It’s with some serious excitement that I announce our Summer NeighbourWood Walk series.

After such a fantastic response to our first series and some disappointment about our time choice, we knew we were going to have to plan for two walks this Summer.

So, here’s the scoop.

Our NeighbourWood Walk series will run for eight Wednesdays this Summer from July 9 to August 27 with two walks - one at 10 a.m. and one at 1 p.m. - and are FREE.

We are able to accommodate 30 kiddos per walk - 60 total. The programming for the walks will be about an hour and a half to two hours. We have decided to stick with shorter walks as exploration has proven to turn even a short trail into a lengthy adventure. But, we have ventured farther out of town for this series.

Registration begins today. To do so, please EMAIL me with your name as well as the names/ages of your kiddos and the walks you plan to attend.

We had a great turnout for the Spring series. But, we had a number of people who signed up and never showed up. Because we had no idea if they were going to show up, a whole whack of people who truly wanted to come never got the opportunity.

Therefore, unfortunately, I do have a few rules:

1. If you don’t think you can make it to at least five out of the eight walks, please wait for the shorter Fall series to join in or get on our drop-in list (register the same way and let me know which walks you’d like to attend. Then, when someone can’t make a walk, I’ll drop you a line to see if you can jump in. The only catch is you won’t get the full gear that series registrants do)

2. We’ll maintain a waiting list for both walks. If you sign up and miss the first two walks, you’ll be bumped from registration for the series and a family on the waiting list will be invited to join in.

3. Drop me a line if you are registered and will end up missing a walk. Things happen, kids get sick, I totally understand. It’s just good to know and I can let a drop-in family jump in and join the fun.

That’s enough mothering.

Here’s the schedule:

July 9 - MacDonald Wood Nature Park
July 16 - Pt. Holmes Reef - both groups will meet at 10:30 a.m. for tide pooling. Low tide is at 11:30.
July 23 - Oyster River Nature Park
July 30 - Ship’s Point Loop (NOTE THIS IS A LOCATION CHANGE from the originally scheduled Glover Community Nature Park walk)
Aug. 6 - Cumberland Community Forest
Aug. 13 - Lazo Marsh
Aug. 20 - Paradise Meadows on Mt. Washington
Aug. 27 Wrap Up Parties (10 a.m. walk)/28 (1 p.m. walk) - The Filberg

We have two partners for the Summer walk series including Active Comox Valley and Scrapbook Central.

With that, let the registering begin. I’ll be in Nanaimo all day today completing what is hopefully the last step in a very long, very important piece of family business. So, if you do not hear back from me right away, do not fear. But, don’t wait to sign up. I imagine the walk slots will fill up quickly and I’ll take registrants in order of when the e-mails hit my inbox.

Hooray for walking!