End of July Catch Up

July has clearly not been a productive month of blogging for me. Thankfully that doesn't mean we haven't been productive making family memories. We're busy as ever and I have the pictures to prove it. Unfortunately, every day that I don't blog is a day where I am further behind in photo editing. So, here's a miscellaneous compilation of our adventures from the past week.

On Sunday we attended our first ever party at Chuck E Cheese. We celebrated the 6th birthday of one very dramatic, stubborn little girl. I took Jackson and Jesse stayed home while the trio napped. Each child was given a card with 45 points on it, which translates into 45 rides or games. That's a whole lot of entertainment, especially combined with a dancing rat, pizza, cupcakes, and lots of little friends! The first hour was so much fun. By the end, kids were crying and parents were frazzled. Talk about over stimulation! We've never taken Jackson to any kind of arcade, so he was so enthusiastic with every single ride and game, especially the ones that generated tickets. He traded in his 90 tickets for tootsie rolls, a ring, and a slinky. It was such a fun, busy afternoon.

While I attended book club on Sunday evening, Jesse FINALLY cut his hair. I had been nagging him for over a month about his bangs and womanly hair cut. (Admittedly, I should have kept my mouth shut because it's just hair.) He found it amusing to temporarily cut his bangs. While not pictured here, he eventually buzzed it on the lowest setting and he looks so handsome!

Monday morning we crossed another item off our summer bucket list: free bowling. Jackson and I met some friends at an especially nice bowling alley in Huntersville. The computer prompted each bowler to take a selfie, then placed the individual heads in these ridiculous characters. It was so funny to watch! The six kids made it through two whole games, thanks to bumpers and dinosaur ramps to roll the bowl down. While they bowled, I happily volunteered to let my friend's baby nap on my chest.

Tuesday was another busy day. Jesse took Jackson to the $1 movie to see Mr. Peabody and Sherman in the morning. Despite popcorn and Skittles, Jackson didn't want to stay 'til the end of the movie. Jesse took him around the grand town of Kannapolis before heading home for lunch.

In the afternoon I met Jesse's brother and his sons at the children's library uptown. I had extra tickets for a drum circle and thought they would enjoy it. My brother-in-law took the older boys into the show while I played with my favorite ten-month old nephew. After the show Jackson and I stayed a bit longer to explore the library.

Our activity for Wednesday was meeting more friends at the splashpad and park. Since the girls don't typically enjoy the water parks, Jesse took them to the gym while I took Jackson and James to the splashpad. It took James a solid hour to actually get wet. He stayed in my lap almost the entire hour before his curiosity won. After an hour and a half at the splashpad, I helped the boys change. We hopped on the train for a quick ride around the park before heading home.

Today Jackson and his cousin had a special lunch date with their MiMi. Jesse and I took the trio to the Chinese buffet for lunch since kids eat free and the lunch special is $5. When Jackson returned home we had some down time (aka buffet induced coma), then spent our evening at Ikea. Jackson has recently discovered thumb tacks and he enjoys hanging each of his drawings on his bedroom wall. We bought him a cheap bulletin board and magnetic board so he could hang his artwork without putting holes in the wall or having thumb tacks accessible for the trio. Of course, we made time to play and eat at Ikea.

This last photo was actually taken a few weeks ago, but I've been meaning to post it and never did. Here's Jackson and his friend at the Airport Overlook Park. I always try to find an excuse to take kids to the overlook just to satisfy my own love of planes. I was happy that Jack's friend enjoyed the planes as much as I do.



The best part about our week is we spent less than $40 for everything: bowling, arcades, movies, hair cuts, drum circles, train rides, splashpad, and multiple meals out. I love all the fun summer deals and free shows available in our area. With only 2.5 weeks left before Jesse goes back to work, I hope we can continue to make the most of our final days of summer together.