Monday, April 11, 2016

Our "New Weekend"

Our 7 1/2 year old gave this weekend it's name when he said "I'm going to call this our 'new weekend'" as he fell asleep Sunday night. The new experiences were quite fun: a new movie to watch, two new adventures, a new recipe, and a new restaurant, all within 72 hours.


Friday night was family movie night. First we played outside to get our energy out, then we lazily watched the newest Star Wars movie as we ate watermelon. The kids have been begging for watermelon all winter. I surprised them with a red and juicy watermelon after school on Friday. They were thrilled to finally taste good watermelon after months of waiting.

Lil Miss E and her styles. She reminds me of Edith from Despicable Me in this picture.

Popcorn wasn't even thought of as we dug into the bowl of watermelon.

Saturday morning may have been my favorite part of the weekend. I woke up early and did some early morning grocery shopping, got coffee from Starbucks, donuts for the minis, and then spent my morning baking, pre-cooking meals for the week, and getting a start on our amazing dinner Saturday evening. All before 9:00 a.m.

HyVee (our local grocery store) had the cutest decorated donuts. I couldn't pass them up for the minis!

The minis spoke about our upcoming surprise road trip. See the video here.

Last week, the middle mini came home from school bound and determined to learn how to knit. I haven't the slightest idea about knitting, but I ordered him a learn to weave kit to get him started. He enlisted big brother's help with the weaving part. As it turns out, the oldest mini learned all about weaving (and a bit about knitting as well) during indoor recess last year at school.


After naps and an early dinner (of homemade chicken fajitas, corn, chips and salsa), the five of us made our way to Knoxville, IA for a night at the Knoxville Raceway. The sprint cars had their practice night so we went to watch. This was the first time we've been to any kind of car race. The minis were completely enthralled by the process, learning about the flags being waved, and all of the cars. I was surprised by how much fun they had. This may be an adventure we try out again sometime this racing season!

The minis insisted on sitting as high up as we could. The view was great, but the cold winds weren't my favorite.



My favorite part of the night: Elizabeth thought SHE was going to be "driving the little cars" even though we had discussed that they weren't cars for her. She was disappointed and not too happy with us when we informed her (yet again) that she wasn't driving. I was hopeful that we had gotten that through her head until we went to leave. She made mention yet again that the next time we go racing, she's going to be driving. I've temporarily given up trying to convince her that she won't be driving sprint cars (anytime soon at least).

Harrison fed Elizabeth popcorn.

Eventually I got too cold and made everyone move down to the front row seats. 

Our view on the drive home.


Despite our late evening on Saturday, we woke up to bright eyed minis who were semi-ready to start the day. We went to lunch at a newly opened restaurant near our house.


Gilroy's had great food and decent breakfast prices. The minis loved their french toast and I was impressed by my Mexican inspired omelet. The minis have requested brunch there again soon.

The minis insisted on cramming into a booth with me after we were all done eating.

Elizabeth heard 40 minutes in the car and packed up a bag to bring.

After brunch we went on a new Sunday adventure: Sample Sunday at Picket Fence Creamery. I am completely in love with their products now that I've been there. There wasn't a ton to do there although the minis loved sampling their products, watching maple syrup being made, and petting the calves.


The amazing chocolate milk. My minis don't even like chocolate milk but two of the three loved this. They had $3 kids meals that included their homemade hot dogs, a bag of chips, and chocolate milk. 

The minis loved the calves.

Their country store was packed with people. I made the most of it around the wine sampling table. 



The maple syrup demo


The rest of Sunday was fairly typical: playing outdoors, grilling, cleaning, and of course watching videos on dad's phone before bed.


I ended my Sunday with a drink and a bowl of Goldfish crackers (because that's all of the snack options I could find in the cupboard). 

Next weekend won't exactly be a "new weekend" but we'll be doing some of our favorite things. Follow me via Instagram or our Facebook page to keep up with our adventures!