Birthday Week- Mini Grand Prix

We made our annual trip to Mini Grand Prix; this time with Wayne and Audrey. We passed six accidents on the way to Mini Grand Prix so it took an hour and a half to get there!

 

The kids rode lots of rides. Parents get to ride with the kids for free. Frank drove Sabrina in the big Go-kart. I rode the roller coaster several times with Alex and with Sabrina.

Afterwards Sabrina chose where we went out to eat: McDonalds. The kids had fun in the play place. Our trip home was much shorter; only           minutes.

Marie-Anne

Sabrina is Seven!

Sabrina is seven! She is such a sweet, caring, smart, and adventurous girl and we are so blessed to have her in our family.

She was quite happy with her gifts. She mostly got Lego, but also some stuffed animals, a math workbook, a book, a birdhouse to decorate, gift cards, and enough money for a bike.

Marie-Anne

Sunset Park

On the way to the airport to pick up Wayne and Audrey, I found out their flight was delayed so I took the kids to Sunset Park. At first we visited the small playground, but when we found out our wait would be longer than expected we went to the big playground. This is the only time we have ever had the big playground to ourselves.

Marie-Anne

Garden

We have green stuff growing in our garden!

Marie-Anne

Game Night

Our first game was Acrobats. It is a balancing game that is pretty fun.

Next up was the 80's version of Candyland. Alex likes to use a minifig instead of the gingerbread men, so Sabrina did too.

We also played Old McDonald Pop N Match. You pop the dice and match the animals, but beware the -1 which makes you take one away.

Our last game of the night was Zingo, which is similar to Bingo. You have a Bingo card, that you have to fill. Instead of calling numbers, two cards a revealed and if you have a match you have to grab it before anybody else. The first to completely fill their card wins.


One reason I like game night is that once the games are bought it is free family fun. Three of the games we played tonight were bought used and one was on clearance. If you buy used games always check that all pieces and instructions are there, (esp if a kid picked it out. It isn't fun to find out later that the game a child is so excited about is missing pieces).

One thing to remember is to make sure the game isn't too advanced; it isn't fair to have a six year old play Tide of Iron. We have a closet full of games of different levels; some are preschool games, some for older kids, and some are for adults. We also have some travel size ones that we take with us for downtime while traveling or camping. We just have to remember to pull them out more often.

Marie-Anne

Picnic at Stephanie Lynn Craig Park

For supper we took the kids to Stephanie Lynn Craig Park. The kids played on the playground for a little bit, while...

we, adults played Frisbee.

Sabrina also flew her kite, but the wind kept dying down suddenly. She did manage to get it tangled in a small tree, but we were able to rescue it.

Or picnic was tuna sandwiches, chips, and fruit. The kids, esp. Sabrina, liked the novelty of being at a park and having a picnic after dark.

Marie-Anne

River Mountain Park

We met our friends, the Espinoza's, at River Mountain Park.

Somebody trashed the play ground with candy wrappers everywhere and cans of shaving cream all over the playground equipment, (except the swings). The kids couldn't even play on it. I tried calling the number on the sign to report it, but it was a Saturday and I couldn't even leave a message. Somebody called the police, so after he took a bunch of pictures somebody else came out and cleaned up the mess.

Frank got to talk to a group of loud cursing teens.

Once our friends showed up we played badminton and the kids spent most of the time in the sand at the volleyball pit. The men played badminton under some trees and the birdie got stuck.  They proceeded to throw the racquets and even a Nike shoe up to knock the birdie down. I kept trying to tell them that the birdie cost $0.33 and I had a whole bunch of them. Needless to say two racquets and the shoe got stuck so they had to knock them down too. One man even climbed the tree to get the birdie, but he was unable to get it. I lost the birdie, but had a lot of entertainment watching the men try to rescue the birdie. I think they enjoyed that more than playing badminton.

Marie-Anne

Stu Miller's Pumpkin Patch

We made our annual visit to Stu Miller's Pumpkin Patch. We bought 20 tickets for each kid, and yes, they went fast. That is fine because the kids had a great time and weren't too disappointed that we didn't stay long.

We split up since the kids wanted to do different things. Sabrina spent a long time in the goat pen, so much so that the man running it gave me a business card for b-day parties with animals. (I didn't see him give anyone else a card.) She also rode several rides one time each.

Alex spent almost all of his tickets on the slides. He had a great time and when he ran out of tickets the man running it let him go one more time- nice.

When we joined back up the kids had fun racing each other down the slide. Sabrina shared several of her tickets with her brother. It makes me quite happy that these two are such good friends.

Marie-Anne

Voluntary Simplicity

Voluntary Simplicity or Simple Living is something I am very interested in. When I think back to how my grandparents lived I realize that they weren't always buying new stuff; hardly ever, in fact. Yet they were content with what they had. When they did make upgrades, in vehicles, for example, they paid for them in cash. When I look at people my age they have nice stuff, but aren't content. They are constantly upgrading even when there is no need to do so. Most are in debt.

I am searching for my enough. I do not want to have the junky mismatched furniture of my grandparents, (because this piece of this set is still good and that piece of that set is fine) nor do I want the discontentment and debt of my generation, (my Facebook friend just got new furniture so I have to, even though nothing is wrong with what I have and I am still making payments on it).

Our old couches



Our new to us couch



When some friends upgraded their couch they offered us their old one, which was practically new, for free. We got rid of the old ones and accepted the free upgrade. When the same friends decided to sell their gorgeous table and chairs for cheap, we bought them and donated our table to the church.

If you pay attention you will notice that most of our family activities are free or cheap; game nights, family walks, park days, picnics, classes at the library, hikes, camping...  Even the classes the children take; archery, gymnastics, martial arts, Lego Robotics... are discounted at the recreation center. We are able to have lots of good times without spending lots of money.

Some other aspects of voluntary simplicity that I have embraced are; making some of my own cleaners, gardening, inviting friends over instead of dining out, and decluttering. I am also interested in learning to cook from scratch, composting, sewing...

I am not a minimalist nor do I think I will ever become one. My goal with simple living is to be debt free, content, and able to say yes to things that enrich our lives like horse riding lessons.

Marie-Anne

Homemade wool dryer balls

I made these months ago, but don't think I blogged about them. They were quite easy to make, but I did have to run them through the washer and dryer more times than the directions told me too. Some blogs claim they cut drying time in half, maybe they have more balls than I do, but I haven't found that to be the case. However, I have not had to buy dryer sheets since I made these. I also get extra frugality points for buying the wool with a 40% off coupon.

I plan to make more to see if I can cut the drying time.

http://www.diynatural.com/how-to-make-wool-dryer-balls/

Marie-Anne

Square Foot Garden

It is a baby garden. I am fully aware that we started the garden late and the some of the plants are for the other season. This is our first attempt at gardening so it is more of a learning experience than anything else, at this point. We will be thrilled with whatever food we get, but the main goal of this season is learning. Of course, next season will be a different story.

Marie-Anne

Getting to know new friends

After we left the Get Outdoors Nevada Day event, we met our new friends at their apartment's playground. We had a lot of fun getting to know each other a little better.

I bought a couple of badminton sets yesterday because I loved that game when I was a kid. After I spent a few minutes showing Alex how to play he and his friend had a good time.

Marie-Anne

Get Outdoors Nevada Day at Sunset Park

This morning, we took the kids to a free event at Sunset Park- Get Outdoors Nevada Day. It was a lot of fun. There were so many booths that we didn't get to most of them. I think it is an annual event so next year we will schedule more time. The kids got to try several new things for free.

The first thing the kids got to do was to walk on a rope bridge. They both did a great job.

Next up they got to paddle around in a kayak. (This is something I really want to do on a natural body of water...)

Also they got to shoot BB Guns. Both kids hit the target almost every shot. Alex won the biggest prize which was a coffee mug from Bass Pro Shop. We didn't realize that the target Sabrina selected was a more advanced target so she didn't win a prize even though she hit the paper every shot.

The kids got to learn about water runoff.

Finally, the kids played bean bag toss. Alex was really good at this. Sabrina threw a little too hard and hers slid off the ramp.

All in all, it was a whole lot of fun and we will schedule more time for next year's event, (and the following years).

Marie-Anne

Tea Party

We had another tea party using the fancy plates. This time we served muffins from Fresh and Easy. Since Sabrina likes doing this so much we will aim at having a tea party about once a week.

Marie-Anne

ABC Park and Boulder City Library's Lego Club

I took the kids to ABC Park, (Adams Boulevard Community Park) before meeting the Lego Club at Boulder City Library. We brought a Frisbee so Sabrina and I spent most of our time there doing that.

The kids had a good time at Lego Club- duh. The theme was vehicles and though neither kid won they were happy for the winner, a friend of Alex's. Yea! Progress! No tears or fits.

Marie-Anne

Update: The same day Frank later took the kids to Green Valley Library for their Lego Club.

Decluttering- stuffed animals

Sabrina loves stuffed animals especially the little Ty beanies. They don't cost much and she liked them so much that a few grown-ups helped her grow her collection. After a while I noticed she didn't seem to care about them any more. She would be happy to get a new one, but she didn't play with it or give it a personality like she did her first ones. My theory is that she got more than she could love; there are 50 stuffed animals in the picture.

I asked her to go through them and choose the ones she wants to get rid of. She surprised me by trying to get rid of all of them! So I went through and separated the ones she gave a personality to and the ones she didn't. About half of the stuffed animals went into the donate pile. I then put half of the remaining ones in her toy box and left half of them out.

She also mentioned that I used to play with them with her. She has a valid point, it has been a while since we played with them. That is because she mostly wants to play with her Barbies or her Lego lately. I am curious to see if she will start playing with them again.

Marie-Anne

Free Little Library

This Free Little Library is in a neighborhood near ours. I love the idea and would like to have one, but I think the neighborhood teens, who don't like us, would trash it or repeatedly take all the books. So, for now, we will just support the other one. I had some unwanted books and Sabrina walked with me to drop them off.

Marie-Anne

Rock Wall Climb - Guys time