Let's see if we can inspire one another to spend more time outside with our families.  And for those of you in nicer summer climes, you can brag about how wonderful your weather is and the myriad of wonderful outdoor options you have.  I'm ok with that too!  Although, beware.  Come August, I might be packing up my bags and bringing the family for a visit!  And come January, I'll be bragging about our weather when you can't shovel a path to your car!

Want to join in on the fun?  Grab our button, and then link up your post each week!

<div align="center"><a href="http://cultivatedlives.blogspot.com/search/label/Daily%20Outdoors" title="The Daily Outdoor Challenge"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2tzop1GE32_V2mNJOKOy-_PoXk1zOJMT9cOVYj3E1JYmVV7JoCN2yhT3VLOjdHgMPUtt7IGvUQtWvCkEercm11epwVS9QI1YlvWZvZ5mEkl29SsQM-NeWwzOvZYwIbzd-sdO3N_WLYEs/s1600/DailyOutdoors-button.jpg" alt="The Daily Outdoor Challenge" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

So here is what we did this last week:

SATURDAY:
I should probably start writing these things down, or start going to bed earlier, because for the life of me, I can't remember what we did that day...

SUNDAY:
I am sick and stay home from my boys AWANA Awards night. :\  Greta and I did enjoy spending almost 30 minutes sitting in the Adirondack chair staring up at the blue sky.  Sometimes we just need to be still and breath in fresh air!  I could feel my head start to clear and my tummy calm down.  Mercifully, it put her in a sedate mood too.

MONDAY:
We dig around in our compost pile and started transporting some of it to our garden plot.  I'm determined to get rid of my black thumb one of these days.  We are preparing our beds now for a fall garden and enjoyed inspecting all of the hundreds of tiny bugs and other organisms that took up residence in our compost pile.  The roaches that have taken up residence there were not appreciated or admired however. :shudder:

TUESDAY:
My sister is in town visiting!!!!  We meet at our favorite nature preserve.  The boys enjoy jumping in the creek and we count quail.  I bring our watercolors thinking they might want to paint as we've done previously, but they are too excited seeing cousins again.

Keegan and I had a Bible Moment-Nature walk that evening.  While our Bible Moment didn't quite live up to my {probably unreasonably} high expectations, we discovered a bee's nest that had been turned over and stopped to inspect it for a while.  Bee's were everywhere.  We noticed the flowers falling off of the prickly pear cactus and discussed the possibility of trying our hand at making Prickly Pear Jelly this year when the fruit ripens!

WEDNESDAY:
A storm swept in, making it a perfect day for an umbrella walk.  We took turns telling each other what we loved about God's creation.  At the top of my list is the creosote bush that gives the desert it's characteristic 'rain' smell!

I'm FINALLY starting to identify some of the birds around here.  We are thrilled to see several Killdeer on our walk around the neighborhood.

We stop by to see if the bee hive is still there.  Most of the bees appear to have died - either from the rain or hail.  We can't decide.  We simply sit and ponder.

THURSDAY:

In honor of the 237th anniversary of the capture of Fort Ticonderoga (hurray for practical math application!), we staged a re-enactment in the backyard!

FRIDAY: 
Despite temperatures around 98 degrees, we set out while dinner cooked to see what was happening with the beehive.