Wanna Play?

The end of summer always comes suddenly. One day you are fanning yourself in 80 degree weather, and the next you are crunching through fallen leaves. My son has started his second year of preschool and all of a sudden he seems so grown up. Somehow he went from being my sweet little baby to a little man. Our conversations flow so easily I sometimes forget I am talking to a three year old. I love taking him to preschool and seeing his eyes scan the room as he soaks up every vision of education until I think his eyes will burst. He comes home singing songs, telling stories, reciting his ABC's and counting anything and everything. It makes me think of my own daily activities and whether they resemble anything like my childhood. As a kid, my free time was usually spent with Megan, my childhood best friend, and playing in the woods behind my house. I remember my mom installing a tether ball pole in our driveway because it was my favorite recess game. I had a favorite tree in my backyard that I would climb, perch myself on a limb and read a book. I remember riding on the handlebars of Megan's bicycle as she pedaled us around our neighborhood (sans helmets). Today my days consist of the mostly mundane: paying bills, cleaning the house, laundry, working out, identifying random smells. That last one happens more often than I would like to admit. Above it all, I dread working out. Yes, I feel good afterward. No, that feeling does not carry me through to the next sweat session. I miss the days of 'play'. Long before parents were setting up play dates, we were picking up the phone every day after school, calling a friend and asking one simple question: wanna play? Now it sounds more like this, "today I have to go do this boring thing, then that boring thing, then I have to drag my ass to the gym and exercise". Sounds fun, right? So, as a little experiment, I have been using typical playground activities as my workouts. Today I decided to jump rope. I used to jump rope for what seemed like hours. Double jumps, running jumps, criss cross, backwards - however creative I could get. After five minutes today, I soon realized why I was such a skinny kid. Jumping rope is hard work. If you are feeling like giving it try, here is my workout from today:

30 second warm up (two foot jumps with one jump in between rope turns)
1 minute jumping
20 pushups
1 minute jumping
35 toe touch sit ups
1 minute jumping
25 squats
1 minute jumping
40 planking knees to elbows
1 minute jumping
20 double lunges (20 per leg, 40 total)
repeat circuit 2-3 times

Have fun! Maybe tomorrow I will climb trees.