October 22, 2007

(Marathon) Weekend Recap

FRIDAY: Yeah, it’s Friday!!!! Tonight kicks off the start of one of our all-to-common marathon weekends!

We kicked off the weekend with Emilee’s 9th birthday party. We had such a great time! Her 3 aunts, 1 uncle, aunt-to-be, 5 cousins, 2 grandmas & 2 grandpas (along with her dad, sister & myself) were there to celebrate with her. We played karaoke, jumped on the trampoline and just had a great time being with everyone. She scored the new Ratatouille game for her GameBoy, earrings, a new sweater, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer DVD, purse (made by one of her aunts), a gift card & some cash. We’re taking her to Build-a-Bear Sunday for her gift from us. The gifts were all great…but the best part was just spending time with everyone (o.k., that was the best part for me. A 9 year old probably thinks the best part was the gifts : ) I took lots of pictures…Enjoy! (Notice how big my youngest nephew is getting. I haven’t seen him in about 6 weeks. Man has he grown!)



SATURDAY: Today was a super busy day.

It started off bright & early with Dan & Emilee traveling to the historic town of Arrow Rock. She had a Girl Scout activity there (Pioneer Days). The town is very old and really interesting. They got to visit the museum, the old county newspaper building, old courthouse, gun shop, tavern and an old pioneer house that is still furnished just like it was in the 1800’s (except they have added wallpaper…not sure why…just to make it purdier, I guess!) They were also shown some of the old games that pioneer girls & boys played, since they didn’t have toys like we did. They played a game of Kick the Stick (first one to kick the stick to the other rope…about 15 feet away…was the winner), Round the Trees (4 trees in a row…had to run to the last one and around it, then run to the next one and around it, and on & on until they reached the last tree…first one back won), a matching game (took various rocks, sticks, berries, etc and put them in a pattern…showed everyone then covered it up…everyone had to try to remember the pattern & match it…first one done won) and a few others. She really enjoyed this part of the tour. They also got to visit some of the shops that are set up just like an old country store, but sell a lot of modern conveniences. It was very interesting and she couldn’t wait to tell us all about it when she got home.


While Emilee & Dan were touring Arrow Rock, Amanda and I went to a Harvest Fest in town. We visited a haunted mansion, watched some country cloggers, visited craft booths, picked up some books that a local book distributor was passing out, saw the Budweiser Clydesdales (beautiful animals!) and finished it off with a yummy snow cone. What fun! (And we had some beautiful weather…sunny and low 80’s…hard to believe it’s “Fall” around here!)

Around 5:00 we took Emilee to a friends house for a birthday/Halloween party. They had lots of activities planned including a bounce house, hayride, bonfire, haunted woods, face painting & yummy, yummy food. She had such a good time! I didn’t get many pics, but did manage to get one of her in her costume before we dropped her off. Isn’t she the cutest Raggedy Ann you’ve ever seen? (I didn’t have time to dye her hair…and haven’t had any luck in finding a wig…but will dye it red for Halloween)

Needless to say she was pooped when we picked her up around 9:30. She came home, took a shower and went straight to bed. Her day was a long one…and wasn’t going to be any shorter the next day.

SUNDAY: 8 a.m. and we’re off to Build a Bear (which just happens to be 3 hours from our house). We’re psyched & ready, though! After a quick stop at Panera (gotta get some caffeine & bagels), we settle in for the long trip (yes, for us 3 hours is a long trip…we’re NOT good travelers…not sure what we’re gonna do on a 14 hour plane ride).

Build a Bear is just awesome! I’ll admit when my girls told me they wanted to go here for their birthdays, I thought “Aren’t you a little old for that?”. But you know what, I think this is one of those things you just never outgrow (kinda like Disney). Emilee had a great time picking out her bunny (she knew she wanted a bunny, just wasn’t sure which one), picking a sound and choosing the perfect outfits. What wonderful memories we made today! I can’t wait to bring Kalia here and let her make a bear (or bunny, or hippo, or turtle, or … they have just about anything!)


After that (and checking out Children’s Place and Gymboree…can’t pass them up…especially when they’re having “up to 60% off sales”! Much to Dan’s relief I didn’t purchase anything…how did that happen?), we headed over to CiCi’s Pizza. We’ve heard wonderful things about it, but have never been. It’s not too bad. They have pasta with different sauces, all kinds of pizza (at least 10 different kinds) and dessert pizza (and yummy cinnamon rolls!). All this for only $4.50 per person! Can’t beat that!

With full tummies and new toys we started the long trip home. We were gone 10 hours. What a day! What a weekend!

I have a love/hate relationship with these marathon weekends. I love that we get to do things together, which unfortunately doesn’t happen as often as I’d like, but man am I tired! You know it’s bad when you’re looking forward to going back to work so you can relax J

I have 5 days to “relax”…then we get to start all over again. Next weekend is much the same!

3 comments:

  1. Wow! You had a very busy weekend! Build a Bear is so much fun. My husband and I went and made a bear for “Maggie”. I think we were having as much fun as the kids that were there, lol! I can’t wait to take “Maggie” so she can create her own some day.

    Smiles! :o)
    Nikki

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  2. You guys DID have a busy weekend. How funny is it that the workweek becomes "relaxing time"? It does for us too. Glad Emilee had a great weekend!

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  3. Ok...I'm tired just reading about your weekend but it sounds like so much fun!

    Rest up....tomorrow is Friday!! ;)

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