Large Family Fun at a Small Price

Shoe, Contributing Editor

Some of the issues we face when going out can be challenging. We usually look for activities that are essentially childproofed already and this helps a lot. Activities like going to McDonald's play land, or Burger King play land. These are nice for a quick break away from the house and the kids can play together or apart. We have not had behavior problems, probably because if we do, that particular child will have to sit out for the rest of the play time, or if it happens at leaving time they sit out the first 15 minutes the next time we go and I write it in my book for next time.

**** A place to go for the afternoon if you like a variety of activities is a hotel. KEEP LISTENING, it doesn't cost $$$ money. THIS IS INTERESTING. We like to swim and also do other things. We have a beach for 3 months in town but up here in Minnesota where for 6 months it is 20 below; entertainment that is AFFORDABLE and warm is scarce. I will book a room at the local hotel/motel for $30.00 but we won't stay the night though. IT'S OUR TICKET to the pool/sauna/whirlpool/exercise room and game room. Sometimes I'll tell the attendant we are only coming to swim and relax for the day or evening (because they don't want all those kids sleeping in that one room). Our Best Western in town has a waterslide at the hotel, but we haven't gone yet because we have other favorites and it's $30 for a room. One has an exercise room & one has great satellite TV, so when the football games are blacked out we go to the hotel to watch. It's cheaper than tickets or anything else and we don't have to pick up the mess. One place we found an hour north has a daycare, and is right next to the mall. So at Christmas if we need to go to a bigger town to get gifts, we go there. My husband and I shop while the two infants play at the daycare. We take the rest unless they change to unlimited sibling care. That night we go swimming, then pack up and drive home and the kids get a nap.
One hotel we frequent the most is 3 miles away and had the cheapest rate, $19.00. They have a sauna/hot spring type pool and a pool table right next to the POOL. At first it was the only affordable choice for fun for the month. Later I asked the management how often they used their party room off of the pool. They didn't use it that much, so I asked that for $10.00 if they would rent it to me for 2 hours. Then we could afford to come maybe three times a month or more and we wouldn't stay all day and could even come during off hours. This way they would still make more money off us but we would get the same or less amount of POOL time in and could go almost once a week. Now it's getting tied up with other large families and the manager is really happy. When it is over booked we just do the room rate. This week he called and said in the winter when travel is slow he's going to charge $2.00 a person for open swimming. He'll reserve up to 20 people on his off days. He said he'd keep my secret about the pay for a night and only stay a day a secret from the other big families who reserve the party room. So we can still come whenever we want just pay a smidge more. In my organizer book, I keep in the hotel section of my phone book the names of the hotels I am willing to drive to and what they have to offer, at what price. This comes in handy for budgeting and also when money is very tight and as a family we make decisions. One hotel, the Holiday Inn, has a basketball court and indoor playground. It's an hour and a half south of us but when we had foster kids that were teens, they liked to play basketball and also meet people. We always have enough for a team because the hotel is popular for other teens that are traveling. Our kids get to learn about where others come from, and what they do, kind of a diversity class. Our experiences with people have been positive and others comment HEY MAYBE WE SHOULD HAVE A LARGE FAMILY, IT'S PRETTY EASY!!!! Well we won't tell them about the HARD DAYS, anyways.

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