Family Tradition -- Saturday Morning Breakfast

One tradition my family and I started a few years ago is Saturday Morning Breakfast.

It's a simple concept -- wake up early on Saturday, decide where to eat, and go. At each breakfast, we take a picture, identify the place we are eating, and post on Facebook and Instagram. 

What do we get from this? Time spent together is tops. We also get to see/meet other people who are out early. Usually we hit up a few yard sales to buy treasures and/or stop by the farmer's market for something to cook later. It's just a really laid-back time of conversation with my family.

The members of the group change from week to week. Sometimes it's the whole family, sometimes it's minus a kid or two, and sometimes it's out-of-town family tagging along. I think everyone enjoys the event. 

Sometimes life prohibits our going weekly. We actually took a couple of months off during the Christmas holidays and winter months. There was just too much going on, or the weather was so cold that we didn't want to leave a nice, warm home. On these Saturdays, when no post shows up on Facebook or Instagram, people write me to find out where we are or why there's no post. 

Why is this event such a hit? 

1.  Breakfast is the cheapest meal of the day, so I save money unless we blow it on a "fancy" place like I-Hop or Waffle House. As long as we stay with fast food choices, I can keep the price under $20.

2.  It gets everyone out of bed to enjoy a fun morning. We spend Monday through Friday constantly checking the clock to make sure we have enough time to quickly consume cold cereal, eggs, or Drew's favorite, a mini pizza, for breakfast. 

3.  Our getting out of the house on Saturday morning gives Richard time to relax and quietly enjoy his breakfast. He is retired, and we leave the house before he wakes up each week day. On Saturday, we like to give him some space and the quiet he is used to. He has joined us many times, but he likes his normal routine (dare I say rut?). 

4.  I think people envy our tradition. We normally get over 100 "likes" on Facebook when I post a picture. People comment that they would love to join us or they are going to do the same thing with their kids. 

Here are some of the pictures from our Saturday Morning Breakfasts over the past few years. You'll see that the attendees change, but the fun stays the same.

One of our first Saturday breakfasts was with our pal Goofy at Disney World. We were celebrating Cloee's 4th birthday.

Waffle House -- Richard joined us this Saturday. In my opinion, WH is a bad 

selection of place to dine because it's always crowded, has a long wait time,

and is really loud. There food is always consistent, though.

Whataburger -- Not my favorite place because the food is really heavy 

and full of grease and everything else that's unhealthy; however, the 

service is awesome! Cloee was trying not to smile which is really 

difficult for her. Drew's throwing up some kind of gang sign, I think. 

Chick-fil-A -- They are asserting their independence today by not sitting together. 

Drew does this quite often. Maybe he doesn't want to hear us talk, or maybe if no one is 

watching, he can use as much ketchup as he wants.

I-Hop -- One of the few times Richard and 

I went alone.I don't know where the kids 

were, but this was a nice, quiet morning.

McDonald's -- Cloee wasn't feeling 

the closeness this morning. 

McDonald's -- Kelsey was home

to enjoy breakfast with us. She's 

now a senior at UF and doesn't get 

to share Saturdays with us as often 

as we would like.

Chick-fil-A -- Kelsey was still living at home while attending Tallahassee Community College. Note: Wet hair, don't care when it comes to free food.

Another Saturday of Cloee trying not to smile. It's really easy for  Drew to show his happiness with his normal breakfast burrito and Coke, or as he calls it, Red Coke, which distinguishes it from Diet Coke.

Drew was glad to have his sister all to himself.

This was a cold Saturday when we elected to drive through Chick-fil-A and 

bring the food home. Actually, I took a picture of the girls working the drive-thru 

window but didn't think I should post it without permission.

McDonald's -- My favorite nieces and my mom were in town for the weekend.
It was great having them join us.

The most recent breakfast was at I-Hop to celebrate the end of school/beginning of summer.

Saturday Morning Breakfast is one of my family's favorite times together. Do you have any traditional events in your family? Do you have any that don't take a lot of preparation and/or money? Please share.