Golfing with Grandma

...or How to Play the Longest Round of Golf in History...

As I may or may not have mentioned previously, both my brother and father are avid golfers.  My brother, charades talents aside, has serious golfer potential.

Me, not so much.  I love a golf course.  The pretty scenery, the sand, the little lakes.  But hitting the ball has never been my forte.

So, it was out of the goodness of my heart (and love for my father) that I suggested golfing as a fun family activity.  I suckered my visiting mother-in-law into joining us, which she happily did.  And lo and behold, she loved it!  

Of course, she had lots of free coaching.

And plenty of partners in crime.

So, all in all, it was a day well spent.  And if you're one of the golfers we allowed to play through, you are so very welcome.  Don't even mention it!

A Few More Fun Summer Games For Kids

I recently posted about the 9 summer games my kids like best, Clearly, we should've made it 10!  At the end of my post, I asked all of you to mention any we neglected.  

Without question, the #1 game we missed was Capture the Flag – who knew so many kids still played this?  Runners up:  2 & 4 Square (added by Allison, who didn't leave a link to a blog, but did provide a link on how to play!), Flashlight Tag (mentioned by phd in yogurty), and Kick the Can (suggested by Luanne).  

How cool is it that kids still play these games?  So now let's talk about grown-ups.  Are you a game player?  Card shark?  Outdoor games?  Golf or other sport?  Do tell! 

Cornhole, The Family Bean Bag Game

So I mentioned the cornhole game, right? Yeah, I know, that name sort of freaks me out, too. But still, the kids—yes, people, the kids—loved it. Being the fine parents we strive to be, we decided to buy a set for ourselves. When we asked where to find it, our friends (who introduced us to it) let us know that their set was a gift from a friend, who made it for them. And, “No!” they practically shouted, "Don’t dare buy one. Those are no good at all!” Unfortunately, their craftsman-type friend isn’t also our friend, so we were out of luck. “Make one!” they cheered. “Puh-lease,” I thought.

My industrious husband, however, thought it was a fine idea. He got it into his head that this was going to be a great father-son summer project. The boys would look up the dimensions online (warning: don’t Google corn-hole, who knows what you’ll get!), they’d shop for the materials, and away they’d go.

It sort of worked like that. Except the boys didn’t Google the dimensions, my husband did. And the boys didn’t help him shop for materials. I did. And I didn’t get nervous until I read this part of his list:

· thread

· fabric

· whole-kernel feed corn

Then, I got very nervous.

“Honey,” I said sweetly, “What’s the thread for?”

Smiling innocently, he practically chirped, “Oh, I thought you could make the beanbags.”

Now, how long have we been married?

“Has he gone mad?” I wondered. For a moment, it was a real possibility.

Not wanting to cause a horrible accident on the way to Home Depot, I amiably suggested that perhaps a sewing machine would be required for the creation of 8 homemade bean bags. My one lousy needle and thin black thread might not be sufficient, I theorized.

He remained certain I could pull it off.

I left him at Home Depot and quietly went in search of bean bags, which by the grace of God I found – a beautiful, sturdy, machine-made set of 8, just perfect for a family round of cornhole.

Thank you, Lord, for providing those bean bags!

They Call This Fun...

I'm on a Boat

If you're looking for a post about T Pain, this isn't it. You'll have to check Hulu or iTunes for that.

Nope, this is a family friendly post, people.

This morning, we pulled ourselves out of bed early to catch a high-speed ferry across the big lake. The ride's about 2 1/2 hours, just long enough for the boys to watch a movie ($4 each for headphones!) and for us to catch up on our reading while drinking pricey soda.

We're heading to see old friends, a bit of a theme this summer, which hopefully we can continue next year. Here's what I'm looking forward to: laughter, catching up, reconnecting, reminiscing, creating new memories, and, perhaps, a glass or two of wine.

What more could I ask?

Anybody else have plans for the weekend? Hope you enjoy yours, too.

Fun Summer Games for Kids: 9 of My Kids' Favorites

During the summer at our cottage, we are close technological cousins of the Amish.  No landline.  No television.  No computer for goodness sakes.  Wi-fi is a far off dream.

And yet my children survive.  One might even argue that they thrive.  Forced to find something else to do—I know, horrors!—they resort to good old-fashioned fun. And, surprisingly, when their friends arrive to visit, no one ever seems to notice our stunning lack of technological connectedness.  Instead, their friends simply join in the latest game.  It results in the kind of running, laughing, negotiating, and yes, even yelling, that's music to a parents’ ears.  It’s a unique kind of joy.

Are you looking for a few ways for your kids to have fun without Sponge Bob, iCarly, or Guitar Hero?  Invite some of their friends over and have them try a few of my boys’ favorites:

1. Ghost in the Graveyard.  In this game, which is played at dusk or dark, the kids choose a “base” and a person to be “It,” just like with hide-and-seek.  The person who’s “It” closes her eyes and counts to 12 in this manner:  “One-o’clock, two-o’clock, three-clock…” all the way to “Midnight,” which as far as I can tell must be yelled with extreme vigor. All of the other kids run and hide. (They don’t hide together; each child has their own hiding spot).  Once they choose a hiding spot, they can’t move—no sneaking to a new spot after the person who’s “It” starts looking.  When any child who’s hiding sees the person who’s “It,” they yell “Ghost in the Graveyard!” and everyone runs like crazy for base.  “It” tags as many of them as possible.  Everyone who gets tagged is “It” (together) for the next round.
2. Sardines.  This one’s also in the hide-and seek family, but can be played anytime of day.  It’s sort of like reverse hide-and-seek.  One person is chosen to hide.  Everyone else closes their eyes and counts, together, to 30 (or any agreed-upon number).  Then, they yell, “Ready or not, here we come!” and split up to find the Hider.  When any seeker finds the person hiding, they quietly join them.  The last one to find the group is the Hider the next time.
3. Hide and Seek Tag.  How many hide-and-seek variations are there?  Tons, apparently!  In this one, one child is “It” and everyone else runs and hides.  The person who’s “It” counts to 30 (or any agreed-upon number) and then yells, “Ready or not, here I come!”   “It” seeks out the other kids.  If she sees them, she tries to tag them.  If she’s successful, they become her partner and help find and tag the other kids.  If “It” doesn’t tag the child they find, that child can run off and hide again. There’s no “base” in this game.  Kids keep running and yelling and tagging until everyone has been tagged.  The first person who was tagged is “It” the next time.
4. Cornhole, the Bean Bag Game.  “Corn-what?” you ask.  That’s what I asked, anyway, the first time I heard of this game.  I’m not sure if it’s a game unique to the Midwest, or if I was just out of the Cornhole loop all my life, but this is a recent discovery for us, courtesy of our good friends, now referred to as the Cornhole Pros.  This game is perfectly acceptable to pull out for either kids or grown-ups, and is especially fun on those Sunday afternoons when friends are over for a burger and a beer.  If you haven't heard of it before, click here for the scoop on what it is and how to play.
   
5. Croquet.  Seriously, you know how to play this, right?  You may not have played since you were 12, but I think just about everyone’s played it at least once.  If somehow you missed it, you can read the instructions here.  This is a good all-family game, and the kids loooove to beat the grown-ups.  Get yourself a set.
6. Bocce ball.  Here’s another game I didn’t know about until after the age of 25.  I’m fairly certain I was introduced to it at a party when my husband’s Italian relatives dusted off an old set from the garage.  The great thing about Bocce is that you can play with almost anyone – young and old alike can be really good or really bad at Bocce.  Even even small kids can play (small like 5, not like, 2, unless they’ve got exceptional throwing skills!)  The gist is that you throw the little white ball and then everyone tries to get their ball closest to the little white one.  How’s that for a generic explanation.  Very detailed instructions, here.  If you don’t have a set, I highly recommend it for lots of Forced Family Fun.
7. Ultimate Frisbee.  The way my kids play this game, it’s kind of like football with a Frisbee.  There are two teams, and each team has an end zone.  The point of the game is to get the Frisbee into your endzone and score a point.  To start, each team lines up in front of an endzone.  The team with the Frisbee yells, “Ultimate!” then throw the Frisbee to the other team.  The player who catches it can take up to 2 steps and then must throw it to another teammate, working their way to the endzone. (I think my kids made up this 2-steps part.  In “real” Ultimate, I don’t think any steps are allowed.  Experts, feel free to weigh in!)  The defense (the team who initially threw the Frisbee), can’t hit other players or take the Frisbee directly out of the opponents hands, but they can block throws, knock down the Frisbee, or intercept it.  If an incomplete pass is made and the Frisbee hits the ground, the opposing team gets the Frisbee at that spot and heads towards their endzone.  The team with the most points wins.
8. Badminton.  Put the net up in your yard & hit the birdie over the net.  That’s the gist of it, although there are all sorts of official rules.  You can read them, here.
9. Traditional games:  football, basketball, tennis, soccer.  All still fun. 

There are a few other games my kids also enjoy, but they aren’t favorites, so I didn’t list them above.  Jarts (aka Lawn Darts) is one. We play with the newer version with the blunted ends, not the kind my brother and I tried to kill each other with.  Ladderball is another, although I suspect they’d like this better if we had a more sturdy set.  Ours is the plastic version with many, many pieces, some of which have mysteriously gone missing.  

How about your kids?  Do they have some favorite outdoor games you could share?  Are these some of their favorites, too?  Let me know what they like or we’re missing and I’ll share the ideas with other moms in a future post!

I Think I'm In Love With Wendy Kopp

The first time I heard her name, she was almost a peer.  Just a smidge ahead of me in school (except I wasn't at Princeton), I knew her name because she'd put her thesis to the test.  She theorized about sending new graduates who excel at academics--not necessarily education majors--into the toughest areas of our country, the areas where no one wants to start their teaching career.  And then she did it.  

She put her idea into practice and my roommate applied to be one of the first teachers selected for Teach for America.

My roommate grew up sheltered and, dare I say, privileged, in a beautiful town outside of Minneapolis.  We attended a similarly sheltered private school on the east coast.  Our friends were accepting jobs with Morgan Stanley and Anderson Consulting.  She accepted the role with Teach for America and started teaching in Compton, CA, near Los Angeles.  She taught at an elementary school that was padlocked shut at 4:00 each afternoon for safety reasons; better get out of there and safely home before then.  She has a lifetime of stories from those two years of teaching.

And Wendy Kopp's story goes on.  TFA's been around for almost 20 years now.  It's grown and expanded and become the center of many discussions about reforming education in our country.  And Ms. Kopp's grown with it.  

But for all of the things I admire about Wendy Kopp, I think what I most admire is this:  She didn't file her thesis in a drawer.  She didn't have this great idea, write about it, develop it, and then turn it into cocktail party fodder, bantering back and forth with cute men in khakis and loafers, about how she had some really great ideas about reforming education.  Instead, she raised capital and she put herself out there.  She tried it.  And she made it work.

I love her for that.

I love that she took her Ivy League education and did something powerful and meaningful with it.  I love that she had an idea about how to change the world and she didn't listen to the naysayers that said it could never happen.  What a wonderful message for our kids:  Work hard.  Think about others.  Develop your idea.  Pursue it.  Stick with it.  Figure out how to do it better.  

Thanks, Wendy.

I Can't Stand My Mother-in-Law

No, no, not me!  That’s not my sentiment.  (Hello, Mother-in-Law, Faithful Reader that you are.) But it’s a sentiment that’s echoed in women’s circles day in and day out.  When it comes to the women who raised our husbands, there’s rarely middle ground.  As newlyweds, we try to embrace one another’s families.  We put on our manners, our best game face, and avoid discussing "hot button" topics.  We try, as new wives, we really do.  But in time, we discover that people are people.  There are bound to be disagreements.  

Love ‘em or loathe ‘em, they’re here to stay.  And we should be glad for that—because if all goes well, one day we'll  be the mother-in-law.  M-I-L’s to-be, that’s us.  Needless to say, it’s to our benefit to figure out how to live with them.  Not literally, of course (!), but to survive, and even thrive, as part of the same family.

Today, over at Blissfully Wed, I offer a few suggestions for navigating these waters.  Hope you'll pop by and read 'em.

photo credit:  blhphotography

Thank Goodness I Never Said I Was Perfect

In case you missed it, I'm not known for my technological prowess. But I have figured out to how schedule my blog posts, which comes in handy since I'm wi-fi-less for the summer. I write just about every day, and then every few days I hit the library for some lovely wi-fi access and to schedule upcoming posts.

Except sometimes I goof.

This week, for example, I scheduled Simple Rules for Summer Visitors to post on Tuesday. It did. For yesterday, I scheduled You Are My Sunshine. But, well, it turns out that I accidentally scheduled it to post on Tuesday also. So not many people got a chance to see Simple Rules for Summer Visitors before it got sent to 2nd page down blog neverland. Oops.

I'm trying, friends. I'm trying.

The biggest tech problem I'm having right now is that if you subscribe to my blog through Google Reader, Blogger is sending the wrong feed. Now, how on earth I fix that, I don't know. I need someone to help me, I'm just not sure who. I'm working on it. If you have any recommendations, please pass them along.

But for now, I'm off to the beach with my boys. I have absolutely no problems with that.

You are My Sunshine

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear, how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.

The other night dear, when I was sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms. When I awoke dear, I was mistaken, and I bowed my head and I cried.

How many times I sang this song to you, my sweet baby. I stood by your crib and sang; I rocked you in the rocker and sang; I sat on the edge of your bed and sang.

I can’t believe you’re already 7.

Happy Birthday, Sunshine!

Simple Rules for Summer Visitors

During the summer at the lake, we have lots and lots of visitors.  We’re lucky and we have fun friends with excellent manners.  But apparently, everyone isn't so lucky.  In talking to some other friends with lake houses, I’ve discovered just how fortunate we are.  I was shocked to find out how, umm, impolite some of their guests are.  So here, courtesy of my thoughtful friends and houseguests, are some Simple Rules for Summer Visitors:

1. Mi casa es su casa.  This old saying, which, if somehow you don’t know, means My house is your house, is more than an offer of hospitality.  It’s an offer to fully participate.  My friend Sharee’ is great at this:  she jumps right in and helps, without ever having to be asked.  She helps make meals, she helps with kids, she helps pour drinks…whatever we’re doing, she chips right in.  I love her for it.  Take a tip from Sharee’ and stop waiting to be waited on.  Get your own darn drink.  And pour one for me, too, please.  I'm thirsty.
2. Bring something.  Think about the time of day/days you’ll be visiting.  My other friend, Janet, wouldn’t dream of showing up without something in hand.  Usually, a lovely bottle of wine, but often something else, too.  When I have a bunch of friends over for dinner, for example, they all bring something.  It’s summer.  I don’t work here.  Thank goodness they know that!  If your friends don’t, give them this lesson from Janet:  don’t show up empty handed.
3. Clean up after yourself.  Surely, your mother taught you this lesson when you were barely entering kindergarten.  But perhaps you’ve forgotten.  Or perhaps you’re lazy.  Whatever the case, strive to be more like my friend Sheri, who has the kitchen cleaned up before I can clear all the plates.  It’s so easy to have her visit because she isn’t sitting in the living room with her gin & tonic while I’m rinsing dishes and stuffing them into the dishwasher.  She’s standing right next to me in the kitchen, both filling that dishwasher as fast as we can, while we enjoy our G&Ts with our other hand.
4. Beach fare.  If you’ll be visiting and heading to the beach with kids, it’s always nice to bring snacks and drinks to share.  Or, at the very least, bring a few treats for your own kids.  Either way works.  But if you bring nothing, everyone else is sharing their snacks with your kids, who are standing there looking sad and hungry when the popcorn and Pringles come out, but who have nothing to offer in return.  It’s sort of pathetic. 
5. Take some time.  If you are a multi-day and multi-night visitor, please feel free to enjoy some time on your own.  Most hostesses, although I will admit, not all, love it when week-long guests go off to explore on their own for awhile.  My aunt and uncle were here for a long weekend, and they thought nothing of walking into town for breakfast on their own or taking a drive through the country.  Although I wasn’t hoping they’d leave, it did give me the chance to get a few things done while they were gone.  I’m sure they enjoyed a little time on their own, and I appreciated having a little space, too.  Our friends the Joneses are also good at this.  When they came to visit for a week, they took two different day trips to nearby sights.  Perfect.  They get to see some of what they want.  We get to keep some sort of routine.  All of us enjoy drinks together in the evening, and still enjoy several days in one another’s company.  Now that’s what I call a lovely visit. 

How to Throw a Jungle Party for Kids

As you may know, I’m not a big fan of the commercial party for kids.  I understand the appeal of the Sponge Bob et. al, parties—kids like the shows and the theme is ready-made.  Hit the party store and you’ll be hard pressed not to find napkins, plates and goody bags pre-printed with the logo du jour.  But something about the commercialization of children’s birthday parties rubs me the wrong way.  So we typically go with a general theme, and build from there, although I do confess to throwing a Superhero party one year, complete with a Batman Cake (I used black icing & made the bat signal in yellow – it looked very cool but what a mess those kids were!).  I also made capes for all of the kids, and by “made” I mean I cut the shape out of black fabric, attached some ribbon to tie them on, and called it good.  (The capes had names on them like Super Sam and Mighty Matthew, which sounds totally lame but the kids loooooved their personalized superhero gear.  They’re kids, remember?)

But, generally speaking, we skip a Sponge Bob party in favor of an Under the Sea party. Or we have a party with a Race Car cake.  Or, you might recall, we've had a  Pirate Party with this awesome Pirate Ship cake. 

This year, we went wild with a jungle theme.

Now, by wild, I mean that I wasn’t really planning a party and was caught by surprise when my youngest wanted one.  So I threw this together quickly, and cheaply, and as usual, the kids didn’t know the difference.  I love that.  So if you’re up for a Bungle in the Jungle with kids, here are a few ideas:

1. Start with the cake.  Nothing screams Birthday Party quite like a Jungle Cake.  You can order it or make it, but I say make this one—it’s so easy.  Nothing creative, really, other than the fancy placement of jungle animals around the kingdom.  It was sort of fun, actually; channeling the inner child and all that, I suppose.

2. Throw in some vine. I’ve been blogging long enough now to know that lots of you are very creative.  In that case, you will scoff at my party décor.  You will take this idea and run so far with it that your home or yard or garage will actually resemble Africa.  But party décor is not my forte, so I don’t mind, go ahead and scoff.  Improve on the idea-I’m all for it as long as I don’t have to do it, too.  Simply open up some paper grocery bags, cut them into strips, and twist the strips into vines.  I got fancy at the end and had my kids cut out green leaf shapes from construction paper, to add that authentic jungle feel.  Improve away, creative types.

3. Find some Jungle Fabric.  For a quick and easy decoration, hit your local fabric store for an inexpensive tablecloth to help set the mood.  I scored this one for about $5 – and I cut a piece off the end to use as the blindfold for Pin the Leaf on the Vine (more on that, later).

4. Indulge in a tatt.  Yes, my friends, I’m advocating tattoos, here.  And, guaranteed, this will be the only kind I will ever cheer for.  When kids arrive at the party, have them choose a couple of tatts from a jungle-themed assortment:  we had lions, tigers, monkeys, snakes—they loved choosing and showing off their new body art. 

5. Pin the Leaf on the Vine.  This is the kind of game that drives my husband crazy, and I do them at every kid party anyway.  It’s the same old game, with a brand-new name.  For this one, simply pre-make a few leaves per child, with their name printed on the leaf.  Add a blindfold, a few spins, and they’re off to try to “pin” (double-sided tape) the leaf onto the vines (that you have already taped onto the door/wall/whatever).  I wasn’t sure about this one, but the kids were cracking up.  And, cheating, I’m pretty sure.

6. Lion, Lion, Hyena.  Yep, you got it.  Another game by a different name.  This is Duck Duck Goose with one variation:  when we were finished playing Pin the Leaf on the Vine, I folded the blindfold, and tied a knot in the end to make a lion’s tail.  The child who was “it” tucked the end into their pocket and when he yelled Hyena, the child he tapped had to try to pull the tail out of his pocket as they ran around the circle of kids.  They could’ve played this the entire time.  It added to the fun that the “big kids” joined in (my 10 & 12 year old, and a friend)—how cool was it to catch the tail when one of them was “it”?!

7. Jungle Charades.  My older son found cartoon pictures of jungle animals online & printed them out for us.  We folded them, then the kids chose animals to act out.  Well, that was the idea.  We had the game ready but I forgot all about it.  And they were busy with the Jungle Cave.  You try it, though.  It sounds fun.

8. Jungle Cave.  This one proves the theory that all kids need for entertainment is an empty box.  We got a couple of washer/dryer boxes from Home Depot and a couple of large boxes from a furniture store, taped them together, added some branches (what luck that our neighbor was pruning that day!) and called it the jungle cave.  If I were the more creative type, I could’ve added fabric inside, or hanging vines, or other scary nuances, but I’m not and they never noticed.  If you are, though, knock yourself out.  They had a blast with the cave.

9. The Great Peanut Hunt.  Obviously, this only works if none of the kids (or their siblings!) have a peanut allergy.  In that case, you could probably use those orange peanut-shaped candies, but since they’re not wrapped…gross!  I’m not sure it would be worth the time to individually wrap them.  I’m sure you could find something else.  At any rate, my older boys ran around before the party, hiding peanuts (in the shell) around the jungle cave, play set, and backyard.  The kids were elephants, and all of the elephants received a paper lunchbag with their name on it.  Then they ran around like wild monkeys trying to find as many peanuts as they could.  Mayhem ensued.

10. Coconut War.  This game exists solely because my son wanted water balloons at his party.  Since I have two older sons—and one of their friends—who were willing to play the lions, it worked.  The little kids, or monkeys, stood on our 2^nd story deck beaming water balloons at the lions, who ran around in the yard below.  We couldn’t have made enough water balloons! 

11. Party Favors.  I’m not very fond of the Goody Bag concept, and usually skip it in favor of handing out one of those huge twirly lollipops and a helium balloon as kids head out the door.  This time, though, I decided to buy plastic jungle cups & write the kids’ names on them with a Sharpie.  I filled them with bubbles, a candy necklace, a twirly straw, a couple of take-home tattoos, and a few jungle animals.  (You can see them in the photo above, with the cake & jungle fabric.) Next year:  the return of the large, twirly, lollipop!

Supply List:

• cake, icing, & animals for the top
• jungle fabric for tablecloth, blindfold, and lion’s tail
• jungle tattoos
• large furniture boxes or washer/dryer boxes (free at furn stores or Home Depot-just ask)
• branches to decorate jungle cave
• duct tape to hold cave together
• lots of paper grocery bags, woven into vines
• green construction paper for leaves – to decorate vines & to use in Pin the Leaf on the Vine game
• paper lunchbags w/ kids’ names, for the Great Peanut Hunt
• peanuts in shell (or substitute)
• papers with jungle animal names (or cartoon pictures) on them, for Jungle Charades
• water balloons
• party favors of your choice; mine:  jungle cup, bubbles, candy necklace, jungle tattoos, plastic jungle animals

Inexpensive Family Fun: 5 Frugal Ideas

Do recent economic woes have you wondering what to do with the kids this summer? Here are 5 ideas to help you forgo expensive camps and memberships and indulge in some old-fashioned, inexpensive, family fun.

1. 1. Pack a Picnic. For the same amount of money it would cost you to eat at home, in the same humdrum kitchen, at the same humdrum hour, you can pack it all up in a basket and head out the door for a new adventure. Grab your basket and set out for the nearest beach, lake, or stream. Doing so also means free (or inexpensive) water fun – easy hours of entertainment for kids of all ages. If the cost of gas and/or distance of a body of water makes this idea prohibitive, forgo the water and find a nearby park. The simple change of mealtime venue is a surefire way to lift everyone’s spirits.
2. Hit the Nature Trails. Grab your hiking boots or tennis shoes, pack some water and a camera, and head for the Great Outdoors. Not since Thoreau wrote Walden has anyone come close to describing the wonder of communing with nature. And though few of us will ever forsake civilization for the woods for as long as he did, his words help us understand the depth of this beauty. “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” We can help our kids develop a love for the outdoors by getting them out of the house and into the woods early and often. Let them lead a hike, explore the trails, discover new worlds: this is learning and living at its finest.
3. Kitchen Concoctions. This idea isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s not my favorite, either, but the kids love it. Gather up some slightly stale marshmallows, old graham crackers, fruit, whipped cream, sugar, salt, vinegar and other inexpensive, or unlikely to be used soon, foods. Then let the kids mix and create to their hearts content. They can concoct some disgusting stuff, let me tell you, but they loooove this “game.” Just don’t hand them the vanilla. That takes frugal out of the equation.
   
4. Kick, Serve, or Shoot a Ball. Research study after research study laments the growing obesity problem of America’s youth. Go against the grain and get out there and play sports with your kids. Take an hour—or a half an hour—to shoot baskets, kick goals, or volley at the net. You don’t need a fancy club membership. Most towns have free public tennis courts and basketball courts; plenty of schools have soccer fields that sit empty all summer long. Grab a few of your kids’ friends and get a game going. You’ll thank me later, I promise.
5. Read A Book. Everyone knows that libraries lend books for free, but not everyone goes. Go! Choose a book you can read aloud to your kids and spend some time each day transported to another world together. A few suggestions: The Tale of Despereaux (Kate DiCamillo), A Cricket in Times Square (George Selden), The Magician’s Nephew (C. S. Lewis), Half Magic (Edward Eager).

These changing economic times don’t mean less family fun, but they might mean a bit more work on our part, as parents. The farm where we picked strawberries this year puts it like this:

You pick, you pay. We pick, you pay more.

I love that line. That’s life, right? When we do the legwork, we pay less.

What’s true for berry pickers is true for family entertainment: it’s more work to pack a picnic than to drive through McDonald’s, but it’s less expensive and, in the end, it’s better for all of us and a lot more fun. So break out the bread, folks, and get packing.

photo credits: Crystl, KitAy

Strawberry Fields Forever (or U-Pick Strawberries with Kids)

“Mom, that was so much fun,” wasn’t the reaction I expected. I expected something more along the lines of “It was so hot,” or “That made my back hurt,” or “Why can’t we just buy our strawberries at the grocery store like everyone else?” But, “That was so much fun!” wasn’t on my list of expected responses.

My memories of picking strawberries as a child are fond memories, but only because it was something my mom and brother and I did together. I’d be absolutely lying if I said it was fun. Hot? Yes. It was sweat dripping through my hair, sunshine burning my shoulders, hot. (It was the South, remember?) Back-breaking? Yes. Picking those berries in the Carolina sun seemed to take hours. For the record, we picked 8 quarts in 40 minutes today, so how long could it have been, really?

Nonetheless, I recall that from many years ago day fondly. (Did we go more than once? I couldn’t say for sure.) I remember that my little brother ate more than he picked and that he was covered with dirt and strawberry juice. I remember my mom, patient with us that day, encouraging us to choose the ripe ones. I remember how much better they tasted, because we picked them ourselves—my first inkling of the rewards of hard labor.

And so it happened that I decided my boys should try it, too. No matter that it might not be fun, or that today was our hottest day of the summer, or that only two of my three boys really like the sweet taste of strawberries. We would go. Picking berries would be part of their family tapestry, too.

It was a pleasant surprise that they were industrious. That they got right down and started picking with enthusiasm. That not one complained of the heat. I expected a few quarts and too many complaints to continue. Instead, they each asked if they could fill another basket. At $1.50 a quart, who am I to say no? Fill ‘em up boys. We’ll be gorging for days.

And we’ll be back again next year.