Summer Plans Week 3

This week created a lot of it's own plans because, well, it's a busy week!

Sunday - We are spending the day with family getting ready for my niece's wedding. The boys worked out and swam alot!

Monday - Today is Wedding Day!

Tuesday - The boys and I traveled home and we "hope" to make it home in time for them to attend Vacation Bible School (VBS) at our church.  We DID make it home in time for VBS.  I will admit, my boys were DRAGGING but they still went and had fun too! 

Wednesday - The boys are attending their first camp - a day camp.  Then, VBS in the evening.  The two extras and I will hit the grocery store, laundromat and maybe do some "free" summer bowling if time. Camp was great.  The boys had fun, despite still being tired from our trip!  They had about 2 hours between Camp and VBS so we squeezed in showers, filling out their papers to earn points at VBS and dinner. The photo below shows Josh at Branch Adventure - I took it from their facebook page :-) 

Thursday - Same as Wednesday!  Today the two extras and I will attend a free Library event. Josh and Nate enjoyed Camp and VBS and my two extras and I enjoyed time at the Library!

I think photos from camp totally depend on the counselors so I am getting a lot that have Josh in them posted to Facebook (and I then download!) but I haven't seen a single photo of Nate yet!  BUT Nate tells me every day how much fun he has! 

Stormy the Magician was at the Library on Thursday.

Friday - Last day of Day camp and there is a program in the afternoon that we will attend.  Friday evening - I think we might all just crash HA!  What a week! The last day of Camp was great!  I got to attend the last hour or so and see what camp was all about! 

Saturday - There are a couple of things going on in town - A Chalk Art Festival and a giant slip and slide at a park in Grand Rapids.  I'm not sure if we will do either thing to be honest.  OR we might head to my mom's for a visit with my brother and sister-in-law before they go back to Brazil OR  After a busy week we might just relax at home or go swimming.  I like having options though :-) When I wrote my summer plans, I was 99.9% sure I would take the kids to the Chalk Art Festival because it looked cool.  Well, by the time Wednesday hit I was 100% sure we would go no where on Saturday HA!  The kids were exhausted by Friday.  Instead, we are running a couple "must do" errands and staying home (plus it's supposed to be in the 90's).  

Our Week in Photos - week #42

As you already know, most of our past week included wedding festivities. 

 Rehearsal fun.  Amazingly, we managed to get through the rehearsal outside before a HUGE Thunderstorm hit!  

Fun at the hotel was a huge hit. 

Having fun dancing at the Wedding. 

And then the rest of our week revolved around Day Camp and VBS. 

The boys loved Day Camp!  ( I didn't get any photos of VBS since all I do is drop them off and pick them up!) 

Weekly Menu

So last week was busy and I kind of did meals on the fly.  Not a whole lot of real cooking going on truth be told!  Well, welcome to this week where it's about the same HA!

Friday - I think I actually put Friday on last weeks menu and the plan is still tacos.

Saturday - Burgers on the grill and Fries

Sunday - Today is Father's Day so Darryl gets to pick what we eat!

Monday-Friday - Are you ready for this?  The boys are attending a Vacation Bible School at our old church which also includes dinner every single night.  Yes, I do plan to take the boys for that at 6:00 - having dinner provided is such a blessing.

A little vacation with a Wedding thrown in for fun

This past weekend the boys and I headed out on a road trip with my mom to Ohio for my nieces wedding.  This also included lots of laughs, time with family, and swimming!  I made a few observations as I drove through Ohio.  1) There are random construction signs.  For example, at one point there were signs saying that the left lane was closed ahead so everyone moved into the right lane.  Then, we drove about a mile and there was not a lane closed at all.  OR, there was a road construction sign that said "Road construction 4/10 of a mile; followed quickly by an "end construction sign".  Really?  2) The roads really ARE better!  3) The random speed limit changes from 55 to 70 to 65 and back to 55 keeps you on your toes! 

Our adventures started out with a Bridal Shower for Marisa.

 While my mom and I attend the shower, Josh and Nate enjoyed Donuts with my brother Kelly before heading back to where Kel was staying to hang out until later.

Following the shower was the rehearsal and dinner.

 Josh and Nate loved playing with their cousins.

We finally headed back to the hotel where the boys and I went to the pool and had some fun.  After swimming, we headed down to get some ice and ran across a gentleman with a pizza.  Josh commented on wanting pizza and guy said, "Hey this is leftover from a pizza party I just left, you can have it"  HA!  So yes, we enjoyed pizza from a stranger at about 11:00 at night before heading to bed!

Sunday started with attending church where my niece attends.  It was a really great service and I'm so glad we went.  We then headed to lunch with family where we had a cook out.  Then, we went back to the hotel where Josh, Nate and I spent a few hours in the pool and ended up with my brother Ken there too.  The boys loved getting to spend time in the pool playing frisbee!  Oh, and the boys spent 30 minutes in the work out room excercising!  That evening many of us gathered at Applebee's for dinner after my other brother, Jeff, and my niece and her husband arrived from Texas. 

The boys had been waiting for Uncle Jeff to arrive because he promised to solve the Rubix Cube and he did not disappoint!

Monday was the big wedding day.  We hung out at the hotel until time to leave and the boys and I enjoyed the pool one last time.

 Finally, it was weddindg time! 

These young men looked very handsome with their bow ties :-)

Wedding time:

Finally, before heading for home, some of the family gathered at Cracker Barrel for breakfast together before going our seperate ways.

 Uncle Jeff solved that Rubix Cube in 2 minutes 8 seconds.  The boys were very impressed. 

Such a great time with family!

Lessons from the Laundromat

Periodically I have to use the Laundromat for an extended period of time.  Right now is one of those times.  My washer was on it's last leg but I could make it work . . .but then my dryer burned up and that made things a little crazier.  For a few weeks, I just hung all of the clothes up to dry but we got tired of crispy clothes HA!  Going to the laundromat is not all bad and I thought I'd share some lessons I've learned at the laundromat:

1. It is wonderful to complete all of the laundry - washing, drying AND folding in about 2 1/2 hours a week (two trips a week!) . At home, I do one load a day which takes about 2 hours (55 minutes in the washer and 1 hour in the dryer!).

2.  Every one is considered your friend at the laundromat.  There is something about shoving your laundry in a dryer next to someone else that causes a conversation to begin.

3.  It's ok to wear your bathing suit bottom as a "skirt" on laundry day just so you can do ALL the normal laundry. 

4.  9:00 AM is the best time to do laundry - weekends are not.

5. I enjoy my quiet time while the laundry does all of the work :-)  (I sit in my truck, set the timer on my phone, and read!)

6.  It's ok to wear your jeans with holes to the laundromat so, again, you can do all of the laundry as well.  What's NOT ok is to have a huge hole in the butt of your jeans AND not wear any underwear!

7. It's all about perspective!  There are good things about the Laundromat but, eventually it will also be nice to replace the washer and dryer and not have to carry laundry anywhere!