We're hooked!

We are always trying to find ways to connect with our kids. We feel it is important to spend as much time with them as possible. We learned with our first son that 18 years can FLY by! I mentioned before that we do civil war re-enacting. Our oldest boy got us into that.   We don't necessarily do it because it is fun. It is actually a lot of hard work, and can be a very hot and uncomfortable weekend. We do it because it was quality time we could spend with not only our kids but other kids whose lives we wanted to impact.  We do have fun with it and have built a lot of great memories through it.

Football games, wrestling tournaments, and baseball games fill up our fall, winter and spring. Movies are great fun but super expensive if you have more than one child.   Going to the movie theater is a treat in our house. There is a new activity we look forward to in the summer now.  

A couple of years ago, we let our second to youngest boy stay in Wyoming for the summer. We headed back with only our youngest in tow.  He had developed a love for baseball and even though our hometown in Wyoming had a minor league team, our timing of going there was always wrong as far as home games.  As we headed into Montana, we discovered that Billings had a team and lo and behold they were having a home game the very night we were passing through.  Since it was just the three of us we figured we could possibly afford to attend. Can you imagine our excitement when we got up to the ticket gate and was told the tickets were only $7.00 a piece?!

We stayed for the game and we were hooked!  The first thing we did when we got home was look up the Boise Hawks baseball schedule for the summer. So this has become an activity we can afford, one we can enjoy with our boys, and one with which we can entertain other kids and company.

I am going to tattle on my husband here. We took my husband's truck to the game one night, the kids were in the extended cab. My husband was giving them a lesson on how you are allowed a few miles over the speed limit. I don't think he even got the last word out of his mouth when the red and blue lights started flashing behind us.  Priceless. The officer shows up at the window with the typical, "Do you know why you are being pulled over?" My husband explained that we were coming back from a Boise Hawks game and that he was just giving the kids a lesson on the rules of the road. To our surprise, the five-mile-over rule does not apply to the back roads.   The officer politely asks, "Have you had anything to drink tonight?" My husband proudly stated his last drink had been 15 years earlier and not a drop since.  Completing his thorough line of questioning, "Do you have any illegal drugs in the car?"  My husband pointed to the back seat and said, "Nah, I have teenagers. The Boise Hawks IS our drug." The officer chatted with the kids for a few minutes and let us off with a warning.

Yes, baseball is our drug now. We get antsy as spring approaches and we get to get a gradual start with high school ball and just as the "ball gets rolling" the Hawks start their games and the calendar fills up. We put money aside for when the home games start and down the road we go!

Find out what your family is interested in and get involved. Spend time with each other hanging out outside of the house.  Not everything has to cost an arm and a leg. There are some very inexpensive, family friendly activities available.  Have fun and make the most of the those opportunities!

Building Relationships!

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