A Little Family Fun

So, a weekend ago we were supposed to go camping but we cancelled; for various reasons like sleeping on an air mattress in a tent with two young boys; the original forecast of rain (which changed after we cancelled); our water softener needing to be replaced so we thought we could save some of our planned money for camping to go towards getting a new one put in ASAP; and something we didn't know at the time but taking off work to attend a funeral of a long time family friend.  Despite cancelling we still wanted to have lots of fun on the weekend, which we did!  The simple truth is, the boys just like to do fun stuff and what they don't know doesn't hurt them.  Our general rule of thumb is that we don't tell them of any event until the morning of that event just in case plans change - it works well and keeps disappointment to a minimum (not to mention keeping me sane - if they don't know, they can't ask questions HA!)

On Saturday, we started the day with a "retro" breakfast - Cereal, bacon, Cinnamon Toast and Fruit.

 Yes, sitting on the table, shirtless with sun-glasses and eating fruit salad.  He is one cool kid.

  My husband called it "retro" because it is what he remembers eating as a kid:-)  Then we took off to our favorite park.

From there, after playing for over 2 hours, we went to our little Chinese Buffet restaurant for dinner where, yes, Nate still eats for free.  One of the reasons the boys love it is that they get to pick out their own food.  Josh has developed a taste for many types of food so he really gets a great selection.  Nate eats "chips" (Fried wonton strips), "Crunchies" (Croutons) and Chicken Nuggets (well, the sweet and sour chicken pieces!).  Then, they even get ice cream when we are done.  What could be better??

We ended our day by attending a Back to School party put on by a local church.  They had a little petting zoo, Pony Rides, Balloons, Bouncy houses and a raffle.  Guess what? we were one of the last people entering and the first name drawn for the raffle - guess they forgot to shake the box ;-)  We won some girl scout cookies which is always nice.

The boys really had a great day.  They ended up with cute little goodie bags and a new beanie baby from the party - all free.

I will admit that it was nice to come home to our house and sleep in our own, cool rooms verses sleeping in the tent.  Not to mention a nice clean bathroom :-)

On Sunday, we enjoyed a simple breakfast before heading out to . . . the beach!!  Finally!  We haven't been in about a month because of being busy and it has been cooler until this past week.

 The waves were pretty big today - probably 4 feet most of the day.  There is a huge sandbar, though, not far from shore, so we were able to still take the boys out.  We had bought them some animal rings to use as floaties but due to the wind and waves, left them in the truck for safe keeping.  Needless to say we held on to their little hands tightly while in the water :-)

We've already talked about camping for next year.  We are really working on saving for a camper - just a simple pop-up.  I've seen quite a few go up for sale already as the summer is ending for under $1000.00 Sure they may be old but they appear in fantastic shape.  So we are hoping that we can find a great deal in the spring and can buy one then so we can use it for not only weekend camping but to camp during our summer vacation.  But, I will be working on reserving camping cabins for next summer just in case.  I have found a place down near Shippshewana that has great cabins that will be our 2nd choice if we can't get local.  We WILL camp next year.  :-)