DIY Outdoor Obstacle Course

A few years ago we ran an obstacle course race together as a family and it was a HUGE hit. Since we've moved across the street from a giant park, the kids have been after me to put our own course together. So I hit up our local dollar store and with the help of a few additional doodads, set up a super fun course that is also easy to break down and re-use. Head over to Z Living to get the goods!

Keep It Local: Ruckus Sports Family Friendly Obstacle Course and a DISCOUNT!

As you might have noticed, we've fully jumped aboard the family obstacle course/mud run/watch tiny tots beat the heck out of their parents race train. We ran a family obstacle course earlier this summer and all had a blast. Mom was a little worried that we'd be too young for it, but we showed them. Although our 'rents are no strangers to running, and obstacle course running specifically, Cam and I both schooled mom and dad in the way that only kids with an endless supply of energy can. So, mom has been on the lookout for another and was really excited to hear that Ruckus Sports will be hosting a family friendly obstacle course race in the DC area on September 28th.

In addition to a 5K obstacle course for your parents, there will be a mini ruckus for kids ages 2 - 13 -- there is no designated distance -- your kiddo can do as many laps as he/she wants (which will probably be many more than you could do). Each mini ruckus registration comes with a free spectator pass so you can be close by and they'll be plenty of staff to help the kids through as well. All mini ruckus participants will receive a t-shirt, race bib and medal.

AND Not-So-SAHM readers can receive $10 off the registration fee by entering the code NOTSOSAHM at checkout. Click here to register and we hope to see you there!

In Home Entertainment: Super Secret Spy Training

We know we can't really complain about the mild winter we've been having, but between the persistent rain and suddenly plunging temps last week, we were going a little stir crazy. Mom reached back into the depths of her Pinterest files and remembered pinning this cool spy training course made with painters tape. So we planned a super secret spy training playdate with one of my good buddies. We used one of our many rolls of baker's twine and washi'd a long continuous strand down a stretch of our hallway -- zig-zagging back and forth, up and down.

It was hard to do it without pulling the whole thing down (the washi tape was good for not leaving marks on the wall, not so durable for withstanding a little tension in the string) and a few times Vegas ran right through it. But we hung it back up several times during the afternoon and even daddy had a turn when he got home from work -- he's actually pretty limber and made funny spy faces.

After we completed our obstacle course, we practiced writing and drawing each other super secret messages. We drew on white paper with q-tips dipped in lemon juice (I insisted on drawing on colored paper of course) and then put those in a 350 degree oven for a few minutes and, BOOM, our drawings appeared! It worked on the colored paper, too.

I asked mom if we could have jello for a snack (who knows why) and she remembered seeing a recipe for glow in the dark jello, which seemed like something super spies would eat. Theoretically, you just follow the regular jello recipe, subbing in tonic water (the quinine glows under UV light) for as much water as you like. We did about 3:1 water to tonic water ratio (and it was still a bit bitter). We then put portable black lights into our light boxes, added our messy tray to the top as a tabletop, and sat down to have our snack. BUT, no real glow. Boo. We think it was probably a combo of not enough of a strong UV light (the little portable ones were from the Target dollar bin) and the jello was probably in too deep of a container (mom made it in little juice glasses -- jigglers would probably have worked better). No worries -- still a good snack and we'll try again!