Jumping Ahead...

So I know I said that I was going to go in chronological order of our summer but today was too funny that I didn't want the chance to forget the day.

Let me set the scene for you.


My mom and I decided to take Grace to the Italian Festival at BelMar today. We parked and decided that it would be a good idea that everyone go potty before starting the festival activities, I didn't have to go so I just lurked around the bathroom waiting for the other two ladies in my party.


My mom and the princess were sharing a stall, when all of a sudden my mom goes..."Gracie you don;t have any panties that look like that, where did you get those?"


Grace replies as loud as humanly possible "Oh my goodness, Grandma I am not wearing any panties!!!!"  My mom was looking at her jeans thinking that she had some dark navy blue panties on.


Grace continues on still basically screaming at this point while its echoing through out the porcelain tiled walls. "I FORGOT to PUT PANTIES on. I am so embarrassed".  She was emphasising the most important of words.

Meanwhile, I am giggling listening to the events unfolding. Other people in the bathroom are giggling and looking at me.

All she kept saying for the rest of the day is that she is so embarrassed that she forgot to put on panties, and I couldn't help but laugh hysterically, and my mother had the same reaction.

Moments like this are priceless...they are also good ammunition for threats of embarrassment when the teenage years roll around.

Our Next Trip

May 6, 2011

Colorado Springs is about one hour south of Aurora. My MIL lives there and we try to get down there as often as possible. My husband took Saturday off this weekend too so that we could have a whole weekend together. We went down and stayed at my MIL's house and had a whole weekend of adventures.

Friday

We got a late start and didnt rush too quickly down south. We stopped in for our Hello's and then we were back on the road to Cave of the Winds. ($18/ea adult, 4 year old was free), which is about 15 minutes out side of the Springs. I had been there before, but this was the first time for Grace and her daddy. They enjoyed it, it was the same tour I had been on before, so I was less than mystified. Still a good time.

Saturday

The hubby and I left the little moster with grandma while we went for an early morning hike in Cheyenne Mountain Park, which is also about 15 min outside of the Springs. Park entrance is free. Beautiful way to start the morning, especially so early in the season.

For the afternoon we took a trip to Dinosaur Resouce Center in Woodland Park, ($30 for 3 people) about 45ish minutes from town. I was expecting a whole lot more than what we got and I was really disappointed. It had very minimal exhibits, and I felt that it should have been less expensive for what you got. There was some cool things; there are huge turtle fossils ( I LOVE turtles) and you can actually touch some of the fossils. Other than that, not a lot to look at. We did get a cool picture of me and the hubby lifting Gracie into a faux dinosaur's mouth($10). Needless to say we didnt stay long.

On the way back to town we stopped in Downtown Manitou Springs where there is a huge, cool aracade. The arcade has about 4-5 shops full of old and new video games. They have little kiddie rides outside. I think the husband and I both pulled out $10 a piece and played on that.

Since we were staying at the MIL's house we didnt eat out.

Total spending for the whole 2 days = $96

Better than sitting at home watching TV all day ( :

Lets get started

Okay, so let's face it...the world that we live in is filled with talks about the economy going back into a recession, bailouts, and budget crises. So how as Americans are we supposed to support a family and try to live a "normal" lifestyle on a shoestring budget??


Last year I messed up my Achilles heal playing lacrosse and was in a cast and a walking boot for a little over six months. Miserable as hell, and feeling trapped in my own body because I was limited in the things that I was allowed or able to do. After I was finally up on the mend and feeling better I promised my 4 year old daughter, Grace, that this was going to be the best summer ahead of us, and that we were going to do so many new things this summer, and not just the same old boring summer activities.


Our family is not the most conventional of families. Both me and my husband work swing shift. Luckily we have my parents close enough to help with watching Gracie after school. My husband and I also have the luxury of keeping Miss Grace out of her pre-kindergarten school on Fridays. This is the only day off that we have as a family, this is the one day a week that we get to go on an exciting adventure and try something new.


 My husband and I both work for the government but we still live paycheck to paycheck, which is why it was so important for me to find things that we were able to do together as a family that didn't break the bank. I also wanted to share my ideas with other families in the Denver Metro area.


I didn't think to do the blog until the summer was over, but luckily I wrote down everything that we did do and the dates because I am also in the process of making Grace a scrapbook documenting our summer. Initially this started out as just a summer of adventures, however I don't think it will stop when the summer ends. That all being said, there will be a lot of backdating...Hopefully I can get the summer current quickly and then update every week.


Here goes! Enjoy!


April 29, 2011


Agenda:


Denver Firefighters Museum
Rockies Game
Picnic in Civic Center Park


The day started off as a gorgeous spring day. My husband and I packed a couple of backpacks full of lunch, sunscreen, sweatshirts, blankets and other necessities needed to deal with springtime weather in Colorado. We left earlier in the morning and hopped onto the Lite Rail from the Nine Mile station in Aurora. This was Grace's first time ever on the Lite Rail and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She had fun giving the RTD worker her ticket stub and looking out the window as we passed thru Denver. We ended our train ride at 16/California station in the heart of downtown. We made it!


We made our way to the Denver Firefighter museum on foot. (1326 Tremont Pl, Denver). The Denver Firefighter is an amazing place to take a child who is into fire fighters. My daughter is fascinated with firemen because I work as a 911 dispatcher for the police and fire departments...she calls them my helpers. The museum is very cool. The bottom floor is filled with odds and ends about the history of Denver Fire Fighters. There is even a fire truck in the back where your kids can not only play and pretend to be on a fire rig, but they can also dress up like a fire fighter themselves. We spent over a half hour playing on the rig.


The top floor is filled with interesting facts about DFD, as well as a pretend house where your little ones can plan a safe escape out of a burning house. There is also a locker room upstairs with an older vibe to it. When you walk in the first thing that you hear is Denver Fire Dispatch on the overheads. We loved it and it was EXTREMELY INEXPENSIVE!!!!


The admission to the museum is already inexpensive, however there is also a coupon on www.coloradokids.com for 2 for 1 admission. For a family of 2 adults and 1 child it was $10 with the coupon. Can't get much better than that for a few hours of fun.


Next stop was Civic Center Park for a mid-day picnic. We took our time and relaxed while we ate lunch then we played catch until it was time to hitch a ride in the pedi cab to Coors field. Meanwhile the weather was starting to change and I was rethinking my choice of wearing Capri's.


My family loves sports. We live, breath and die sports. Especially baseball. The Rockies are a fond memory of ours, and we tend to spend more money here than any other event. I am ashamed to say that I am a ticket snob, I don't like the rafters and will front the extra money to sit in front. We spent $68 on tickets for 3 and sat on the first deck. I also spent $20 on dinner, and my husband spent $20 on dinner.(We chose to keep our finances separate, so we split everything down the middle). Since we packed a picnic this is the only meal that we needed to purchase.


The night ended with us waiting for the Lite Rail in the snow for over an hour because the train before ours had gotten into a minor accident.


Fantastic first adventure even though the weather sucked.


For a total day of fun we ended up spending (including Lite Rail) $130 between the two of us. (This was the first adventure so it was a little more pricey and extravagant than what followed for the rest of the summer)


Stay tuned for more adventures...