Well, it was for a good cause…
Earlier this week, I attended a family play date with the boys that was hosted by my good friend Beth Feldman for Kool-Aid and KaBOOM!.
Lunch was yummy. I think that it was from Shake Shack, but I’m not sure. I just know that the burgers and the macaroni and cheese were hits at our table. Of course, there was Kool-Aid to drink. I believe that this was the first time that my kids have ever had Kool-Aid (unless someone else served it to them). We’re pretty much an apple juice and water drinking household. (I would love it if they would drink milk, but neither of the boys like milk. That’s a whole other story…) Perhaps if milk tasted like Kool-Aid, I’d have a fighting chance. The day after the event, my kids kept asking for Kool-Aid. (Maybe there really is something addictive in Kool-Aid…)
As soon as the kids finished eating, they went to play. Immediately, Michael went and made a new friend. That wasn’t out of the norm. What did come as a pleasant surprise though is how quickly Sean warmed up. He’s usually ready to play by the end of events/when it’s time to go. This time though, he had fun from the start. He especially enjoyed playing with the various musical instruments and he really liked the Kool-Aid Man. Sean kept following him around until I took a picture of them together (?!)
While there, we also had our photo taken by celebrity photographer Jade Albert (www.jadealbert.com). We were one of the last families to take our picture and she was so good with the kids. The photo came at a perfect time. While trying to hurry up and put pictures on the walls before people came over to our house on Saturday, I realized that I didn’t have any shots with just me and the kids. So, over our sofa was a picture with my husband and the kids and one with the kids together. The night after the photo shoot, I added myself to the family picture wall (yes!).
Credit: Jade Albert (www.jadealbert.com)
The whole point of the event was to help spread the word about a non-profit initiative by KaBOOM!, the national non-profit organization focused on bringing play back into the lives of children. Their goal is to host more than 1,000 “free, fun-for-the-whole-family” Play Days across the country during the week of September 19–27, 2009. Since I’m a softy for a good cause AND several of my Mom in the City readers have been asking when I’m going to host another offline family play date – I’m going to see about throwing a Play Day in my new Queens neighborhood. (My only concern is that the dates fall between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I wonder if that will be a major conflict for my new neighbors…I’ll see.)
In any event, I think that the KaBOOM! Play Days are a great “excuse” to build community in any neighborhood. If you’re interest in planning or finding a Play in your area, please visit www.kaboom.org/playday. I hope that you can join in!