What do you do with your kids on the weekend?
I had a great weekend with my family! As their ages change, what we find ourselves doing changes, too. Now my kids are 8 years-old and 6 years-old. It has me wondering how others answer the question: What do you do with your kids on the weekend?
This weekend, we did one of my favorite things: We took a day trip to a small Texas town. We try to take this kind of trip at least four times a year. This time, we went to Lampasas, Texas.
When I plan these kinds of trips, I look for destinations that are within about an hour’s drive. Then I use Trip Advisor to identify things to do once we arrive. I use Yelp to find places to eat. If I’m feeling particularly energetic, I make a little scavenger hunt passport type thing. Here’s the one I made for Lampasas. I also made one for Lockhart, Texas.
We left around 11:30am and arrived in time for lunch. Alfredo’s Mexican Restaurant has an amazing location right on a river. We spotted turtles while waiting for our food to arrive. Then we found the World’s Largest Spur, checked out the Lampasas County Museum, hiked around a park, and then played in a sculpture garden. It was a delightful day!
These kinds of trips are my favorite because I love exploring new places. It’s hard to keep doing that when you’ve lived in the same town for seven years!
Other things we love to do with our kids on the weekend:
- Give them screen time so we get a break. They now are up to two hours per day on Saturday and Sunday.
- Get breakfast tacos and eat them on a blanket at the park. Matt and I will then play gin rummy while the boys play. Or we will all hang out around the swings. Or we will all play Uno on the blanket.
- Go swimming at Barton Springs or Deep Eddy.
- Invite friends over for a potluck and just hanging out (preferably in the summer for swimming, as well).
- Eat out on Friday and Saturday nights.
- Watch IMAX films at the Bob Bullock Museum.
- Take turns watching the kids so we can each go running. (This is when Matt takes the boys to Target).
- Take turns watching the kids so I can write blog posts (Matt runs for a lot longer than I do, so I can fit in blogging and running during my free time.) This is when I order groceries online for delivery.
- Going to scouts on Sunday afternoons.
We used to go to the Unitarian Universalist Church regularly, but we can’t seem to fit in free time and church.
Now, please share deets! What do you do with your kids on the weekend?
3 Comments
Sarah Markowitz
I’m a planner, so this might sound like a bit much (but perhaps not to you, Sara). Each season, I write a list of fun activities, and I loosely organize them by priority. Some are outdoors and weather dependent, so I have indoor ones as well (which are usually lower priority). Many are things we do annually and are mini traditions. For example, this fall things on my list included: apple picking at a nearby orchard, hike to a waterfall at nearby state park, visit to cider mill (with donuts), visit to pumpkin patch with Halloween activities as high priorities, and then indoor backup activities like going to the trampoline park, local museums (where we have a membership), science museum an hour away (with IMAX), open gym at a new ninja warrior gym an hour away (Actually, this was a high priority, as my kids are obsessed with American Ninja Warrior.), and we are waiting for ski season to start (probably this weekend!), as that is our winter family activity that is our top weekend priority. I usually try to mix one day with family fun and another day that might have a play date, errands (and we also have swim lessons on Sundays right now). I like to get out of the house and go places. My husband likes to stay home more, so when we split up, we often do it along those lines for parts of days.
Sara Cotner
This sounds incredibly fun, Sarah! I want to tag along. And where you live sounds amazing! Thanks so much for sharing.
Meg
This is such a great idea. We always run into the issue of the change in seasons – like we have great plans and we run out of summer for our outdoor activities or we have all of the indoor items when it is too nice to stay inside. Or (worse) we waste a weekend because we have not thought of ideas.
I am going to try this suggest and make a list with my family for the cold weather season.
And Sara (C) I love your blog – I enjoy reading it as a fellow mom and principal!