This week, I am not going through small town culture shock.
I did not spend at least 45 minutes scouring the cities of Princeton, Zimmerman, Elk River, and Cambridge's websites looking for something -- anything -- to do with the girls. But if I had spent that much time searching, I'm sure I would have come up with an array of different fun, exciting, and unique local sights and activities to try out.
But one of those sites certainly would not suggest the local Pamida as a local attraction. No way.
I would not eventually resort to calling the local MOPS group leader and asking her just what local moms do for fun with their kids around here. And her first suggestion was NOT the McDonald's play land in Elk River, followed by the McDonald's play land in Rogers.
"Yeah, but is there anything else? Like, do any of the neighboring cities have community centers or anything?"
And she did NOT suggest Monticello and Becker's community centers (both about an hour away).
"So really there's nothing to do in Princeton in the winter?"
"No, not really. In the summer there are parks and stuff, but winter is pretty boring around here."
And my girls and I did not spend the rest of the day...at home.
5 comments:
Oh...that is sad. =(
Well, at least you have a fabulous house to play in!!! Guess that is why country kids are always so great...because they have to learn to make their own fun! Fill up some spray bottles with water and food coloring and go decorate the snow...once it stops snowing. That should fill an hour at least. =) Give it some time...I am sure you will find lots of fun things to do. (And now that we know how to get to your place...and it is only an hour..we can come and visit more! The drive wasn't bad at all.)
So there is a local MOPS group? If not, maybe start your own group. Even if you only meet one or two other moms it's a start. Take the bull by the horns. Oh-and I really like Amber's idea with the spray bottles. Maybe Lar and I will do that tonight:)
G
Hmm...I should have warned you. :) But Amber's right - we do learn to make our own fun! I'd say 80% of what we did in Ihlen in the winter was going sledding (we probably went sledding 3x/week), going to friend's houses in town, playing with my siblings, playing in the snow, and going for walks. Once a month, or once every two months we'd drive to Sioux Falls (THE CITY!) which was 45 minutes away and spend the day there.
It's probably going to drive you a little bonkers for a while, but your kids probably won't mind as much as you think. I find I am very easy to please and it's very hard to make me bored, and I attribute that to my small town upbringing. Be encouraged! For your own sanity, you might want to discover a new hobby or creative outlet for yourself.
I'm sure there's a local library - you could get a library card and spend the morning there once a week. Once summer hits, I HIGHLY recommend building a play house for the girls in the backyard!!! It attracts little friends (and their moms!!).
Sounds like country living is very similar to being a family with only one car. I guess that's why Sammy is so good at playing by himself. Your girls won't mind it, really. The key is to keep yourself from getting too bored/lonely.
Country kids build snowmen (and apparently you can even color them w/ spray bottles of colored water) and forts...great igloo type forts with their beach buckets packed with snow; make a maze in the yard with the snow shovels; feed the birds bread scraps; oh and snow angels...lots of snow angels! If they have tiny plastic snow shovels, they help mommie shovel the driveway for fun so they can sled down the pile they made. Then there's always snow icecream for those girls with a tiny sweet tooth! Whatever it is you find to do...have fun just being together.
Love, Grandma Lynn
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