Off Track Activities

Bowling Boys

Off track ... this Spring it was for FOUR weeks! But we kept busy. Of course there was off-track bowling. The Blackham Boys ALWAYS go bowling when they are off track. I'm not sure how many years we've been doing it now, but it's been several. In addition to the three Blackham Boys, we took friends Travis, Ryland and Ridley. For Cooper, it was broken arm bowling AGAIN (he's getting good at his bowling left handed). This will be Callahan's LAST time participating in the off-track bowling as he will be going to middle school next year (but Colton is looking forward to joining his older brothers ... he did get to go with them on the first day as his preschool had a break).

Park Play

We also went to the park to play. Again, we took friends Travis and Jacob, and met friends Mara, Marc and Tony there. It was wonderful weather, not too hot, and not too crowded.

Inflatable Fun

And then there was Jump and Bounce (previously "JumpingJacks ... we hadn't been since it changed ownership and we were surprised at all the changes). I had purchased a Groupon for a month pass a while back, and thought this off-track time would be the perfect time to redeem it. We went the first week the kids were off track and the boys had a blast. We planned to go several more times ... then Cooper broke his arm :(

We did still make a couple more trips in ... once taking Travis (above), another time taking Jacob and Bailey (pictured below). Even Landon went ... he's not in the picture below because he is an ornery teenager and doesn't always obey his mommy, especially when it comes to cameras. Just FYI ... when we went a couple years ago, Landon broke HIS arm jumping off one of the large inflatables. This was the first time Landon had gone back... luckily, without incident.

We also went once in the evening, meeting friends Mara, Marc and Tony there... it was less crowded than during the day, which was surprising to me. Our month pass still has a week left, so hopefully we'll get in one more visit after school hours.

Cooper still went with us after he broke his arm. He was a good sport, and sat waiting with Mom in the lounge. I brought books, puzzles, Ipods, etc. to help entertain (yes, in the picture above he's playing a game on one Ipod touch while a movie is playing on another one). To reward him for his patience, Mom and Cooper went out to lunch at Golden Corral, one of Cooper's favorite spots ... although I think he'd be happy with just the dessert bar (just the ice cream in fact!).

So, we probably would have done a little more during the off-track time, if we didn't have the broken arm to deal with. I did drop off the older boys (plus Ryland and Travis) at Nicklemania one day. We thought about a movie, but that didn't materialize. The kids were pretty happy just playing and hanging out. The Wii got a workout, and the basketball hoop was in fairly constant use. And while the boys are great kids and I don't mind having them around, it will be nice to get back to school and back to a routine to finish up the year. I just hope we can get up in the mornings after sleeping in!