At Brooks Construction, we are a family-first company. There is nothing more important than building memories with your loved ones, and we work hard to make it possible to do just that. Summer should be fun, and you should be able to enjoy it without work-related stress following along on your adventures!
Whether your family loves good entertainment, cooling off in the water, or seeing unique sights, we’ve got something for everyone. And we’re sorting it out into different price points, so you can have family fun this summer on any budget.
1 – Family Fun in the Water
The Northern Great Plains may have cold winters, but our summers can be blazing hot as well! One of the most popular ways to cool down is water activities. If you want to have some family fun this summer in the water, here are some great ideas for getting wet:
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Your backyard is a perfect place to start! Get out sprinklers, fill up some water balloons, or grab some squirt guns and play at home. With no cost of admission, it’s a perfect option for some family fun with little to no planning involved.
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If you’re looking for a bit more fun without breaking the bank, local pools are perfect for family fun this summer. A day pass is typically low cost, and a family membership to a municipal or city pool for the summer often works out to less than a dollar a day over summer. And many pools have water slides, splash areas, and even lazy rivers to help entertain and relax every member of your family.
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For families looking for a much bigger thrill, water parks are the ticket! Large theme parks often have water attractions or may even have entire water-themed parks within them. While the cost is quite a bit more than municipal pools, big water parks offer a truly memorable experience for your family. Whether it’s enormous water slides, tubing, or wave pools to surf, you and your family will come back smiling at the end of the day.
2 – Educational Family Fun
There are so many great opportunities for family vacations where you can do more than just have fun. Finding a way to spend time with your family and learn about the world around you can be an extremely rewarding experience.
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There are a surprising number of local historical societies that curate small and free museums within our own communities. In our very own Sioux Falls, SD, our Old Courthouse Museum, Stockyard Ag Experience, and USS South Dakota Battleship Memorial offer free tours, activities, and experiences that allow your family to wander into the past together at no cost. If you’re not sure what you have hiding around your hometown, we recommend taking a look at your city’s official website to see what tourist attractions are close by.
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For the cost of an annual membership, your family can visit zoos and children’s museums close to home for less than a dollar per day. But what makes many of these memberships even better is that they often offer reciprocal discounts or free admission to other zoos and museums around the country. One of the country’s best zoos, the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE, offers discounts and benefits around the entire Great Plains region, as well as larger zoos on either coast. With a small investment and a hotel room, you can share some family fun this summer that they’ll never forget.
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Visiting our most important historical locations may be expensive, but your family will come home with a wealth of new knowledge and amazing stories to tell. Washington, DC, of course, is an incredible city filled with some of the nation’s most significant sights. From there, it’s only a few hours to visit Civil War battlefields, some of the nation’s oldest towns, and the homes and homesteads of our founding fathers.
3 – Adventurous Family Fun
Family fun this summer might be an adventure in and of itself, but if your family loves a truly great adventure, take a weekend and find something to get that adrenaline pumping.
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Our nation’s national and state parks are incredible places to explore. If you have a Parks Tag for your vehicle, every park in the nation is open to you and your family. Stay local for an inexpensive day trip of hiking, climbing, swimming, or kayaking.
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If you drive a bit further, you can find a national park like Utah’s Zion National Park or Shenandoah National Park in West Virginia, where you can challenge your family to reach new heights. Many of the national parks offer rock climbing opportunities for beginner to expert skill levels. Adventures like these, though, take training, equipment, and time. Your family will likely want to plan at least a weekend, if not a week, for a bigger adventure like this.
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Of course, the ultimate adrenaline rush takes a bit more investment and courage. Drive supercars and race cars in Las Vegas’s Exotics Racing. Arrange a skydiving experience with a local skydive business. Or, more traditionally, hit one of the many exciting theme parks across the country, like Hersheypark in Hershey, PA. A single day may do the trick, but many of the large theme parks can afford three or four days of fun without running out of new experiences. After all, family fun this summer shouldn’t be boring!
Putting Family First
Whatever destination you choose and whatever adventure your family will enjoy most, the most crucial component of summer fun is that you build memories with your family. At Brooks Construction, we believe that family should always come first. We work hard to provide for our children and spouses, but we make sure that we get to do more than work for them. Our full-time team members have paid time off, dental and vision benefits, and schedules that allow them to spend quality time with the most important people in their lives.
We are always looking for good people to work with. If you’re looking for a change in your career path that sets you up for growth while providing a healthy work-life balance, we’d love to hear from you. Fill out an application online, or come to our office to start one in person.
