Monday, September 22, 2014

Weekly Wrap-Up – September 7th-13th

Things really got busy for us this week, and most of our activities came up at the last minute!  Isn’t that sometimes how the best things develop?  Sometimes it’s the unplanned activities that you remember most.

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The fall weather is beginning to set in, and what better way to enjoy it than to go outside and grill up some dinner?  I just replaced the heat diffuser bars in my Weber gas grill, so I was anxious to try it out.  I’d been experiencing a hot spot because my old metal bars had broken apart, leaving a big hole where the flames could come through and burn my food.

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I picked up some really-bad-for-you half-pound bacon cheddar Angus burgers marked down at Kroger, so I grabbed some for dinner.  Man, this was probably the best burger I’ve ever tasted, but it was way too much food for me!  There was no way I could finish it.  It was fabulous, though!

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We were so fortunate to be invited to join a bunch of other homeschool families to attend a Nickelodeon National Day of Play at the Adventure Park located at the Virginia Aquarium.  The manager let everyone in for FREE!  And Nickelodeon was filming the kids for the commercials campaigning for kids to get outdoors and play.

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So watch Nickelodeon in the coming weeks to see if one of the kids shows up in a commercial!  We had such an incredible time.  The park normally charges about $76/person for admission to climb in their various courses way up in the trees, so this was an amazing opportunity to do this with Haylee and Holden at no cost.  Holden was a natural and was soon off adventuring ahead of me on the courses for his age group.  Haylee, on the other hand, was terrified out of her mind!  She literally had to be taken down in the middle of the first course by staff members with a ladder and harness.  Crazy stuff!  Poor girl…she was literally frozen with fear.  Hopefully, she can overcome it at some point in the future, but she was really gung-ho for the training zipline on the ground.  She spent the whole afternoon just doing that over and over again!  I’m glad she still had fun.  Holden and I did both purple courses, one of them twice, and then tackled the Labyrinth together.  We had a fabulous time! 

Special thanks to the Adventure Park for allowing everyone to climb for free that day, special thanks to my friend Gina Nall for inviting us to participate, and special thanks to Samantha Ewing for putting it all together for everybody. 

We had so much fun that I told Steve I think we should go there in the evening together for our 20th wedding anniversary coming up on November 5th.  Wouldn’t that be a blast?  We’ve been trying to think of something special to do, and I think that would be a real bonding experience we’d remember for a long time.  Then we could try the more difficult courses with the huge ziplines.  I’d love that, and I think Steve would, too!

Then we went straight to Hayden’s school to pick him up from cross-country practice, and we all zoomed off to soccer practice!

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Needless to say, we were quite exhausted after many hours of climbing followed by an hour of soccer practice, but Haylee and I then rushed home and managed to bathe, change, and eat in 10 minutes…a miracle for two girls, I know.  Then we picked up Val and her girls and Micka and her son and headed off to Regent University for a play.

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We got to see The Glass Menagerie.  It was a really great performance, and it was Haylee’s first time going to see a play.  We all had a wonderful evening and had lots of lively discussion about the characters on the way home.  Special thanks to my friend, Holly Harrell, who gave us her extra tickets so we could go.  It was a very special evening!

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This was the most exciting week we’ve had in a long time.  I can’t remember one day being quite so busy as that, but it was something special we’ll talk about for a while to come.

What special activities have you done with your family lately? 

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