Great Summer Outings Week 1

This summer has only just begun, but I am already on a mission to find fun, cheap ideas to keep the kids and I busy. This week, we had the opportunity to do several free or cheap outings so I thought I'd share them.

Monday, we went to River bend's Park and visited the skate park. Hannah brought Rollerblades and Caleb brought along his scooter. We learned a few things that we will keep in mind next time. The most important was that between the hours of 10 and 11:30 only children 10 and under are allowed. We went later in the afternoon, so there were high school students and children a bit older than Hannah and I was a little uncomfortable with that. The other thing I learned was that the nature center is not open on Mondays or Tuesdays. The kids were disappointed when we couldn't visit it. Other than that, we had a nice time and it was all free.

Wednesday evening, my neighbor told me that River bend's Park was having a "Kid's Day" from 6 pm to 8. Since Todd was gone for the day, the kids and I scarfed down spaghetti and went to the park to check out the fun. There were blow-up slides, a climbing wall, petting zoo, fun games to play for prizes and even a small train the kids could ride. A nearby dance studio also had a 30 minute performance. Afterwards, we headed over to McDonald's to use a "free ice cream" coupon with our neighbors. The entire day cost around $5 (all ice cream) and we had loads of fun.

Today, we went to Stony Creek Park and visited their nature center with my niece, Haley, my friend, Linda and her daughter, Emma. I had not been to the new building and it was really nice. There were lots of small animals for the kids to checkout and even a bee hive where the kids could watch the bees through clear plastic. After about 20 minutes or so of wandering, we took the "Reflection" nature walk (1/2 mile) and enjoyed seeing and touching nature. When the walk was over, we found a picnic area with a play set and had a picnic. We spent over two hours there and it went by really fast. We plan to visit the beach next week when the weather is warmer. The cost of our trip was $20 for Linda (I already have an annual pass thanks to a discount my father in law acquired), but after today, all of her visits are free!

If you have any ideas for fun stuff to do around our area, I'd love to hear them! More next week!