This past weekend I took little Matthew with me to go camping with the Boy Scout group I help with. It was a short drive to an area called Succor Creek. It was my first time there and I really enjoyed it. There was a creek located in a deep canyon, back in the hills only 30 mins from where we live. The camp was fun we played football with the scouts, camped by the creek, and had the standard camp fire.
But what was special was that Matthew was there. Simple things like spending time together, playing, and holding hands while he fell as sleep (partly to keep him warm) is what life is all about. Matthew had so much fun. He never made a tackle or caught the ball while the big kids where running around him, but to see him laugh so hard he kept falling to the ground was very special. And to campout under the stars and talk to each other as he fell asleep will be something I always will rememeber.
SO what do I want to pass on to you. It doesn’t take much to go and spend time with your family. Put down the TV remote, unplug the video games, and go hang out together. Camping is a great way. I know almost everyone has somewhere close by that they can go camp at! Make it an adventure. If you don’t have a tent, and can’t buy one, go lay out in the back yard. Lay out the blankets, and look up at the stars! Look online and find a local camp sites that you can make lasting memories with your family at.
What are some free or cheap ideas that you may know of that you have done with your family?
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Since our son is now an adult and living in another state, when he comes home for a visit we like to go on free tours, visit local history sites, and get this: go thrift store shopping.
Sometimes it’s nice just having a barbecue in the park or backyard. The visits are short, so we don’t go camping like we used to.
When we visit him, he has picked out free places to go see, and he saves coupons from the “visitors” center to use while we are there.
The sand dunes outside of Mt. Home are fun (I can never spell the name right) and if you get the state park pass for the year you can also go to eagle island for free swimming in the summer
We go camping, shead horn hunting and fishing a lot. Last time we went fishing we even saw a river otter. That blew my son away. To see animals in the wild is a wonderful experance to share with your kids.
Y’all are gonna crack up with what me and my son do. I get free rooms all the time in Vegas at the Venitian and the Palazo so we go and hang out for up to 4 days (free) and we bring food in our cooler (classy I know LOL) and last time we went indoor sky diving and went to the adventuredome in Circus Circus. I don’t know how I got on the list at the hotels but I love it. I don’t even go in the casino we just hang out and in the summer its pool time! My son is 13 and I am a single mom so we have a blast on our mini vacations that are only a 4 hour drive
We love to camp too! We sometimes go for walks in the woods near our house that is owned by my husband’s family. But, another idea is to go to an area state park and bring a meal to grill and have a picnic and play together for a while. Our kids love that–it’s like camping w/out staying overnight…
We load up our bikes and hit the bike trails. Our whole family loves it! Have picnics and BBQ. The kids have to be quite old before they don’t want to do this. We are fortunate because we live less than 10 miles from a State Park. We have lots of picnics there and roast marshmallows, camp, take hikes, etc. They even have playgrounds for smaller kids and volleyball nets and movie nights in the summer that are free!!! We also have Falls Park and it’s so fun to walk around and hike on the rocks and it’s totally free – not even an entrance fee! In the summer they have different colored lights that light up the rock formations and show movies there as well. It’s amazing the things you can do together as a family for free. You can even google free things to do in your area! I agree with Matt….turn off the TV, video games, Ipods, etc. and enjoy some true fun family time with memories to last a lifetime!
I coach my kids’ little league team. Good community service and a great way to spend time together.
Our family takes adavantage of family nights whenever we can! We love spending time together. A while ago on my blog I posted 28 ideas for family nights, as well as some resources. Here’s the link-http://purposefullymom.blogspot.com/2010/01/family-fun-night-ideas.html
We go fishing a lot. Hiking is also a favorite and in winter, sledding. Here in Oregon, we tend not to wait until the weather is good or no one would do anything. So we put on rain gear and have some fun.
We are currently living in Washington state. My friend has a book called Washington hikes for kids or something like that. It has literally hundreds of short hikes you can take your kids on all over Washington, from Mt Rainier to the Olympic Pennisula and the east side as well. It’s pretty neat to have a resource like that in the palm of your hand. Might be worth buying if you live here as well.
Our whole family enjoys backpacking. My wonderful parents-in-law, my brother-in-law and his wife and children, along with my husband, kids and myself go most every summer. We usually head to the Wallowa-Whitman National forest in Northeastern Oregon for a week to 10 days. We hike into a lake, carrying everything we need, set up camp and then we go on day hikes to other lakes, fish, swim, relax and even play cards. Everyone takes a turn cooking, even my husband who is kitchen challenged. The scenery is spectacular, well worth the work of a 4-8 mile hike with a backpacks that weigh 30 – 50 pounds for the adults. The little girls carry packs that weigh from 3 to 15 pounds.
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