Doin' that Ball and Stick Thing

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that Friday should be "Adventure Friday" and we'd go and do something different each Friday. Alison wanted to go to the splash park again, I wanted to go to a couple of candy stores/warehouses that the paper spot-lighted yesterday, but the only thing everyone could agree on was going miniature golfing at All Star Sports. So, golfing we went. And I remembered that golfing with kids consists of going through the holes as fast as humanly possible (with your two year old going as slow as humanly possible).



Thankfully there was no crying over scores and who won (because I gave up multitasking halfway through). The only problem was when Alison hit the ball into the waterhole...

...but even that was soon fixed.
It was hot, and after a while, this was all they wanted to do:



I think what they liked best, though, was the slide and arcade inside. :)



Long and short of it: too much money for not enough fun. Hopefully there are other places in town to go mini-golfing, because this just wasn't worth it.

Popping up Everywhere

A friend found this and printed it off for us:

I'm still trying to figure out a way to get a copy of the show.

Megan's 100 Book Summer

I told Megan that my blogging friend, Becky, was planning on reading 100 books before mid-September. She said, "I could do that." I decided to keep track for her, just to see if she could. (I'm sure she can.)

1. Penderwicks on Gardam Street, Jeanne Birdsall
2. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
3. Peaches, Jodi Lynn Anderson
4. The Sister's Grimm: Tales from the Hood, Michael Buckley
5. The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner
6. The Queen of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
7. The King of Attolia, Megan Whalen Turner
8. Pawn of Prophecy, David Eddings
9. Queen of Sorcery, David Eddings
10. Magician's Gambit, David Eddings
11. Castle of Wizardry, David Eddings
12. Ever, Gail Carson Levine
13. The Sword of the Rightful King, Jane Yolen
14. Gossamer, Lois Lowry
15. Enchanter's End Game, David Eddings
16. The Crow, Alison Croggon
17. Before Midnight: A Retelling of Cinderella, Cameron Dokey
18. Enna Burning, Shannon Hale
19. Daughter of the Wind, Michael Cadnum

An Afternoon at Botanica

We took the Austens to Botanica today -- we went primarily to get photos for Grandpa and Grandma's book, but we figured while we were there, we'd enjoy ourselves!

New Digs

Our old friends the Austen family moved into town last weekend, and their stuff finally made it on Tuesday. In there were two beds for us: their old bunk beds, which they had promised we could have. Down came the crib, and Caitlyn finally has a room of her own. She was very excited:

And Alison and Kristen get to share a room now!

Originally, the bunk beds were up, but the first night, Alison came down after trying to sleep on it, and said that she was scared. "When I'm older, I'll sleep on the top bunk," she said. "When I'm five." They like sharing a room, though.

Sleeping Buddies

Silly Quizes Sometimes Get Things Right

Megan:

You Are Peppermint Flavored Gum

You have a sharp mind that is always churning. You are mentally hyper. You're always thinking of something. And while your mind is always on, you're not the most physically active person around. Some people make mistake you for being lazy, but the truth is: you never relax. You tend to get so deeply into your projects that you ignore everything around you. You are creative and cutting edge. You love telling people about your newest ideas and discoveries.

What Flavor Gum Are You?

And Caitlyn:

You Are Bubblegum Flavored Gum

You are friendly, outgoing, and energetic. You love life, and you can always find some reason to smile. You are a bit hyper, and you're always looking for your next challenge. You love getting things done - and you are usually on the go. Your confidence and positive attitude makes you a very attractive person. You can be a little flaky at times, but people are able to overlook that - because you're so fun!

What Flavor Gum Are You?

An Adventuresome Challenge

So, my friend Corrine has set up a challenge for the summer. Here are the rules:

If you want to join the challenge, here's how we'll do it. The challenge will run from June 1-Sept 1. You get to decide what is an adventure for you - if it's the same places you always go during the summer, probably it doesn't count. If you can't think of anywhere you haven't gone, call friends. Google "places to go in____" . I check out travel guides of my area from the library or go to a hotel lobby and pick up some of their brochures.

Here are the levels:

Level 1: Walk around the block
explore two new places this summer

Level 2: Road Trip
explore five or more new places this summer

You decide what level of challenge and how far from home you are willing to travel :) Make a list of places you want to try on your blog (you can add to it or change it any time). Then come back here and sign up with your list post (after your name, put where you're from, will you?? Oh, and please be sure to put the link to the actual post, not just to your blog). Even if you find this after June 1, it is not too late to sign up!!! You can sign up until its over. You can put this little button on your blog to show that you're making an effort to spice up your summer!

I think we'll do Level 1, for right now, and maybe I'll even expand to Level 2. I'm still thinking.

So, two new places we'll experience are Rock River Rapids, in Derby and the Great Plains Nature Center. We're also planning on visiting the zoo, but since we've been there before, I'm not going to count it.

We'll also do something in Denver when we get there, but I'm not sure what it is. And we're planning on climbing Casper Mountain with my aunt and uncle when we visit them in Casper, Wyoming.

National Doughnut Day

We got an email from our favorite place:

Saying that Friday was National Donut Day and they were handing out FREE donuts. So we headed down (by bike, but I didn't take pictures of that) for our share.





Alison doesn't like donuts, so she's only eating the sprinkles. And Kristen only took the one bite (glad I got a picture!) because she doesn't like the stickyness.

Yum.