Fire pit

The Green Hour is usually about being outside and being active, especially with your children. But there is a place to be outside and be engaged in something quiet.

For example (and I know I've discussed this before), I am a big fan of eating outdoors. We have a patio set on the back deck and dinners always seem a little nicer when eaten outside. Our patio set is an investment that has paid for itself multiple times over in terms of quality of life.

We recently invested (if you can call a $35 purchase an investment) into another piece of backyard equipment, namely a fire pit. It's small as far as fire pits go but it does the job of making a safe fire in the backyard. We inaugurated ours the other night and had a fine time of sitting around with a few friends. Granted it was a bit warm (83° when we started) and it didn't get dark till a good hour after we started but it was nice to be outside. Quite frankly, I would be hard pressed to offer a reason to my guests why we should be outside once it got dark if we hadn't had the fire pit. Sitting around in the dark might do if you are in the wilds, but seems a little odd for a backyard.

I am always on the lookout for more opportunities to get me outside. Any other suggestions?