This week I celebrate a birthday. I don’t know about you, but when I was a kid, birthdays were treasures. You looked forward to them for weeks, got to spend time with all your friends, eat cake and open presents when the day finally arrived, then felt special for days after.
In an effort to harness the joy of childhood birthdays, I’m sharing some of the things I’m most looking forward to as I begin a new year … things that fill me with excitement and anticipation and let me enjoy a regular dose of dreamin’ — nature-style, of course!
5 blog posts I want to write
– Gift ideas for little nature explorers
– Product spotlight on Nature Circles
– A few of our favorite books about nature and wildlife
– An intro to some of my favorite nature exploring websites
– A guide to geocaching (something I know nothing about!)
5 favorite nature-inspired adventures I can’t wait to enjoy with the kids
– Camping
– Hiking Yosemite trails I loved as a kid
– Pick-your-own fun at the farm
– Tide pooling
– Snow play (neither of the kids has seen snow!)
5 ways I will enjoy the outdoors more
– Take a walk outdoors every day
– Ride a bike
– Take up gardening
– Find a favorite local hike and share it with friends
– Create an outdoor space just for me (wouldn’t a tree house rock?!)
5 animals I want to travel to see in the wild
– Tigers
– Gorillas
– Pandas
– Lions
– Orca whales
5 far away places I want to go to discover new things
– Yellowstone National Park
– Canada (the only problem is deciding where to start!)
– Alaska
– Hawaii (where I’m a repeat visitor but always discover new things)
– Australia
What’s on your list of 5ives? I’d love to hear about it — the more playful and adventurous in spirit, the better!
Thanks for the lead on geocaching, Joe. It looks fun & I hope we can try it out in the coming months. I'll be sure to share!
For Geocaching, here is a good place to start: http://www.geocaching.com/. I too was interested in learning more about this and putting it on my ocexplorer.com site, but never followed through. I'll be interested in seeing what you learned.
Thanks for the tips on Canadian travel, Sharlene. I know camping with the kids may be challenging at this age, but we're definitely gonna give it a try next spring/summer!<br /><br />Bethe, I'm glad you liked the idea for this post. Would love to see a follow up over on TGSG! 🙂
This is a GREAT post — great list & a fun idea. Might have to follow-suit over at The Grass Stain Guru! 🙂 Bethe
We went to the Canadian Rockies this summer and it was awesome. I have been to quite a few places in Canada and it was one of my favorites (I blogged about it). Victoria in BC is also a really neat place. <br /><br />I want to camp with my kids but haven't gotten brave enough to attempt it yet. I need to, soon!
Thanks for the birthday wishes my friends! <br /><br />Catherine: Would love to see you do a similar post on your b-day & I love the ideas you've already come up with. We'll have to talk geocaching some day. :)<br /><br />Mel: I would love to have you show me around Yellowstone any day!<br /><br />Wendy: Can't wait for the little ones to see snow!<br /><br />Kelly: I will SO need
Great lists, Debi. So much you and the family have to look forward to! Must admit I perked up when I read "take up gardening." Woohoo! We've a wildlife-friendly garden in our yard and the treasures it holds are endless (I love to explore with my kids and their friends). If you ever want to talk habitat, let me know. :0) Happy birthday, my friend! –Kelly
I remember a time at Lake Gregory in Arrowhead during the winter. Good memories. I'm sure you'll give them to your children!
Happy birthday!<br /><br />I'd love to show you around Yellowstone when you make it out this way.<br /><br />Check out trailmix.net for good geocaching with kids info. He's in Sacramento, so not too far from Yosemite.
Happy Birthday!<br />I love this idea, I'll have to remember it for my birthday, but I will see if I can think of one thing for each category now – some ideas of places to travel with kids; I want to try geocaching too; I want to enjoy the outdoors more by getting a bike; an animal I want to see in the wild is a hippo; a far away place would be New Caledonia.