Getting outside with kids can be tough. The hardest thing is that what works one time may very well not be as sucessful the next time. Kids are just fickle! 
As a family, when we are out there, it is usually for extended hours at a time. As a mama, this sometimes makes me pretty nervous (what about the melt-downs? do we have enough food? are they adequately bundled?), but the kids tend to roll with the punches better than I do (go figure!)
As a family, when we are out there, it is usually for extended hours at a time. As a mama, this sometimes makes me pretty nervous (what about the melt-downs? do we have enough food? are they adequately bundled?), but the kids tend to roll with the punches better than I do (go figure!) For those long days, one thing that we have learned is great for everyone in the family is Destination Adventuring.
Winter Translation: Instead of skiing around all day, we ski into a cabin or a lodge, eat lunch (or stay the night!) and ski out.
The benefits of this are:
- Built-in rest time for Mama and Daddy (plus a rest for the kids that are traveling via carrier or stroller)
- Something to look forward to (“only a few more minutes”, “you can have a snack once we get to the cabin”, etc.)
- A warm-up point
- A break-up of events in the day (especially since toddlers – or kids of all ages – have short attention spans!)
Keep in mind:
- Be realistic about the abilities (and morale) or your group. Even going a mile (or half a mile, etc.) and having a hot chocolate break gives kids something to look forward to.
- Check trail conditions (along with your destination information) before you go. Not much worse than planning on having somewhere to end and it not being there (because you went the wrong way) or not accessible.
- Roll with it (we tell each other this almost constantly when we are out there adventuring and our plans have to change for various reasons.)
There are country-wide opportunities to do this sort of trip, even in the winter. One idea is to rent a Forest Service Cabin. We also look forward to skiing into a Yurt later this winter. I would love if anyone has any other ideas (or blog posts they have done) to link up in the comments here too!
Locally, we look forward to a skate-ski into Brooks Lake Lodge, located on Togwotee Pass. Open exclusively to guests in the summer, the lodge caters to snow-mobilers and skiers in the winter. The trip is a good 2 hours (with a slight uphill climb most of the way) and a fast 45 minutes out (which works great when you have a full stomach after lunch!) We pack cookies to keep J happy (or as a last resort to entertaining him) on the way in and make a full day of it.
Any great destination adventures you have done (or would like to do??) Please do share!
Oh the memories of skiing to Brooks Lake with you prego! You inspire me every time I think of that day!
Totally agree with you on this one. My kids do much better if we break the experience up into parts. We skied into a cabin at Harriman State Park near Island Park Idaho. It provided several shorter opportunities for fun!
Becca – I almost posted the picture of you laying in the snow on your skis…but then thought better of it!
Shawna, Harriman park is our next destination! Would love to hear any feedback on it that you may have!
We are going to snowshoe into a back-country cabin this winter with our 3 year old. We’ll pull him in his pulk. We’re also staying at a wilderness hostel for a weekend. We can drive there but we’ll use it as a base camp so that we don’t have to drive so far to the mountains and back each day.
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