Cow Appreciation Day

July 12, 2016

Once a year Chick-Fil-A hosts a "Cow Appreciation Day" where they give out a free meal to anyone who comes dressed as a cow. The first year we went, I dressed Lily up as a regular old brown cow - and she was the only one not sporting the classic black spots. This year, I took the dressing up to a whole new level by just using garbage bags. I created spots, colored them in, created arm and head holes, and slipped them on over our heads. It was super super low-class, and I know I have more creativity than that, but with the time I had allotted once I found out about free Chick-fil-a... well... desperate times call for desperate measures!

The nice think about chick-fil-a employees, is that they don't care, they are just happy to serve you - and while our outfits were pretty lame, we still benefitted from their outreach to the public with a free meal.

This particular visit was the first visit where Lily was brave enough to go up and say Hello to the mascot Cow. She has always been terrified of him, and now that we know she has overcome this fear - we may just have to take a trip to Disney World to visit more oversized creatures!

And as if one free meal wasn't enough, we went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner too!

It wasn't as busy as I had expected it to be and after our escapade in the morning we had two children asking us all afternoon when we could go back to Chick-Fil-A again. Well - why not dinner?

Two meals in one day really wore us out! The kids were over stimulated with how much there was to see and do, and Lily even fell asleep on the way home with her Ice Cream melting all over Daddy's car.

In all seriousness, Chick-Fil-A is our favorite fast-food restaurant, and it's the only one that we frequent. Their customer service is beyond exceptional. They are always friendly, always willing to serve, it's always clean, and you feel welcome at their restaurant. I have to say, that I have never, ever had a bad experience at chick-fil-a. I have always walked away impressed. I seem to have a lighter bounce to my step and am ready to pass on the kindness that was shown to me by their employees. 

Thank you Chick-Fil-A for providing great meals and making us smile every time we go there. Your kindness does not go unnoticed! We can't wait to go back again!

7-11: Free Slurpee Day

On July 11, Monday night, as a family, we all decided to go over to our local 7-11 and get some free slurpees. We had never done this before and thought it would be fun for the kids. 

I was expecting long lines and limited flavors, but I was pleasantly surprised that there were no long lines and there was plenty to go around for everybody.

We let each of the kids pick out the color that they wanted and let them enjoy their own sugar drink slurpee. I haven't had a slurpee since 2006 and have forgotten how sweet (and how much sugar) they contain. But, an occasional treat never hurt anyone! 

And to keep the mess away from the car, we finished the slurpees outside. I hope I can incorporate this free slurpee day into an annual event in our household, but in the future, I'll pass on the sugar high, and leave that for the kids instead!

Friends Come to Visit

Twice in July I was asked to watch some super cute friends while their mom's had errands to run.

We first had over the Maki girls. Lily just adores these sweet little ladies. And they all played together so well. I'm looking forward to the next time that they can come over and play because of how well they all got along!

And another day, I got to watch the Wallin children. What was supposed to be two hours, somehow turned into six. But since they were easy kids to watch, it wasn't that big of a deal. Plus, Lily really enjoyed having friends over. So... if it made her happy... it makes me happy!

I need to get more on top of having play-dates and friends over to play. Maybe... in the future... I'll have a tea-party and invite over a billion kids and let them all be in heaven!

Lily's First Movie

Have you ever bought something at the grocery store, and it advertises that you can win a free *something*? All you have to do is purchase the product, and then eat the whole product, and then cut up the packaging, and enter it into a million places online and see if you won...

We have all seen these before, but it is such a hassle to actually *win* that none of us ever tries. But then, there was that one time that I did try... and I won three free tickets to Finding Dory. (All from the back of a Juicy Juice Apple Juice container. Don't even get me started on Motts Applesauce free movie tickets - they advertise that if you purchase three of the same product on the same receipt it qualifies you for one free Fandango ticket. So you, once again, do the million steps, then they take about ten years to get you your free ticket, but you have to enter another million codes in online and print it off... but they give you the code about a day and a half before the promotion ends - so it's a joke. *rant over*). 

So, I won three free movie tickets... and I decided to take Lily to her very first movie in the movie theater. I don't think Lily really knew what to expect. She knew it was a special surprise, but not quite sure why she had to wait for so long to actually see the movie. The previews were scary, and NOT age appropriate, and at one point Lily yelled, "When do I get to see Dory?" And the whole theater laughed in agreement with the question she just vocalized. As soon as the movie came on, Lily was mesmerized and sat still through the entire show. She loved following the fish and their journey to find Dory.

After the movie, Lily wanted to go back in and see it again. She even tried to do her best impression of speaking Whale.

While I do think that Lily is still a tad young for going to the movies, I'm glad I got to take her, for free, to this cute Disney movie. It was a great Mommy/Daughter date, and I'm looking forward for more to come!

We saved a turtle

One Saturday afternoon in July, Lily and I went on our own walk while Michal Marco took his afternoon nap. Our little walk turned into quite the adventure. Upon our return home I saw something grab my attention from the corner of my eye - so Lily and I went to investigate and we saw a small, slow turtle just wandering around on the road. We blocked it from two cars until deciding it would take all day to coerce it to return to the forest. So we picked it up and helped it on its journey. It really wasn't that thrilling or exciting, but Lily was over-the-moon with how bewildering and thrilling it was to move a turtle. 

After her initial excitement, she became brave and decided to venture closer and closer to her new turtle friend. She watched it closely and carefully until it made its way far enough from the road that she was satisfied that our friend would be safe and would not get squished by a car.

We later found out that because of how wet it has been this summer, it has caused an increase of turtles leaving their natural habitat in search of some less wet areas. At least we were able to save one turtle, and I'm grateful for the excitement and lesson that it taught Lily.

Fourth of July

We have never done much for the fourth of July, but this year we were invited to participate in several activities. 

We first got up and attended a pancake breakfast at the church. The kids didn't eat their pancakes, but sure fell in love with watermelon. Michal is not a fan of watermelon, so I don't normally buy it. Now that I found out how much Lily and Marco love watermelon, I am going to make a more conscious effort to pick one up at the grocery store.

The pancake breakfast was not a church sponsored event, although it was located at the pavilion at the rear parking lot of our church meetinghouse. It was just several friends who wanted to an excuse for everyone to get together and have pancakes and enjoy the fourth of July.

Later that evening we were invited over by the Acosta family to enjoy a meal and fireworks. I made a killer pasta salad, and the Acosta's had some killer fireworks that just made my kids glow with amazement and wonder.

Normally, I am a mom who hates when we miss bedtime because the next day can be a little rough, but for special occasions I force my children to stay up until 10:30 at night. Luckily, this was a special enough occasion, they were excited and amazed to stay up - and they went to be with not a single shed tear. The next morning they were happy and couldn't stop talking about how awesome the fireworks were! Win-Win! Thanks Acosta family! You guys are amazing! Thanks for letting us be a part of your special evening!

Myrtle Beach Trip

June 30 and July 1

I don't get on Facebook much anymore, but this particular day, I got online and noticed that Becky Miller and her husband were vacationing in Myrtle Beach. After a quick maps search, I realized that it was less than a four hour drive to see them. So, spur of the moment, we decided to drive down and see them! And it was so worth it! We packed the night before, loaded up the car, and made it to South Carolina by about three in the afternoon. (And of course, it took much longer than four hours with a lunch break and multiple bathroom break)s. But, the drive down wasn't really bad at all. The kids did an extremely good job in their car seats for so long that it makes me want to consider going on more road trips). Once arriving at North Myrtle Beach we quickly unloaded our luggage at the hotel, changed into our swimsuits, and headed over to the local "travel park" to see my dear, dear friends. Immediately upon greeting them we headed out to the beach and we couldn't get the kids to leave. These two are such water-babies that I couldn't find a way to convince them it was time to go home. Marco would get knocked over wave after wave and would sign "again" because he loved it so much. They both enjoyed playing with the sand toys and making Sand Castles. But most of all, they loved jumping the waves with either Mommy or Daddy.

And catching up with Becky was such an absolute pleasure. I almost immediately felt like I was home. The very best friends are the ones that, when you don't see them in ages, you pick right back up where you left off - and Becky is one of these people. She just has such a genuine personality and a heart made of gold. You feel warm and special every time she talks to you, like you are the only person that matters. When you leave a conversation, you are a better person for just having talked to her. So, leaving was extremely difficult. I wanted to spend the whole evening chatting and catching up and hearing how wonderful her family (especially her three grandchildren) were doing. 

I think that the Millers even got a kick out of how fun Lily and Marco were and how much they LOVED the water. When we finally made it back to their portable-trailer-hitch-home we decided our trip wouldn't be complete without a group photo to document how much we love the Miller family. Michal and I decided that the next time they are in Myrtle, we are going to make the journey down again. There is just something special about these two, that I wish everyone had a friend like this!

The next day, we were up early, and so we decided to hit the beach again before we had to check out of our hotel. We arrived at the beach around 9:00 am, stayed until about 11:00 and were able to check out by noon.

The kids immediately went running to the water and were elated that they got to spend the day again at the beach. 

They played so well together the whole time we were at the beach. We got out sandcastles, went hunting for seashells, and jumped waves in the ocean - and they couldn't get enough. We knew we had to eventually make our way back to the hotel, but it was sure hard because they were so good natured and full of joy.

Michal and I vouched that we need to make Beach trips a more regular occasion with these two. We need to make their childhood special and give them great memories - and that the beach is a must to our annual family bucket list.

Immediately upon returning home (after both children slept in the car for three hours and we made terrific timing) Lily jumped out of her car seat, ran straight upstairs with her seashells that Miss Becky gave her, and started to organize them. She is a little girl after my own heart and I love that this trip not only meant so much to me, but it meant so much to my children also.