Labor Day Specials
No, no, not all the last ditch travel deals you see at the end of the summer season. More like a fun weekend with Highlander and the girlies! The first one back (after a week away) is always full of giddiness and catching up. This one was no different in that regard...only longer! As for particulars, I'm going to "borrow" Marcy's (wherever she is) format in such situations.
Lists.
I know this isdoomed bound to be pretty rambly, but here goes.
* (too much of) Saturday afternoon was spent hunting for pipe cleaners and googly eyes. Don't act like you haven't driven all over town looking for pipe cleaners and googly eyes. You know you have. Highlander, representin' for the men, thought we could just pick up the (overpriced) all white variety at the local grocery. HA! As if! [Kid 3] and I had been planning egg-carton caterpillars since before she left. We HAD to get something colorful. And googly eyes. We DEFINITELY needed googly eyes. After a couple frustratingly (for me only, btw) unproductive stops at two neighborhood drugstores, I gave up and headed towards a craft store, with Highlander and [Kid 3] in tow.
The craft store offered an outrageous collection of both pipe cleaners (while the metallic glitter colors were first on the list, we ended up going with the larger package of assorted neon colors) and googly eyes (any size, any color you could want...we bought the assorted pack of pink/blue/red/black/yellow/green eye varieties). Afterwards, [Kid 1] (who is my artsy fartsy kid) opted to help her youngest sister make a spider and a caterpillar out of the egg cartons I'd saved up. Plenty more materials, so I'm sure we'll be making some other goodies soon.
* Saturday evening we all trapsed off to the WorldFest 2006 culture bazaar downtown. The weather wasn't as cooperative as I'd have liked (it was gray and dismal and turning cooler), but it didn't rain. We all enjoyed some Ecuadorian dancers...with [Kid 3] dancing along in the audience. The older two wanted to walk around and look at some of the booths, so they took off. Highlander and I took "the baby" around and found a tent where they had hands-on activities for kids.
She got to make a Chinese fan and a necklace with South American wooden beads. They were closing up the booth, so we missed out on the Egyptian Hieroglyphic bookmarks and the Brazillian sand art project. Disappointing, but there was so much to see.
We all wanted to sample something different in the cuisine department. So many local restaurants and groups had set up food booths. It was hard to choose. [Kid 1] ran into her significant others' mother working in a booth where they were selling Vietnamese food. We opted for Cuban. Grabbing up a Cuban Sandwich and some plantain chips, with a grape nectar, it was plenty for the three of us. I noticed, while we were at the booth, that they also had some yummy looking "guava pastries". Later, when we were looking around for something sweet to nosh on, the line for fruit filled crepes was ENTIRELY too long and the Greek walnut cake and baklava wouldn't work for [Kid 3] (who doesn't much care for nuts), we ended up back at the Cuban booth, picking up a guava pastry and a coconut one as well (at 2 for $1.00 they were a steal!). By then, we'd hooked back up with the older girls and we all got to sample the treats together. After our world tour, it was back home for the evening.
* Highlander and I had picked up a game for [Kid 3] before she got home. My idea to get a new game. She's got a few, but only ever wants to play either Finding Nemo or Wig Out (which is a card game similar to Go Fish!) and I'm sooooo over both of them. We got her a box of seven games (Disney Princess themed...right up her alley) that included bingo, checkers, dominoes, tic tac toe, Crazy 8's, Old Maid and Go Fish! We've been playing ALOT of games this weekend. ALOT. She's been particularly fond of bingo and Old Maid. But is also enjoying Crazy 8's quite a bit, too. We haven't tried dominoes yet, but checkers is gonna take a bit for her. My Dad was a big checkers player when I was a kid and I can remember him coming home after work and telling me to set up the board and we'd play several games before I had to go to bed.
Just so you won't think we make a difference in them, we also picked up four second-hand paperback books for [Kid 2] who is on a STAR WARS reading kick, and a couple cool military rank patches from an Army/Navy store in the neighborhood (she's big into the camo). She was delighted with all of that. [Kid 1] got a box of 100 assorted Magic the Gathering cards (all artifacts) and a copy of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (which we picked up second hand).
* Speaking of Magic the Gathering, there has been a great lot of that going on all weekend, not the least of which was yesterday (at 10AM) when a friend of [Kid 1]'s came over and we played three (partner) games back to back. Apparently, partnering with Highlander is all you need to do to win, as he won every game and the rest of us each partnered with him one time.. Go figure, huh?
* I made some no-bake cookies on Saturday morning (before the kids got home), but [Kid 3] and I also made some cherry almond coffee cake (Sunday morning) and some triple fudge cupcakes with buttercream icing on Monday. I made homemade doughnuts on Monday morning and [Kid 1] (who is perenially voted least likely to be found in an apron) wanted to help with those and ended up running the fryer for me while I "glazed" and "sprinkled".
* As the weather was best (in River City) on Sunday, we ended up cooking out some brats and hot dogs then. I threw together some devilled eggs and green bean casserole and we had chips and dips, too. The kids gobbled it up like crazy!
* After dinner, we opted to drive downtown to Waterfront Park. A couple pictures cannot capture all the fun stuff they have there for kids! A long line of sprinklering pipes, three different LARGE playground pieces, a sandpit, a canoe to play in and then picnic tables and grills for the grown-ups and a few really nice chair swings overlooking the river. Highlander and I even took a turn on the tube pipe slide. Really nice park. And it was packed on Sunday. As I said, though, it was the nicest day of the weekend, weatherwise.
On the way home, we stopped at a neighborhood pie and ice cream place and had some dessert. The older kids had seen some Iraq War protesters (at the end of our street out in front of the Church) on our way to get dessert and insisted that they wanted to go join them when we got back. Alas, the protesters had called it a night before 8:20PM.
* Yesterday was another gray day. The temps were moderate, but the sun wasn't out beckoning us to be outside. Highlander and I ate lunch on the porch and [Kid 3] and I got in a couple more games of Crazy 8's out there as well. Most of the rest of the day was spent around the homestead, though, playing games and hanging out.
All in all, it was a good weekend, filled with laughter and fun. Almost three whole days with the people I love most in the world. You just can't go wrong with a plan like that. That's why the specials never get me. They can't compete with with what I can get at home.
Lists.
I know this is
* (too much of) Saturday afternoon was spent hunting for pipe cleaners and googly eyes. Don't act like you haven't driven all over town looking for pipe cleaners and googly eyes. You know you have. Highlander, representin' for the men, thought we could just pick up the (overpriced) all white variety at the local grocery. HA! As if! [Kid 3] and I had been planning egg-carton caterpillars since before she left. We HAD to get something colorful. And googly eyes. We DEFINITELY needed googly eyes. After a couple frustratingly (for me only, btw) unproductive stops at two neighborhood drugstores, I gave up and headed towards a craft store, with Highlander and [Kid 3] in tow.
The craft store offered an outrageous collection of both pipe cleaners (while the metallic glitter colors were first on the list, we ended up going with the larger package of assorted neon colors) and googly eyes (any size, any color you could want...we bought the assorted pack of pink/blue/red/black/yellow/green eye varieties). Afterwards, [Kid 1] (who is my artsy fartsy kid) opted to help her youngest sister make a spider and a caterpillar out of the egg cartons I'd saved up. Plenty more materials, so I'm sure we'll be making some other goodies soon.
* Saturday evening we all trapsed off to the WorldFest 2006 culture bazaar downtown. The weather wasn't as cooperative as I'd have liked (it was gray and dismal and turning cooler), but it didn't rain. We all enjoyed some Ecuadorian dancers...with [Kid 3] dancing along in the audience. The older two wanted to walk around and look at some of the booths, so they took off. Highlander and I took "the baby" around and found a tent where they had hands-on activities for kids.
She got to make a Chinese fan and a necklace with South American wooden beads. They were closing up the booth, so we missed out on the Egyptian Hieroglyphic bookmarks and the Brazillian sand art project. Disappointing, but there was so much to see.
We all wanted to sample something different in the cuisine department. So many local restaurants and groups had set up food booths. It was hard to choose. [Kid 1] ran into her significant others' mother working in a booth where they were selling Vietnamese food. We opted for Cuban. Grabbing up a Cuban Sandwich and some plantain chips, with a grape nectar, it was plenty for the three of us. I noticed, while we were at the booth, that they also had some yummy looking "guava pastries". Later, when we were looking around for something sweet to nosh on, the line for fruit filled crepes was ENTIRELY too long and the Greek walnut cake and baklava wouldn't work for [Kid 3] (who doesn't much care for nuts), we ended up back at the Cuban booth, picking up a guava pastry and a coconut one as well (at 2 for $1.00 they were a steal!). By then, we'd hooked back up with the older girls and we all got to sample the treats together. After our world tour, it was back home for the evening.
* Highlander and I had picked up a game for [Kid 3] before she got home. My idea to get a new game. She's got a few, but only ever wants to play either Finding Nemo or Wig Out (which is a card game similar to Go Fish!) and I'm sooooo over both of them. We got her a box of seven games (Disney Princess themed...right up her alley) that included bingo, checkers, dominoes, tic tac toe, Crazy 8's, Old Maid and Go Fish! We've been playing ALOT of games this weekend. ALOT. She's been particularly fond of bingo and Old Maid. But is also enjoying Crazy 8's quite a bit, too. We haven't tried dominoes yet, but checkers is gonna take a bit for her. My Dad was a big checkers player when I was a kid and I can remember him coming home after work and telling me to set up the board and we'd play several games before I had to go to bed.
Just so you won't think we make a difference in them, we also picked up four second-hand paperback books for [Kid 2] who is on a STAR WARS reading kick, and a couple cool military rank patches from an Army/Navy store in the neighborhood (she's big into the camo). She was delighted with all of that. [Kid 1] got a box of 100 assorted Magic the Gathering cards (all artifacts) and a copy of THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (which we picked up second hand).
* Speaking of Magic the Gathering, there has been a great lot of that going on all weekend, not the least of which was yesterday (at 10AM) when a friend of [Kid 1]'s came over and we played three (partner) games back to back. Apparently, partnering with Highlander is all you need to do to win, as he won every game and the rest of us each partnered with him one time.. Go figure, huh?
* I made some no-bake cookies on Saturday morning (before the kids got home), but [Kid 3] and I also made some cherry almond coffee cake (Sunday morning) and some triple fudge cupcakes with buttercream icing on Monday. I made homemade doughnuts on Monday morning and [Kid 1] (who is perenially voted least likely to be found in an apron) wanted to help with those and ended up running the fryer for me while I "glazed" and "sprinkled".
* As the weather was best (in River City) on Sunday, we ended up cooking out some brats and hot dogs then. I threw together some devilled eggs and green bean casserole and we had chips and dips, too. The kids gobbled it up like crazy!
* After dinner, we opted to drive downtown to Waterfront Park. A couple pictures cannot capture all the fun stuff they have there for kids! A long line of sprinklering pipes, three different LARGE playground pieces, a sandpit, a canoe to play in and then picnic tables and grills for the grown-ups and a few really nice chair swings overlooking the river. Highlander and I even took a turn on the tube pipe slide. Really nice park. And it was packed on Sunday. As I said, though, it was the nicest day of the weekend, weatherwise.
On the way home, we stopped at a neighborhood pie and ice cream place and had some dessert. The older kids had seen some Iraq War protesters (at the end of our street out in front of the Church) on our way to get dessert and insisted that they wanted to go join them when we got back. Alas, the protesters had called it a night before 8:20PM.
* Yesterday was another gray day. The temps were moderate, but the sun wasn't out beckoning us to be outside. Highlander and I ate lunch on the porch and [Kid 3] and I got in a couple more games of Crazy 8's out there as well. Most of the rest of the day was spent around the homestead, though, playing games and hanging out.
All in all, it was a good weekend, filled with laughter and fun. Almost three whole days with the people I love most in the world. You just can't go wrong with a plan like that. That's why the specials never get me. They can't compete with with what I can get at home.
posted by SuperWife | 4:10 PM
3 Comments:
Sounds like a brilliant weekend! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
If I do move down there I am so dead. The food alone will kill me.
OTOH, what a way to go!!
YGF -
Thanks! I really did enjoy it! Of course, I could be sitting around watching tv with my brood and be just as happy. We have the easiest time making each other happy and we all enjoy doing it. Makes it nice.
Nate -
Nah. You wouldn't die. The worst that would happen is I'd put you in the hospital. At least that's been my history so far...;)
Post a Comment
<< Home