Spring and early Summer is the time for garage sales and flea markets. The sun is out but it’s not too hot. Lots of people are looking to clean out the house and sell off unwanted treasures (and trash) after a long winter. Flea markets and garage sales can make for a fun outing for the whole family. There is …
Oh, Go Fly a Kite!
April is THE month for kite flying. It is the perfect activity for the family to get out and get active when the temperature is too cool to lounge in the sun and it is too windy to throw things to each other. The range of styles can boggle the mind. Everyone is familiar with the old fashioned diamond shaped …
Bonding over Board Games
The weather is turning cold but without the benefit of snow to play in. It is the perfect time for competitive indoor games to bring the family together. There are always classic board games like Monopoly and checkers. But, there are also a whole range of games that are both fun and test your mental skills like Settlers of Catan …
Family Fright Fest
Don’t let October pass the family by without taking advantage of the many ways to scare the crap out of each other. While jumping out of closets and dark spaces wearing a hockey mask can be funny it can also lead to deep emotional scars and difficulty learning to trust loved one later in life. A good substitute is to …
Tech Free Family Renaissance
Technology has taken over our lives in both wonderful and annoying ways. Here’s a particular question that can have a troubling answer. What is the longest you and especially your kids have gone without using electronic technology? Most of us don’t realize the ways in which our reliance on and responsiveness to technology has filled every moment with some kind …
Perseid Meteor Showers Aug 11-13
Every year at this time a dramatic shower of meteors streaks across the sky of the Northern Hemisphere. It is called the Perseid meteor shower (because it appears to originate from the area of the sky where the constellation Perseus is located). This celestial fireworks display is the result of the Earth passing through the orbit of the Swift-Tuttle comet. …
Shakespeare in the Park and Other Night Time Entertainment
Look around your town to find opportunities to spend an evening watching a play, movie or concert under the stars. It is a fun, inexpensive experience for the whole family. Pack up food and drink, bring blankets and lawn chairs and prepare to spread out on the grass to be entertained outdoors. (Don’t forget to bring bug repellent for those …
Geocaching, the 21st century scavenger hunt
There is a strange group of people who voluntarily and on their own initiative spend their time hiding weatherproof packages filled with trinkets in cities and wilderness areas all over the world. The challenge is to use a GPS system to locate the coordinates of this secret cache to find these treasures. This is geocachingand it is a perfect way …
5K Run as Family Fun
Every month of the year, there is at least one 5K run in the greater Nashville metropolitan area (as there is in any moderate to large city). Take a look. These events are a great opportunity to get the collective family butt up and moving. In the interest of full disclosure, I hate running. I also hate exercise but I …
Off the Beaten (Asphalt) Trail
Late spring and early Summer is an ideal time to take the family out for a stroll in the woods. But, just because you don’t want to go to the trouble of packing up everyone and everything to drive out to a national park doesn’t mean you can’t take a country stroll. More and more communities have created parks that …