Just like that, Summer is at full throttle. The days are long and hot. The kind of days where you break a sweat without moving and collapse into bed each night and wake only when the morning light sneaks in through the window. The routines that come with school and ballet lessons are replaced with a single daily trip to the pool. To break things up we have enjoyed regular family playdates. Spending quality family time away from the everyday having a seriously good time. This means taking it a few notches up and having a side splitting, wide eyed day making memories. It helps our summer to be truly awesome and brings our family together. Top on my list for such an Epic Playdate is an exhilarating sailboat trip off the coast of Santa Cruz, California. My kids and I love the water but I have yet to share the joy of sailing with them. One that I have known since I was a child. We would start our adventure on land however. A bike ride to the farmers market to load up fresh baked goodness, berries and such. Off on our bikes, my Mr. in the lead. Stella stuffing her cheeks with strawberries in her seat behind me. My coffee spilling a bit at every turn. My son grins at the dips and turns down the bike path to the harbor. Once on the boat and out of the slip we would pass a group of sea otters, maybe 30 or 40 floating and playing in the kelp. They watch us float by and its almost as if they wave or give us a "whats up" as we pass. Stella screams out "look at the babies!." We would enjoy lunch on the deck and the salty water would splash up sending the kiddos into fits of giggles. Maybe we even dare to hang our feet off. Thier still baby like toes curled up above the dark ocean water. They would learn to help raise the sail, what it means to "come about" and feel the power of the wind as it pushed us along the top of the water. Other families have taken the idea of "The Epic Playdate" and made it there own while spending meaningful time together as a family having fun! Such bloggers as Dooce who traveled with her family to Arches National Park to explore the breath taking natural landscape. You can see the video of that trip here. What would you do on an epic family playdate with your family this summer?
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
The ocean has always been a love of mine. I played in it as a child and play in it still. I have lived by the ocean and far from it. My happiest memories are near the ocean or in it. As soon as Keeners put his little toes in the sand the smile started. He wouldnt look up after that,...just stared at his toes as he moved his feet around in the sand. He smiled and screamed at the ocean and stuck his arms out in excitment.
