November ’15 HiB30 Challenge Winners!

Congratulations to everyone who competed in November’s HiB30 Challenge! All of the Challengers were entered to win some pretty amazing prizes and here are a few of the big winners this time around! Stay tuned for more posts throughout the month with other hiking winners and their stories. Thanks to our Hike it Baby Prize Partners at Baby Banana Brush, Baby BanZ, Baby K’Tan, Bity Bean, and the Hike it Baby Shop, we can give these lucky winners an incredible prizes! Do you want to be eligible to win from these great companies and many more? All you have to do is join in the next HiB30 Challenge in January! It’s that easy and so much fun!

What prize did you win? How excited are you about it?

Baby Banana Brush – EleFriend + Hippo Grippo
Barbara Halevi hiked with Clara (3 years) and Oliver (1 year) and said, “Baby Banana Brush – EleFriend + Hippo Grippo pair. We’re excited to try it – Oliver is obsessed with brushing his teeth!”

Another lucky winner won an EleFriend and Hippo Grippo from Baby Banana Brush!

Baby BanZ – Sunglasses + UV Hat
Kirstin Short hiked with Lena (18 months) and said, “We won the BabyBanz hat and sunglasses set! Here in Houston sun protection is important year-round, so I’m super excited. I picked options for both my daughter who did the challenge and my 4 year old son (who at the moment is much more interested in riding bikes than hiking or walking) so it will be a fun surprise to see which set we end up with. I’m hoping I get to see how the Retro Banz look on my daughter. I’m pretty sure she can pull off that look with flair.”

Baby K’Tan Active Carrier (winner’s choice size/color)
Sarah Nelson hiked with Inara (17 months) and said, “I won the Baby K’tan Active. My daughter is too big for it, but my sister is hoping to have a baby soon and I’ll be its nanny, so I’ll use it then! Hopefully I can tandem carry with it!”

Bity Bean – Carrier
Leah Drews hiked with Blake and said, “I won the Bitybean carrier. I am so excited, I never win prizes! I used a carrier with my son until just recently when he outgrew it. I will be trying him in this new carrier and I will definitely be saving it for any future babies we have. I think the compactness of this carrier is awesome! I could never fold my soft structured carrier up that small! I’ll be able to toss it in my purse!”

Hike it Baby Water Bottle
Kaitlyn Gingrich hiked with Annie (8 months) and Finn (2 years) and said, “Hike it Baby Water Bottle! I have never won a raffle in my life! Very excited and thinking my luck has changed! I’ll be giving this lovely prize to a lucky January 30 Challenger in my branch, who leads a hike during the challenge! Excited to have fun prizes on the local level.”

How many miles and/or minutes did you achieve?

Barbara – 30 miles. 1,765 minutes.

Kristin – 15.5 miles; 570 minutes.

Sarah – 70 miles, 1656 minutes.

Leah – 34 miles.

Kaitlyn – 54 miles, 3,225 minutes.

What did you enjoy most about this HiB30 Challenge?

Barbara – Loved getting outside with the kids on almost every day in November. Most days I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t actually as cold as I thought it would be!

Kristin – I loved the opportunity to track minutes. I’m trying to help my daughter get used to the idea of walking on her own, which means those walks/hikes often end up with low mileage.

Sarah – I enjoyed discovering new walking trails the most.

Leah – I liked having a reason to get outside with Blake and it was nice to track how many miles we had walked.

Kaitlyn – Getting outside almost every day of the month and doing something positive for me and my family.

Who helped keep your family motivated the most to get outside?

Barbara – Our littlest participant, Oliver (age 1), is constantly asking to go outside. He brings me his shoes, his mittens, his hat, hoping that we’re headed out to play. He’d stay outside all day if he could!

Kristin – Seeing everyone’s posts in the challenge Facebook group helped push me to get outside too. We all face different challenges – I work outside the home full-time so it’s nearly impossible to get outside during the week, but I live in Houston so I’m not usually dealing with cold temperatures on the weekends.
I loved reading the posts about the small achievements (like when someone caught a cold and felt crummy, so they didn’t do the big hike they wanted but still managed to get outside for a short walk). It helped me remember that it’s not just about the goals, but about the journey.

Sarah – I was the main motivator, but a big part was my local HiB group’s support.

Leah – My son is the one who kept us motivated, he loves to be outside. He gets stir crazy if we stay inside, he must go outside and play/run daily.

Kaitlyn – Seeing the other challengers- pregnant, fighting illnesses, snow/sub degree temps, dealing w/ depression…it didn’t matter…they still were getting out there and kicking butt! If they could do it, we sure as anything could too!

What accomplishment are you most proud of this Challenge?

Barbara – When we started I never thought we’d make it to 30 miles. So proud that we did it (just barely!).

Kristin – We got the whole family outside and off pavement for the greening of black Friday. We spent over an hour and a half at our local arboretum with some time on the trail and some time at the natural playground.

Sarah – My favorite part of this HiB30 Challenge was the pride I felt in achieving 70 miles and losing 6 lbs. this month.

Leah – I am proud of getting out in my community and meeting new people with the Hike It Baby group. I think I have made life long friends by going on walks with the group and with one family in particular. I am excited for the future with my new friends and their kids.

Kaitlyn – My husband also did the challenge and he completed 41 miles! So proud of him. He is my biggest support and always has my back. It’s really great having him join in and even leading hikes. I feel like we are officially a hib family and in it together. 🙂 Plus once you do a challenge, you have to do it again! You can’t resist the fun!

Why should families around the world join in the HiB30 Challenges?

Barbara – It’s awesome to see photos and stories from all over the country (and world) of families just like us spending time outside together. I love feeling like we were part of an inspiring community!
Most of our hikes were short, but no matter how far you go it’s such fun to see the kids exploring nature. We threw rocks into ponds (some frozen, some not), said hello to lots of trees, and collected many leaves and pine needles!

Kristin – The challenges push you to push yourself and set your own goals. HIB30 is a much catchier name than HIB-Set-Your-Own-Goals, but that’s really more the spirit of the challenge. What can you do to push you and your family to enjoy the outside and to make getting outside a routine part of your life. That’s what it’s about.

Sarah – HiB30 is a great way to jumpstart a new outdoor habit. Since having my daughter, I wasn’t getting outdoors much. It just seemed like too much work with a baby. Joining HiB hikes gave me a reason to make the effort.

Leah – Families should join the challenge to help them get more motivated and accountable for their outside time. Children thrive on being outdoors and we need to take the time to let them play and wander outside.

Kaitlyn – The HiB30 Challenge has the impact to change your life (if you allow it). It opens a door to a whole new healthful and positive way of living for you and your growing children. It all comes down to the motivational aspect. It’s so easy to put things off, or make excuses as why not to go out. The challenge holds you accountable and gets you moving with a huge support system from other families just like yours! I would bet no one has ever regretted joining.

Did you have a moment when you thought you may not make the goal you set for yourself? How did you get past it?

Barbara – When we started I didn’t think we’d get to 30 miles, but we just tracked every little outdoor hike we took, and finally the miles started to add up. Sometimes playing in the backyard was all we could manage. Some days we got out on HiB hikes, which is a great way to meet people. And some days we explored new trails and found some perfect spots for toddler walks!

Kristin – This is my second HIB30 challenge. For my first I logged 12 miles, so I had a personal goal to get 20 miles this round. I didn’t make that goal, but I still pushed to get more miles than my first challenge. As I was moving through the month I realized that I had an unspoken goal – to get my daughter used to walking on her own. That unspoken goal was incompatible with high (for me) mileage so I had to readjust my expectations.

Sarah – I was pretty confident in my goal of 60 miles. I had no problems this month!

Leah – I did have a moment when I thought I would not make my goal because of the rainy weather, but I just tried to add additional walks/time outside on to the sunny days.

Kaitlyn – We were determined! We had super warm and gorgeous weather in PA this Fall. We were not missing out on 65-75 degree sunny days in November! We appreciated every minute and made the most of it by getting those miles logged as much as possible. We never guessed the whole month would be so beautiful, which made the goal much more attainable.