Big Days Out {The Ordinary Moments}
I have mentioned so many times how busy our family life is. Every day there is something on the calendar, and often multiple things. It could just be work, or school or something little like LP’s weekly swimming lessons.
But there are days where Dave is working and I’m at home with the children where we’ll go on a day out – go to see friends like Lauren and her gorgeous children or we’ll go to soft play, a National Trust place or we will just stay at home, catch up with anything that needs doing, run a few errands and relax.
But on the days where Dave and I are both at home – having taken time off work or the rare days where our time off falls at the same time – we go on big days out. These are the days that we save for our proper adventures.
Our family time is crammed full of proper days out, National Trust places further afield, theme parks and those days that you really want to do as a family, the ones where you want to make the memories together and then share those memories over the years that follow.
There are some days out that I wouldn’t do without Dave there to share them with me – Drayton Manor, as I know how much the children love it there and how nice it would be for Dave to share that with us. The same goes for pretty much any tourist attraction we visit for the first time and the real treat adventures that don’t happen very often – A Day Out with Thomas is a prime example of that. I also couldn’t imagine visiting Father Christmas without Dave there to experience it too.
So my solo time with the children is low key, doing things that need to be done, seeing lovely friends, having play dates and going on shorter days out that we have done countless times before.
But our family time is reserved for new experiences, bigger days out and making memories to share. Growing up we didn’t do much as a family, but then again we had every weekend together, both parents at home. For us, family time isn’t that regular and so we save our biggest adventures for when we can enjoy it together.
As Sam’s work trips are so frequent and always involve at least two weekend days per trip, our family time is pretty rare too. We do the same, saving the big adventures for days that we are all together. I do often do some big things with the kids on my own though, as otherwise they would never happen as we just don’t have enough time. We’ve had a really low key summer as I’ve found it a bit more challenging to get out with a newborn plus two other kids (one potty training!) and I’ve been surprised at how stifled I’ve felt with our usual routine. I’ve wanted to have lots more fun adventures, but it’s not been possible. So I’m appreciating the days that we all get to spend together even more so.
It totally makes sense to save the big trips for your family days out. For us, we just don’t have those family days. I can count on 1 finger in the last 2 years how many times the OH has taken time off and done something with us. Hopefully in September we’ll get to the farm show we try and go to. But he doesn’t even come on holiday. So the normal for us is that it’s the 2 of us. I think it’s great that you really make the most of the time together.
I’m the same, I save the big days out when Andy is home. It’s important for us that he doesn’t miss out when he works so hard for us. The girls and I do visit places that we love and that daddy isn’t missing out on. X #theordinarymoments
I always like taking my hubby with us on adventures too. He works long hours in the week so he misses out on a lot so where I can take him with us I will. It sounds like you have been having a lovely time lately visiting lots of places!
We are the same too. Me and Scott work opposite shifts so we only have one family day together. We definitely make the most of it and either see family, go on big days out etc. It leaves us that down time to relax and enjoy our hobbies with Max (I’d rather not play NFL!). Sounds like you had a lovely summer.