Things To Do With the Kids This Summer

As a stay-at-home mom, I have to admit, as much as I usually look forward to summer, I was apprehensive about this one.  I’m sure it was because it would be my first summer home with two kiddos; a 6 year-old and a 4 month-old.  It’s hard enough to juggle a baby alone, but add in the older sibling and I worried that I’d be overwhelmed and unable to get out the door to do fun activities with my son having a baby in tow.  My son loves video games and his iPad and watching YouTube videos, and he’d probably do that all day if I’d let him.  Confession: sometimes I do.  But, I want us to get outside and enjoy the summer!!  Even with baby sister.
One thing I figured we could make happen was the 45-minute tennis camp near our house.  It starts at 8:15 a.m. and is close enough for us to walk (great way to get us up and moving and start the day with exercise)!  I just put Jordan in the stroller and while James was having camp, she’d usually fall asleep for her morning nap. When we got home, she’d be just about ready to eat again.  Perfect.  I struggled with what to do after that though.  Go to Target??  I’m only halfway kidding. 
My friend Melissa’s daughter was in the tennis camp too.  And she’s also got two more children, a 3-year old boy, and a baby just a few weeks younger than Jordan.  Each day while we were rocking our babies in their strollers, waiting for our cutie tennis players, we’d talk about our plans for the day, well, her plans for the day since I didn’t have any.  And her plans included (no joke) crafting at the public library . . . bowling . . . movies . . . splash pad . . . natural history museum . . . etc.  I was absolutely amazed that she was doing so.much.stuff with three kids and I was sitting at home because I had two. 
She warned me that she tries to do these activities with another mom so that there’s another set of helping hands and eyes on the kids, but her bravery to get out of the house seriously encouraged me. I told her I really wanted to enjoy this summer and get out and do some things (besides just going to the pool, although that’s fun too) and she gave me a huge list of things to do in Houston with kids that she said I could share here! 
Honestly, if she can do it, so can we!  There are days my Mom is available to help and she brings James’ two young cousins, so wouldn’t it be fun for all of us to do some fun things this summer?!  We don’t have to do something everyday, but we don’t have to be prisoners at home just because we have a baby either.  My Mom definitely has that “can do” spirit and she’s always up for whatever. #loveher!
I mean, what’s the worst that can happen?  
Maybe I shouldn’t ask that!  

Things to Do with your kids this summer - besides going to the pool!

Being spurred on by Melissa’s example, so far this summer we (me, Mom, James, baby Jordan, and two cousins) have: 1) gone to the splash pad and had a picnic; and 2) been to the kids dollar movies, then Chick-fil-A for lunch and to play in the play yard.  It’s a start!  The dollar movies was awesome because it’s easy to breastfeed in the dark there. 
Last Friday, my Mom and I went through the list of activities below (thanks Melissa!) and picked several that we want to do this summer with the kids before school starts back.  My son starts in early August! 🙁 Of course we have to choose things that are baby friendly and we’ll probably only do a few a week, and definitely only one thing per day, but we’re excited about these adventures and making memories with our family.  

SPLASH PADS & WATER ACTIVITIES
Splashtown (I-45) 
Pirate’s Bay (Baytown) 
Splashway (Sheridan, TX) 
Woodland’s Resort (Waterpark included in cost of hotel room)
Skeeters (Sugar Land )(waterpark)

DAY TRIPS/OUTINGS 
Sea Center Texas (near Surfside)
Mounted Patrol Barn (police station and feed the police horses)
Police Museum – downtown 
CAMPS/CLASSES
KID FRIENDLY RESTAURANTS

Maryann’s Cafe – Heights
Julie’s French Pastry – Memorial
IKEA (kids eat free Tuesday)
PDQ (superhero Sundays)
Lupe Tortilla (playground)
Clay’s on Clay – Hwy 6 (playground)
Los Cucos on Clay (playground)
El Jarrito – Katy  (playground)
Drix – Mason Rd (indoor playground)
All-Star Family Grill – Katy/Richmond (2 playgrounds)
Punks – Rice Village (outdoor grassy area to run, throw ball)
Ruggle’s Green – City Centre ((outdoor grassy area to run, throw ball)
Jimmy Changa’s – Katy (shaded outdoor playground)
Rainforest Cafe – Katy Mills Mall (99cent kids meals Wednesday night)
Galleria Food Court 
Chick-fil-A (Tuesdays kids eat free) 
RESOURCES
Houston Moms Blog

And below are 10 tips to keep you and the kids sane this summer!

10 Tips to keep you and the kiddos SANE this summer!

In the comments, I’d love for you to write your city and one thing in your town that’s great to do with the kids.  I hope this post and the comments can be a resource to Moms everywhere!

Happy summer friends!  

__________________
keep in touch! 

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Meet Megan

Hi! I’m Megan, mom to a thoughtful teenager and spunky young girl. We call Houston home and recently moved into our dream home. I traded my lawyer hat to become a full-time blogger in 2010. I love sharing my passion for affordable fashion, home decor, organization, & fitness to help inspire you to take care of you!

13 Comments

  1. Since I had my first daughter 5.5 years ago, I said I'd be the kind of mama who just packed the baby up and carried her with me places instead of letting a baby make me feel trapped at home. Our first stayed in the hospital for several days after birth, but once we got home we didn't change much as far as getting out. The same day we came home from the hospital we took her with us to a Christmas party, haha. I had our 2nd daughter 2 years ago, and we did the same with her. I wondered how I'd be going out with 2 kids alone, but I just did it agony it was always fine. Actually, my girls do so much better when we're away from home. Now I'm a nanny to my 5 month old nephew and there are days when I have all 3 kids out in town all day. I live in a tiny town in NC and there's not a whole lot to do without driving for an hour or more, but when we need a day out of the house we'll run errands, like the grocery store, walmart, grab lunch somewhere, etc. On days we stay home, we read lots of books, color/craft, go for walks, play on our swingset, or play in the kiddie pool on the porch.

    1. You are brave! I like a good mix of home & out time. Sometimes it's harder for me to motivate my son to leave the house, but he always has a good time when he does!

  2. We have a great library closeby in Hilliard, Ohio that has a summer reading program my kids always participate in. They have wonderful events at the library for all ages: storytimes, puppet shows, educational demonstrations, music! My kids are now older but we went all the time when they were little. Have a fun rest of the summer-it's going so fast! :/

  3. Thank you so much for posting this! We ventured out to the Museum of Natural Science with both kiddos and found ourselves wishing we knew of more things to do in Houston… this is great!

  4. Love this post, I can totally relate. Last summer I had a 3 year old and a newborn (June 3rd baby), and struggled at the beginning. I found that I always built it up in my head that things would be disastrous, but they rarely were. We certainly had times where all three of us were crying at once (gotta love threenagers and post partum horomones), but for the most part, getting out of the house was good for all of us. I'm in CT, and our rotation was: splash pad, Barnes & Noble (they have a train table, lego table, tons of books and needed coffee for mom), sprinkler, park, mcdonalds playscape, and children's museums (kid city and lutz museum for CT dwellers).

    For anyone with toddler or preschool girls, magiclip princesses saved our summer, and kept the tv off sometimes when I was couch-bound and nursing or trying to get a newborn to sleep.

  5. I am not still a true mum but working as nanny I am a sort of so I like to plan activities that don't include TV and I love your list:D

  6. Sometimes more kids are easier 🙂 My transition from 1 to 2 was a breeze, but 2 to 3 was really hard and it took me over a year to muster up the courage to take them all. Now I'm imagining a 4th (maybe a 4th and 5th if I'm lucky) and it doesn't feel overwhelming at all. Everyone transitions differently…the best tool is to plan plan plan, and do as much as you can the night before!

  7. Glad you realized you need to get out. I have 5 under 5 but still do fun outings by myself with them. I decided early on that sitting at home is not an excuse, just because there's lots of them doesn't mean we can't do fun things!

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