I'm making a list of things to do with the DCs and DH over the next few months - please come and inspire me.

[mckenzie]

Dh and I have got into a bad rut with life, our marriage and our family and I want to do something to kick start getting us out of it. I think we need to plan things to do at the weekend so that we don't end up doing the same old, same old 'stuff' which is usually pretty boring for all concerned.

So, I've started the list with

Imperial War Museum
Oliver! the musical
Southend on Sea
Bikes to Trent Park

Please can you add some ideas? I'm also going to get the diary out and invite friends/family to sunday lunch/dinner/tea etc and book things in for the next goodness knows how long.

Here's the brief.

DD is just turned 5, can ride a bike without stabilisers (but not competent enough yet for roads or even main road pavements), can swim well, loves music and dance

DS is nearly 9, rides a bike well, loves football, golf, cars and music, can swim well

DH is into cars, movies but is a busy self emplyed businessman first and a dad second (my description, not his).

I love the outdoors, will turn my hand to anything pretty much, love physical activities, don't mind getting wet.

We live fairly close to Junction 24 of the M25 and have tube and train stations quite close by.

TIA

Paradise Wildlife Park is pretty good, esp for your younger one.

Maybe get a cheapish tent and try camping for a couple of nights this summer? We are considering doing this, I think the kids will love it. Not sure about me! lol!

We spent the day at the Science Museum recently and DS (8, nearly 9) and DD (age 5) both enjoyed it. Somehting for each of them.

Golf driving range? DS loves it, and DD is getting the hang of it too. DH loves it, i do my best

Long walks and apicnic.
Go swimming.
Cook together

These are our favourite things.I can't be doing with expensivedays out to 'attractions' on the whole.
Being in peace and together best healer for troubledtimes.

I'm with moondog. We might go to the cinema one day and we are out for lunch tomorrow but that's it. TV is off between 9am and 4pm (though occasional DVD may be allowed). Going to play,read, walk and chill.

Yes, the parking, the paying through the nose, the shite 'food outlets' the other families grimly set on having 'a nice time'. the tat in the inevitable shop, the horror of the inevitable 'softplay' part.

Grim.

Get a dog
Camping's a great one, ditto wildlife park.
Geocaching? You can start with easy ones and it's a great treasure hunt.

thanks guys.

I'm with you on the 'attractions' thing but I will need to have some ideas of those up my sleeve too.

DH would never camp - he is a snob who likes luxury. The DCs and i did cub camp summer before last and loved it though so perhaps we can just get DH to put the tent up in our garden when the weather is drier.

I'm not good at being indoors for too long hence the playing at home idea, although I love for short periods, doesn't work for me all day.

A dog!!! I would LOVE to get a dog. DH is totally against the idea. I have tried and tried but cannot persuade him to relent. We did have a cat and now have goldfish!

I was really looking for ideas of things that i wont find in the 'Days out' guide books really, things that you guys have found by accident or days out that you have invented etc. Fun but free and out doors would be perfect!

MCkenzie, all thisweek the Guardian did a great pull out every day on things to do with kids,divided into sections

eg
Cooking
Museums
Outdoors.

You canget them all for ten quid or look at them in your library.

Whipsnade? Walking a good long stretch of the Thames? Punting in Cambridge when the weather is warmer.

Find a leisure centre that has flumes and a bit more than your average pool and go and have a fun day there. We live north kent/London border and have found good one at Bromley and also one at Larkfield near Maidstone.

Picnic! You can make it as posh or as budget as you like. Take a frisbee, football, little radio, whatever you like. Find somewhere you've never been before.
Something I always wanted to do was investigate lots of the brown road signs pointing the way to a Castle, House, Park, Museum, Ruin etc. They pop up all over the place but if you're already on the way somewhere you never stop to see.

like nannynobnobs said - what about geocaching? nerdy/techy side for DH, treasure hunt for the DCs and outdoors for you. plus its freeeeee!

www.geocaching.com

thanks again everyone. The Geocaching looks ideal - I'm going tosee if there is an App for my I Phone!. And thank you for the other ideas too. Is there a stretch of the Thames that's particularly interesting for children do you know cleanandclothed?

Scavenger hunt - costs nothing, can be prepared easily, with harder items to find for the adults.

Then head for the nearest wood/country park and have fun

Langdon Hills country park is meant to be good and not too far from you

The South Bank stretch from Westminster east is good, at weekends they sometimes have a fairground roundabout thing at waterloo, and often have living statues etc. The Thames barrier bit is nice, wildlife park etc. You can look http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/BridgeLiftTimes/ here to see when Tower Bridge will lift up.

thanks again candc. Have you ever been to watch the Boat Race? That's this saturday but it does seem a fair old trek from where we live. Just wondering if anyone has been and if it's deemed worth it.

The RAF museum at Hendon is excellent and not just for boys/nerds! Masses of parking, free entry, coffeeshop, nearby pub, lots of 2WW stuff (useful for school) as well as planes and old cars.

How about National Trust membership? Lots of nice sites near you I think, most with parks and grounds for walks and cycle rides.

Book way ahead and get a cheap Travelodge for 2 nights over a weekend. Wherever there is one available. Then use the run up time to research the little-known things there are to do nearby. And go to the local cafes for brekkie (my kids love to do this). You can discover somewhere you never really knew existed!

Forget Stonehenge, go to Avebury, Wiltshire and see the (much more impressive, and free) stone circle there. Lovely pub (Red Lion - good food and v.friendly) in the village too. Excellent walking country. Devizes is near there too and is the most lovely market town.

Cheap train deals (book a couple months ahead) and go to York for 2 days. Railway Museum, Castle Museum, city walls, Yorvik. Brilliant city to visit.

In London - for car enthusiasts, visit the big posh dealerships, they let you get in the cars and so on. Mini on Park Lane, Fiat on Baker Street are our faves. Sitting having a coffee in the window at Nero/starbucks on Edgware Road is also a good place for seeing expensive cars go by

Knebworth (on the A1 near Stevenage) is a good day out when the weather's nice. Mediumly expensive but once you're in you can do all the things. Fab dinosaur trail and adventure playground. Millions of acres of parkland for cycling, picnicing, walking. Lots of events held there too (classic cars one is good), and dont normally charge extra admission for events.

Good for you BTW, trying to get out of a rut, sounds like you're all going to have a lovely 2010

thank you so much pinkycheesy. We love the idea of the car showrooms - DH, DS and I are all car fans. DD will cope!

I'd forgotten about Knebworth - we went there years ago and although I remember it being fairly expensive to get in, we did stay from dawn to dusk so it felt like money well spent.

And I shall definitely check out the Avebury idea. MIL took DS to Stonehenge last year as a birthday treat and they loved it.

Yesterday we did a spur of the moment trip to Paradise Wildlife Park as an Easter treat (we haven't bought eggs or presents for ourselves or the children). It was fabulous! Pretty much deserted and again, we spent hours and hours there and had a lovely family day. DH and i even smiled at each other for the first time in about 3 weeks!
We've had a free one today with swimming and lunch at SILs followed by trip to park. Tomorrow - London, street entertainers at Covent Garden (free), walk along the river Thames and over London Bridge (free) and see what else there is to see. DS is with me while I am typing this and this is at his request.....