Exercise is kids play...

My older son and I decided to go for a walk Saturday morning.

I had planned on going by myself but as I was walking out the door he asked where I was going and wanted to join me.

"Of course" I told him. I put him in the stroller which he loves (although at three he is getting a little big for a stroller) and off we went.

As we were walking down River Road I decided that playing with him in the St. Andrews school play yard was more important than seeing how far I would go today. The school yard is about a 1.5 kms from my house, there and back would have been about 3 kms of pure walking.

As we were playing in the yard, I started to look at these play structures a little differently. What if I decided to use the edge of the wooden walk way like a step at the gym?

Up one side and down the other, then switching legs stepping up with the left and then the other etc.

After five minutes of doing this my butt and thighs were burning, and I was out of breath.

My son thought it was great - mommy was playing right beside him. Then there were the tires. I started stepping through them slowly at first trying to get a little faster each time - I was trying to be careful as there were people in the play yard as well.I certainly didn't need a 911 call because I had fallen in the tires and couldn't get up. I thought that having my weight in the paper was embarrassing... this would be worse.

I also tried the monkey bars and was shocked to discover that I could get across - last year I had tried and couldn't at all.

All this strength training in the arms is staring to show.

We played for a good hour and half and tried all different things. I found a couple of balancing items and worked my core - Bryson followed along beside me the whole way.

My son and I had a blast! Who knew that going to the play yard would be so beneficial for both of us. I certainly didn't until I started to look at things a little differently.

Sometimes in life, we just have to look at things from a different angle to gain a new perspective.