I had four little boys in my group and their contagious laughter and smiles were enough to make the whole day perfect. They crawled on the ground under the machine guns and asked me to take about a thousand pictures of them posing in front of jets and helicopters and statues. We went on two scavenger hunts and they each made their own rockets and launched them. My son's rocket, which he proudly named the "Tiger Seeker" sailed high and spiraled all the way down. He was all grins and elation running over to me to ask if I had seen it.
On the way home, the school kids were geared up and sword-fighting with their rockets. The windows were ALL down and the wind was whipping my hair everywhere. But it was the best. I loved every minute.
Now I'm home and everything is still as my littles watch a short movie (Friday is movie day!!) I'm so glad I took the time out of my schedule to just have fun. Why don't I do this more often? Why do I sometimes get so caught up in the thick of thin things and neglect to relish fun activities with my children while they're little?
What fun activities do you regularly or spontaneously do with your family? I love to hear ideas from anybody who will share them.
In my family, we love weekends. By Friday morning, I'm ready for some family fun. There's just something special about Friday nights. It's like a magical aura hangs over the whole day with the promise of no more work, no more school, and a whole weekend ahead of you.
Growing up, Friday was our family fun night. We almost always visited four different fast food restaurants to order every person the thing they most wanted and then headed home to hunker downstairs in our beautiful cozy room my mother had so beautifully decorated. My sisters and I sat on the floor by the green coffee table and we watched a movie on Pax TV or one of our favorite family videos. After dinner we'd have ice cream and finish our movie, then head off to bed in bliss.
Now that I have a little family of my own, our family traditions are still being formed. I'm sure our Friday nights will mold and transform as the years progress, but for now we have ice cream and watch a family movie together in our upstairs theater every Friday night. We call it "Family Movie Night."
What is special about your Friday nights?
As for other fun things we like to do together as a family on any random day of the week, I could compile quite a list. Here are a few of our current favorites (all of which could happen more frequently):
- Summer vacations
- Winter swimming in a hotel swimming pool
- Eating out once or twice a month
- Eating lunch with Daddy at his work once a week
- Going to parks
- Going out to ice cream
- Playing board games
- Dance parties
- Wrestling
- Going to a park
- Having picnics upstairs to watch a movie
- Having picnics outside
- Riding the 4 wheeler while pulling the small 4 wheeler behind us in the hills surrounding our home
- Playing in the snow
- Making cookies or hot chocolate or popcorn
- Having little contests (legos, play doh, art, relay races, etc.)
- Holiday traditions
- Playing catch or basketball
- Singing together
Here are some I'd love to try:
- Exercising together
- Doing hobbies together
- Minute to Win it Competitions
- Scavenger Hunts
- Talent Shows
Could you give me any more ideas to add to my list?
My biggest obstacle I face in implementing more "fun" into our family life is TIME. Why does everything feel so rushed these days? Even when I have relatively little planned I find the hours slipping away too swiftly. Is there any answer to the age-old time trial?
I think there is.
Will you accept the challenge? Can you introduce a little bit more fun this weekend? Try it and see what a difference it makes.
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