The Search for Miss Direction: A Grand Mac Daddy(less) Sunday

Today was so serene and beautiful around here. Wish the sunshine would stay around like this all year. OK, that's not completely true I did my stint in Florida and did quickly end up missing the seasons. But for the rest of the summer I'll be thrilled if the monsoons stay away (and tornadoes - my parents finally have power again!) and we have nothing but sunshine.

Because let me tell you, we took advantage of it. As expected (dreaded) Grant got sucked into working pretty much all day, so the kids and I flew solo. After a breakfast of chocolate banana wontons with Grand Marnier sauce (Happy National Grand Marnier Day, by the way) we packed it in and headed to Heritage Park for the morning. Apparently we weren't the only one with this idea as there were a TON of people at the park this morning. Fortunately most were at the Splash Pad (which we are going to stay away from for a few days, so my panic level about it can resume to normal levels) so we had lots of the playground to ourselves. We then headed home for a lunch of popsicles and beans and weenies. To be fair, it was ridiculously hot and they were pina colada popsicles consisting of coconut milk, banana and pineapple, so I considered it their serving of fruit with their meal. Besides, it's the middle of July, aren't you supposed to do things like eat popsicles for lunch???

We all grabbed some quiet time and then got up to make macaroni necklaces and macaroni artwork (Happy National Macaroni Day!) Earlier I had color some fun pasta shapes with rubbing alcohol and food coloring and the three of us went to town. I helped them each make a necklace and bracelet and they then each made their own art piece. The picture I took doesn't do it justice, but the smiley face Noah made was awesome! It even had eyebrows :)

Grant made it home in time for dinner, where we furthered the macaroni celebration with a Ranch Chicken Macaroni Salad (loved by all) and had some cherry lemonade jello chocked full of blueberries. It's National Pick Blueberries Day, and unfortunately where we are is right on the cusp of having berries ready to pick. As I've never picked blueberries, I told the kiddos it's on the list for something during the next couple of weeks as we hit the picking season. In the meantime, we made due with what we had.

After dinner Noah requested a spin on his bike (we have still been working sans training wheels occasionally and he is doing pretty well) and then some time in the pool and sprinkler. I had remembered earlier in the day that the wading pool was propped up out back so the lysol and I went to town on scrubbing out the winter accumulation and filled it up so the water could warm up a bit. We have a well outside and the water is ICE COLD, so I'm glad I remembered to do this well before they actually got in the pool.

What a great Sunday. Everyone behaved, we had fun together, no fighting or tantrums; sign me up for more attitude/behavior like this when you make a note of my weather requests, too.

Tapioca pudding tomorrow and I've promised them they can watch Prince Fielder try to reclaim his crown in the Home Run Derby tomorrow night. Trying to come up with a great snack/treat to go with that... Something with Baby Ruth bars? Crackerjacks? Tried to come up with something home run or 'prince' related, but am striking out (pun intended). Who out there has a great idea for me? Hopefully before we run to the store tomorrow I'll come up with a real Grand Slam. (Alright, I'm done now, promise) Until then...