Monday, August 17, 2009

"Not Me" Monday!


Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I did NOT ask Dave if I could use his dremel on my feet. My heels are definitely NOT rough like sandpaper from being barefoot as much as humanly possible. I have dainty, girly feet that are soft as a baby's butt. (By the way, Dave did NOT deny me of his dremel... in fear that I would burn up the motor.)


When taking our trip to the Indianapolis Zoo this week, we decided to stay on a very tight budget and spend next to no money. It was pretty easy, considering we already have a membership to the Zoo and we packed our own lunch. So when it was dinner time, we definitely did NOT drive right past a McDonald's that had 25 cent chicken nuggets and head straight towards a steakhouse where we spent $60 on our dinner. Noooo.... it would have cost us a mere $10 to eat at the McDonalds, we definitely would NOT have passed up that opportunity!


My 2-year-old definitely did NOT have a 45 minute pout fest one day this week. He would NEVER throw a fit over not getting a third cup of chocolate milk before 9:00 a.m.. He is NOT my most stubborn one of the bunch. My kids are very well behaved. Perfect Angels. He would NEVER do such a thing! His face tells the story of his innocence....

My husband has NOT been showing my kids Weird Al Yankovic videos on YouTube. Those songs are totally ridiculous and we only let our kids watch educational videos. The kids have NOT loved the dumb songs and begged to see more! My 2 year-old has NOT asked me 3 times today if we can "Pleeeeease watch 'Eat It' bideo".

Friday, August 14, 2009

Brown County FAMILY Vacation... Part One


Dave and I usually enjoy Brown County for the peaceful activities that Nashville has to offer. We love the endless shopping, quiet evenings on the porch, meaningful uninterrupted conversations that we have, and being on absolutely no schedule. For those reasons alone, we have NEVER taken the kids down. MOSTLY, because we didn't think the kids would enjoy it. It's such a friendly place, but it's just not a "kid" place. Well, at least we didn't think it was until this summer.

While we were down on our "date" vacation, we made a point to look for specific things that the kids would enjoy. We talked to quite a few people and got their opinions on kid-friendly activities. One thing that was mentioned was The Abe Martin Lodge. It was located in the State Park and had a brand new indoor aquatic area. I thought it sounded great, but didn't get too excited. After all, as you can imagine, we stick to a VERY tight budget. I was sure that this would cost a fortune. But to my surprise, when we got home and I looked it up, it was very reasonable. I loved the fact you could rent family cabins. They family cabins came with 8 wristbands for the water park. I was also thrilled to learn, that our Brown County Visitors Card (which we had purchased for $12) would save us $18 on our cabin. It was 100% worth the money spent and we ALL had a blast! We spent a fraction of what we normally spend on vacations and the kids said that this was the best vacation ever! Here are some pictures of us at the cabin....


There are about 20 family cabins nestled deep in the woods in a little cabin "neighborhood". They are about 1/2 mile to the lodge and water area.


There are 2 bedrooms upstairs in the loft. One with a king size bed and one with a queen size bed. The kids loved picking which room they wanted and they enjoyed being able to look down at the living room area. The living room had 2 sofas with queen pull-out beds.


Off the back of the cabin is a large deck that overlooks the woods.


This picture was taken right outside of the Lodge area on our way to dinner...
(BTW.... we do color coordinate the kids. It's so much easier to keep track of everyone if they are all in the same color!)


Of course, being in the State Park, there is so much to see! There were BEAUTIFUL breathtaking views. It was amazing and I am sure the kids have never seen anything like it before. We had to stop and pose for a few pics....




We were only about 2 miles from Nashville, which is where we usually stay. There are so many shops and places to eat. We stopped by to visit with the fine people at the Cornerstone Inn, our "usual" place to stay. They have been wanting us to bring the kids in for quite some time. They seemed to really enjoy meeting them "in person". We tried to take the kids' picture outside of the Inn, but the sun was in their eyes...



They loved exploring though...


This is a picture of the guy that plays his guitar and sings. He will usually sit at the main corner in the middle of town. He seems to be a nice gentleman and has definitely got talent! We always enjoy sitting and listening to him.


Of course, having many train-lovers in the house, we had to take the 25 minute grand tour of the city. It is on a tractor/"train" and takes you around to see all Nashville. The kids LOVED it! Here we are waiting for the "train"...


Daddy and Taelyn...


Bryson and Ashton...


"All aboard"...

Dave and Bryson...


Nolan and Mariya...

Mama and Ashton...

Up next... our water park pictures....

Monday, August 10, 2009

"Not Me" Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I absolutely did NOT let my 2 1/2 year old stand half naked and pee on the van tire in the middle of Menard's parking lot. If he had to go potty, I would have taken him back into the store and used the restroom in the privacy of his own stall.

I definitely did NOT justify us eating out after church yesterday because a nearby restaurant had a "Kids eat free" day. We did not have that planned in our budget and it would have been silly to take money out of our savings to eat out. That is so not necessary when we have a house full of groceries.

When we woke up to my 4-year-old peeing in the bathtub in the middle of the night last night, we definitely did NOT just let him finish and tell ourselves we would clean it up in the morning. As I already said, our bathroom manners are top notch and that would be totally disgusting.


In the last couple weeks, a lot of the work we have been doing has been on the outside of the house. We've worked on landscaping, painting, house repairs, fixing windows, etc. While we were working on the house, I definitely did NOT catch my kids playing with slugs and then continue to allow it. I can not stand slugs, they totally gross me out! I would never see them building a "Slug Resort" and actually think it was kinda cute. The fact that they were staying entertained for hours on end was NOT enough to convince me to let them play with these nasty little creatures.



Last but not least, I did NOT open up my back door about 15 times Friday evening just to gaze at our new deck. I have waaaay better ways to spend my time. I have 6 kids that need my attention, I would never stand and stare at inanimate objects!



Have a great Monday!!!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Small Town, USA

As most of you know, our family has recently moved back to the small town that I grew up in. We previously lived in Danville for almost 11 years. We went from living in a town with about 34,000 people to living in a town with about 3,600 people.

My husband was born and raised in Danville. My kids were also born and raised in Danville. It's all they have ever known. None of them had a clue that living in a small town would be any different. Since moving here 2 months ago, they have been pleasantly surprised with the advantages.

I absolutely love the small town life! It feels good to be back to my roots! Here are some of MY favorite perks to small town life:


12. We live only a half mile from my mom and dad.

11. You can see the stars so clearly at night. It is amazing how bright they seem when you take away the city lights.

10. We are within walking distance to our church. The church that I have attended since I was 3 years old.

9. We are within walking distance to the grade school.

8. We got to know our neighbors pretty quickly. Of course, it's the type of thing where everybody knows everybody. One set of neighbors are the parents of a lady who goes to our church. The other neighbor is the lady that watches my cousin's kids. The other set of neighbors are friends with my Grandma and Grandpa. And the other neighbor is actually a girl that my husband grew up with. It's funny, because even though we had good neighbors in Danville, we never really got to know them (except for my BFF Shanda and her family). I have talked SOOO much more to our neighbors here than I ever did to our neighbors in Danville.

7. I feel comfortable letting the kids ride their bikes on the sidewalk out in front of our house.

6. The evenings (and actually, the daytimes as well) are generally very quiet.

5. My Grandma and Grandpa (whom I adore) drop by every now and then and bring us goodies from their garden.

4. Even though we are in a small town, we still have a McDonalds and a Subway!

3. If I need a last minute item from the grocery store, Dave can get there and back in about 8 minutes.

2. We can visit our newly renovated park and there usually isn't more than 2 other kids that we have to share it with!

Last, but not least, is my boyz favorite small town perk:

1. Just about any given time of the day, you can find a John Deere tractor driving down the road. The farmer is usually nice enough to give a wave to the kiddos and it just thrills them!


Here are a couple of my favorite recent small town stories...

One time, Dave went to pick up the pizza that we had ordered. When he got there, he realized that they didn't take debit cards. He came home literally shocked after they told him to go ahead and take home the pizza and he could bring back the money when we were done eating. I can still remember the look on his face! Ha!



Yesterday, Ashton and I went to the video store to rent some movies. As we were leaving, the cashier girl was talking to us and being friendly. As soon as Ashton and I got outside the door, Ashton says, "Man, I feel really sorry for that nice girl." I asked him, "Why do you feel sorry for her?" He said, "Because everyone must have just quit and left her there! She was the only worker in the store!" I said, "Welcome to small-town life, Ash!"