Yes! Just like everyone else, we are melting here in Virginia. Temperatures for today are reaching 99 degrees with a heat index of 120 (That’s 48 degrees C according to the online converter for you folks up in Canada!). OUCH. We won’t be spending too much time outside this weekend that doesn’t include floating in the pool. Instead, I’m trying to come up with creative ways to stay active and have fun inside.
My dear friend Paula just moved back to the United States from Germany with her family of 4 children. She and I lived together in Alabama and Tennessee (briefly) while we were pregnant with our boys. I still wish I had a neighbor just like her. Sadly, I haven’t found one yet. I could show up whenever I wanted. My child could accidentally poop out his diaper on her couch without receiving dirty looks. We drank plenty of wine. She even saved me a few times when I was really sick. On her Facebook page today she wrote
I have been thinking about all the things I loved about Germany and how I can preserve some of them here. We never had real tv, but we watched a lot of family movies..together. The kids played outside and hours of toys…together. We rode bikes, swam and went for walks…together….keeping life simple in the US is not easy.
This certainly got my brain thinking. We definitely don’t live simple lives in this country. We think we need everything. We want to be entertained all the time. We aren’t good at enjoy simple things. While I’m not willing to give up my Air Condition on days like today, there are certainly A LOT of things I use on daily basis that really aren’t necessary. We could spend a lot more time together doing things, having fun, being kids!
I think this weekend, possibly (hopefully!) the hottest weekend of the year, is a great weekend to get creative with my families use of time. It would be very easy to wake up, turn on the TV, check Facebook, play video games, watch cartoons….ALL WEEKEND. Why waste a great family weekend staring blindly at a bunch of technology. I’m not saying I won’t watch TV or check Facebook, I just don’t want to do it all weekend. Balance and moderation! More together time, less wasted time. It’s easy to feel trapped inside by the heat wave outside. I don’t want to get trapped staring at my TV and computer all day.
The goal for the weekend is to do fun thing TOGETHER as a family.
Tonight we are having a family camp out in the living room. I ‘ve never (GASP!) seen a Harry Potter movie. We are starting with the first one tonight. Popcorn, sleep bags, and Harry Potter sounds great to me. Tomorrow morning I hope to wake up really really early. I have an 8 mile run planned. I’m hoping to run to Christian’s parent’s house and then jump in the pool afterwards. Or maybe I’ll run at the beach. After that…I don’t have any plans! No plan weekends are a wonderful treat sometimes. While I don’t know what I’ll be doing, I know I won’t be wasting my time doing nothing!
(I probably should have ran this idea by my husband before I posted this blog. Oops! Sorry Christian! Hope you want to play along!)
Quick Maute Moo check-up info: I had a quick check-up yesterday for some blood work. Maute Moo is doing great. Heart rate is up to 150 bpm. My ultrasound is also scheduled for August 11th. The big question is now will we wait or will we find out! Who knows!
What are your fun family (indoor) ideas for avoiding the heat this weekend???
Kristy Maute 
So true! My fiance and I lived in Italy for 6months. Amazing the difference. Life there was so simple, fun, relaxed and NO stress. Everything here is so hectic and crazy. I could and would live in Italy forever. My fridge was the size of a hotel fridge here. We had to buy food every other day b/c it was so fresh, it went bad quickly. Anyway, we could learn a lot from other countries. Great Post!
Suzanne