It is Summer time, not Winter time, in New Hampshire and I absolutely refuse to drive a 2 mile round trip for lunch, dinner or errand running that doesn’t involve some massive grocery shopping or similar.
Since the move in July, we live about a mile from downtown, center of our town. I forewarned the children when we moved, I would not be driving as much because it is unnecessary to drive when we live that close to downtown. Plus, we have some weight to lose, all of us, it is time to be aware of our family heart health history and be proactive in ensuring we make better habits now, to avoid possible major issues later.
The plan was this: since the move, we have wanted to use our backyard fire pit area, but we need a campfire Category 1 permit to burn for the season. It is a simple, free permit from the fire station that basically gives us the OK to burn if we call first to confirm that we have the okay fire safety wise to burn our camp fire in our pit.
The kids and I walked downtown, got a fire permit and then I decided why not have lunch while we are downtown. The little one didn’t really want to walk further, as he legs and feet hurt him often, but I am trying to get his body adapted to more exercise. We headed further downtown and ventured into the pawn shop, where the kids had fun just looking at stuff.
After the pawn shop, no three kids could agree on lunch at one place, so I took the tie breaker and settled for our local pizza place; Village Pizza. After much grumbling and slight attitude over 1) having to have Village Pizza when not all three kids wanted it and 2) having to sit down and eat there; we had a blast!
My two sons wanted pizza, but my daughter and I were not feeling pizza since we had it Friday night at her award ceremony for ACE Academy. My daughter chose a roast beef grinder and I chose the steak and cheese grinder. We all had a blast eating our lunch together, sure the wait for the meal to be made was an average 20 minutes which made sense when cooking a pizza, the boys started to get impatient just in time for our waitress to deliver food to our table.
My youngest son is super picky while my other son doesn’t mind trying new things; the boys decided on a small pizza; half cheese and half meatball. Aj loved his meatball pizza, it didn’t look appealing to me, but it was great to see him try something new and enjoy it!
After our fun morning, the kids and I came back home to clean and organize our home. We have been really good at instilling this pride of our home in this new place and each kid seems to enjoy having a chore to do. My middle child went upstairs to get the bedroom, book case and such organized a little. My youngest son learned how push mow the lawn and my oldest worked a bit on her room while also completing dishes, as dishes is her 1 daily chore when home.
I feel very grateful and blessed to have such three wonderful children, note I did not say perfect, but as biased as I am, these three kids have a great family orientated mindset and understand the concept of “chores first play later” now that I am back in action as the Mama I used to be. I am uncertain what our future holds, but that is great, I love a good surprise and each day I wake up ready to start all over again with this world I call my happy chaos!
Good for you. I know a lot of people that would much rather just drive, but I love that you guys walk. I would do the same. The fresh air is good for you guys anyways 🙂
it’s gonna be fun to have these little adventures. Imagine when the fall weather its and the trees change color. You’re gonna have so much fun
We live in an area where we can walk to downtown pretty easily. We like to walk together in the evenings when it is cool.
Walking is great when you can do it. It’s so much fun to get some fresh air.
If we lived in a cooler place, I wouldn’t mind walking to run errands and such. It just gets too hot where we live.
I live in NYC and this is definitely a walking city in every way, shape and form. It’s good to walk actually, and that extra Vitamin D and K from direct sunshine is a good thing too! Just invest in quality walking shoes for all of you when you get a chance. You want good support in a walking shoe so you have less stress on your knees, lower back and hips.
You are a great mom Brandy! Here in our city walking anywhere in the summer is pretty unbearable due to the heat, but we could make it to a nearby shopping center with a grocery store, dining options and even a fro yo shop if we had to.
Walks like that are so fun! It’s great that you guys were able to do your errands and have a nice lunch while you were out.
We live close to our downtown but there isn’t much there. It’d be great if a small grocery store were there, I’d love to be able to take the kids and pick up the couple of things we need to get mid-week!
Sounds like you have a good plan to get more active. Keep it up.
I need to do a bit more walking just like you guys. Good for you for staying active
Walking is such great exercise and it is neat to see things you would miss when driving. Good idea!
If I had anything that close, I would walk also. Basically I walk a mile to my sis in laws. That is about a mile.
These adventures are wonderful. We are trying to soak up every last bit of summer!
I wish I lived within walking distance of anything. We live off the toll road and a big highway, so safety would always be a concern with us!
That sounds like a great day! Yeah I’d probably drive then feel guilty b/c we could have totally walked. We need to walk more often.
I wish we lived in an area that we could be forced to walk more. I have made it a point to make our kids walk a lot though, even they were young… I refused to use a stroller too much, after all that is what legs are for.
It’s great that you are making the conscious changes for your family. I love that you’re so close to downtown!
There is this ad campaign I saw for Jiffy Lube back home in LA that said “Jiffy Lube, making sure no one walks in Los Angeles” I always thought it was so funny (and true) but I love your stand! I sometimes drive such short distances (my kids are tiny, toddler and infant) but I could just push them in the stroller!
We live in a big city so we are not able to walk to get downtown. We try to go for a walk in our neighborhood every night.
I think its beautiful that you are teaching your children the power of staying fit and getting them to walk more. I wish I lived in my downtown area or I would definitely walk more everywhere save me some gas – and shed some weight!
That’s a great rule…2 miles. I live blocks away from my parents and the kids whine if we walk. It takes longer to get everyone in the car & buckled than it does to walk there.
I live rural and have no choice but to drive. I cant wait to move back to the city. This is one of the reasons I miss it. I miss being able to go out my front door and just walk.