Summin' up our Summer

Now that The Redhead has been in school almost two full weeks, perhaps it's time to get a bit nostalgic and reminisce.  Maybe I should finally share all those things we did that I never blogged about.  Or maybe you don't care.  Either way, I'm going to do it anyway.



We saw a lot of movies.  A lot.  Regal Cinema and Cinemark both have $1 movies during the summer and we frequented both theaters when we had the opportunity.  They showed mostly slightly older films, even some from this past year, like Mr. Peabody and Sherman and The Lego Movie.  We loved that they started at 10am so we could always get home by lunch time.



As previously mentioned in another post, she spent three weeks in a drama workshop.  We still did some things once I picked her up, but not always.



We finally made it to the local Golfland Sunsplash water park.  First off, they need more parking.  I spent over twenty minutes finding a parking place and was understandably irritated by this.  Also, they could use more signs.  Other than that, we had a splashing good time.  It is a bit costly, but we used a coupon from our ZBest book, taking $6 off my admission fee.  The Redhead and I did this by ourselves and we enjoyed the lazy river, their wave pool, and did some water slides, including one that has you get into this portal of sorts, then the floor drops underneath you and sends you flying in the water.  It was named Double Dare, and three things went through this particular mother's mind.  "I hope I don't drop my glasses.  I can't believe any second now the floor is going to drop from below me and shoot me down some spiraling slide. OH MY GOSH THE FLOOR IS GOING DROP BELOW THE REDHEAD AND SEND HER SHOOTING DOWN A SPIRALING SLIDE."  And then the floor dropped during the last of this series of thoughts and quite quickly, it was over.  We both survived.

However, what I barely survived, was when she decided to ride two slides on her own and I waited at the exit of the slides.  The wait times were longer than anticipated and I waited for her for over twenty minutes the first time, trying not to panic from fear she had switched to another slide.  Then the second time, just as I thought I couldn't go through it again- OVER AN HOUR.  I WAITED FOR MY CHILD FOR OVER AN HOUR.  If I told you I didn't have tears well up a couple times, I would be lying to you.  I would be lying to myself.  Mister Man didn't envy me one bit; in fact, he was glad it had been me and not him.  I kept reminding myself to be calm and stay where I was, but there were several times I thought the anxiety would consume me.  We had a good day though and luckily our sunscreen did a fine job protecting us from those harsh rays.


We had a lot of play dates.  Sometimes, they came here.  Sometimes, she went to her friend M's house.  Twice, we went roller skating and brought a friend.  I didn't discover the site, Kids Skate Free until late into summer, but it was nice having The Redhead get in free for skating.  We only had to pay for her skate rental and her friends' entrance and rental.  A couple times, we took a friend elsewhere.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with several friends this summer.  Aside from her friends attending her party, and the neighbors, we ended up having play dates with six different children this summer, which I find absolutely surprising.  I don't know if it's the age or the location, but saying you will make plans and actually making them has been much more likely out here.


We went to our favorite pizza place, John's Incredible Pizza, A LOT.  It's a buffet place with an arcade, indoor rides, fun stuff like that.  Almost like a Chuck E. Cheese on Red Bull.  They had a summer special where you could spend $34.99 a person and that was good for five visits.  During each visit for that price, it covered your buffet, a $5 Fun Card, and one hour of rides.  These sorts of specials are the only time you get hours of free rides.  They usually cost multiple credits per ride.  The Redhead somehow kept earning even more plush critters she didn't need.  And twice, we brought her friend M with us.  We actually ended up going seven times.  Five times as part of our summer deal, once using our free birthday buffets for being VIP members, and another time for this Frozen themed party they had.



Other things she wanted to do this summer included Monster mini golfing, which we actually did as a family the first weekend of Seussical performances.  We also made it to Build a Bear to use part of a gift card she received for her birthday.  She had fro-yo, we watched the new Ninja Turtle movie (not part of the discounted movies) and she played in the pool in the backyard (just a box kit pool).  I'm sure we did other fun things as well, but these are the things that stand out in my mind.  And they certainly kept us busy enough.  If you remember, we set out to do at least one fun thing a day, and we succeeded.  I kind of miss my partner in crime and our adventures already.

Snorkeling in the Backyard

Over eleven years ago, we were married in Jamaica and every single day of our trip, we went snorkeling at least once.  Even the day we were married.  Not even wedding hair and makeup could keep me from snorkeling.  It wasn't something we could do once back in Kansas, but now we feel as though we can snorkel in our own backyard.


Probably because we have been.



And, well, it's nice being able to do such.

How?  Well, it's not traditional snorkeling, but that doesn't seem to be stopping The Redhead.  She's been armed with her gear and just keeps going after her little diving fishies.  It's cute.



I'm so glad Mister Man set this pool up.  Of course, it's not like it's a real pool.  It's only an Easy Set sort of pool, the ten feet kind.  But it's still a type of pool, and she seems to be having an awesome time in it.

Also, this little guy seemed to like The Redhead's swimsuit that was drying out on the patio.

We decided he could stay outside.  And so we put the swimsuit there too waiting for him to leave.  He refused.  Finally, Mister Man dumped him in some flowers.  We didn't care where he went.  As long he stayed outside.

 As for The Redhead?  Well, she likes being outside right now too.

99 Reasons: Wednesday's Wonders

While coming back from the beach on Sunday, we stopped by the 99 cent store in Vacaville.  We've never been, so we were curious.  The last few trips to the 99 cent store haven't been too exciting.  And I didn't even go yesterday, although I wondered if I would regret it.  The Redhead and I stopped by after our $1 Despicable Sequel movie today.  (We love watching cheap summer movies in the theaters.)  That trip was worth it.  The movie and the store.  

I even bought a little watermelon.  For a $1!  And my plants should be well fertilized for a week or two.  And this is strange to admit, but I recently had a dream where I was buying Newtons from the 99 Cent Store.  I hate confessing that to you because it sounds weird in so many ways, but it's true.  And those tater tots?  They're mini tater tots!  I had no idea such a thing existed.


The only problem is this: my freezer is so packed that I had to stack items into where we store the ice.  It's that bad.  No freezer shopping for us for a bit.

We had to run out for something so we stopped by the 99 cent store close to our house.  I'm so glad we did!  We ran into The Redhead's friend.  Her mother and sister were also wearing minion shirts so we made such an awesome foursome.  This was also my first time running into someone I recognize in a store out here.  Which means I haven't bumped into someone I know for almost a year.  It's very odd.

My favorite part of this shopping trip, aside from running into The Redhead's friend was finding all of these Delifresh meats!  We have bought several packages of these recently, and they weren't for a $1.  Yeah, I won't lie.  We stocked up.  We shoved five packages into our designated drawer in the fridge.

Yeah, it was a Wonderful Wednesday for shopping.  And after running into her friend, The Redhead now has plans tomorrow for an afternoon play date. Wonders, indeed.

The Price of a Sleepover

One rare full moon on Friday the 13th brought a sleepover at our house.  Then at 3:10 am, I was awake and checking on two little girls running around.  Two very wide awake little girls.  It's not unusual for the two of them to go to bed late, but I knew the little girl was going to her grandmother's the next day, over an hour away, and I wasn't sure her mother wanted her tuckered out and cranky.  I told them they needed to get to bed, went back to bed myself, but I knew, my words probably meant very little to them.  Next thing I know, it's morning.  The girls were again very much wide awake.  Allegedly, they fell asleep at some point on the couch and were awake by 8 am.  I doubt they had much sleep at all.  There just wouldn't have been enough time.

I wouldn't call this a sleepover night.  I would call it a sleepless night.

By noon, the little girl was gone.  And by 1:30, this was The Redhead.  In the guest room.

As time would pass, I would check in on her, and find her in a variety of positions.  Along with her feline companion.

Her eyes would open from time to time, she'd even speak briefly, but she was far from awake.

And if you're curious why I would take such pictures and annoy an obviously sleep-deprived child, well, that's the cost of such a sleepover.

Egyptian Fun

First off, I'd like to know where these little kits were LAST YEAR when we threw our Egyptian Party for The Redhead's 9th Birthday.  Because, um, they're awesome.  And I didn't know whether to dance a jig in the Dollar Tree when I discovered them, or throw a tantrum because I didn't get to purchase them last year.  Also, we found them at a store near Yosemite, and I don't buy just anything on vacation to take home with us.  It has to be a fabulous purchase to get to ride in the car home.

And The Redhead and I decided this could be considered a fun thing to do on this beautiful summer day.  Even though she finished it within minutes.  She cheated.  She informed me she used "The Gordian method," and those were exact words.  And when I seemed confused, she told me this splendid story (and I'm just going to summarize) of the Gordian Knot and how this guy cheated using a sword cutting the knot, but it was effective, and he found a way around the challenge to become king.  And that's what she decided to do.  She saw the crack in the back, broke it in half and got the little golden sarcophagus out.  And it didn't bother her in the slightest.  She was proud.  And she still thought it was fun.  I was too busy getting over the shock of being schooled by this child of mine.

 And as amazing as those kits would have been for our Egyptian bash on June 8th of last year (held over a month earlier than her actual birthday due to our move), I'm curious how many of those kids and parents would have known about "The Gordian Method."  Either way, The Redhead does love Egypt.  And I love that I can always count on her for culture, curiosity, and adventure.  And when it comes to me...you can count on photos.