Along with countless of other Americans, I made the choice of making my New Year's Resolution affect the way I eat. It's time to be more conscious of what I put in my belly. The plan is to have less meat and carbohydrates in my diet, and have more vegetables. Hopefully I will be able to outlast my belly's desire for a late night fast food run. Historically, the cards are stacked against me.

Raising children in Florida's Capital City, I would like to say that they know everything about how the government runs.  I would like to tell you that they are well versed in the history of our state and that they know who our state representatives are and what policies they are fighting for.  The reality is that raising six children doesn't always lend itself to finding time for a history lesson, but once a year I can guarantee that you will find us at the Capitol.

We are starting the fourth week of the New Year and I would like to say that I have stuck to my New Year's Resolution of getting in shape, but that would not be true.  There have been days when I have found myself spending most of the afternoon and evening driving kids to and from their work-outs for the day (soccer, basketball, dance, etc) and my opportunities to exercise have vanished.  It is really too bad that pushing a gas pedal doesn't count as a work-out!

Since winter is an ideal season for hiking, it's time to introduce the premier hiking trail in our region-the Florida National Scenic Trail. The trail runs 1,400 miles from the Big Cypress National Preserve to the Gulf Islands National Seashore near Pensacola. In our area, the trail enters from the east along the wild Aucilla River. The Aucilla Sinks, where the river repeatedly ducks underground and resurfaces in a series of sinkholes, is one of the trail's scenic highlights.

As the temperature in Tallahassee drops slightly below a comfortable chill, only one remedy comes to mind that can stave off the cold.  Forget stopping by CVS for some Theraflu, what you need is a heaping helping of some barbecue.  With that first nip of the early morning air, I already know what to get to nurture my frozen bones--a saucy pulled pork sandwich.

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I hadn't ridden the Munson Hills Off-Road Bike Trail in a couple of years, and was I ever surprised. Instead of finding stretches of difficult to traverse sugar sand, the U.S. Forest Service and its volunteer partners have put down layers of clay that have been angled for sharper turns and raised in places for fun jumps. There is also an adjoining trail loop, the Twilight Trail, that adds more than nine miles. Added to the long established Munson east and west loops, and there is a total of 21 miles of off-road bicycling fun in this section of the Apalachicola National Forest!

I had first heard about Birds a few years back when my friend had invited me to see him do standup comedy. He's a funny guy, so I figured he'd have some good laughs.  He promised that he had a funny set and that they had cheap Yuengling on tap.  Cheap beer and some laughs?  A pretty hard combination to pass up on a Wednesday night.

This Year, I have a whole list of resolutions.  Of course there are the usual ones, like finally lose the 20 pounds that seems to have permanently taken residency around my waist, eat smart and exercise each day.  The more I thought about the changes I wanted to make for me, I realized that as a family we could use a make-over.  All of us could do with a little more exercise.  My kids play a variety of sports and sometimes while they are at their practices I will walk around the fields for exercise.  But I want this year to be about us taking the time to exercise together.  The first two days we went on a walk around the neighborhood.  Then the boredom set in of doing the same routine.  So this mom set out to find a new place to go to get our exercise together. 
So welcome to the first edition of "A mom and six kids exercise adventures".