Time to get a little creative....

This heat is killing me.
I usually don't complain about the weather too much, because there is nothing we can do about it except to adapt to it, so that is what I've been trying to do these last few days. With temps in the 90's, it's just really not all that safe for my kids to be outside for very long at ALL, so we are beginning to feel a little cooped up inside... Therefor, I've had to start getting a little creative with my activities. Yesterday while running errands, I picked up a pack of glowsticks for Ryder. He loves those things and since I'd seen an idea on a blog somewhere once, I thought I would give it a try. When we got home and the kids were just all sweaty, cranky, and a little tired out from going in and out of the car I went downstairs to the bathroom. If you haven't been in my house, the downstairs bathroom is one of my favorite rooms. It's painted a DEEP chocolate brown and has a big jetted tub. Since it can get pretty dark in there (no windows), I filled up the tub with coolish water, broke the glowsticks so they were all neon and glowing, and got the kids in their swimming stuff. We made an 'inside swimming pool', turned off all the lights, and let Ryder (and Piper too, for a little bit) enjoy their homemade "pool" with tons of neon glowing lights everywhere. It was a hit, to say the least. Best part about it was that it cost me a total of $1 :) Love that....
So this got me thinking to all the activities we did last year with Ryder during my summer off, and I went back to my list that I had started a while back.... I'll share my list with you, in case you too are looking for things to do with your own little one(s).
FREE things:
-Playdates w/ friends and their kiddos
-Visiting family members
-Checking out local lakes (Pleasant Lake and Cokato Lake are some of my favorites!)
-Going for walks/bike rides
-County Parks
-Nature walks/Scavenger hunts (lots of ideas online for this, print off a sheet and go exploring in your own backyard)
-Visit the library (In case you haven't been, Litchfield Library has a fabulous preschool story hour on Fridays at 10am)
-Fishing
-Splash Pads (there are two great options in St.Cloud, but Lake George is our favorite!)
-Picnics
-Bubbles/Playdough/Sidewalk Chalk/Crafts
-Slip n' Slide/pools/sprinklers
-Practice "school" with workbooks, etc
Play Places (Like the Hutchinson McDonald's -perfect for rainy days when you don't feel like cooking lunch- it's a double whammy!---Just don't forget the hand sanitizer ;)
Como Zoo/Conservatory (free will donation, plus it's a great zoo!)

And a few of our other places to go....
-Bowling (rainy day?? perfect.)
-Art As You Like It (in St.Cloud--your kids can paint to their little heart's desire, it is a great place!)
-Dorothy Olson Aquatic Center in Willmar (accommodates both little kids AND big kids--Ry loves this place)
-Indoor Parks (Edinborough is one I hope to get to this summer!)
-A Maze N Farmyard -- another one of Ryder's favorites
-Baseball games (The Stingers in willmar run TONS of promotions, and they are very kid friendly)
-Golfing/Mini Golf
-Airmaxx trampoline Park-- this is a workout. Seriously.
-Valleyfair
-State Fair (hoping to go this year, ryder's never been!0
-Apple Orchards (yum)
-Children's Museum
Tropics Indoor Waterpark (this looks fun, but we've never been -yet--the waterpark of america is also a fabulous time!!)
-Shopping--just to "browse" of course ;)

I'm sure I missed a few here and there, but sometimes it's just helpful to just have a list with everything jotted down so that you can look at it when you feel there is 'nothing to do'...With that being said, I can't believe it is already JULY and sadly, we have not had the chance to do many of these things yet...Time is just flying by and I can't believe I am already being forced to think about starting back at work next fall :(

Enjoy the July 4th holiday tomorrow! :) I know we will!





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