Outdoor toys to take with us on vacation

The summer vacations are coming up again. Just a few more weeks of school and the six weeks off begins. My sister is coming to the Netherlands with her family this year.

When they are here, we are going on a week’s vacation with both families and grandparents. Since we usually don’t see each other for a year or two, we celebrate all the missed St. Nicholas, Christmas and birthdays together for a little while longer. Not with a lot of presents.

But just some little things.

This time we could nicely buy some outdoor toys for the campsite.

America

My sister has been living in America for fourteen years. When I was still alone, I went to her easily. But with a family is very pricey and trips here just became less.

We do try to see each other every two years.

The last time we met somewhere in America. Four years ago this was in Pennsylvania and two years ago in Atlanta. We then all fly a piece and have a wonderful week.

We book the cottages through Airbnb or Homeway and I can tell you, these are always the best places we end up.

Married 50 years

This year we are going to do it differently. My parents were married for fifty years in January. We all agreed that we would move the party to the summer and then go on vacation for a week with the ten of us.

T-shirts

When we are all together, we celebrate all the missed birthdays, St. Nicholas and Christmas together. Not with a lot of gifts, just a few little things. We always buy a few shirts for my nephews and my sister brings nice shirts again for my boys.

Well the sizes in America are very different than in the Netherlands.

The boys line up nicely in terms of age, so we can pretty much estimate how big they all are by now. And otherwise we guess this a bit during skype sessions.

Outdoor toys

This time we did not choose a cottage, but a campsite with swimming pool. This way my mother and I could look for fun outdoor toys. I bought swimming trunks for the boys.

They needed it anyway and then I like to look here for them.

But besides that we bought some outdoor toys. This will keep them entertained at the campsite. Besides a swimming pool there is a river along the campsite where they can play, so I looked for snorkels, I found these at Zeeman ( for € 2,99).

I also bought giant bubble blowers ( Action, €0,39).

My youngest got this the other day at a restaurant and only found out after a couple of days that it was bubble wrap. He thought it was a sword. Multi toys so.And great for camping.

I also bought a game, very old fashioned, but still super fun. With two hand discs with which to catch a ball. My nephew is a good baseball player, so I thought this should catch on.

We also bought a tennis game for a few euros. I deliberately chose cheaper toys because it all can’t go back to America anyway, so it’s purely for a vacation use.

The ball goes with them on vacation

My sons are not that sporty. They do athletics and train twice a week. They are not very keen on competitions. My nephews, on the other hand, and especially the oldest, are super sporty.

And good.

They are always playing outside and can enjoy themselves for hours. In addition to the outdoor toys I bought, we take the ball and pawns with us. This will get them through the week at the campsite