What COVID friendly activities do you like to do?

[StantonHyde]

Also, riding may be safe in terms of COVID but not in some other ways. DGD1 enjoyed riding for a while until she had a fall that resulted in a fairly bad arm fracture when she was maybe 8 or 9. Fortunately the growth plates were not affected but it was a longish rehab. For the next few years, she had several more bad wrist sprains and a hairline fracture in the same arm. Fortunately she decided that she preferred swimming!


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I have ridden competed at various stages in my life. Yes, you can probably find a cheap barn to take weekly lessons--in your case, bisous, I would say you would have to drive 2 hours inland to find that!!! I will confess that I am glad my kids were not bitten by the horse bug. Lots of money and time. In any area, there are usually cheap lesson programs through parks and rec. For us, figure skating was dirt cheap and each kid did 6 weeks of lessons once (thank goodness not more--cuz that is big bucks after a while). Ski/snowboard lesson/rental programs through the schools or various organizations are cheap here. It just depends. What about water sports in California? I have a friend here who loves kayaking. You can rent kayaks at REI or at a local college/university sometimes. She goes to local reservoirs/lakes and kayaks with her kids. You can find cheap boats on local "craigs list" type things or see if those rental places are selling any.

[gatorsmom]

I have ridden competed at various stages in my life. Yes, you can probably find a cheap barn to take weekly lessons--in your case, bisous, I would say you would have to drive 2 hours inland to find that!!! I will confess that I am glad my kids were not bitten by the horse bug. Lots of money and time. In any area, there are usually cheap lesson programs through parks and rec. For us, figure skating was dirt cheap and each kid did 6 weeks of lessons once (thank goodness not more--cuz that is big bucks after a while). Ski/snowboard lesson/rental programs through the schools or various organizations are cheap here. It just depends. What about water sports in California? I have a friend here who loves kayaking. You can rent kayaks at REI or at a local college/university sometimes. She goes to local reservoirs/lakes and kayaks with her kids. You can find cheap boats on local "craigs list" type things or see if those rental places are selling any.

This is great advice and on that same note, if you are looking for outdoor activites ideas, scouting might be a great fit for one or more of your kids. It would introduce your kids to so many activities and if the Scoutmaster and trouo leadership is strong, it will be well-planned-out and organized. Scouting can be very expensive but doesn’t have to be. A well-established Troup should have its own supplies and and provide financial aid (this may not be true of all troupe).

Neither Dh or myself or anyone I knew was actively involved in scouting growing up. But through scouting my boys and daughter have tried archery, fishing, hiking and identifying birds, insects and wildlife. They have learned first aid, winter safety, how to build a shelter in summer and winter, photography, codes and signals, personal money management, responsible environment management, different types of energy, cooking outdoors, planning, shopping for and managing others to prepare a meal for 11 people (including cleanup), etc. Dh and volunteered to supervise when we could but they worked with our schedule. The troop emphasis is on helping the kids participate as much as they wanted not being limited by their parents’ availability. Many of the activities were quite strenuous. My kids sleep well after a day or weekend with their troop! There are Organization-wide rules for COVID safety too which individual troops are obliged to follow. For the most part, I’ve been impressed with how they’ve complied (they backed down and listened to reason when they tried something unsafe). It might be a good fit for your kids. It doesn’t cost anything to attend a few meetings to get a feel for the group.

[lizzywednesday]

DD is playing video games on her Switch and FaceTiming her BFF.

She and her cousin AT used Zoom to play in a similar way last Sunday; she wants to do that again, so I'll see if I can arrange it with my SIL.

My troop is also doing Girl Scout meetings on Zoom until the weather warms up. I should note that we were recently permitted to meet indoors, provided we met certain conditions regarding group size limits (no more than 10 people, adults and Girl Scouts, may meet indoors right now) and locations (they're pretty explicit about no private homes, but I don't think the usual haunts are allowing outside groups just yet, and, frankly, I'm not comfortable meeting indoors right now.)

I've been reading more, but I also need to re-commit to physical activity beyond doing DD's PhysEd at-home workouts with her, so I may start a Couch-to-5K program if I can get new running shoes (mine are 2 years old) and workout clothes (my favorite yoga pants are literally coming apart at the seams.)

We've been cooking at home more, but I feel like a lot of people have also been doing this, and I just got a new cookbook all about making ramen that I'm looking forward to reading & bookmarking.

[gymnbomb]

We've been cooking at home more, but I feel like a lot of people have also been doing this, and I just got a new cookbook all about making ramen that I'm looking forward to reading & bookmarking.

I don't cook (I feed myself and the kids when I need to, but I hate cooking, I'm not good at it, and I have no desire to get better because I don't care what I eat. Fortunately DH cooks most nights.) but I like to bake and so does my 6 year old son. For Christmas I asked for a cake cookbook and we have made 2 cakes from it so far. My plan is to let him help pick out and bake 1-2 things from it each month.

[lizzywednesday]

... A well-established Troup should have its own supplies and and provide financial aid (this may not be true of all troupe).

...

This will vary from organization to organization, but in GSUSA's commitments to its membership, it is explicitly spelled out that financial need shouldn't be a barrier to a Girl Scout being able to join/participate in troop activities. Financial aid is handled at the Council level.

In my Girl Scout council, it's called "Council Cares," but every GSUSA Council should have something like it set up to aid girls.

I have a Girl Scout in my troop who qualifies; each year, I complete a PDF version of the application, have her parent sign it, and I send a scanned copy to the Council Cares officer. We also provide proof of income, which I scan or ask her parent to snap a photo of, to demonstrate financial need.

Council Cares has a budget to provide a grant, disbursed as-needed for events and/or troop dues, as well as shop credit towards uniforms (certain restrictions apply, but a basic GSUSA uniform component, with all its basic insignia, for a younger girl could cost families ~$50 when everything's said and done!) and membership pins.

To make things fair all around, Troop Parents probably pay for more things themselves in my troop than in other troops.

I use Troop Dues to pay for start-of-year materials replenishment and any badges the girls earn before we have income from product sales - that $30/girl went a long way towards creating individual materials/supply bags for girls this year, because we're not allowed to share stuff like markers & scissors due to COVID.

[essnce629]

DH and DS2 have been going on 2 hour long bike rides pretty much every Sunday. I sometimes go along too. It's the only exercise DS2 is getting.

We go in our jacuzzi on the weekends and usually have a movie night with our projector.

DS2 has been doing lots of virtual cooking classes through Outschool and our local cooking school. Yesterday he took a pickles making class and earlier this month he did an eggs benedict class. He loves them.

In October the LA Zoo did drive in movies every weekend. We went to them 3 weekends in a row and will go again when they bring them back.

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