Scott & I love sleeping in as much as anyone, but with little kids it’s not really possible. The latest we are able to “sleep” on a lazy Saturday is 8 am. After that it’s a lot of Spongebob mixed with Paw Patrol, breakfast and playing cars. Before we know it, the day is over and so is our weekend. We’ve found that the best way to make the weekend last is to have an active Saturday morning. That means we get out of the house before nap time!
It’s not always easy, but it is definitely worth it.
How we do it:
We wake up and just ease into our day. No rush. No pressure. We just kind of go with the flow. We start our day with a big breakfast.
Saturday morning breakfasts are our favorite! Most of the time during the week we stick with simple on-the-go breakfasts or classic eggs and whole grain toast, but Saturdays we get to make something that takes a little more time.
Sometimes it’s french toast or our new favorite: whole grain pancakes or sometimes we go all out with an omelet or crepe. It really just depends, but one thing is for sure, a big breakfast is imperative for an active Saturday morning.
Favorite activities for an active Saturday morning:
Fishing.
Okay this isn’t my favorite, but Scott loves to take David fishing. When he does this, I usually have a mommy daughter day with Farrah and we do one of my favorite activities: window shopping for holiday decor 😉
Hiking.
We used to reserve this for Sundays, but it’s a great Saturday activity as well. Exploring the outdoors and getting back to nature is a passion of ours! Be sure to pack some healthy snacks! We love our Coleman Soft Backpack Cooler! But with our kids getting progressively older, we are considering getting this Kids Insulated Toddler Backpack so we can pack more snacks, but also. It has one of those toddler leashes. I know, I know how that sounds, but I’m really getting sick of our 2 year old just bolting whenever he feels like it! Even if we don’t use the leash, the backpack’s pretty cute & I know he’d have fun packing his own lunch and maybe a couple of toys for the hike 😉
Run errands.
Sometimes we’re boring and just need to run errands. Maybe it’s a Costco trip or a run to Target and a couple other things, but we do our best to make it fun. We love stopping by Starbucks and grabbing some hot chocolates (they offer almond milk now! FYI!). If we go to Costco, we usually stay for lunch. Our toddler LOVES getting Pizza at the food court, it’s his favorite part of the trip!
5k then a brunch at your favorite restaurant.
You have a couple of options here. You can throw the kiddos in a jogging stroller and complete the race or you can have them race with you! There are actually a ton of races that have offer smaller races for kids. They even have a Spartan Kids Race! Follow it up with a big stack of pancakes from IHOP, you earned it! Right now they have pumpkin pancakes! I love ordering those and adding in some chocolate chips 😉
Biking.
A bike ride doesn’t even have to be something you do on a trail or at the park, you can just use it to run errands. Say you need to stop by the grocery store. Make that trip just a little more fun by biking there as a family instead! This might not work so well if there are a ton of groceries you need, but it is great for smaller store trips.
When I was little my mom would walk to a lot of places and pull me along in a little red wagon. I loved that time with her! It made the outing so much more special to walk (or bike) instead of driving even though the tasks we were completing weren’t anything out of the ordinary!
Hit the golf course! (or the mini golf course!)
My husband loves this one. He really wants our daughter to get into golfing as well, so I know we will be continuing this family activity for years to come!
Walk to breakfast!
Not in the mood to cook? I totally understand! We have a Protein House really close by and love to walk there for breakfast when we’re feeling lazy (or when I’m feeling lazy). It burns some energy and is a nice break from the kitchen.
Do an art project outside.
These are perfect for outside because you don’t have to worry so much about making a mess or staining the carpet. One great one for October is, of course, carving pumpkins! OR as an alternative, painting pumpkins! Check out this cool recipe for Sidewalk Foam Paint from The Tip Toe Fairy! How fun does that look?! Great alternative to sidewalk chalk!
Really the possibilities are endless! Just get out and have fun with your family!
I think we can all agree that quality time as a family is so important; getting out and active really makes it “quality.” If we just spend the day indoors, it is so easy to get distracted by cell phones and TV that even though we may spend a lot of time together, we really aren’t enjoying each other’s company as much as we could. This is part of the reason we prefer an active Saturday morning, the other reason is because it just makes our weekend seem a little longer when we have more going on 😉