With Thanksgiving coming up I’ve been having the kids do little projects that are getting them to think about what they are thankful for. During the first project, both of my kids, 11 and 4 years old, said they were thankful for mom, dad, toys, etc.. The normal stuff, right? By the 3rd project, a flower petal sponge painting on which they wrote what they are thankful for, my 11 year old said things like ‘my health’, ‘mom’s time’, etc.. That was what I was looking for. When I was asked the question “what family activities are you most thankful for?”, it took me a while to come up with an answer. My initial thought was that I am thankful for everyday things like playing board games and running around the yard with the kids. After thinking for a while though, I realized that the family activities that I am most THANKFUL for are:
- Campouts – great family bonding time… we’re stuck together!
Photograph 1 & 2 - Odd & End Activities like Ice Skating – lots of laughter and requires that we help each other when we fall.
Photograph 3 & 6 - The family activity that I am most thankful for is our trips to Florida
Photograph 4, 5, and 8
Over the last 4 years that my son’s been a Cub Scout and Boy Scout we’ve had the opportunity to camp at some really cool places and it’s not just the places that make the camping fun but sleeping in a tent together, roasting marshmallows, and watching each other get dressed while freezing our butt’s off is pretty fun too! I am thankful for the memories that camping has given us.
Another family activity that I am thankful for is ice skating. I took the kids ice skating for the first time about a year ago and my son loved it. He was 10 at the time and it took him a while to get used to being on ice but boy did we laugh (and cringe in pain) a lot during that hour and a half we were on the ice. Since then I’ve taken my son to a local ice skating rink, just the two of us. It’s our special mom & son activity that we are both thankful for.
The family activity that I am MOST thankful for is our road trips to Florida. My Dad lives on an alligator-free lake in Orlando, where I grew up, and the memories we have from our trips to visit him there are some of the best for myself, my husband, and my kids. We play and swim in the lake, the kids dig in the sand, we chase each other around the yard and have ‘WED’ (water expulsion device – AKA water gun) fights all which makes us downright dirty! Thank goodness for Shout laundry strain remover, which my step-mom always has on hand in the laundry room (thank you!).
Like I said in a previous post, without SHOUT stain remover, I would be in a panic every time the kids got close to mud, rolled in the grass, or spilled BBQ sauce on their shirt during a campout. Knowing that we have SHOUT! stain remover waiting for us at home puts my mind at ease, then the kids and I have more fun because I’m not worried if their clothes getting dirty.
I am a Shout Go Play Mom and wrote this post to talk about the family activities that I am most thankful for. To learn more about Shout and their Go Play initiative, check out Shout! on Facebook.
What family activities are you most thankful for?
Please take a minute and tell us what family activities you are most thankful for. You won’t win a prize for telling us, but you’ll feel good knowing that you shared with the world what activities you are most thankful for!
