LouFamFun $10 Challenge – June
So my girl and I started the day off with 10 bucks. Instead of
racking my brain trying to create a day of magical childhood memories I decided
to put a different spin on it. My now 7-year-old is quite the free thinker. In
fact she is probably the free-est thinker in the 2nd grade. “So ‘Noodle’”, as I have called her since she
was 2, “What’s on our agenda today? We
have 10 bucks, use it wisely”. Without
hesitation Noodle responds, “Let’s go to the Beckley Station Park at the Parklands”.
So it’s 9:30am and we’re off…
“THIS
IS AWESOME!!!” She screams! For time
management purposes, I don’t take cues from that nutty little chicken nugget
often enough, so the idea of the day being left to her discretion was a very
exciting concept. It’s just us today. Her brother is at a friend’s house and will
not be a part of the equation until later on tonight. On that note, we lather on the sunscreen,
pack a lunch and head out on our excursion.
We begin our day by hiking a nature trail near the paddling access
called Coppiced Woods Trail, which is a
soft-surface trail through the woods surrounding William F. Miles Lakes.
IS AWESOME!!!” She screams! For time
management purposes, I don’t take cues from that nutty little chicken nugget
often enough, so the idea of the day being left to her discretion was a very
exciting concept. It’s just us today. Her brother is at a friend’s house and will
not be a part of the equation until later on tonight. On that note, we lather on the sunscreen,
pack a lunch and head out on our excursion.
We begin our day by hiking a nature trail near the paddling access
called Coppiced Woods Trail, which is a
soft-surface trail through the woods surrounding William F. Miles Lakes.
If you hike the entire thing, which we did, it
is 1.87 miles long. We took a couple
breaks to skip stones, have a snack and check out the nature hanging out around
us. It took a total of 2 hours. We finished up on the awesome playground they
have there. “What’s
next?” I ask her. “Hmmm”, she says. It’s about 11:30am so our day is still young.
is 1.87 miles long. We took a couple
breaks to skip stones, have a snack and check out the nature hanging out around
us. It took a total of 2 hours. We finished up on the awesome playground they
have there. “What’s
next?” I ask her. “Hmmm”, she says. It’s about 11:30am so our day is still young.
Next my little love-bug
mentions my other favorite freebie activity.
“Can we Geocache?” she asks. For
those of you that are not familiar with this super cool treasure hunting
activity, you should be. Here’s a link to more on that at What is Geocaching? “You
betcha”, I respond. There’s a free app
on my phone that I can pull up and instantly, no matter where we are, it will
give us 3 geo locations to choose from.
mentions my other favorite freebie activity.
“Can we Geocache?” she asks. For
those of you that are not familiar with this super cool treasure hunting
activity, you should be. Here’s a link to more on that at What is Geocaching? “You
betcha”, I respond. There’s a free app
on my phone that I can pull up and instantly, no matter where we are, it will
give us 3 geo locations to choose from.
Tom Sawyer State Park is quite the hot spot for these things and a
great place to pop a picnic…so we’re off…again.
We find a box of treasure, switch out a couple little goodies and we
take our bounty and set out to eat, picnic style. Under the shade of a White Dogwood Tree munching
on our grub we end up flat on our backs diagnosing the shape of funny little
clouds. I brought a long a couple books,
but they stayed in our bag as we gabbed about girl stuff. I cherish our girl time. I wonder quietly to myself how much longer
I’ll be cool. I do the math…not much
longer.
great place to pop a picnic…so we’re off…again.
We find a box of treasure, switch out a couple little goodies and we
take our bounty and set out to eat, picnic style. Under the shade of a White Dogwood Tree munching
on our grub we end up flat on our backs diagnosing the shape of funny little
clouds. I brought a long a couple books,
but they stayed in our bag as we gabbed about girl stuff. I cherish our girl time. I wonder quietly to myself how much longer
I’ll be cool. I do the math…not much
longer.
After
our lunch I decide to surprise her with a little treat. We swing over to the Homemade Pie Kitchen in Springhurst for a kid’s scoop of their
yummy ice cream. A kid’s scoop is $2.12
and it’s just enough. So two of them
came to $4.49 with tax and we’re left with $5.51 in our stash. We enjoy our ice cream and set of for our
finale.
It
was time to pick up her big brother so he could join in the fun. Unfortunately, it started to sprinkle on our
beautiful day. That is just how things
go here in Louisville during the spring.
A gorgeous day may include a slight chance of showers at a seconds
notice. It’s a good thing that there are
so many fabulous inexpensive indoor options here in Louisville. I suggest Incredible Dave’s as our final destination. It’s a great place to go when you’re trying
to appeal to a group of varying ages. I
had to be very blunt about our budget upfront.
If you’ve never been to Incredible Dave’s it can be quite overwhelming. There are tons of things to do. I
wouldn’t normally put this on my list of inexpensive things to do. Just like any other place like that, the
individual cost of activities can add up quickly, which is why I split the
money between them and let them decide how it was spent. They are much more selective about how they
choose to spend it when it comes out of their own little pockets. They chose to split a couple rounds of Hwy 66
bowling. This is a miniature version of
bowling for kids. Perfect for kids who
want to play and for parents who don’t want the ground to shake every time they
drop regular bowling ball. They burnt up
the rest on ski ball. We had an amazing day and we all came
together at the end for some great family fun.
was time to pick up her big brother so he could join in the fun. Unfortunately, it started to sprinkle on our
beautiful day. That is just how things
go here in Louisville during the spring.
A gorgeous day may include a slight chance of showers at a seconds
notice. It’s a good thing that there are
so many fabulous inexpensive indoor options here in Louisville. I suggest Incredible Dave’s as our final destination. It’s a great place to go when you’re trying
to appeal to a group of varying ages. I
had to be very blunt about our budget upfront.
If you’ve never been to Incredible Dave’s it can be quite overwhelming. There are tons of things to do. I
wouldn’t normally put this on my list of inexpensive things to do. Just like any other place like that, the
individual cost of activities can add up quickly, which is why I split the
money between them and let them decide how it was spent. They are much more selective about how they
choose to spend it when it comes out of their own little pockets. They chose to split a couple rounds of Hwy 66
bowling. This is a miniature version of
bowling for kids. Perfect for kids who
want to play and for parents who don’t want the ground to shake every time they
drop regular bowling ball. They burnt up
the rest on ski ball. We had an amazing day and we all came
together at the end for some great family fun.
They both fought a car nap on the
way home. After dinner we snuggled up on the couch with
a movie (Marmaduke which
is one our favorites). The movie really
just provides the background noise to our giggling as we share little
highlights of our day. Every one retires
with a smile on their face and the $10 challenge was an absolute success; brother even requested a $10 day of his
own. The planning has already begun. What would you do with your $10?
way home. After dinner we snuggled up on the couch with
a movie (Marmaduke which
is one our favorites). The movie really
just provides the background noise to our giggling as we share little
highlights of our day. Every one retires
with a smile on their face and the $10 challenge was an absolute success; brother even requested a $10 day of his
own. The planning has already begun. What would you do with your $10?
By guest contributor: Whitney