1,000 Hours Outside - March Recap

We quickly surpassed our pitiful February hours spent outside within the first few days of March.  The weather was so lovely and warm for a good part of the month.

We ended up spending 1,975 minutes, or nearly 33 hours, outdoors during the month of March.  This is the most time we have spent outside so far this year and I know our time will increase at the weather continues to warm up.

The almost summer-like weather was amazing and a bit cruel.  Summer won't full arrive until June so we still have some rainy and chilly Spring weather to contend with, but it was so wonderful to be outside without having to be bundled up like a human marshmallow.

It makes me so happy to see my Spring flowers reappear after the long winters here in Michigan.

My crocuses and daffodils started pushing through the mulch and bloomed soon after.  Many other plants in my landscaping started showing signs of life and I began to make plans and buy seeds and plants to continue filling in my landscaping.  Last year the local rabbits ate nearly all of the tiny plants I had started from seed leaving a lot of my landscaping looking quite bare.  I put up my rabbit fence early this year after discovering some of my plants were already nearly obliterated by the pesky bunnies over the winter.  I am especially excited to turn the "dirt patch" by the back door into a shaded woodland rock garden.

The kids have thoroughly enjoyed the warm weather and being able to run around outside without heavy coats.  They have been continually exploring which has also led to laying down some ground rules about where they can and cannot play outside.  With more than three acres of land and no fenced in yard, there are plenty of places where they could get into trouble, especially Oliver who has just turned two years old and is not quite as aware of his surrounding as Adeline who will be four at the end of April.

Enjoying some popsicles!

For a couple years I have been wanting to install some kind of gate at the top of the stairs leading to our deck so that the kids can have a space to play outside when I am not able to be outside with them.  As much as I would love to spend every minute outdoors when the weather is warm, I still need to keep up with housework and cooking meals.  Noah made my deck gate dreams come true and the kids have enjoyed playing with the water table on the deck for a couple of really warm days and I really enjoyed not having them begging for snacks every five minutes while I'm working in the kitchen.

I am looking forward to enjoying even more warm weather in the coming days and getting to work in the garden and landscaping again.  I also love having the kids play outside so much instead of being cooped up like they are over the winter.  Being outside really is more enjoyable when we have warm weather.