Gonna start out today's blog with some Summer ideas. Don't worry. I am not skipping Spring. Some of the ideas are doable in the Spring, too, and with family gatherings this month, you might want to try a few of these fun ideas.
Fun Summer Activities for Families (First Posted in June, 2011) - I found these ideas on a website entitled Coolest Dates. We've actually done a few of these "back in the day." Lots of fun, but NOT lots of money!
1. Have a "war!" You could have a pinecone war, a peanut war or even a pudding war! Be creative. It could be girls against the guys, kids against mom and dad, everyone on their own, etc. Afterwards sit down and have a picnic.
2. Have a sidewalk decoration contest with colored chalk. (We've done this one. It's fun, and it takes more time than you would think.)
3. Play backwards hide-and-go-seek. The person who is "IT" hides and everyone else has to find him/her, then they have to hide with the person until the last person finds the whole group. The last person to find the whole group is "IT."
4. Put on your oldest clothes and head to a nearby mud hole. These mud holes can be found after rainstorms at baseball diamonds, parks, fields and land that has been previously used for a garden. A long hose will also do the trick. First have a tug-of-war across the mud. Afterwards, have races where each person drags their partner through the mud. (The kids have had fun with this one. Mikie and I didn't participate, but maybe we should have. Nah!)
5. Collect a variety of flat rocks and go to a lake for a rock-skipping contest. When you are finished, enjoy a picnic dinner beside the water.
6. Using a box of Legos, Kinex, building blocks, etc., divide them evenly among the family. Each family member has 15 minutes to make a project. The winning project (as determined by applause) receives a certificate or ribbon.
7. Get a can of foamy shaving cream for each person. Find somewhere that you can make a mess, pass out cans, then ATTACK! Have a fun shaving cream fight. Make sure your family has clothes on they don't mind getting dirty.
8. List all the city parks in your area which have playgrounds. Allow space next to each park to fill in a time and date. Over several dates, visit each park and swing together, then record the date and time until you have visited each playground. (When the kids were small, we visited several parks each summer. It's fun, and at the end of the summer we would always go back to the "favorite.")
9. Catch frogs and have a frog-jumping contest.
Simple, fun, inexpensive. What are you waiting for?
RANDOMNESS #1 - Tuscaloosa Barnyard - Melia found this fun farm, and since she was on Spring Break last week, we decided to try it out with RT and Judith.
(I'll just let the pics tell the majority of the story.)
One smallish sheep comes to the edge of the fence to lure small children over with their bucket of food...
And then this happens.
It was just a little intimidating, but Judith held on tight.
We loved everything at the Farm, but this was definitely in the Top Three.
J...
O...
Y!
And here are just a few of the animals you can get "up close and personal with" at the Farm...
I feel this llama was just as arrogant as it looked.
Yes.
You are correct.
This is a talking pig.
And I didn't even show you pics of the ducks, turkeys, peacocks, chickens, twin baby piglets, etc.
NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - This Farm was well worth the one hour and 22 minutes it took to get there. It costs $10 per person, and we stayed with a four year-old and a two year-old for well over two hours. In other words, we got our money's worth.
EVERYTHING listed below is included in the $10 per person fee...
Feed for the animals (one partially-filled bucket per person).
Pony rides for the small kids and a guided horse ride for older kids (a different area of the farm).
There is a deck overlooking a pond where the kids can feed bread to ducks and geese (bread supplied as you walk up).
During the Spring, they have baby ducks, baby rabbits and baby chicks in pens. They will ask you which type animal you and your child want to pet, take one from the pen and put it in a plastic container for you to hold. When you are finished, you give the animal and the container back to the worker, and you can pet another animal if you like.
When you finish petting and feeding the animals (and riding the pony), you can take a big wagon ride to the top of the hill. The wagon ride is a lot of fun, too.
At the top of the hill, there is a large horse ready for riding, the Jumping Blob, the rolling tubes (look at the pictures of the Jumping Blob above and you can see those in the background) and the Cow Train.
Do I even need to say it?
The Cow Train is awesome!
There are restrooms available in all the areas, and they are clean. (Big plus!)
I still haven't listed everything there is to do at the Farm, but you can go to their website for more information.
ANOTHER NOTE FROM ENCHANTING BELINDA - The Farm was not crowded at all when we were there, so we had plenty of time to do everything we wanted to do more than once. We went on a Thursday, so I don't know if some of the other days might be a little more crowded.
As always, check their times and "open" days on their website before making the trip (www.tuscaloosabarnyard.com).
RANDOMNESS #2 - A Little More of Eden - She is still tiny and precious and beautiful...
And I'm not really expecting any changes in those three categories EVER!
I hope y'all have a wonderful upcoming week. I'll be back in a few more days with specific Spring stuff.
Sincerely,
The Enchanting Belinda
"Hell hath no fury like a toddler who wanted the green cup instead of the orange cup."
"Whenever I eat a brownie, I just pretend it's just half of an even bigger brownie. Look at me only eating half of a brownie. Health goddess. Wellness queen. Walking chickpea." @veryjane
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