Fall Family Stay-cation

My family has been trying to schedule a little family getaway for months but scheduling was a nightmare! We finally found a weekend that worked and it turned out that having a little stay-cation would be best! I'm so glad we did, too! It was so much fun!

Saturday morning, my family came down to watch Jackson's soccer game.

My family + Derek's family + us = 9 spectators for one little four year old. :) 

After the game, we headed back to our house to enjoy a delicious brunch to fill our tummies before we headed to World's of Fun. Not only was it super yummy, but it was a much better option that filling up on expensive food from the amusement park that is terrible for you! 

We started off with a ride on the Patriot, which is by far my favorite! My dad-- he wasn't a fan.

So after the Patriot, we headed off to something that is more Dad-friendly in Camp Snoopy. :)

Jackson thought he was so cool that he could ride BY HIMSELF!

Enjoying a flying boat ride with Aunt Ashley

Going for a drive. Jackson wasn't tall enough to drive, but he steered!

Here we are before as we geared up to ride the Sea Dragon ride. Jackson contemplated very hard whether he was going to ride it or not, but he decided he was up for it.

He CRIED!! It was kind of like a whimper, actually. His little body tensed up every time our side made it up high... and we were in the middle! I felt terrible the whole time.

This is the Sea Dragon. It swings back and forth.

(courtesy Worlds of Fun)

And then the ride stopped and he said, "Can we ride again?!?" Mom and I looked at each other in disbelief. We went and found the guys who happened to be taking a nice nap...

And Derek and I rode the Sea Dragon with Jackson again. He cried AGAIN!!! But he still insists that it was his favorite thing from the entire park. 

Belle got to go on a ride with Aunt Laura! 

Laura said she giggled the whole time. Unloading took foooorever and as it was way past nap time, Belle was asleep before it was her turn to get off!

 We took turns taking the kids on rides and riding the roller coasters. It was lots of fun! We were all pretty exhausted by the time we left around dinner time. Dad grilled tilapia and chicken for dinner. More yummy food!

Sunday was full of more yummy food. Roast and mashed potatoes. We enjoyed watching the Chiefs beat the Raiders (6-0!!!!)  from the comfiest couch ever. And we were super thrilled to know that the record for loudest stadium is now back at Arrowhead!

We came back home in time for evening church and then enjoyed our family ritual of watching a Sunday night movie. We watched The Incredibles and Belle has insisted that she is Incredi-girl ever since. 

It was so nice to spend time with my side of the family! It's quite rare that we can all get together and even this time, my brother is in the midst of grad school in Virginia. I bet he just wishes he could have had as much fun as we did instead of the hours of studying that occupy his weekends. 

What's your favorite thing to do on a stay-cation?

Menu Monday

I'm linking up with Laura again for Menu Monday. 

Monday: Burgers & baked beans

Tuesday: Cheeseburger Soup

Wednesday: Tilapia & veggie foil packets

Thursday: Poppyseed Chicken

Friday: Leftovers!

Saturday: No plans, but it's grocery shopping day. We'll think of something!

Sunday: Roast

Here's the deal. I really try to avoid having similar meals close together. Originally the plan was to have one of my favorite meals on Tuesday-- Garlic lime pork chops with cilantro lime rice. Yuuuuummmm!! But... when I picked up pork at the store last weekend, I only picked up enough for one meal. Oops! We're out of grocery money for this week, but it will definitely be on the menu for next week!! Plus... I hear it's supposed to rain on Tuesdays. Soup will be perfect anyway. And we all love burgers... so why not? 

Oh, and I feel that I should mention-- when I link up to a recipe that isn't officially "clean"... I am substituting ingredients a little for what we keep in our kitchen, like whole wheat flour, organic butter, grass fed beef,  etc. With the poppyseed chicken recipe, I'll use full fat sour cream, organic cream of mushroom, and whole wheat crackers to crumble on top. It's even more delicious and we get rid of a TON of extra chemicals. 

My kids make me laugh :)

Kids are funny. They are a lot of other adjectives that fit the bill, but even in the midst of their demands, meltdowns, oftentimes sheer ridiculousness, there is often some humor involved.

Take this meltdown from the 4th of July weekend. Belle's world was ending. The hotdog was just absolutely inedible. Why? Oh, well, the bun broke. DUH!!!! Broken food cannot be eaten when you are two years old.

My kids love bananas. Sometimes I slice them, sometimes I peel one and break it in two and give it to the kids. But when I give them a whole, unpeeled banana... Jackson always has to "call" someone first. Every time. It always cracks me up. 

Everyone knows that kids say the darnedest things. Also funny things. Here's what's being said around here.

• Jackson refers to cantaloupe as "pine-aloupe."
• In Belle's attempt-to-avoid-bedtime strategy, she will eventually run out of requests and literally ask, "But I need SOMETHING." 
• Despite being reminded of the correct pronunciation, Jackson refers to his choir class as "quarry". He simply says that he likes his version of the word better.
• Belle has been doing through a stage where she leaves off the ends of words. For instance, "Ja" = Jack. "Pand" = Panda. I have no idea how she's come up with it! 
• Both kids have their own versions of expressing their utter distaste with whatever I have done... mostly denying absurd requests or expecting them to follow instructions. These aren't funny like haha funny. But to them, it's the worst thing they can think to say to me. 
• Jackson: "You are a bad Mommy." And if he's really mad, it's "bad, BAD Mommy."
• Belle: "I'm not playing with you!" (and she'll stomp out of the room).
• Derek referred to Belle as clumsy the other day and she retorted, "I am NOT a SMURF!" Hahahaha. I think this is so funny. She has no idea that all of their names are adjectives. 

Aren't kids funny? If you have a funny kid story-- I'd love to hear it! (My mother excluded!!!!)

U-pick veggies

I saved my very favorite part of our visit to the pumpkin patch for it's very own blog post. Not only did we have a super fun time, but we stumbled across several fields of U-pick veggies! 

I loved this for multiple reasons. First, I love knowing where my food came from and how it was grown. Two, I didn't need to make an extra stop at the grocery store for veggies for the week. And three, it was really cool to see our favorite veggies in actual plant form. Jackson LOVES broccoli and had so much fun finding a bunch in the leaves. Oh, who am I kidding... I thought it was fun too!

Belle is holding onto some of the beets we picked (and that I'm going to try to make tonight!)

Here's our loot-- that we picked ourselves! And at $.79/pound, we paid less than $15 for all of it! We gathered spinach, kale, red peppers, tomatoes, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, and green beans. The best part is that I purchased some veggie saver tubs from Tupperware at a fundraiser auction the night before. So now all of those tubs are in great use keeping these veggies fresh until I get around to using them!

Derek and I talked about doing a garden this year, but never got around to actually make it happen. Next year though! Our goal is to spend the winter months reading up and figuring how to get started! Any tips for us garden newbies? 

Menu Monday

On most weeks, Laura posts her weekly meal plan. I have gotten several different recipe ideas from her  (including one that we are going to enjoy tonight!) and so I thought it'd be fun to join in the menu monday fun. 

Monday: Chicken fajitas & black bean salad

Tuesday: Crockpot apple pork tenderloin, beets, green beans

Wednesday: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Steamed veggies

Thursday: Lemon Garlic Tilapia, wild rice, roasted broccoli and cauliflower

Friday: Beef tacos, homemade refried beans, corn on cob

Saturday: Going to my parents house-- Yum! :)

Sunday: Teriyaki Chicken

I haven't had beets in over ten years, but I remember liking the ones mom canned each summer. I am going to attempt to recreate the yumminess, but there is a huge possibility for failure. I'm hoping for a delicious flavor, but that my family doesn't like them so I can eat them all myself. I only picked four (literally picked from the ground) this weekend. The good news is that if it's gross, I won't be a huge loss.