“Mom, will you come play baseball with me?”
“Mom, will you come play soccer with us?”
“Can we play basketball, Mom?”
“I’ve got the racquets, mom. Let’s play!” (Neither of them have quite figured out how to pronounce “badminton”, but they sure do know how to hit a birdie.)
In our house, there’s no stopping. My boys are constantly on the move. They hop from one sport to the next in the blink of an eye. Not a day goes by that there isn’t some sort of serious throw down on the front lawn (or garage floor).
Here’s the thing. They always want me to join in. Sometimes I don’t, I think it’s great for them to have brotherly time together. But a lot of the time, I do. I love laughing and running until I’m short of breath. And, yes, I even like waking up with sore muscles after an afternoon of playing with my kids. I love knowing that we’re getting stronger and healthier, simply by playing together.
My favorite thing about these kids is watching them come up with a new spin on an old favorite. From the time Little was 18 months old, he would hold one frisbee and give me the other, then insist that we hit a soft ball back and forth. If I couldn’t play, he’d just hit a ball up and down on a frisbee. Big, he loves rules, so making up new games where others can’t possibly win is the best ever, in his eyes. He’s always got something new going on.
The boys’ creativity actually inspired me a couple years ago. That’s when I invented our summer favorite — Water Balloon Baseball. We fill up a bunch of water balloons (and by “we” I mean “me”), then hit the field. We smash, slip, slide, and giggle like mad. While a bag of 100 water balloons can be gone in a matter of minutes, it’s seriously one of our favorite activities.
As my kids get older, my hope is that exercise will continue to come completely naturally to them. I’m constantly beating myself up for not hitting the elliptical, doing my workout videos, etc. But the truth of the matter is, those things sound like work. Being with my kids, that’s fun. And it’s only going to get more fun once it’s officially summer time and we have all day to sports hop.
What does your family do together to stay fit? Share your thoughts in the comments (by Monday, June 10, 2013 at 11:59pm PT) for a chance to win a $25 gift card so you can gear up with C9 at Target (check out #C9atTarget on Twitter and Instagram).
Disclosure: Content and/or other value provided by my partner, Target. All opinions and ideas are my own.
We take family walks – long ones with two little guys and the dog!
We also walk a lot. We walk over a mile to preschool, we take family walks after dinner, we hike on the weekends and participate in walks/runs put on by community events. We are doing the SF Munchkin run (a little run for kids on the same day and part of the SF Marathon) and we are doing the SF AIDS walk in July. So much fun!! Thanks for the opportunity to win!
My son can’t walk yet, but I take him out to the park at least 2x/week and go running with him in the stroller at least 1x/week.
My family tries to do little things like bike rides, walking to the store, etc. We live in scenic Oregon too so there are so many hiking trails and falls that we have fun exploring!
We just did water balloon baseball with our t-ball team and it was a hit (Literally)! Since I am on summer break…I am planning on showing my boys the rules to a variety of sports. This week is tennis. My boys and I had a great time on the court this morning. Looking forward to running, hitting and laughing again on Thursday! Next week we will be doing kick ball. I love having fun with my boys.
My son and I have started running 5Ks together. It’s been some great mother son time!!
We like to take hikes together, and go swimming!
Congratulations, you’re the winner of this giveaway. (Random.org chose #7 — that’s you!) Keep an eye out for an email from me!
We hike or walk with the dog (big boy riding his bike) and play tennis (well, we do and try not to hit the kiddos running around on the court – good thing we’re awful!). Just started swimming together again now that the weather is heating up!
We boogie! We turn on anything from the Beatles to JLo to Aretha to Carly Rae to Madonna and we just shake our groove thing… Our kiddo just loves dancing with mommy and daddy – and we all get a great workout. Fun!
We like to dance too! All 3 kiddos can participate and it’s always fun!
I take my baby out to the park on walks and runs with me