As it should be

I had to laugh yesterday when I was reading a booklet about living a healthy lifestyle. There was, as expected, a portion on excercise. The witty author noted that when we are younger we call most physical activities "play", but as adults we call it excercise, and it's no longer fun. The main reason that I laugh is because I have never stopped calling it "play". This weekend was the perfect example of this. Matt and I were sitting around the house patiently awaiting the snowstorm that was supposed to be moving in, when I got a sudden and severe case of "cabin fever". So I asked if we could go play outside. Matt agreed and we bundled up and hit the road. We decided to drive up to his grandparents old property so that he could show me where him, his brothers and cousins use to play pond hockey in the winter. We parked the car and hiked through bushes and field for awhile as he poited out various places that held special memories for him. We ran around, climbed trees, played in the snow, took turns being the leader...

Then on sunday, the same desire hit and we headed back out into the great outdoors. This time we brought one of Matt's cousin's along to take us hiking up to a beautiful waterfall. We had planned on driving to the trail head and hiking in from there, but once we got about 20 minutes away, the road was snowed in, so we parked and started walking instead. The walk easily added an hour both ways to our hike, so by the time we reached the trail we were pretty worn out. Everything was snowed in so we hiked through knee deep powder all the way up to the falls (About an hour uphill). I'll be the first to admit that it was a tough hike, and the thought of having to head all the way back was looming over my tired body. But I refused to get that close and not go all the way! The falls were beautiful, and as rough as the hike back was, we made it! And it was fun!

The best part was that after four hours of hiking, and the drive home, Matt and I had more energy than we had before we left. I think I'd forgotten how amazing it feels to play outside all day. The next day, sore muscles and all, we shoveled the driveway while the worst part of the storm moved in on us.

Now we talk endlessly about all of the fun things that we are going to do outside this winter. Whoever decided that exercise isn't any fun has never played outside all day during a snowstorm as an adult... And I highly recommend it!