Blowing Away The Cobwebs In Winter

While I love getting outside in the Summer, splashing about in the paddling pool with the children and spending as much time outdoors with the children as I can there is something a little more wonderful about doing this in the Winter months.

You’ve heard that saying

There’s no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing

That’s one of our family mottos – we refuse to be beaten by a little rain, wind or cold weather here and can often be found puddle jumping or playing in the fallen leaves.

We are lucky to live where we do, our house is close to football fields which are great for the kids and Barney to run around in, and behind that is a wooded area where we spend hours climbing trees, making dens, playing on rope swings left by other children and just exploring and having fun.

Epping forest is just a very short drive away and we can happily spend all day exploring, hiring, climbing and picnicking in the woods. Often we take a picnic or even our camping stove to cook up some macaroni cheese and toast marshmallows to warm us up.

I find my children will often say they are bored if we are at home, this weekend was a great example, I had my niece and 2 nephews staying over for the weekend and they all wanted to be entertained while at home. On Saturday morning we headed to the woods for just over 2 hours and they all had a blast, they ran around, played football, pooh sticks, then made camps, played hide and seek and found the rope swings which we improved this time with the aid of a large stick.

There was NO fighting, few accidents (kids and sticks will always inevitably mean someone is hit accidently) and they were exhausted when we returned home.

Laughter is infectious I find, the children spent so much of our walk in fits of giggles that we all continued laughing most of the time we were out, and of course it’s rather difficult to cry when you are too busy laughing so when someone tripped over, instead of tears being shed it was laughed off very quickly and replaced by a leaf fight or making pretend camp fires with twigs.

Emmy and Harry have very kindly been sent the above outfits to wear from Saltrock to help us carry on getting outside in all weather types, Emmy is wearing a beautiful padded coat which is very fitted at the waist and looks stunning on. She is very skinny and it fits perfectly, with a full length pink zip and zipped side pockets which are big enough for a small toy, gloves and a packet of tissues, it also has a zipped fur lined hood which can be removed.

Harry is wearing an extremely soft fur-lined hoodie which is super warm. It is fur lined throughout the body and hood and has two front pocket which are perfect hand warmers on colder days. This is great to wear for those in between weather days when its a not quite warm enough for no coat.

We are now looking forward to the weekend again so we can have even more family fun outdoors.

Of course it isn’t just the kids who love blowing away the cobwebs, us adults have just as much fun running around outdoors, climbing trees and we have also been known to jump on those rope swings from time to time – we do however draw a line on making snow angels in the fallen leaves but we do love chasing the kids with those dry leaves.

However being outdoors in all weathers means appropriate clothing is needed. Paul was recently sent a lovely North Face Evolution 2 Triclimate 3 in 1 jacket for our outdoor adventures and it is perfect for all of our outdoor adventures from walking the dog in the mild weather to full rain showers when the dog still needs walking (and I’ve gotten out of that job because I refuse to get wet!).

This coat offers protection against all weathers due to having a removable fleece and a waterproof and windproof outer layer. It can be worn together for really cold days, just the fleece for dry by chilly walks or just wear the outer layer for warmer but drizzly days.

The fleece has zipped pockets for storing valuables as does the outer layer. It has adjustable cuffs for making sure no rain gets in and the hood folds away when you don’t need it, and for warmer days it has zips under the arm pits which can be open and closed for ventilation.

It has The North Face logo on the front and has a zipper close as well as poppers to help keep the wind out, and of course the fact it is machine washable is a huge added bonus especially during our walks where there are leaves flying around, spiders bugs and a lot of dust and dirt…..but days out with the kids are certainly never boring. #Bringonthecold