Just Get Outside, Already!!

So yesterday we finally had a bit of snow on the ground.  Out in Ajax, it was one whopping centimetre.  Barely enough to make the world white, let alone the need to shovel.  But I’ve been waiting, most impatiently, for snow to come.  So what did this primal girl do on Saturday?? Went tobogganing, silly!   Simply grabbed a couple of the kids’ old toboggans, bundled up really well (those of you in the GTA probably noticed—it was -22 in the wind), and just did it.  My weekends are all about getting out there and having fun!  (And vicariously getting a little bit of my sweat on—but only if its fun!)

Half the workout was the kilometre walk, uphill, in 10 pounds of snow gear, to get to the hill. 



Just watch out for kids--looks like I'm about to crash
 into this kid, but don't worry, I didn't...



I had a blast.  People are way too serious.  Find your inner child!  Steve and I are just two big kids with stuff like this.  We always find time to play.    I want everyone to see how easy it is to get outside more and enjoy it.  The bone-chilling cold didn’t slow me down.  Steve suggested we drive to the tobogganing hill, but you know—as kids, we would have walked in this weather.  It would not have slowed us down or put us off a good time. We would not have checked the Weather Network, either.  We would have put our stuff on and just went, and if the wind hurt our faces, we would have pulled our scarves up higher.  As kids, we would have sucked it up and got out there and had fun.  So it was time to suck it up and act like a kid.  It’s the journey, not the destination, right???



Ah, there's the workout portion of the outing...



Of course, the most important thing about getting outside in the winter in cold climates is the clothing, really—you have to have the right warm clothing or you’re just going to be miserable.  Be prepared.  If you want to get outside more, make sure you have snow-pants, long underwear, waterproof mitts, a hood that protects your face, and boots rated to -30 because standing around shivering is not cool. 



Pretty unsexy gear, right?? Check out my hole...
(can't believe I said that-couldn't resist)



 Apparently -22 and very little snow is not a good combo.  There was rain before the snow, so there was ice, very jagged ice, under the layer of snow.  And the -22 makes plastic brittle.  We shredded the kids toboggans.  Shhhh.  Don’t tell the kids.  Ha, who am I kidding?  The youngest “kids” in our house are 14 and they haven’t touched the toboggans in years.  In fact, I’m not sure that any of them even own snowpants that fit right now.  When we got home and told them we went tobogganing, they were more mortified that we went out in public, dressed like giant marshmallows, and acted like children.  “Were you the only adults on the hill—were they any kids there?”  Was the question.  Sure, there were other adults—with children, you know, families tobogganing together.  But no, no other adults just out there having fun.   But we were there.  Hopefully people WERE seeing it, and wishing they could have that kind of fun.

Getting out there is just that easy.  Tobogganing is cheap.  At least, it is if you don’t ruin your kids’ toboggans.  Now I have to comb the city for sales on toboggans.  And get some with harder plastic bottoms so we can do this again.