Stuff that was made up on the spot. Had no money when DS was young, so that was part of it.

He had a collection of snake skins, squirrel skulls, and such, so once we made a natural history museum in the back yard.
We used long pieces of flexible garden edging to make monster tracks in the basement for hot wheel cars.
One the grocery store was getting rid of a big cardboard display that was made to look like a school bus. We took it home, put it in the wagon, got all the neighborhood kids to dress up and have a parade up and down the block, I even went and bought a couple of bags of candy for the parade to toss out. Appliance boxes to turn into spaceships, an "office", a garage with a string to pull up the garage door.
Sometimes when DS was just crabby, I'd grab empty boxes and paper and glue and such and tell him to just make something out of it.
Blanket forts in the living room.
Playing with magnets, siphoning water, random science stuff--not from books.
Made a homemade "scratch and sniff" book using kitchen spices, chocolate bar wrappers.

Anonymous wrote:So much of kids is work. But I’m curious to hear, especially from parents with older kids, what your most fun and meaningful memories of time with your kids are.

Mine is probably a mix of some every day things — exploring in nature, cooking, family meals, dance parties — and trips. Mine are still pretty young though, so I’m looking for inspiration of fun things to incorporate into our family life as they get older.

My DD is 16. Off the top of my head:

- the time she tried on stilettos for an hour in a shoe store and tried to walk
- the first time I held the water for her to drink when her hands were full - we were both laughing so hard that water spilled everywhere.
- the times we've wandered into Macy's and gone to sit in the furniture section and just talk.
- the times we've gone out of our city to the suburbs and wandered around for the day

For her, she'd say the water thing too, plus the time we were on an SF streetcar and she got cold so I sat her in my lap and zipped her inside my sweatshirt, the time (last year) when I hung out with her and her friend at the mall, when we cook together, the times I taught her gymnastics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The mundane day-to-day things are what I remember most.
We used to sing old 80s pop songs on the train on our way to preschool.
I remember reading The Cat in the Hat and Oh, The Places You'll Go every night for two years straight. I still know them both by heart.
One year we made a plan to stop at as many new playgrounds as we could. If we weren't in a rush somewhere, we'd stop and play for two minutes and then leave, so that we could check it off our imaginary list. Even if it meant just going down the slide one time, she'd get so excited.
She LOVED elevators. We just had to ride the elevator everywhere. If it had glass walls (malls and hotels), it was "the coolest thing ever!"

This was so heartwarming to read.

+1. Brought back some of my good childhood memories. Listening to ABBA in the car with my parents, getting ice cream after dinner, and other little moments.

Anonymous wrote:The mundane day-to-day things are what I remember most.
We used to sing old 80s pop songs on the train on our way to preschool.
I remember reading The Cat in the Hat and Oh, The Places You'll Go every night for two years straight. I still know them both by heart.
One year we made a plan to stop at as many new playgrounds as we could. If we weren't in a rush somewhere, we'd stop and play for two minutes and then leave, so that we could check it off our imaginary list. Even if it meant just going down the slide one time, she'd get so excited.
She LOVED elevators. We just had to ride the elevator everywhere. If it had glass walls (malls and hotels), it was "the coolest thing ever!"

This was so heartwarming to read.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bingo night
Family hikes with the dogs especially on quiet holiday mornings
Cooking together as a family on Saturdays (kids mixing the spices, making marinades or salad dressings)

Europe & other vacations (we love to sightsee now that my youngest is in K - exploring new languages and foods together)

Do you go to a church hall or someplace for Bingo? Or play at home? Such a great idea! I loved Bingo as a kid!

No just at home!

The mundane day-to-day things are what I remember most.
We used to sing old 80s pop songs on the train on our way to preschool.
I remember reading The Cat in the Hat and Oh, The Places You'll Go every night for two years straight. I still know them both by heart.
One year we made a plan to stop at as many new playgrounds as we could. If we weren't in a rush somewhere, we'd stop and play for two minutes and then leave, so that we could check it off our imaginary list. Even if it meant just going down the slide one time, she'd get so excited.
She LOVED elevators. We just had to ride the elevator everywhere. If it had glass walls (malls and hotels), it was "the coolest thing ever!"

In the midst of packing for a move, a new job and DH’s deployment, I took off work on a weekday and took my six year old out of school and we spent the day at a theme park. I didn’t tell her about it until she was getting dressed in the morning.

Best day ever.

Anonymous wrote:Bingo night
Family hikes with the dogs especially on quiet holiday mornings
Cooking together as a family on Saturdays (kids mixing the spices, making marinades or salad dressings)

Europe & other vacations (we love to sightsee now that my youngest is in K - exploring new languages and foods together)

Do you go to a church hall or someplace for Bingo? Or play at home? Such a great idea! I loved Bingo as a kid!

Bingo night
Family hikes with the dogs especially on quiet holiday mornings
Cooking together as a family on Saturdays (kids mixing the spices, making marinades or salad dressings)

Europe & other vacations (we love to sightsee now that my youngest is in K - exploring new languages and foods together)

I have a 7 month old and she is so cute! Lots of work but worth it!

So much of kids is work. But I’m curious to hear, especially from parents with older kids, what your most fun and meaningful memories of time with your kids are.

Mine is probably a mix of some every day things — exploring in nature, cooking, family meals, dance parties — and trips. Mine are still pretty young though, so I’m looking for inspiration of fun things to incorporate into our family life as they get older.