How we spend time together as a family

When your daily routine takes over you can be swept along in the routine of it all and forget to spend time together. We all do it, for us it can sometimes be weeks since we last did anything together and when I realise that I insist on a family day. Finding something to do on our family days is never difficult because we have a list of things we like to do together, below you can read about how we spend our time together as a family.



Day trips


Okay so this one is obvious. Fancy a day together plan a day out, either to a theme park, to a English Heritage property, or even just to a local park. Our day trips have included The Heights of Abraham, Blackpool, and London but our favourites tend to involve Alton Towers or Blackpool.


A family's feet around the glass in the floor of Blackpool Tower.
Just looking at this photo makes my stomach do somersaults!


Getting to eat fish and chips at Blackpool and then letting the boys play in the arcades is all we need for a great day.



Walking


If we want to make a day of it we'll plan in a nice long walk, 12-13 miles sometimes, but more often than not our walks are roughly 4-5 miles. We've walked along canals in Nottingham, along streets in the city, and through Wollaton Park is one of our favourites.


A family walks towards Wollaton Hall in Wollaton Park, Nottingham. This is how we spend our time together as a family.


The great thing about walking is no matter what the weather you're getting outdoors and enjoying what nature has to provide. It's best when it's sunny, obviously, and the boys love being able to run off ahead and play while we walk behind them. Walking helps to get you outdoors as well as making you fitter, it's amazing the difference walking a decent amount every day can make to your fitness levels.



Adventure Golf


While we don't do it every week this activity is one that features fairly regularly. With at least 2 adventure golf places near us we have a great choice and when it's nice outside there's even an outdoors one we could choose.





Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness. 

John C. Maxwell




LP has come to love adventure golf and even though he wasn't very good at it he has always enjoyed it. It's good when you get to see your children's abilities improving over the years and that's just what we've done with LP's adventure golf. It can get competitive sometimes, but I'm quick to put an end to it if it causes arguments, and I think it's good for them to have a little bit of competition.



Bowling


Keeping the competition going our family loves going bowling. We tend to have two games, any more than that and I think we'd all be a bit rubbish! Whenever we tell LP we're going bowling he cheers and can't wait, he's even asked us recently when we're going again. We've even considered going bowling when we visit Walt Disney World this summer - we'll see.


A young boy stands at the start of a bowling row in a bowling alley.
LP watching his bowling ball hit the pins.


To make the bowling a little more fun we'll get the boys food if we're there at a meal time. At Tenpin in Nottingham they have some great platters that the boys love and it's like having a meal out for them. Sometimes the Hubby and I will eat, and sometimes we won't, it just depends how we're feeling.

The bowling itself is fun, we get a little competition going even if it's just agains ourselves, and we laugh and have fun together.



Quasar


Some people call it Quasar, others call it Laser-tag, but whatever you call it it's fun. Don't get me wrong, for the adults in the party it's surprisingly tiring but it's lots of fun. We've tried out a few different places and so far our favourite is in Derby. Basically you run around in a dimly lit room and try to shoot your opponent whether that's the other half of your family, or another family entirely.

We have played on our own, against each other, and we have played with another family. I have to say I think our favourite was playing with another family, because we were sticking together and communicating to make sure we didn't get shot. Lots of fun.



Movies


Our favourite way to enjoy movies is at home, we buy toffee popcorn and extra sweets for the boys, we select our movie of choice and we get to sit at home in our own comfortable chairs and we don't have to worry if someone needs the toilet or a drink in the middle of the movie because we can pause. Of course that doesn't mean we don't enjoy going to the cinema, we just don't do it that often anymore. This is how we've introduced the boys to some of our favourite movies including Blended.


A woman sits eating popcorn while holding a television remote control.




Escape Rooms


Working together towards a common goal is a great way to get everyone together. You're given a task, to escape the room, and you have to work together to figure out how to escape. Solving puzzles, finding clues, and sometimes doing maths (!) to get yourself out of the room you're locked (not really) in.

We all love escape rooms, and we've learned that they're exactly the kind of place that uses all of our talents. We wouldn't escape if just one of us hadn't been there, there's always something we can point at and say "if you hadn't done that we wouldn't have escaped!". It's great when you can do that, especially with your children because you're acknowledging their help with something specific.



Shows


When we can we like to take the boys to the theatre. Sometimes we see musicals and we've managed to take them to see a play too. I believe that because we introduced them to musicals early on (LP was 4 when he saw his first musical - Starlight Express) they both love them and always ask when we're next going to the theatre.


Around the World in 80 Days opening stage.
The stage set up for Around the World in 80 Days.


Hubby and I are always looking for new things we think the boys will enjoy and after taking them to see things like The Wedding Singer, Shrek The Musical, and more recently Legally Blonde, I'm happy to say their love of musicals is only growing. We also took them to see Around the World in 80 Days, a brilliant play that they both still talk about now.

We can't wait to see Shrek The Musical in Nottingham in September and we're currently looking to see what's coming to the area after that so we don't miss out on something else they'd enjoy.



Board games


This is one of our favourite pastimes as a family. Whether it's Scrabble, Yahtzee, or Ticket to Ride we regularly play and there's always a laugh to be had. We introduced LP to board games before he could even play himself, he used to sit on either mine or the Hubby's knee and be part of the "team". He watched us play, watched and listened to our tactics, and learned along the way. Now he's a board game pro and more often than not will win games because of it! 


A hand of cards from Colt Express, being played in the background.
A good hand of cards in Colt Express.


BP didn't start playing board games until he was about 10 years old but he's still a lover of them. We get to have proper family time when we're not messing with technology every 5 minutes, we're all in the moment. It's a lovely way to spend time.





To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. 

Barbara Bush





How to spend time together as a family - here's how we do it.


So there you have it, our list of activities we do as a family as a way of spending time together. Some of these things feature more regularly than others, but each and every one has featured at least once in the last six months.

How do you spend time together as a family?