There’s something wonderful about warm summer nights. Playing around outside until the sun goes does reminds me of childhood. When I was younger, my neighbors and I loved playing games like ghost in the graveyard, kick the can and capture the flag.
Every night Ryan and I try to get outside with Sadie.
We’ll go for a walk or play Frisbee in the backyard. Watching her have a ball makes me forget about the stressful things in my life.
She’s so full of joy!
Sadie keeps us active and is a serious source of stress relief! She always reminds me to enjoy the little things in life (I mean, how cool are sticks!?) and watching her lose her mind over something as small as a lizard makes me smile about things that I might otherwise overlook. (Sadie actually stops to smell flowers. For real.)
I’ve actually talked with some of our friends about planning a Summer Nights themed party this summer where we grill out and take time to play classic outdoor games like capture the flag. Wouldn’t that be awesome!?
Workout + Breakfast
This morning’s workout was less that stellar. I couldn’t get in the zone and felt like I spent more time resting in between sets than actually working out. They can’t all be winners, I suppose!
Once we got home from the gym, I made a batch of scrambled eggs with spinach and shredded cheese.
I topped my eggs with avocado and served them with a toasted whole wheat English muffin.
And now it’s off to work! See ya after lunch!
Question of the Morning
- What was your favorite outdoor game to play when you were younger?
My favorite game was definitely kick the can! If you have kids and they’re looking for a fun outdoor game to play this summer, I highly recommend it. Just in case you’ve never heard of it before, you can read all of the rules here.
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We used to always play kick ball in the middle of the street and use mail boxes as the bases. Whenever a car would be coming down the road someone would yell, CAR!! so fun!!!!!!
Cops and Robbers was my jam! I’m trying to organize a campus-wide capture the flag game as a fundraiser for my rugby team. I think it’d be awesome!
Ah cops and robbers was my favorite too! Summer nights are the best for games 🙂
A summer nights party sounds fun!! We used to play a lot of make-believe games, and used to love to have swimming parties followe by Pepperidge Farm chocolate layer freezer cake (I hope you know the one I mean!). 🙂 Those were the days!
I loved playing outside every night as a kid. I miss living in a neighborhood because I even enjoy watching kids play them now! My favorites were probably ghost in the graveyard, jailbreak, and DEFINITELY man hunt! And I love watching how excited Elmo gets over even a plastic water bottle. He’s just SO happy and really helps with the tough days!
I used to play kick the can with all of my neighbors. Good times!
I loved capture the flag with all of my heart. And yes, summer nights are THE best!!
I LOVED capture the flag at summer camp, we took it really seriously!
Vizslas truly are SO full of joy!! You can never stay upset with them for too long 🙂
My favorite was always capture the flag. All the kids in my cul de sac would wear all black and play as long as our parents would let us!
When I was a kid, we lived a few blocks from a park that had a massive playground in it. My brothers, friends, and I would go there and play tag. You could run around for hours all over the equipment without getting tagged. Good for the runners, bad for the tagger! Haha
Ghost in the graveyard was always one of my favorites!
My neighborhood friends and I used to play ghost in the graveyard as many times as possible and for as late as possible in the summer. We’d hear my mum whistle and know it was time to run home!
DEFF german spotlight! Man, we would play across 4 or 5 yards and basically run the neighborhood! I would never run around in the woods after dark, what were we thinking! But it was SO fun. Oh to be young again 🙂
I love hot box! Also capture the flag and hide and seek at night. One of my neighbors had an awesome backyard for it!
I absolutely loved Kick Ball!! So much fun with a huge group of people!!
Capture the flag is so much fun but oh my gosh ghost in the graveyard! I completely forgot about this one but I used to love it!
HOW COOL ARE STICKS?! Haha the little boy I nanny for is obsessed with them. Put him in front of a pile of sticks and he’s occupied for 6 minutes! Which is a lot for an 11 month old 😉
Tag was always my favorite outdoor game when I was younger – a classic! Love the outdoors!
Kimberly Ann
http://trendkeeper.me
Butts up! All you need is a tennis ball and a garage door. The object of the game is to throw the tennis ball, hard, at the garage door. Another person would catch it. If that person drops it or fumbles it, they would have to run and tag the garage door. If someone picks up the ball and throws it and it hits the garage door before the runner does, then they have to get on all 4’s with the their butt in the air and everyone gets to throw the tennis ball at them. Did I mention I was very much a tomboy? It was so much fun!!!
Until I was nine we lived in Nevada and the neighborhood kids would always play hide and seek in neighbors yards. There were no fences between houses and everyone knew us and trusted us when we hid in bushes and behind cars. We would also have block parties. I don’t know if that is done anymore but they were great!
After moving to Alaska, it was very different in that you don’t get to know your neighbor and everyone keeps to themselves. I did have one neighbor though that would let me jump on his trampoline anytime. I could do that for hours in the evening and forget what time it was because it never gets dark in the summer.
I loved Candyman! That was my favorite. Sooo scary at dusk when you can’t see who’s about to get you!
I loved flash light tag! All the neighborhood kids would get together on warm summer nights to play it!
Capture the flag was always so fun!! And man-hunt!
when did you and Ryan make the decision to get Sadie? What were the important factors for you guys? We are looking into puppy parenthood but have found, realistically, that it’s actually a lot more involved than we had anticipated!
I have really been feelin’ avocados for breakfast lately as well!
My fave outdoor game growing up was capture the flag. We played it at camp, and all I ever wanted was for my team to win! I think we might have won once, but I remember it being quite the intense battle.
I totally agree…warm summer nights are the best! And I love that it’s so much lighter later in the day this time of year too! I loved playing hide and go seek or red light/green light when we were little.
Kick Ball!! I loved playing that in the cul de sac of my neighborhood!
Isn’t it great how dogs can completely change the way you see the world?!
There must have been something in the air this morning! haha, cause I left my workout feeling like crap and hating it. My gym was extra muggy though, so I’m pretty sure that played into it!
Over the 4th of July my sisters and I were talking about ghost in the graveyard! We played that so much growing up. Now I really want to have a summer nights party too!
I love avocado with my eggs too! If my dogs are outside in the heat for ten minutes they want to come inside lol… but evening time is so much better for walks and play time 🙂
roller hockey! us neighborhood kids played ALL.THE.TIME. growing up!
Aw, funnnn!!! That sounds like an amazing party to me 🙂 Growing up, our neighborhood always played Man Hunt. http://m.wikihow.com/Play-Manhunt
Scott still doesn’t know what it is, but it certainly was a favorite of my neighborhood. Love Sadie’s outlook on life too!
Yay for Kick the Can! I haven’t met many other people who have heard of that game, much less played it ;). My cousins, siblings and I played that almost every day during the summer when we were all together. Sometimes we could even get the adults to join in ;). One summer, one of my uncles and his kids visited our old house in Louisville that had a cemetery behind it and we played Kick the Can in the cemetery at night. So fun!
I loved flashlight tag. I hated Red Rover. I always hung out with my sister’s friends and they were older than me so they always picked me to run up to since I was little.
Oh Sadie looks so happy! Summer nights are the best 🙂 I also loved playing kick the can! I think my favorite outdoor summer activity is sand volleyball. I was even in a mud volleyball tourney in my hometown a few years ago and it was tons of fun!
Hide & Go Seek
I love when you post about nostalgic topics! I’d totally forgotten about these games. We played Hide & Go Seek, Jailbreak, Flashlight Tag, Capture the Flag, and Ghost in the Graveyard. However, my favorite game was one my family and I claim to have made up called, quite simply, Zombies. It’s a spooky combo of Hide & Go Seek and tag games. (Zombie Tag is popular now, I hear, and sounds pretty much the same.) We always played Zombies inside, as a replacement for outdoor play. I grew up on a couple of lumpy acres in the boonies of Washington, so it was often too cold and risky to play outside at night. If anyone raises kids in a similar position, here’s how to play Zombies: turn off all the lights in the house but open the blinds to let in some moonlight and keep people from tripping. Tell all the youngsters to hide. If any are too scared to face Zombie Dad or Zombie Mom, let them assume the role of Baby Zombie (note: this was always my role as I found my 6’3″ dad chasing us through a dark house moaning like the undead too terrifying a reality. Better the hunter than the huntee, right?) Let some time pass, but don’t count down — victims are never to know when the zombies are coming, save when they hear the raspy breaths of the oncoming horde. When the zombie(s) spot the children, they’re to shamble towards them in an obvious manner so children have time to run away screaming and hide again. The zombies may speed up next time. Those whom are caught join the undead horde. The last survivor gets to assume the role of Zombie in the next round. Sorry this is a bit long, I just wanted to share the fun! Sweet childhood memories…
We used to play pickle with all of the neighbor kids! You set up 2 bases and it’s basically monkey in the middle except the “monkey(s)” has to run from base to base without being tagged. I could play that game for hours!
With friends: cops and robbers or wiffle ball! With the family: bocce ball and badminton!
We used to play flashlights all the time! I wish there was such a thing as a “warm summer” here but sadly it is 117 degrees and there is no playing outside until the sun goes down, unless you want to die of heat exhaustion! haha.
Oh my gosh, I LOVED kick the can as a kid. We played it all the time! Maybe it’s a Chicago thing, since that’s where I grew up, too. I seriously miss the days when you would swim all day and play all night!
Definitely ghost in the grave! Looking back, those were the happiest days of my life…
I love outdoor games. I remember playing Capture the Flag every summer at camp. It was always the favorite game. We also played lots of basketball at my house. Even now my husband and I love to throw frisbee, just to get outside for a while.
Oooh childhood games were the best I think my favorite was night tag!
And Dobby stops to smell flowers too, it kills me