Why you should take your kids to see Disney•Pixar’s Inside Out

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Sometimes I forget how hard it is to be a kid. Navigating childhood is a mine field filled with mean kids, peer pressure, tough schoolwork, and embarrassing moments. And, all the while you are figuring out who you are and how you fit into your family, your school, your teams, and with your friends. Now that my kids are getting older, I find myself looking at them a lot and wondering what is going on inside their heads.

Is that a tired look, or is that sadness? Is that pure joy, or are they holding back for some reason? Are their friends including them or are they feeling left out? Try as I might to find out what’s going on, most of the time when I ask how things are going or about how they feel about specific people and situations I get the same response.

“Good,” they say. Good? What does “good” mean, anyway?

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Build a fort as big as your imagination with Fort Magic

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You may remember how much I adore Fort Magic fort building kits that make it easy to create amazing forts for the kiddos without an engineering degree, but now that the kids are older, I love it even more. Since our last post we’ve made huge forts in our living room, our family room, and even took the Fort Magic kit with us while on vacation so the kids could build an outdoor hideout for cousins only, complete with added satellite dish. 574491_416422895116389_1145160500_n

Haven’t heard of Fort Magic before? The Fort Magic fort building kit contains everything you need to create your own fort as big as your imagination. The 382 piece kit contains all different shapes and sizes of rods, connectors and accessories that allow you to build a fort – anywhere, anytime.

Fort Magic contents

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An indoor playground with Gorilla Gym

“Go outside and play” was the theme of my childhood, when we would disappear in the morning and not come back until late afternoon. Looking back now, I think this is how my mom didn’t lose all her marbles raising 5 children.

I will admit that I love letting the kids loose on our back porch when they just need a change of scenery and a little exercise in the early afternoon, but unfortunately Seattle weather rarely cooperates this time of year and it’s usually rainy and wet. I wish I had a large covered area I could send them to when they need to get their energy out, but unfortunately this is what most afternoons look like.

Rain on windows
I know many local moms feel the same way once the rainy season{s} hit hard, as do all the moms out there that don’t have yards to send the kids to. But, whether you’re lamenting the fact that the cold has descended, have a small urban lot, or no yard at all, I have your solution:The Gorilla Gym.

The Gorilla Gym is a way to make any doorway an active play set, so the kids can get out energy rain or shine. My kids adore swings and I’ve always been really sad that a big swing set doesn’t make sense in our sloped yard that’s already maxed out with a garden, a huge trampoline, a deck, a BBQ area, and various other kids toys, so naturally I chose the Indoor Swing Package from Gorilla Gym.

Swinging in Doorway
With no drilling, no holes, and no permanent structure to worry about, the Gorilla Gym can be taken down when not in use – which, for us, is very, very rare. It’s not going to be any surprise that the kids are fully addicted to the Gorilla Gym swing and if they had their choice, it would only be empty when we’re gone or sleeping.

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