Inspired by watching the Olympic trials recently, we had our own Long Jump contest in our basement.
Maybe we didn’t quite match the jumping style or finesse of those participating in the Olympic trials, but we sure had a grand time attempting to leap through the air.
I made a Long Jump line with yarn and then we recorded the jumps with pieces of tape.
Everyone had fun trying to beat their own best jump.
It also was a great way to expend a lot of energy, without wilting in the heat outside!
I think this is my favorite picture of all the ones I took. The way Silas lives life with such gusto and joy brings a smile to my face and a reminder to me to take time to celebrate the little things each day.
Did you do something fun and frugal as a family today? If you blogged about it, I’d love for you to leave a link to your blog post below. Or, you can just tell us what you did in the comments.
Note: Since the purpose of this series is to encourage you to be intentional about fun in your home this summer, please only link up posts showing pictures/sharing details of fun things you did as a family today (or within the last few days). Posts that do not adhere to these guidelines will be deleted in order to make it fair for those who are putting forth a lot of effort to participate in this challenge.
I follow your blog, but missed this series until today. But I LOVE the idea of it! Yesterday we helped at the local food bank (my kids, ages 10, 9, 6, and 4 were able to help identify dates and then sort groceries onto shelves) and then the kids went for a bike ride while I ran. (It’s hard to find time to train for an event with all these kids!) It was a WONDERFUL day and I didn’t spend a penny!
Looks like the kind of fun that kids would love! And being inside from the heat is definitely a bonus!
I enjoy seeing the pics of your kiddos! 🙂
that is so cute!!! I have to try this with mine : )
Looks like fun! Sometimes the simplest things are the best!
Such cute pictures! Crystal – I love the color of your walls! Do you happen to remember the name? I’m trying to decide on a color for our living room. 🙂
Ooops–I was wrong. I looked more closely, and it says you have to verify that you have cable in order to watch.
“To access the live streams and full-event replays, users will need to verify their subscription to a cable, satellite or telco video tier that includes CNBC and MSNBC; there are no additional charges. Click here for more information on the process. ”
We had seen several winter olympics events for free online before, so I was hoping it would be free again.
We watched some coverage in the past online, so I knew there would be some. Thank you!
Thank you for the Olypmics info! Here is what I found on nbcolympics.com:
“Watch all 302 events from all 32 sports streamed LIVE on NBCOlympics.com, beginning with early-round women’s soccer on July 25. From the pool to the track and every venue in between, it’s full LIVE coverage of the 2012 London Games. ”
Thank you for letting me know, Rebecca and Crystal!
I love the way they are trying to beat their own personal best. Silas does always seem to enjoy himself to the max no matter what your doing, what a great way to attack life!
I hope he takes that with him when he is 20 , 30, and 40 and beyond!
This is to darn cute! Kids get exercise and they don’t even know it. I’m going to try this with my nieces the next time they come over. Priceless 🙂
I am so excited for the Olympics so everyone will be inspired to try stuff like this. So fun!
I absolutely love the pictures! Boys do have a way of reminding mamas to take life less seriously! My last little boy of three gets married in two weeks so keep posting those wonderful pictures of Silas to remind us all 🙂
I love this :). I coached USATF track and field for kids, and while I coached distance running, I sometimes helped out with long jump. I love to see kids doing track and field events, even just trying them out like this! Our club had a track and field day where locals and neighborhood kids could come out and pay $1 to try the events to win ribbons- super fun.
I love the idea. Your kids looked like they had so much fun. You should check out Family Fun May2012 for the Pool Noodle idea. I made the Target station using 8 noodles and then a few for javelins. Of course you’d need a cooler day outside to do it. or lay it flat on the ground and have them jump through the holes.
We had a busy but fun day going to the park for soccer, the zoomobile and then playing at a splash pad. it was a great day with the kids.
Crystal these are precious! A great way for you to become even more familiar with you new camera…a win win!!
Yes… I’m still working on figuring out how to take action photos. I had fun messing around with settings and trying some things out while taking these photos!
Sorry for duplicate comments. I was trying to reply to Charity, but for some reason the comment kept going to the bottom of the comments. Is anyone else having that problem?
Yes. It has not been working for me for a few days and I have seen some other commemts about it not working. Crystal, I’m sure you know about this.
The company we hired to create a new template for us (that we installed last week) has been working hard to get it fixed, but so far, their fixes haven’t worked. I’m holding out hope that all will be back to normal by the end of the day today.
The lovely glitches that come along with big blog upgrades! 🙁
What a great way to use up some energy without braving the heat. What a blessing to have such a large space for playing!
Such cute pictures. My family loves long jump. Every year a nearby homeschool group has a track and field day we take part in and my 3 kids always scoop up all the blue ribbons in the long jump pit. Makes this former long jumping momma proud! Of course I think if I tried it now I would probably just strain something!
cute pictures!
we went to a free concert on our town green last night. we packed a picnic and sat outside listening to great music on a beautiful night!
Oh it looks like your kids had such fun. We may have do something like this at our house as my son loves to jump and would really enjoy trying this I am sure. I am really enjoying all the great ideas others have for having fun with the kids.
This is such a fun idea! We love watching the Olympics, and the trials have gotten us excited for the games, too.
The long jump was one of my favorite “games” to play as a little girl. My cousins and I would use a long piece of pvc pipe as the starting point and see who could jump the farthest. Looks like your kiddos had a great time! 🙂
The children played more with the play clay we made yesterday (today they used cookie cutters on it), and my daughter and I finished making the homemade peppermint patties!
I love your long jump idea. It is 115º here during the day, so indoor activities are a must for us right now.
Does anyone know where to watch any of the Olympics online for free? We don’t have cable but we’d love to see some. I know we caught some of the Winter Olympics last time online on the airing network’s staion, but I don’t know what that is.
The olympics air on NBC. Good luck 🙂
Check out NBCOlympics.com — I don’t think you can watch them online for free unless you have cable, but they should be airing at least a few hours of coverage on NBC every day. Last time around, I think they aired around 5-6 hours each day and it was always the highlights and most-watched stuff.
I think it’s NBC.
My kiddos love this kind of thing! 🙂
Is it just my screen or are all the pictures really that blurry?
Kids in action with no flash = blurry. There’s no way around it (that I know of). I like how the photos show so much movement and energy 🙂
Kids in action with no flash = blurry. There’s no way around it (that I know of). I like how the photos show so much movement and energy 🙂
I love this fun and frugal activity! We will be doing this tomorrow…inside also…it is supposed to be 103 tomorrow in good old Utah.
I am really enjoying this series. Today we went swimming in my parents pool. Yesterday they were able to invite some friends over and play in the sprinklers.
I love the pictures!
Fun!!! Great idea! We went to the library today. Our library gives little stuffed animals after every 5 books read for the summer reading program. My daughter got a new one today so she was super excited 🙂
How fun! Because of our schedules, we never get to go to the library ;( Sad, I know (this is also why I buy my kids a bazillion scholastic books!). Our local library, though, does something similar except they give a book away every X amount of times. Such a fun incentive!
We made a crayon melt board today. The kids loved it and it only cost me $.55! (Dollar store foam board cut in half, and a pack of crayons I bought last year at school time for .05!)