Four Mondays Of : A D V E N T U R E

"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine." - John C. Maxwell

For the last couple of days we have been stuck indoors because of a little cold. Bug has been sick and we have been cuddling, blowing noses, drinking fluids, sleeping lots, watching My Little Pony, and just taking it easy. Sadly we haven't been able to go on a lot of walks, and because we have been resting lots, I wanted to do something special. For Bug and for myself. Something that wouldn't make it seem like we had to wait for this cold to pass, for life to get going again, something fun for RIGHT NOW.

Build a blanket fort!

I haven't made one in years and it was a lot of fun, although very challenging. I don't have a lot of large blankets, clothes pins, safety pins, or narrow walls; all things that I used with the blanket forts that I made as a child. With a very encouraging mother (thanks mom!) who gave me a bunch of ideas as well as told me not to give up, I managed to use the supplies that I had on hand to make what I needed. Tying broomsticks to chairs to create the hight that I needed, tying blankets together to get the length that I needed, using my drying rack, Bug's colouring box, and my scarves: all in the name of fort making!

I tied down my mop and broom securely to my chair with a scarf and tested it out before I placed blankets on top. Since the chair became top heavy once I placed a blanket on it, I made sure that I placed something heavy on the seat of the chair - something sturdy and that wouldn't fall on my child. Safety first! ALWAYS.

Thinking outside of the box was probably the most fun I had all day. For an example: I secured one end of my sheet behind my couch and tied a corner of the sheet to a scarf, which then got tied onto my drying rack. I tied the other corner onto another scarf and tied that to another sheet that I was using. I realized from this fort that I didn't need the supplies that I was used to having, by tying, using my drying rack and brooms, using my scarves to cover up the gab made by the two sheets - I was able to come up with something great. And I had way more fun really thinking about what I needed to make my space work. Building the fort is half the fun.

Bug was way too excited to hold still. We watched an episode of My Little Pony and then found a movie that we both really liked: A Turtle Tale: Sammy's Adventure. It was so cute, and since Bug has a new found love of turtles, it was a great choice. We cuddled in our blanket fort onto of a pillow mattress, with teddybears, colouring books, a hello kitty ball, juice, and twinkle lights. 

I used the idea of making a large pillow bed from childhood memories of New Years Eve Movie marathons. It was such a fun way to get ready for a night of movie watching by running from room to room to grab anything comfortable to lay on. My siblings and I would spend the night in the living room watching movies until we passed out. I want to combine that fun memory with our blanket fort. It was very comfortable colouring and watching the movie and eating all of our food on all of those pillows. I had hoped that Bug would have passed out beside me, but due to the fact that she just loves her bed too much, she wanted to go sleep in her room. Oh well, more room for me. haha.

We made a very easy supper for us. Sweet Potato fries and ketchup, raspberries, blueberries, and (not shown) cottage cheese! I am all about making foods that are easy to consume especially when we are sick. We like to snack when we are sick. Also since I was making the fort and wanting to watch the movie with Bug, I wanted supper to be tasty yet easy. No slaving away in the kitchen while memories happen without me! I am already thinking of ordering pizza for our next fort. 

Whether you are stuck indoors due to horrible weather or silly colds, I highly recommend making a blanket fort or pillow bed. It is such an easy way to switch up the normal or unfortunate and change it to a great memory. I really look forward to doing this more often with Bug and it excites me that one day she will be running from room to room, looking for the needed supplies, using her imagination to create the best fort. It is never to late to start an tradition, and no child is too young to experience an adventure.