Each month, Family Trails will share a theme to guide and inspire your storytelling. We encourage you to answer via Instagram using #FamilyTrailsTales!

Throughout the month we will highlight your submissions on our social media and feature an end-of-month round up right here on FamilyTrails.com.

Now that the weather is warming, we wanted you to get up and go! You shared fun things you do together as a family that are free (or nearly free) in your local area.

Without further ado, here are some of the stories you told as you explored adventures that were free for all:

Enjoyed a family hike in this little slice of heaven today. Oak trees, fields of waving green grasses and wildflowers, and the vast blue sky overhead. This is my very best kind of Saturday morning.

A full day of racing the waves.
A photo posted by Shelby (@mossy.mermaid) on Mar 14, 2016 at 6:02pm PDT

Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful but because they are fleeting. -Richard Paul Evans Today was brutal. And long. But despite my tired body and non existent patience there was beauty in it. There were laughs in between the fights and smiles in between the tears. And as the sun set we walked home grateful for another day. For the days with these babes can be oh so long but the years way too short. #writingourjourney
A photo posted by wife & mama (@kristenog) on Mar 16, 2016 at 8:49pm PDT

I love the idea of unhiking, where you put children in a place and then let their whims guide the journey. It's harder to do with big groups but I still believe their is value in trying. So how do you tenderly navigate a child-led unhike? One thing I've found effective is planting seeds of inspiration, like being the narrator for a treasure hunt announcing, at each step of the way, what gems await ahead. On our family nature club event yesterday, I started the event by telling the children of three things they might find: a stone bench, a stone arch, and this stone house. In the next breath, the children bolted up the trail into the woods and on the hunt. #familynatureclub #hikingwithkids #familytrailstales #childhoodunplugged #childrenofmountains #getoutside #lovelifeoutside #optoutside #raiseawildchild #iwasbornwild #mountains #explore #fatherhood #bouldercolorado #generationoutdoorexplore
A photo posted by Jason Runkel Sperling (@jsperling) on Mar 7, 2016 at 5:39am PST