We knew that living tiny would mean more time spent outside, which was one of our biggest factors for deciding to go tiny. Both Scott and myself spent a great amount of time outside during our childhood and we want the same for our kiddos. Spending all that time outside gave us both an appreciation for God’s creation and keeps us in touch with his daily presence.
With that being said, we knew we would need plenty of fun activities to keep the kids entertained, encourage exploring, learning new skills and some relief from the heat.
What has worked for us this summer is an assortment of things both fun for them and teaching them helpful skills.
Gardening – We planted an assortment of veggies this summer. We discovered the kiddos both like cucumbers, the occasional squash, strawberries, and spinach. I’m pretty confident they liked eating the spinach just so they could pretend to be like the chickens when they eat grass. Unfortunately, they both take after their daddy and have a major dislike for tomatoes. However, they both eat ketchup like it’s a side dish…..just like daddy.
Lots and Lots of Reading – We checkout books from both Pope County and Johnson County Libraries every week. Pope is open to the public right now but requires face masks. Johnson County is not open to the public right now. However, both do curbside pickup, which has been wonderful to be able to access new books and keep up the interest and love for reading that both kids have. I will probably start letting Ava do book reviews. She has lots to say about what she reads and she seems to learn a great deal from books. It’s been a useful tool for me to revert back to when I am trying to give her an example of a behavior.
Bounce House/Water Slide- We invested in this 2 years ago in the summer Shepard was born. They are pretty expensive to rent and we knew we would recoup our investment quickly with how much the kiddos would use it. This summer alone it was well worth it and it is still in good shape, so we should be able to continue to use it next summer and hopefully more. We purchased it from blast zone (www.blastzone.com) and have been really happy with it.
Above Ground Pool- I am also glad we invested in the pool for the summer. The bounce house/water slide was great for June, but once the heat intensified in July, we were in need of another way to keep cool while being outside for most of the day. In addition, Ava was also able to learn how to swim on her own this summer and go underwater.
Fun Playground Additions – A seesaw and disc swing were new additions to the kids playground. They have been great for getting the kiddos to play together. Amazon and Wayfair have both the seesaw and disc swing. I believe when I was shopping Amazon had the lower price for both.
Sandbox/Sand- Super cheap entertainment for the kids. They both use their imaginations and get creative with what they like. Shepard prefers to dig and put sand in his dump truck. Ava makes soup and sand cookies most of the time.
Snapchat- Oh my! These two have a love for silly pictures. They would do this for hours if I let them. It is quite amusing though!
Picnics- See previous post!
Fishing- Scott and I spent a lot of date nights in the past fishing. It’s been super nice to be able to have time to go fishing again. The kids enjoy it, but to no surprise it does not keep their attention for an extremely long amount of time. It is not uncommon for them to drop a fishing pole and a fish start taking it down by the time we grab it to pick it up. I think they mostly enjoy the excitement of reeling a fish in and getting to touch it. Otherwise, they are catching bugs while mommy and daddy catch fish for them to touch and return to the water.
Chickens- This has been a great decision for the kids. Neither of us previously had chickens or experience with chickens, but it has been an excellent experience so far. I was intimidated initially of the idea, but now that we have them I have enjoyed learning to take of them and most importantly teaching our kids how to care for them. They can be a little too hands on sometimes, but you can tell it comes from a place of love for them.
Tractor Rides- Every time we have a project where we need to use the tractor, there is no using it without the kiddos wanting to take a ride on it.
Arts/Crafts – Scott and I have always been up for a challenge for making ridiculous things. For Shep’s second birthday, we wanted it to be special for him since we didn’t feel to comfortable having a bigger celebration because of the risk of Covid-19. Shepard has a love for trains, so we spent about a week turning our golf cart into a train that he could ride on his birthday.
That’s a glimpse of what our first summer living tiny has looked like so far. We haven’t traveled very far, but have been able to have plenty of adventures in and near our backyard.
I hope this summer has somehow provided everyone else with something positive in their life…more time with kids, family time, growing closer to a spouse, or even better finding Jesus.
This is my daily verse that found me today:
