The 100 Challenge

As I said before, I've been going to our library a lot.  It's becoming a Monday thing.  After I get everything done here at home (right!) we head over to the library in the afternoon to return and check out new stuff.  It sounds pleasant, but I need to get a new routine.  I somehow manage to pick the time when both kids fall asleep in the car.  Olivia never does get a good afternoon nap and Vince wakes up angry, hating the library and me.  I'm still going to do it though.  It's good for him and the few embarrassing screaming kid is worth the library time.  Our library (which is the North Canton Public Library.  I get this "our library" thing from my mom, who used to work in the Children's department and still refers to the library as "work" even though she's been retired for over 3 years.)  is having an Explore The World thing (for lack of a better word--really any other word would have been better, but I just found Olivia chewing on an orange marker so I'm a little frazzled writing this).  Each month the library explores the world of...something different.
April was cooking and May is Health and Fitness.  There are books pulled for display centering around each theme, and programs also focusing on the theme of the month.  Each month there is an Exploration partner and a Need Partner.  The Exploration partner is a business that goes with the theme (last month it was a pizzeria for cooking and this month it's the YMCA for fitness).  The Need Partner is a local charity.  There is a guide book which explains all of this and lists various tasks for each month.

May's Guidebook page

 If you complete one of the tasks in the guidebook, you get that month's incentive.  Last month it was a free pizza  and this month is's a free one day pass to the Y.  The tasks are nothing huge, last month I checked out a cookbook and filled out a short survey to get my pizza.  This month there are 4 choices again for the tasks to complete to get the incentive.  You can check out a book about health and fitness, attend the Energize Your Day program on May 8th, Bring a donation for Canton's Community Garden (the partner in Need part) or...Join the Friends of Stark Parks Hike-a-Hundred Club.  I like this one!  I've been thinking about what we can do this summer.  I wanted to do a little home school kind of project every week last summer and we started off pretty well, but then it just turned into lots of days at the pool, which was fine, but I want to have a little more going on this summer--since I'm not pregnant this year!  So I checked out the Stark Park Website and read what it had to say about this program.

"Join the award winning Friends of Stark Parks Hike-a-Hundred Club and be one of the proud who can say, “I hiked 100 in my Stark Parks in 2013!”  Whether you want to lose weight, meet new friends, or simply get outside – join the club!  The 2013 season opened Jan. 1 and the goal is to hike 100 miles on Stark Parks’ trails by Dec. 31, 2013.  You can complete the miles on your own, with a group, or at Stark Parks programs. 

The walking program was designed to (1) to provide an incentive program to encourage residents to walk (2) to showcase Stark Parks’ wide variety of trails and parks to walkers, (3) to create a corps of friendly walkers to serve as unofficial ambassadors for the park district, and (4) to provide a way for active people with similar interests to meet one another."

We're going to do this!  I'm hoping because it's kind of a challenge the kids will get into it.  It's going to be fun to be able to go all over Stark County and explore the parks. There are a few Stark Parks we visit, but we really need to check some more out.  It will be a great way to get the kids outside, being active and looking at nature.  When we took the longest hike ever last year at the Mount Union Nature Center, they had such a great time looking for signs of animals (until we realized we were truly lost and they started complaining that they were tired and Ellie cried because she thought we weren't ever going to get back home.) 

Thanks NCPL!  I'm really excited about doing this and I hope I can get it done...since we're starting 5 months into the year...Happy May Day, by the way!

Orange Marker Eater