Ghosts of Weekend Past - Water and Woods

You know you have this dream of how things are going to be and then this happens and then that...yep that sums up the weekend.  Now by no means it was not bad...just totally different.  At the last minute the hubbie and I get this ingenious plan to sneak off with the jet skis to up north.  You know just us. Of course that is never how the story ends, the teenagers had off of work, so they would be joining us and then there was a small discovery and the parents came too.  At the end of the day, we had a fun/hard weekend up north with the family.

Friday evening, we load up, head out, stop at Taco Johns (because hello it's Taco Johns people), and roll in at the land.  Pull our trailer over to only notice this tree laying there. 

 

Now at first thought it was like "hhhmm, they must have just been burning it".  After a little closer check, not so much.  Within the last few weeks there were some pretty bad storms that came thru the area.  One of these storms decided to relocate this. Thankfully the damage wasn't bad.

 

Another picture from in the woods 

 

It was rather crazy how the upper tree branch here is balancing on the lower tree while the end is being held in the crook of another tree.   There was also another very large tree that had came down.  The woods looked rough, but the trailers thank goodness did not get any major damage.   I am grateful we were not up there when the storm came thru.  I may have just peed myself.

 

Saturday found us..having some breakfast before heading out to explore a new lake

 

My super hero....not sure what he would officially be called since his cape is a spongebob beach towel.

 

We took the kayaks up also so K could try kayaking for her first time. 

 

She enjoyed herself.  Now granted this was just a test run on a body of water where we could watch them paddling.  Next up to get her on the river for a few mile excursion and see how she fairs.

 

And of course, we took the jet skis.  Now this lake was pretty basic.  It was also very wavy for no wind.  A few ski boats, some pontoon boats, and a couple other jet skis were out.  you basically just ran in circles.   Checking out the houses along the shores was awesome.  They were beautiful...and I seriously wanted to go make friends with the house that had a slip - n - slide that was about 7 feet wide and 100 feet long that ran from the top of their hill to the lake.  They won the best house around just for that.

 

The place was perfect.  We had a spot to park the skis while we laid, swam and chilled in the beach area.  My parents joined us for dinner before we started on the clean up of the trees.  Come to find out my husband loved the electric chainsaw, well at least for the first 15 minutes.  We had the worst cleaned up before bed.

 

Sunday found us grabbing some breakfast and then making the tough decision to forego kayak camping this week due to the water levels.  Instead we will be heading back up north for some more water exploration.

 

The rest of Sunday was spent getting caught up and ready to leave again.  Then family dinner before calling it quits on the weekend...I missed my bed.

 And our minion says hello, how was your weekend?

 

 

Curing the Hangry Round 3

 

As I sit getting ready to spring out the door for my weekend excursion, thought I would share with you my 3rd Graze box. It is time for Curing the Hangry with the Graze box Round 3.  

And in Round number 3 we have:
1. Hot pepper Jam - Wow, this jam was amazing.  I have never tasted anything like this.  Love
2. Honey Drizzled Cashews - Not a big fan of cashews, but drizzled in honey delicious.  Love.
3. Lightly Salted Popcorn - Normally I drown mine in butter and salt, so this was a change.  And I kind of maybe just slightly burnt it.  Like
4. Honeycomb Flapjack - My eyes have been opened as to why they have a box specifically for this.  Love

Once again nothing I hated in this box, a great variety of flavors....the winner of this round though goes to the Honeycomb Flapjack (since after eating I was seriously considering order a subscription box of only these)

Head over here to find out about my very first box:   Graze Box

Minion Mayhem

Minions, Minions, Minions...they seem to be absolutely everywhere.  I guess they had or have a movie that came out completely dedicated to the minions.  Clearly you can tell I am not a die hard fan.  Anyways, on Sunday I had a hankering for Happy Meal.  This is generally a once a year event that I will go to McDonalds for anything but a shamrock shake or apple pie, just saying.  Yes, I do order a happy meal, it is the perfect portion sizes for me.  Well now in this happy meal was, you guessed it, a minion.  Suddenly minion mayhem was born...

 

Minion Mayhem is basically the adventures of our little minion.  You can follow our minions adventures live via my snapchat: dmbillington

 

Today though I will give you a little snapshot into his weekend adventures via our little section of the cyberworld and shortly on instagram.  Just a note though, think the weekend was pretty hard on the little guy because he has been hiding out for a few days.

 

Since he is our minion, he must love the water and that he did. 

 

 

He even agreed to a stop at the Tiki Bar

 

and of course, the sand bar.

He chatted with Wilson for a bit until we needed to go back to the tiki bar for snacks and cocktails

 



 

Extra cocktails are a must when working up bravery for the rope swing

 

Exhausting, it was.

 

The closure to the day was when he joined us for his very first ice cream

 

And there you have our little world of minion mayhem.  Stay tuned for future episodes

 

 

Ghosts of Weekend Past - Summer continues

I love when Monday mornings I sit at my desk and think that the most perfect weekend just occurred.  The week prior all of our teenagers passed their boating exams, which basically meant that all of them can now drive the jet skis.  And if I forgot to mention we have two jet skis now. Needless to say that meant Friday evening was spent shopping for life vests and random other things we needed.  It was all good to because we hit our fave Mexican restaurant.

The hubbie tried this Corona, which is suppose to be better since it is a dark bottle.  Whether it truly is or not, but the night ended with a shot of tequila and me learning the whole lime/salt thing.  Sorry this girl has just done her tequila shots straight up.

Saturday morning found me running around doing errands.  Sale at the meat market and picking up the bird food that I forgot the week before. Then with storms looming we decided to put the jet skis in the water.  Plan was to give the steppie a crash course and the hubbie would meet us at the tiki bar.

 It was a pretty gray day at the lake.  After a quick tour around the lake and storms looming we ventured back in to the tiki bar.  There we were treated to massive amount of planes flying to EAA air show and this group of pelicans.

 

Thankfully the storm missed us and we only had sprinkles while there was lightening over the lake. Oh and let me introduce you to the used yet new to us jet ski. 

After the rest of the teenagers got done with work, they managed to come out and try out the jet skis.  Look at the little lovebirds...and they loved the skis.  K did a bit more than the Forest. 

 

With everyone out, the hubbie opted to get the boat to enable a chill zone at the sandbar.

After hanging there until we were like the only ones left, probably because it was dinnertime and we were opting at that moment to just eat snacks we headed to the rope swing.  Now about the rope swing, the steppie and I ventured there earlier in the day and it was filled with boys. Like 12 monkeys in a tree, so we did not stay long.  And we did not notice during our first trip that someone managed to break the platform...argh.  It was laying on the side with this wonderful thing protecting it.

 

Gross...now mind you this platform is pretty heavy and we had no tools to attempt to get it back in place.

 

Oh our rope swinging area...this just screams summer perfection.

And now let's get to some rope swing fun and style..

 

Steppie doing a little kung fu fighting

 

K has the good ole nose plug action going on for the feet first entry

 

Forest with his I am going to hang to the side and release with a hope of not belly flopping

 

Then it started getting late, so it was time to head in.  While waiting at the dock for the hubbie, I found this guy chilling.  He was diligently working on his web...I discovered why later.

 

On the way home the hubbie had an small dilemma with the boat, so he had to make a stop for a quick fix.   Now this meant that when he was coming in, it was dusk and when we were pulling out the skis and the boat it was dark.  Which in turn meant we became a buffet for mosquitos.   Talk about vicious, I had to have Forest bring down some bug spray.  While I was waiting in his car for the hubbie and steppie to come back it was like a horror movie where the mosquitos were going to break thru the windshield and eat us alive.  It felt like this...

 

 

 We made it out alive though only to realize we were starving and Dominos didn't deliver after 10 pm...WTF. That left the hubbie to grill up the brats after all.

Sunday morning of course found us getting all the stuff done around the house and grocery shopping.  And I went McDonalds for lunch, which is an absolute huge deal for me since I never eat there.  Of course, I got a happy meal and an apple pie.   The happy meal toy was a minion. Now I may not be one of the people who go crazy over this whole minion thing...but we did have tons of fun with the minion on Sunday.  Basically we will be calling it minion mayhem, which will be showcased on the blog here in the future.  If you would like to see the developments live though, connect with me via snapchat: dmbillington

Now back to the rest of the day, hot and sunny which meant we would be on the water.  And the number one goal of the day was figure out how to get our tubes to the sandbar.

And surprisingly, they did not fall off.  Misson accomplished.  Now it was kind of wavy and rocky at the sandbar, so we decided to hang out at the tiki bar and listen to some music before venturing to the rope swing.

 

I actually went off from the tree branch this time too.  It is much scarier without the platform up there.  With the going off the tree limb though, you are able to place your feet on the bottom knot to ride of the rope longer.  And again the steppie with her ninja skills..

 

On Sunday we made it in before dark for family dinner and a quick trip to the ice cream station before calling it a day. And that folks was our little weekend...

 

Stitch Fixery #13

Time for fix number 13....in case you thought you missed the keepers from 11 and 12, you did not.  I really need to get the pictures done of those items. Lately there just seems to be not enough hours in the day, maybe if there was less real work, more time for fun blog work and just more time for fun in general it would be different. Seriously doubtful, cause if this girl didn't have to work for her money...I would just be out having some serious summer fun. 

Now anyways stay tuned for #11-12 keepers, and we shall get on with number 13....my request was basically anything that would work for my Mexico trip and the small town music fest that was right around the corner.

1. Papermoon Loraine Lace Trim Knit Tank

 

This one was a keeper.  Perfect with my skinnie jeans and I won nothing like it.  Plus the cotton was very soft and I am a total sucker when it comes to soft cotton.

 

2. Isabelle Crochet Tank Top

 

Another keeper.  This was absolutely perfect for putting on over my swimsuit when we were in Mexico.  There I also paired it up with a pair of brown khaki shorts.

 

3. Chambrai Norene Linen Cuffed Short

 

While I love linen shorts, as you can tell by the expression on my face these went back.  Color was ok, length was a little long and they really did nothing for the butt.

 

4. Papermoon Briar Maxi Dress

 

Alright, let's just call this a short girl dream.  I am happy they sent a maxi dress.  In the picture I was in heels plus standing on my toes and still today I am not sure that this works for me.  It went back. Fun to try though.

 

5. Street Level Kaeyln Laser Cut Two-Tone Reversible Tote

 

And finally we have a bag bigger than I am, which was ok since I asked for something to take to the beach.  This went back. Maybe it was the reversible factor or the vision of sand in all the die cutouts, not sure but it wasn't working for me.

 

There is my number 13.  With being introduced to this whole concept of capsule wardrobe and seasonal color matching, I will be tasking my stylist with something related to those for number 14.

 

Now the famous last words, if you haven't tried it....go do it already.  Here are the details on how you can get in on the action.

 

If you are unaware what it is, here are some details. Go online here: Stitchfix. Fill out a style profile, pay $20 to have the sylist pick out and send you clothes. Once you receive them you have three days to choose which ones you will keep and which ones you will return. You make notes online also regarding what you liked or didn't like to help out the stylist on your next fix.

 

 

 

Influenster Nurture Vox Box

Goodness I absolutely love when I realize that I got picked for a box from influenster.   Each box has a theme and the one that I happened to get was the Nurture Vox Box.

Here is what all came inside this little box of goodness:

1. Hada Labo Tokyo ultimate Anti-aging Facial

2. Uncle Ben's Rice Coupon

3. Blue Lizard Australian Sunscreen Sensitive - I used this when went to Mexico plus on a recent kayaking trip and loved it.  I did not burn at all.  It was thick enough to that I could see and feel where it was going on to ensure I was covered.

4. Dramamine Non-Drowsy Natural - While I was taken back that this was all natural, I can say that it worked for motion sickness. 

5. Red Vines - Love. Love.  These are not greasy.  Texture, flavor is perfection.  We took them with us on one of our boating excursions.  Fat free and contains only five ingredients.

6. Ore-Ida Extra Crispy Taters

7. Attitude Hair Care Shampoo - Shampoo is clear, not heavy and has no worry free ingredients.  This is now at Target.

Even though I have not had the chance to use all of the items, I am very anxious to test them out.  Maybe it would be easier if I wasn't just sitting around and eating all the licorice because you can take those anywhere....like the boat of course.  So pardon me while I grab a handful of licorice with a side of my blue lizard sunscreen.

* Disclaimer - Products have been received complimentary from influenster for testing purposes.  All opinions are my own.

Ghosts of Weekends Past - Hanging Around

Well now, this weekend was fairly laid back to say the least, things to do and no where to go. Friday evening, after working way to long for a Friday, we had the in depth conversation of no kids what to eat....Chinese and Egg Drop soup for the win.  Yes, it was like 80 degrees and I was eating egg drop soup.  Plus I found a new fave, delicious dish at the Chinese restaurant.  The name ? Well all I know is that it has the word "fun" in it.

Saturday morning, we had a bunch of running around to get done. Which sucked big time since the hubbie and I felt like donkey doo with our allergies.  First up was a trip to get parts for the jetski since it was being moodier than a woman on her period. All it took was pulling up outside of the place and I knew we were in trouble...look at all the fun toys.

Yes, I may be overanalyzing the cost efficiency and safety of driving a motorcycle versus my zippie to work.  The green one of course, the blue ones santa needs to bring for the littles. After our little shopping excursion, it was off to the feedmill and the meat market.  The hubbie has also determined that going to the feedmill is really just social hour with the lovely little old couple that own the place.  Next time we will bring coffee. 

 

After all that running around, we got the jetski fixed and finished up a project I have been wanting to do.....adding trellis in front of the grill so the dogs do not get tangled...because when you have a horrible headache there is nothing better to do than play with power tools.

 

I managed to squeeze in a quick nap. Note this is only quick because the chiweenie can not hold still for 5 seconds to allow me to sleep.  With my failed attempts, we opted to run the jetski down to the tiki bar.

 

 

Sangria...makes the headache all better.  Plus the jetski ran awesome. Saturday found us closing the evening with binge watching "Falling Skies".

 

Sunday morning started with the normal.  On the way back from the grocery store, we did stop at the wildlife refuge.   They have a sculpture of a wooly mammoth and hunter on display.

 

 

Both of these are "life-size" and made of metal.  Hoenestly I have no idea how any hunter would take on a mammoth with just a spear, I felt rather small standing next to it.  Maybe that is what happened back in the day when you got hangry.

 

Then I took some time to finally bake up some goodies for my work peeps.  No idea what they will be called yet, but since I am getting some thumbs up I will share the recipe here shortly.

 

Afternoon then found us heading out to the tiki bar for some music, cocktails and waiting for the teenagers to go play on the rope swing for a bit.

 

And no one got hurt.  Sunday came to an end with family dinner and two teenagers diligently working on taking their boating exam.  Guess jetskiing is pretty cool after all.