Grateful Dad #7.24: Toys, Eating Out, & A Lot of Playtime
We’re still sticking to our weekly family routine of going out on weekends to our favorite places, eating in our favorite restaurants, and buying grocery items. For the last two weeks though, we’ve been taking with us two more kids; our children’s cousins. I do admit that it can be challenging when you have four kids in tow with you but it’s also a lot of fun. They’re raucous, hard to control, and always fighting. Beyond the chaos though, their laughter is music to our ears.
Grateful Dad #7.24: Toys, Eating Out, & A Lot of Playtime
Not only that, but we’ve also been loving our usual weekend habit which I think packs a lot of excitement:
Buying toys
In a previous post, I said how I love our usual bonding activity of going to a local supermarket called Massway Hypermarket because they have a lot of cheap finds on display. We particularly (my youngest son, most especially) like the toy section because the items on display are way less inexpensive as compared to those sold in bigger malls. However, I did notice that over the last few months, there were no new toys on display. Even Rafa seemed like he was getting uninterested with the toys being sold.
Just a few weeks ago though, Massway has expanded its toy section. In fact, they have more than a quarter of the entire floor dedicated to toys alone. That also means new items on display. I have to admit also that I do quite enjoy going to the toy section myself. I realized that I haven’t really lost the kid in me and I still get excited about new toy finds.
Here’s a sample toy which I found to be really neat:
If you want to get this item, too, you can find a similar one at almost the same price in Lazada or Shopee.
Eating out
We love to eat out as a family, and we have several favorite restaurants where we have lunch on weekends. Lately though, when we ask the kids where they want to eat out, they would always shout “McDonald’s!” My kids love McDonald’s fried chicken, nuggets, and sundae (and the Happy Meal with toys, of course). Meanwhile, Mommy Khris and I love McDonald’s cheeseburger. Good thing there are four McDonald’s outlets near our place, so it’s easy to get their favorite chicken whenever they ask for it.
On the other hand, the children have two favorite McDonald’s outlets because these have play areas, which brings us to our next topic.
Playtime
We would always cap our usual weekend routine with playtime, either in their favorite indoor playgrounds in SM City Fairview or at McDonald’s. At McDonald’s, it’s a lot more practical because use of the play area is free and we don’t have to go anywhere far after eating. The children can play all they want as long as the store is still open.
As for the indoor play areas, we would usually just get one hour and we can see that it was too short for the kids. That’s why we would only go for this option when we also plan to do grocery shopping so that we’d have more time to buy our supplies at home.
I’d never trade this routine for anything else. I understand that our kids will grow soon and they’ll have their own weekend plans. Until that day arrives, I’ll cherish our family bonding moments while they still last.