I turned our three day weekend into a four day weekend by taking July 5th off. I initially took it off to sleep in because I know how exhausted we are after our usual Independence Day festivities, but we celebrated early on the third. I decide to turn July 5th into a special Mom and Minis Day. They had yet to spend any of their birthday money and gift cards from the month before thanks to a busy June. Our special day out has now been deemed The Extreme Shopping Spree Day for many reasons.
We began our day with a walk around the neighborhood, then lunch downtown at Spaghetti Works. I am not a fan of this restaurant, but it's the mini's favorite, so that's what we got. The never-ending-pasta-bowls and Italian sodas are their go-to meals each time.
Our next stop was Target for new Legos, a ridiculous amount of Mini Brands, board games, and clothes. I decided we needed to stop into Old Navy as well so I could look at dresses. I wound up with one, but the minis also wound up with new swim wear, gym clothes, $1 tees, $4 shorts, $6 sweatshirts, and so much more. I got them each a back to school wardrobe for a total price of $115! I was amazed. This kicked off our massive shopping spree, where I spent far too much money on things we didn't need, but use all of the time.
I loved watching Elizabeth give fashion advice to her brother's. At one point she picked shirts out for them and made them put a couple back because "that is not your color."
Starbucks was a must on the hot day as was a stop at our favorite locally owned cupcakery, Scratch. Not only did we get cupcakes, but we tried the mini cookies and they're definitely a must!
The oldest was thrilled to use his REI gift card. We had a blast shopping for hiking supplies. After getting swarmed by mosquitos on our hike a couple of days prior and needing to cut a hike short, I was determined to find a better bug spray. The oldest picked out a fanny pack with a water bottle. While I had no plans on purchasing anything other than new bug spray, we left with a new kayak and a National Parks Pass.
I couldn't pass the kayak up when I discovered it in their damaged or used section. We've passed up shopping in that section in the past, but this one was a steal! My husband and oldest fixed it up and we've taken it out to the lake a few times throughout the month.
We finished up our day by displaying all of the goodies and scarfing down Michael's pizza (the youngest's favorite pizza place). I've gotten many special times with my minis thanks to the pandemic and homeschooling, but this day was perfect in so many ways. I often think of what things I can do with them that we haven't done before (shocker: the list isn't long) and a shopping day with zero no's was one of them. Our day may have ended with a storm rolling through and losing power for 6 hours, but we danced in the rain under a rainbow. I honestly couldn't think of a better way for our day to have ended.
