I am feeling a new sense of freedom now that my son has had his fourth birthday. We have been out to two kid-friendly evening events in Metro Vancouver – an outdoor movie night and a Vancouver Canadians baseball game – as a family this summer. What’s the big deal? Well it is for a few reasons:

1) since we had our son, we aren’t able to get out much in the evenings except for the occasional date night as we can’t afford a ton of babysitting;

2) we have been very dedicated to our routine to get our son to bed at 8 pm no matter what is going on in our lives to provide consistency for his sleep patterns (and he is a great sleeper as a result);

3) we didn’t think our son would have enough of an attention span to get through an evening activity such as a movie or game.

We threw caution to the wind when we heard that Movie Under the Stars was featuring Toy Story 3 and free popcorn at Holland Park in Surrey.

The movie didn’t start until dusk and we didn’t make it all the way to the end because the dude was so tired, but it was a very enjoyable night out as a family and a special treat for our son. He loved the movie and we watched the end with him at home the next day.

We also had an amazing night out at the Vancouver Canadians baseball game this past Saturday. It was so much fun. Did you know that there is a kids zone at Nat Bailey Stadium complete with a bouncy castle, obstacle course, slide and batting cage? When my son got bored, off we went to the kid zone where we were still able to see the game while he played. This was perfect. And it’s a very affordable night out.

It is hard sometimes for me to realize that my little boy is growing up. I am so proud of him – at age 4, he is busy making sense of the world around him. He is independent, stubborn, creative, funny, curious, talkative, shy and so in love with his mama and daddy.

It is good to know that we can have more fun as a family if we let go of some of the restrictions we put on ourselves in the past to help us survive the sleepless baby years, terrible twos and independent threes. You almost have to take a step back and say “Hey – that’s not us anymore. Let’s try something new!”

Four has opened a brand new world of family fun. I can’t wait to see what kinds of activities we will get up to in the coming year!

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