You are so right. I am 39 years old. I would have died if my mom made me stay inside. I woke up, got dressed , ate breakfast and then straight outside. I loved it. My husband was just the same way. We often talk about all the cool things we did outside. All of the things in nature we used for toys. Wow, we had a great time.
We have a 14 year old daughter. She never goes outside! ( unless we are on vacation or swimming) Sometimes we force her to come outside with us. We still spend a lot of time outdoors. We love to cook outdoors and hang out in the backyard. When we make her come out, you would swear we are punishing her.
I think kids spend too much time on the computer and watching tv. Maybe we spent so much time outside because we did not have those things to occupy our time. My parents had one tv. We watched what my parents wanted to watch. We had one stereo in the living room. There were no computers. Outside was our only real for of entertainment.