Bring Back Big Families

Simple post today. Five things we do as a family for fun. The only one in order is the first one. The others are in no particular order.

One: Baseball Games

We love baseball. Thankfully, our hometown has a college team and a collegiate league summer team that each offer multiple free ticket games every year (free tickets are always appreciated and highly sought after with five kids). We also live within two hours of four MiLB teams and one MLB team, so we’ve obviously been to all of those multiple times. Not as cheap as our free ticket games at home, but it’s worth every dollar spent to experience the pros and future pros. Is it stressful keeping an eye on all of them and keeping them all fed and happy and then taking multiple trips to the bathroom seemingly every inning during the games? Well duh. Of course it is. It’s a constant struggle to watch the game and make sure someone isn’t up to no good or fighting over a drink or pouting about something silly or needing to go to the bathroom. Again. But some of our best times we spend together are spent with some peanuts or hot dogs or snow cones in hand in the stands cheering on our favorite teams. And if we’re not there cheering them on, then I’m on the field coaching my oldest son while he plays in Little League or the select league in the fall while everyone else is in the stands cheering us on. Baseball is definitely numero uno on our list of favorite things to do for fun as a family.

Two: Video Games

Ok, so not actually playing video games, but watching our favorite YouTuber play video games, we do that together. Since we don’t allow our kids to play video games, we all watch someone else play them on YouTube. I’ll be honest; I never thought I would ever do that. But we recently started watching them together at night. We only watch the games that he plays that are kid friendly (we’ve watched roller coaster building games, fast food simulator games, survival games, even farming simulator games). I don’t know exactly why my kids like these videos so much, but they absolutely 100% look forward to our ten or fifteen minutes of wind-down time at bedtime to watch Trev play his games. A silly ritual at bedtime, maybe, but it’s our ritual. And we love it.

(Honestly, it’s one of my guilty pleasures, too, as I’ve watched some of the not-so-family-friendly games he’s played on my own time. Not often, but I’ve needed some moments to just be and not think for a few minutes, and this does it for me.)

Three: Outside Time

Our kids love playing outside. They would much rather be outside playing than inside playing. I think it’s partially because we have a no video game policy (see above) and also because they’re my kids. I spent so much time outside when I was a kid that I think it genetically rubbed off on them. We’re blessed to live in a cul-de-sac where we get very little traffic, other than our neighbors returning from work in the evenings when we play. That cul-de-sac has been everything from a bicycle race track to a remote control car speedway to a football field to a makeshift airport for RC airplanes to a drive thru birthday party venue (thanks a lot, lockdowns), but it’s mostly a baseball field for my oldest two boys. Sure, we have a fenced backyard with tons of playthings in it like a jungle gym and trampoline, but they almost always choose the cul-de-sac to play in. If we’re outside, there’s a good chance we’re there.

Four: Swimming

For us, where we live, summer is at least nine months long, from early March to late November (I wish I was joking). This, at the very least, gives us a nice, long swimming window. This past summer, we finally upgraded to a nice size above ground pool. Seems like we spent half the summer in there. It was well worth the investment as the pool cost less than one set of tickets to either of the two water parks we live a few hours from. Well worth it for as much as we used it. And the kids loved every second we were in it and dreaded every second we weren’t. It was clearly at the top of their summer fun list.

Five: Crafts

Last, but certainly not least, we love hands-on crafts. Our favorites are the free Home Depot and Lowe’s monthly kids crafts (not sponsored by either, but open to it if anyone from either store happens to reads this and wants to sponsor. I know, I know. I kid myself, too). We look forward to the Saturdays that have crafts. We all love building the various projects that are offered and get excited in the months leading up to our favorite projects for the year (any of the airplane or car/truck ones are my personal favorites, though there is a baseball game coming up at Home Depot that may just take the cake). There is something that is so incredibly satisfying about helping each of them complete the simple sets. It’s worth every bashed thumb and frustrated tear (theirs or ours?) in the end.

So, that’s five. There are more obviously, but that’s it for now.

Ready when you are, Home Depot or Lowe’s.