Monday, July 31, 2017

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 7/28 - 8/3 - Part 1)

Friday (7/28) Today is Adrian's last day of work before our staycation for the next week!!  I have one more class tomorrow and then I'm off as well.  He headed off to work early while we had a fairly lazy morning before getting ready to head to the Y for one of the Zumba classes I was subbing this morning.  After class, we headed to Aldi to pick up the last of the groceries we need for the next week or so then came home to have a big lunch before a little bit of relaxing before a busy night.

I packed up sandwiches for dinner and we headed up to Zoombezi Bay to meet Adrian after work this afternoon.  We had a great time swimming together!  We spent a bunch of time in the wave pool, took a few laps around the lazy river and played at Baboon Lagoon for a while.  We also all did "Sound Surfer" again, which was awesome.  We go so fast when we're all in the tube together.  And also AJ and I rode "Big Boa Falls" which was SO fun!  We both loved it and are hoping to get to ride it again this season!
We were going to stay for the movie night at the wave pool but it got really cold as the sun went down.  Since we weren't really prepared for the cold temps, we decided to pack it in early and head home.  We got changed into dry clothes, made some popcorn and snuggled up on the couch to watch the movie at home.  It was called "We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story" and it honestly wasn't very good.  I'm thankful I had some stuff to do on the computer while it was on.  Zak was bored and tired so he and Adrian went upstairs to watch TV and fell asleep in our bed.  When the other boys saw that, they asked me to have a sleepover with them and sleep in Zak's bed tonight so that's what we're doing.  Such a great kick off day to our staycation!!

Saturday (7/29) started super early for me because I had a hard time sleeping in Zak's twin bed.  So I got up and got a few things done before heading out to teach my last Zumba class for about a week.  We had so much fun dancing this morning!  Then I ran to get a quick eyebrow wax and came home to work like a beast around the house so everything we need to do will be done and we can just enjoy this next week.  The boys had a friend come over so they were occupied playing for the afternoon while Adrian and I worked.  We finished everything up and were even able to have some fun including playing a few games.  Headed to bed early so we are ready to go for tomorrow!!

Sunday (7/30) We really kicked the staycation up today with our week long plans.  We got up and had a nice morning together then got ready and headed to the zoo.  We were going to take advantage of our gold memberships and do all of the things we don't always do.  We started out by walking around North America looking at animals, playing on the play structure and riding the train.  Then we headed over the Africa for the main event - feed the giraffes.  We had to wait about 20 minutes until it was time and before we knew it, we were introduced to baby Logan.  AJ, Zak, Adrian and I all fed him some lettuce.  Daniel did not want to do it, so he gave his lettuce to AJ.  AJ loved this experience!!  He has always loved giraffes and thought it was amazing to be able to feed them.  He asked to do it again so we're going to go back again this fall to feed them.

 
 
 
After that, we headed over to the other side of the zoo to cool and rest in the 4D theater.  We watched "The Lego Movie" short, which we have already seen but it was still funny.  When we came out, the boys wanted to play in the new play area over there so they did that while Adrian and sat and watched.  There are splash pads in this area so AJ and Zak got soaked!  We finished up and headed on to our next stop, Dinosaur Island, with a stop on the merry go round on our way.  When we got to Dino Island, there was an hour wait for the boat ride so we decided to head out to Jungle Jack's landing and ride some rides and try to come back and ride later.
 


We got to Jungle Jack's and Zak finally was interested in riding rides, yay!!  We rode the big swings, tilt a whirl, dust devil, safari stampede and log flume - multiple times.  There were no lines so we just ran from ride to ride for about two hours.  The only downside was the Sea Dragon coaster wasn't opened.  But now we have a reason to go back and ride again!  After a bunch of rides we decided to head back in to try Dinosaur Island one more time before the zoo closed.  We got there and the wait was down to 20 minutes so we got to ride and have a "guided" tour of the ride.  It was cute and the boys loved seeing all of the dinosaurs.  We finished up our day with the boys playing on the play structure in that area and Zak and I riding the log flume one last time on the way out.  It was an amazing day & we all had a blast!  My cheeks hurt from smiling so much!

 

 
When we got home, we were all hungry and tired.  So we cooked a quick dinner, the boys played a quick game of "Pokemon: Master Trainer" their new board game and we headed to bed.  Adrian watched this week's episode of "Game of Thrones" while I watched the season finale of "Big Little Lies."  I was so tired that I barely made it to the end of the show and as soon as it was over, my head hit the pillow and I was out.  Gotta get my rest for tomorrow!

Friday, July 28, 2017

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 7/21 - 7/27)

Friday (7/21) We woke up to the disappointing news that the weather forecast for the weekend got a lot worse and we had to cancel our camping trip.  I was really looking forward to a weekend away to just relax and unwind with our good friends.  But with thunderstorms forecast for most of tomorrow, it just doesn't make sense.  So we made an alternate plan.  I went to teach my Zumba class as planned this morning, then I came home and we had a relaxing day hanging around the house.  Adrian and I unpacked what we had gotten together for camping and we played board games and video games with the boys.  The weather cleared up enough for us to grill out some burgers, brats & hot dogs for dinner.  And we finished up the night with an early bedtime for the boys and a movie night for us.  We watched "Wanderlust" that we had recorded from our free HBO trail.  It was OK, some funny parts but not as funny as we thought it would be.  Nice light movie for a lazy night though!

Saturday (7/22) We woke up ready for family fun day since our camping trip was cancelled.  I'll be honest, I woke up to hear thunder and was never so happy to be in a thunderstorm.  It has rained and stormed on and off all day so we made the right decision to stay home and stay safe.  Our first stop of the day was World of Bounce for some bounce time for the boys.  They had a blast running around and bouncing on everything!  We were there for about an hour and a half before the kids said they were done so we moved on to stop 2.  We headed up to the new Ikea in the Polaris area because Adrian wanted to get some new shelves.  It was a little intimidating and overwhelming, especially since there was a long wait for childcare so we had to keep the boys with us while we shopped.  We didn't browse as much as we wanted to, but we did find our shelves.
After those two stops, we were all hungry so we headed to our favorite family restaurant, Red Robin (yum!)  We had a delicious lunch together and the boys had fun doing the games on their placemats.  After lunch I wanted to check out Duck Donuts because I had heard great things about it.  It was a little overwhelming since I didn't realize you design your own donuts.  But once we figured it out, we loved the idea!  The boys are very excited to eat their creations tomorrow morning for breakfast.  After that stop, we headed back to our side of town to go to Glow Putt mini golf again.  The boys all wanted Adrian to see all of the changes.  We had fun playing together, Adrian beat all of us as usual and was the only one to win a free game this time.
 
 
We finished up with a stop at Menchie's for some make your own ice cream (yogurt).  AJ was super excited that they had Smores marshmallows as one of the toppings.  He made a huge cup of ice cream, it was so big he couldn't even finish it.  After that, we all headed home super full and super tired.  The boys wanted some video game time and Adrian and I relaxed for a while.  Then we played a family game of Splendor and Adrian and I played Valeria Card Kingdoms (I won!)  We finished the night with lots of video games, relaxing and Adrian putting together his new shelving unit.  We also planned our staycation week.  So much fun left to be had this summer!!
Sunday (7/23) started super early when Zak had me up at 4:30am.  Thankfully Adrian woke up at 6:30 and took him downstairs so I went back to sleep for about 2 hours.  We woke up to horrible rain and again were very thankful that we decided not to go camping.  We enjoyed our Duck Donuts from yesterday for breakfast and then headed out to church in the pouring rain.  After church, we had lunch and Adrian ran downtown to pick up some Butch's ribs for our dinner.  We spent the rest of the day doing a few things around the house and playing board games with the kids.  We finished up with Adrian watching Game of Thrones after we got the kids to bed while I watched Big Little Lies upstairs.  It's looking like that will be every Sunday for the next few weeks.
Monday (7/24) After a long weekend together, Adrian was back to work this morning.  I think the boys were all still tired because they slept until after 8am this morning!  When they finally got up and moving, we got ready and headed out to see a new to us movie, Megamind.  It was a special at the local theater so we decided to check it out.  We all loved the movie!!  Zak got a little squirmy in the middle but after two trips to the bathroom, he was good for the rest of the movie.
After the movie, we ran two quick errands and then headed to the Y for a quick lunch before swim lessons for AJ and Daniel.  Zak and I headed to the outside pool which I thought was cold, but he thought was perfect.  We swam for a while and AJ and Daniel joined us after their lessons.  We found out they both moved up a level for next session and they are both super proud of themselves.  After swimming we changed quickly and I taught my first Zumba class of many for the week.  We came home to Adrian already home and firing up the grill for some delicious T Bone steaks on the grill.  The rest of the night flew by and before we knew it, it was time for bed.  I think we will all sleep well again tonight!


Tuesday (7/25) Boy was I wrong about a good night of sleep!  AJ woke up around 4:30am and did not go back to sleep.  I dosed a little but he mostly kept me up.  It was going to be a long day.  We relaxed on the couch waiting for the other two to wake up.  When they finally did, we got ready to head to my Silver Sneakers class.  After an awesome class, we ran to Giant Eagle for some groceries and then came home for a quick lunch and to change into swim suits.  When we finished up, we headed out to Easton for the afternoon.  We went to Barnes & Noble to pick up our free books from the summer reading program, Cheryl's to pick up our free cookies from our report cards and then to play in the fountains for a while.  It was a very fun afternoon!!  After that, we came home and had a pretty calm night, mostly because I was exhausted.  We enjoyed meatball subs for dinner and M&M ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  Another pretty good summer day for us!
Wednesday (7/26) was a very long day for me.  Daniel couldn't sleep last night so he and I slept in the spare room, although I use the term "sleep" lightly.  He slept great, I tossed and turned most of the night.  I also overslept and we all had to rush out to get to the Zumba class that I was subbing this morning.  I actually taught two classes back to back and was exhausted after.  We headed home and grabbed a quick lunch then off to the Y for the last day of swim lessons.  AJ and Daniel finished up strong, they both got great reports for this session and Daniel will be moving up next session.  We all swam together for a while and then got dressed so I could teach class number 3 for the day.

After my class, we had to run to the library to pick up a book for AJ for his summer reading project and also our next round of prizes for the summer reading program.  All of us earned a book at this level so the boys picked their books today, I got a coupon so I can come back another day.  Then we got home, had leftovers for dinner and had a fairly calm night.  I'm really hoping for some sleep tonight, I really need it!

Thursday (7/27) It was another rough night of sleep for us, Daniel couldn't sleep alone again so he and I were in my bed while Adrian was downstairs on the couch.  AJ was up for about 30 minutes in the middle of the night with an upset stomach.  I'm really hoping this ends soon!  We got out and to my Silver Sneakers class and then headed home for a quick lunch before the boys' friends Daniel and Michael came over for a Minecraft play date.  The boys took turns playing Minecraft and doing other things around the house.  It's always nice to catch up with Katie while our boys play!  We had a few rough moments but we powered thru and I think everyone had fun.  The rest of the day was rainy and lazy.  We watched TV, played games, had an easy pasta dinner and relaxed.  I did brave the rain to go out and finish up our grocery shopping because shopping alone in the rain is way better than shopping with the 3 boys!

Sunday, July 23, 2017

Keeping Up With...Food (Meal Plan for July 24 - July 30)

So our week went a little awry last week because we ended up cancelling our camping trip for the weekend.  We woke up Friday morning to rain in the forecast most of the time we would be at the campground, including some severe lightening.  Obviously that would not be safe for us to be in a tent so we stayed home and made an alternate plan.  We had to figure out dinners for Friday and Saturday, which we ended up grilling out on Friday with some of the meat we had for camping and picking up some frozen appetizers for Saturday because we were out all day and weren't very hungry when we got back home.

Sunday night we were able to get ribs from our favorite place at the Jazz and Ribs Festival that was happening downtown all weekend.  We were a little bummed that we were missing it this year since we'd be out of town and then as soon as we realized we'd be here, we made a plan to pick up ribs from Butch's and have them for dinner.  Since it was the last day of the festival, they thru in coleslaw and beans for free with our rack of ribs.  And we got two bottles of their amazing sauce so we can use it over the next few months.  Yum!!
This week is another fairly easy cooking week for me.  We are leading up to our "staycation" week which we will start on Sunday.  This Saturday we will spend the whole day cleaning and getting the house in order so we don't have to worry about anything during the whole next week while we're out and about exploring our own area.  We are all so excited for this adventure!!

Here's what we're eating this week:
Monday - Steaks on the grill & corn on the cob (Adrian got a great deal on this meat and we're excited to grill it!)
Tuesday - Meatball Subs
Wednesday - Chicken Thighs with corn on the cob - we never got to this last week, I'm not really sure why not. 
Thursday - Chili Mac
Friday - Sandwiches at Zoombeezi Bay for movie night
Saturday - Ravioli (Daniel has been asking for this & I wanted something easy since I'll be busy all day)
Sunday - Frozen appetizers after day 1 of our staycation - going to the zoo to ride the rides, feed the giraffes, etc

Water Flavor - Mango - Thank you Aldi for having them for 39 cents last week!

Overnight Oats - I had a bunch of bananas to use up so I set up Banana Chocolate Chip already for the week.  Adrian has been inconsistent about eating them so I'm going to wait and see how much we eat this week before deciding if I need to set up more.  If I do, it will be the Pumpkin Pie flavor because I still have one more serving of pumpkin to use up.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Keeping up with...Family (Weekly Wrap 7/14 - 7/20)

Friday (7/14)  We got up and headed over to the Y for my Zumba class.  There was still some standing water in places and once again I was very happy for a dry basement.  After class, we came home, had lunch and rested up for a busy night.  We packed up dinner and headed up to Zoombeezi Bay to meet Adrian after work.  We had a blast playing in the water for about 5 hours!  We rode the Sound Surfer slide as a family for the first time, which was awesome!  We spent a bunch of time in the wave pool and lazy river.  And we did all of the slides at Baboon Lagoon multiple times as a family.  Zak is finally tall enough and comfortable enough in the water to do all of these rides and we couldn't be happier!  They had a movie at night but Zak and Daniel were tired and watched to go home so I took them home to relax on the couch.  AJ and Adrian stayed and watched Space Jam in the wave pool.  AJ loved it and wants us all to watch it together soon.  Such a fun family night!!
Saturday (7/15) Adrian and I were the first ones up today, that never happens!  All of the boys slept until almost 9am, I guess Zoombeezi yesterday wore them out.  We got up and started doing a few things around the house then I headed out to teach a Zumba class I was subbing.  When I got home, we had lunch and then got started on our to do lists since today was our work day for the weekend.  We didn't get as much done as I would have liked but we made a good dent in them.  We headed out in the evening to our Township's annual ice cream social.  It was a fun night with free Velvet ice cream, play ground time, geo cacheing and seeing some friends.  The boys also enjoyed some of the "old time" games they had set up especially tug of war, sack races, bean bag toss, stilt walking & checkers.  It was a beautiful night and a very fun time!
 
Sunday (7/16) started as we start every Sunday, with a family trip to church.  I overslept and missed first service and was volunteering for second service so I didn't actually hear a sermon, but I still got to worship with the kids and share in communion so that's better than nothing.  After church we ran to a birthday party for the boys' friend Daniel.  We had fun eating lunch & cake, having a water fight, playing with their toys & playing in the beautiful back yard that includes a trampoline and a tree house.  We were there most of the afternoon and it was a really fun time for all of us.

We came home from the party and got started on the few things that were left on our to do list, including getting ready to go on our camping trip next weekend.  We had a light dinner and then headed to Graeter's to celebrate National Ice Cream Day with reduced price ice cream.  It was pretty busy and not our favorite trip to Graeter's, but their ice cream is so good that I'll forgive them for bad service.  After our ice cream, we gave the boys haircuts and got them to bed.  Adrian was super excited to watch the premiere of Game of Thrones so I headed up to bed early to watch my Housewives while he watched on our big TV downstairs.

Monday (7/17) started later than usual for all of us because we all had a rough night of sleep.  AJ couldn't sleep so he ended up in bed with me, Adrian was on the couch & Zak woke us all up at 5am to start the day.  Yawn.  We lazed around until it was time to head to AJ's med check at the pediatrician.  He gained like 5 pounds in 3 months and grew another 3/4 of an inch.  The doctor once again told me to keep doing what I'm doing.

We had some time to kill between the appointment and swim lessons so we ran to Glow Putt for a quick round of mini golf.  Zak has been asking to go there so I made sure to make some time for that.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that they re-themed the course with dinosaurs.  They also changed to glow in the dark balls that you "charge up" every other hole.  It was fun already and now is even better, we're very happy with the upgrades!  And Daniel and I won free games on our last hole so we'll be back again soon.
 

After golf, it was a pretty typical Monday for us.  We headed to the Y for AJ and Daniel's swim lessons.  Zak and I swam outside while they had lessons, then we all swam together for a while.  We got changed and they went to childcare while I taught my class.  We came home to a yummy dinner of pasta with vodka sauce, did a few things around the house, then headed to bed early since we were all tired after a fun filled day!

Tuesday (7/18) Thankfully everyone slept better last night!  Unfortunately I woke up to find out that our dryer has completely died.  I knew it was on it's last legs, but we were hoping to get a few more months out of it.  Boo!  At least I can hang clothes out to dry on my racks so we're not as helpless as when our washer broke a few months ago.  After dealing with that we headed out to teach my Silver Sneakers class and then went across the street to get cheap pancakes at IHOP for their anniversary.  Everyone loved the pancakes & we got lunch for less than $5!
After lunch, we headed to a park in Pickerington that Zak wanted to go to.  Unfortunately it was closed, I think because of the flooding we had last week.  So we had to change our plans again.  We drove over to Blacklick Woods and played there for a while which was nice.  We hung out there until AJ split his shorts and needed to leave.  So we changed plans again and decided to just come home for the day.
When Adrian got home I went out and bought a dryer which will be here on Thursday.  I also noticed during the day that one of my van's tires had a leak so I took that in to be looked at.  Unfortunately the tire had 4 holes in it which could not be fixed so in addition to a new dryer, I also got a new tire.  What a crazy day!!  I grabbed BOGO Chipotle for dinner because I did not feel like cooking after all of this craziness.  And I also got to run to Kroger to start my grocery shopping for our camping trip this weekend, yay!  Hoping tomorrow goes smoother!

Wednesday (7/19) I got a horrible night of sleep so I decided to turn off my alarm and sleep in.  The boys let me sleep until almost 9am.  We had a slow morning, did a little grocery shopping and then headed to the Y in the afternoon for swim lessons.  AJ and Daniel did their lessons while Zak and I swam outside.  It was super hot, but the water felt great.  AJ and Daniel joined us after lessons and we moved inside for a while.  We dried off and got ready for me to teach my Zumba class.  After class we came home and Adrian cooked dinner for us.  I ran out to Meijer after dinner to finish up the grocery shopping and also finished up school supplies and camping stuff.  When I got home, I was exhausted so I just rested and went to bed early.

Thursday (7/20) We got up and got moving quickly so I could get to my Silver Sneakers class on time.  Then we headed downtown to meet our friends at the Scioto Mile fountains.  The boys have been asking to go to them for a few weeks and we finally made it today.  We played in the water for a while, ran around down near the river and then walked up to Columbus Commons for some Jeni's ice cream.  Adrian walked over from his office to grab a quick ice cream treat with us.  It was super hot but we had a great time!!
 
 
We headed back towards home and made a quick stop at Meijer to exchange some of the clothes I bought yesterday that didn't fit.  Then we rushed home because my new dryer was being delivered!  I was so excited it was earlier than scheduled and I got a jump on our laundry right away.  We spent the rest of the night doing laundry, cleaning up and getting ready to go camping this weekend.  It's supposed to rain on Saturday so we are crossing our fingers the forecast is wrong.