Last week we had a totally packed week of fun. It was really the perfect thing since the weather was nice all week and we're getting serious about school again now. Most of it was spontaneous which made it even better.
Monday: I decided to stop by 'Old MacDonald's Farm'. It's at a park here, and we'd never visited. We only had a little bit of time that day so it was a good stop. There were some farm animals and lots of ducks. The kids really enjoyed watching the ducks. I mainly enjoyed the fact that the weather wasn't melting us.
Tuesday: We went to the beach on the only hot day of the week. Can we say lucky planning? That was the only thing I'd planned ahead of time, and had randomly picked Tuesday. Score! Two other families joined us, and we had a good time playing for four hours. At one point I noticed that Logan was building a sand castle with two college girls in bikinis. I laughed about it which brought it to the attention of the other kids with our group. Pretty soon, those girls had a LOT of extra help! They were really good sports about it and built with the kids for a long time. They even said goodbye to Logan on their way out. We came home very tired and only a little sunburnt. Logan did the sunscreen on my back, and I had the strangest sunburn afterward! You could (still can actually) see every spot he missed. My back looks very splotchy! I think next time I'll have an adult help me. :)
Wednesday: We actually stayed home all day, BUT the kids had two friends over for the whole day AND we made cookies.
Thursday: Some friends invited us to join them at a nature center that we'd never been to. I forgot my camera. :( I thought it was a really great place and will definitely take my kids back. We walked the trails a bit, and then explored in the nature center. They even let us bring the dog in the building with us. Just outside of the building, they had lots of things for the kids to climb on, play with, and explore. We were good and tired by the time we got back in the van.
Here's my Thursday picture: I guess it's fitting since we went to the nature center that day. We also picked some fresh produce from our garden that morning. There is LOTS more including several orange pumpkins! Those tomatoes made some EXCELLENT salsa!
Friday: We'd read somewhere that there was a kids' field day going on at the county fairgrounds, so we decided to head up there. It's a 30 min. drive, so I was glad we were in the middle of a good CD book. I was doubly glad for the book because when we arrived, we discovered an empty parking lot! The guy who'd organized it apparently did a very poor job of getting the word out. The kids were disappointed, but we turned ourselves around and headed home. We really were enjoying that book though, so I can't say I was terribly disappointed. :)
After a short break at home, we hopped back in the car and headed the other direction for 30 min. There was a 'Sand in the City' event going on that I'd read about (in the same place as the field day) and was smart enough to check out online. This was really fun. We arrived to see piles of sand dumped in the middle of the street in the downtown/University area of the city we were in. The sculptors were still finishing up, so we headed over to the kids' area.
There was a pile of sand just for the kids, and that was the first thing we had to do of course. I'm always impressed with how much my kids love digging in the sand.
After an hour of playing in the sand (I get the patient momma award, especially since I had no one to visit with), we checked out the kids' crafts. Alex was in love with all the orange stickers. I think we finally know his favorite color. The funny thing is that was Logan's favorite color at that age.
After their sticker aquariums, they made visors.
Then we stopped by the booth set up by the university hospital. The kids tried stethoscopes and touched real organs that had been coated in plastic.
On our way to see the sand sculptures, we stopped at the Noodles N Company booth. They had a wheel that you could spin for free things and you won every time. They were super nice and let the kids spin twice. We won a yo yo, big cookie, 2 rice krispies, 2 BOGO coupons, and a waterbottle. I had no problem resisting temptation at the vendors since we had our free treats! Then we stayed even longer at their booth because they had a beading project. Logan beaded a snake, and Annie made a necklace and bracelet.
We finally went to see the sand sculptures (two hours after arriving). They were really neat.
I loved this one.
This Africa sculpture was the kids' favorite. It won 2nd place in the contest.
Another part of the Africa sculpture. I love the monkey in the Jeep.
This was 1st place. Very cool.
I wasn't sure what was supposed to be hiding in the igloo. Maybe a bear?
This one was really clever. It was made by the dental fraternity.
After the sand sculptures we headed home because we'd seen it all, and we wanted to catch Jim when he arrived from work.
Saturday: We went to watch the local minor league play baseball. The kids had earned free tickets through a reading program, as well as these backpacks they are carrying.
They also earned these wobble-heads.
I expected the kids to get bored during the game, but they didn't!
I had to peel them away during the 8th inning to play on the inflatables. They'd earned tickets for these through a different reading program. I knew they'd be disappointed if they didn't get to use them, and they were only open DURING the game.
Alex was smiling at this point, but not when we headed back to our seats. I had to wrestle him to get out of there!
The game was surprisingly short, so we ended up with time to kill before the stadium fireworks.
Funny story: Annie wanted to be on the right, but Jim insisted on this placement of the kids. We didn't realize until after the picture that Annie had the best idea. Alex is behind the girl, and Annie is behind the boy.
She still had her picture where she wanted it, though.
The fireworks were short, but very lively and fun.
It really was a very fun week. I guess it's time to get serious now...
