Saturday Challenge

I don't drink enough water.  I think the times when I do drink enough water are right after I've had a baby and I've got one of those big mugs from the hospital and someone's always putting ice in it and refilling it for me.  It's been a while since I've had a baby.  That should NOT stop me from drinking enough water, though.  I think it's the same with a lot of people.  We get busy, we don't think about having a glass of water here and there throughout the day, and we get dehydrated.  Headaches, grumpiness, tiredness, and at the end of the day we realize, "I'm thirsty.  Oh, I haven't been drinking enough water today."
For me, it's tough to get my kids to drink enough water, as well.  They might start out the day with some water, but they also get busy.  I forget to remind them.  We take water bottles when we go to the park, but it's usually the at home times we don't do it.
Well, I decided Saturday would be a good day to make sure we get enough water.  I can't make sure Nichole's getting enough water while she's at school during the week, but I can help on Saturday.
So, I presented a challenge to the kids and they accepted.  Let's see if we can drink enough water on this Saturday.  I got this idea from a FamilyFun reader of how to see if you're drinking enough water.  The reader uses rubber bands but we use balloon fragments (they're more colorful and we have plenty).

We have some red plastic cups that hold 2 cups of water each.  I assigned Jr., Nichole, and myself each a cup to drink water from throughout the day.  I tied 4 balloon fragments around my cup and 3 each for the kids (I figured 6 cups is enough for them for now, as I try to drink 8).  We'll leave the cups on the table or counter throughout the day and we can drink from the cups as we're in the kitchen (a frequented spot in our home).  When we reach the bottom of our cup, we get to take one of the balloon fragments off, then fill the cup full of water again and repeat. 
The visual clues will help me to remember to drink water as well as help me remember to remind the kids.  And there's an instant reward for the kids when they get to the bottom of their cup.  They get to take a balloon fragment off.
So that is our Saturday challenge.  Hopefully it makes a difference.