How I Spent My Summer Vacation Outside

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Remember when you were in school and your teacher assigned that first homework essay? In 500 words or less, tell us how you spent your summer vacation.?

I haaaated that assignment because it always sounded the same to me.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation By Patty

I played outside with my best friend, Nancy. We went swimming, we roller skated, we climbed trees and fell into the river on “accident”. We rode our bikes to the store?but don’t tell my mom because she doesn’t know. I even got to swing from a tree swing we found on an empty lot. But we broke the rope swing and didn’t know who to tell, so we just left it there and ran away.

Hmmm… we were kinda hooligans back then, weren’t we? ?Ha!

When I write it all out, it sounds like we had a heck of a summer, didn’t we? And that’s how my childhood rolled. We were outside all day long, for the most part.

That’s not the same for my kids?or even most children of the current generation. Did you know that according to the Kaiser Family Foundation kids 8 to 18 spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes on their tablets or devices inside?

WOW, right?

Remember when our parents would tell us we’d rot our brains out all summer long watching TV? I’ve been totally guilty of allowing that brain rot on occasion. But this summer I made a conscious decision to get the kids out as much as possible. Since we live in Arizona, it had to be early, and some days we totally blew that plan by sleeping in.

Hey, it’s summer! Of course, we did!

But when we got up and got going, we got outside this year and had a fabulous #LiveLifeOutside summer.

This was probably our most active Arizona?summer yet.

My kids went back to school today and if their teacher hands them the same assignment I once got, I know they can answer it with some of the following #LiveLifeOutside moments.

SWIMMING

My oldest kids spent two weeks learning Junior Lifeguard skills.

While neither of them wanted to sign up for the class, by the 2nd day they were dressed and ready to go outside well before me! They loved getting in the water and learning new skills from their teachers.

GOLFING

All the kids got golf lessons this year.

Again- no one wanted them, exactly, but they got them. And I’m proud of them for getting out there every day and learning something new.

Seth really took off! He even played a round with my dad at our annual family reunion golf tournament, impressing the whole gang!

PARKS

We spent time hiking; we threw some hoops at the park, and we enjoyed some morning picnics. It’s amazing how “cold” 87 can feel when midday is scheduled to hit 110!

A game of catch or twenty happened. Because you can never get enough baseball, they tell me.

I’m not a fan of the game, but the kids and husband sure enjoy it. And it got everyone outside, so there’s no complaining from me over here, I swear!

TRAVELING

We threw in a couple of trips as well.

Water parks, state parks, and national parks were all on the agenda!

What was the benefit to all this outdoor play?

Kids who fell asleep?easier at night and were less cranky and fussy all day long. MOM WINS.

And when you are dealing with those teen/tween hormones, man, you take any help you can get in this area! If you think only toddlers can throw tantrums, I’m here to tell you that teens and tweens can too.

Mercy. Get them outside, y’all! You’ll be so glad you did.

TruGreen has a mission to encourage families like yours and mine to spend more time outside. Create some memories, have a few laughs, and enjoy the outdoors with the time left in your summer.

They want you to join them in this mission! Put down the phones, tablets, and walk away from the TV and get outside?with TruGreen. Show them how you #LiveLifeOutside and enter their sweepstakes to win weekly prizes. Your backyard, your neighborhood parks, or some wild adventure all count: let them know how you are spending your summer days outside.

I’m hoping my kids will remember busy summers from here on out. I know we won’t ban electronics totally, but maybe we can make them part of getting outside ala Pokemon Go. Catch them all, kids!

How did you #LiveLifeOutSide this summer??

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