Let It Go Summer Fun

Hello Foxy Friends! I hope you all had a great weekend! Two exciting things happening today. First, I wrote an article for my good friend Abbie from Grumbling Grace asked me to write an article for her series called Mombies Unit. Go check out my article From Manners to Confidence - Raising Polite Confident Kids. I'll wait while you go check it out...then come back for my second exciting thing happening today!

I was super excited when these fabulous ladies asked me to be a part of their Summer Fun blog hop! I mean who doesn't love Summer activities? The question was...what the heck am I going to write about? I thought about the normal stuff, swimming, park dates, etc, but ultimately I thought about what makes for a great summer? Things that you wouldn't normally do, so today I'm telling you to follow Elsa (currently one of Mini Fox's favorite movies and I'm cheesy like this) and have a Let It Go Summer Fun! Meaning, do what's out of the ordinary, let the kids stay up a little later and do something they'll remember looking back on their summer vacations.

We are pretty strict with our kids as far as eating goes, we make them sit at the table and they can't get up till they are done, mean I know. But every once in a while, we'll meet up with some friends in the town square, they have a small grassy amphitheater, bring dinner and let them run around and eat as they please, and we don't totally harp if they don't eat everything. Just let them roll down the hill and have fun. And then usually we follow it up with some ice cream or frozen yogurt (both located in the same center).

Only one kid was really interested in eating...

Water balloon fight and really get into it. I wish we would have bought this...but we had to fill them up by hand, we got a package of water balloons, and it came with a nozzle attachment at the Dollar Store, I've also seen them at Target and Party City. Super easy, cheap and they had a BLAST.

What says summer more than a splash park? We have the big ones over here, but then there are the small ones at the mall, that the kids love just as much! Take them there and let them run through with their clothes in (of course bringing extra clothes) But make it seem like it's spur of the moment...they'll love it, and have a blast whether you bring a bathing suit for them or not.

Build a fort in the house with blankets and let them sleep in it. I know some of my best childhood memories come from sleeping in a fort that my brother and I built in my room. Yes we might have woken up earlier than normal, but you know what? What's what Summers are for, staying up late, waking up late, taking a ton of naps.

My kids are a little too young to be sleeping in forts just yet, but we have one up and they are loving it. Before bed they like to play "camping", it's the cutest thing ever. Baby Fox pretends that the different lights in our rooms are various times of the sun coming up. Telling us when to wake up and when to go to sleep.

Go on special dates with just you and one of your kids. If you have more than one do separate dates. The kids get a kick of getting to spend one on one time with each of their parents. So many times they have to share with your spouse, other siblings, work, life... that it's a treat to get you all to themselves.

Today, I am joining eight other bloggers in sharing encouragement for your summer! There is a little bit of everything in these posts and we hope they encourage and inspire you! Go check them out for yourselves!