It's here. July in the Young house has arrived. This is, by far, the craziest month of the entire year for us. It gets so crazy that we always feel like we need to take all of August off from the world to recuperate. Everything got underway this weekend.
Let's back up though. I didn't write a bucket list update last week because we only checked off one minor thing. We ended up renting a movie and watching it with some yummy popcorn. The kids love popcorn. We just use an airpopper and the kids don't even realize how much better it can be with butter so we don't have to worry about giving them any of that. Super easy. We rented Zootopia. We had Cinderella checked out from the library, but elected to rent something more current since the last time we tried to do a classic Disney movie, Kenzie got bored. Good thing too because when we did try to watch it, she lasted about 30 minutes. Kenzie (and Will) really enjoyed Zootopia though. I thought it was adorable, as well. We all sat down and watched the first half of it on Thursday night before bed. Then, we finished it on Friday morning. Steven didn't get to finish it with us because he had an upper endoscopy scheduled that morning. (Which went well by the way.) Saturday Kenzie had her very first dance recital. It was awesome. She did so well. You can read all about it here if you haven't already and are interested.
This past week has been pretty low key. We were just resting up to begin the craziness that is July. We didn't do too much and then Steven elected to take off Friday so he could have a 4 day weekend.
Friday morning we took the family down to the pool bright and early. The kids both practiced their swimming skills. Kenzie has a few more lessons in a couple of week and we just like to make sure Will keeps practicing. We met up with our neighbors and their kids too so the kids loved that. It's always fun to have friends at the pool. We then ran a few errands to prep for the weekend. We also ended up going to the library because we wanted to sign Kenzie up for her own card. Let me tell you, that was one excited kid. She immediately picked out 5 books to check out (the limit on her card) and was all smiles.
Saturday officially started the craziness of July for us. It was my birthday so we woke up bright and early and headed out to St. Augustine. We stopped at Chick Fil A for breakfast on the way. Then, we made our way to the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. (Check "Visit St. Augustine" off the bucket list.) We stopped at Plaza de la Constitucion once there for a few pictures and met up with my mom and sis-in-law, Danielle. They walked over to the bridge with us and we took some pics. Kenzie wanted to walk to the center of the bridge to see how it went up for the boats (it's a drawbridge). We weren't able to see it raise, but she still thought she was pretty cool being up there. Will was just super excited to watch the boats go by and the fish jumping as people were fishing. After taking a few pics by the water, we packed it up and headed to Salt Life Food Shack for lunch.
We decided on Salt Life because we really like the show Tanked and we knew they built a tank for them. It was a pretty cool tank. A bit smaller than I imagined it to be in person, but still cool and the fish were beautiful. We met Mom and Dad Y for lunch as well as Joe (Who was in St. Augustine the entire time but elected to hang out and have a martini or something instead of dealing with the heat. Haha.) The food was super yummy, as well!! I'm not sure what we were expected but we initially thought we were just going there to see the tank. Turns out, the food was worth the trip for us, too. We even had a couple of awesome birthday coupons so it was extra nice. My family spoiled me for my birthday and I came away with some Vera and a bunch of running gear. (The only thing not pictured is my medal/bib holder from my sis-in-law, bro-in-law, and niece because they let me pick which one I wanted from a group. I am super excited to get it and will make sure to share a pic when I do.) Kenzie took the camera again and had a blast taking plenty of pics of random things... even including some people we don't know. I had to delete those and we have now had a talk about who and what we can take pics of and what we shouldn't.
After lunch we headed back home because we had plans to have our neighbors and a couple of friends over for a sort of "block party" for the holiday weekend. You know... just all the cool kids. We set up the kiddie pool and water table for the kids and then just hung out in the driveway and had a great time chatting. We made a ton of sausages, burgers, and hot dogs and almost everything was eaten. We ended up buying some cheap fireworks at Publix and some sparklers. The neighbors also brought over some sparklers and the kids had a blast with those. The fireworks might have been small, but the kids loved them. (We are calling that a check on "Seeing fireworks" for the bucket list. Who knew $10 worth of fireworks would be that exciting for the kids?) The kids got to bed way late (well, Will went to bed at a normal time) but it was worth it to see Kenzie smiling like a fool about her first ever sparklers.
Sunday, we had church in the morning and then our neighbor's little girl celebrated her first birthday with a Minnie Mouse themed party! So cute! After her party, Kenzie and I did a bit of shopping to find a bathing suit for me. I found a great one on clearance so I was happy. We then headed out to Mt. Dora for Freedom on the Waterfront. It was HOT!! We had to park about a half mile away and walk (downhill... so that means back to the car was entirely uphill) so that was fun. Haha! They had bounce houses for the kids. Kenzie had a blast with that. Will loved it until he ended up sitting down and realized that the floor was crazy hot. Then he wasn't into it anymore. We practically had to pull Kenzie away by her hair though. She wouldn't do the slide though because it was too hot. Poor kid. She tried. We got a snow cone while there and I thought Will was going to launch himself off my back trying to get another bite when Steven stopped feeding him. It was quite humorous. We ended up only staying about an hour. It was just too hot. We knew were weren't planning on staying for the fireworks and it was a smallish set up so we had enough after about an hour and headed home because we wanted to bathe the kids and get them in bed at a reasonable hour. We knew we had been running them ragged all weekend and we still had one more day of fun to go before the holiday was over.
We laid low for a lot of Monday, the 4th because we knew we had big plans for the evening. We didn't know if we would make it to the fireworks, but we were wanting to try. As it turned out, our neighbors had a ton of leftover food from their party so they invited us over for an impromptu lunch barbecue. Yummy! The kids had a blast playing in their daughter's new water table. We had to pull them away for naps though. Both kids were so exhausted from the weekend that they took 2+ hour naps. Kenzie so rarely naps so it was a nice change because she was getting a bit testy due to her lack of sleep. After naps we set up for our annual 4th of July picture. It is so difficulty wrangling two small children (and a dog) every year. It just gets crazier every year too because the kids get more independent and have more opinions... like the opinion that taking this annual picture is for the birds. We got one that we liked though. Not super excited about the sun flares in it, but at least everyone (except Jack) is looking. =) When you take about 50 and only get one, you call it a day.
After that we elected to go ahead and try out the Fireworks at the Amphitheater. The amphitheater is where we had church service for Easter and is located almost directly behind our neighborhood. We knew it was the first year in many that this had been put on so we didn't expect much. Kenzie was just hoping for a bounce house or a craft station. Well, she got her fill worth. We pulled in and noticed about 6 bounce houses immediately. Kenzie was ecstatic. We got over to the bounce houses and it was a bit like watching a pinball machine. She just ran from one to the other. We got there early so even Will was willing to try a bounce house. Him and Kenzie had it all to themselves and he had a blast. Bonus... this one was covered so the floor was cool unlike the one the day before. The best part was the obstacle course race that was there. Kenzie must have gone through it about 10 times. She even beat other kids a couple of times. Even bigger kids. Unfortunately, it was HOT HOT HOT again and we had to pull Kenzie away because she was turning a serious shade of red. We walked around the rest of the (tiny) set up and found a booth for a haircut place here in Apopka that I plan to try with Will next week since he is getting shaggy. They were spray painting kid's hair for free. Kenzie had to partake in that. I wish we had tried Will. He would have looked adorable too. After that we decided not to stick around for the fireworks. It was just too far away and too hot. Instead we went to McDonald's (Kenzie's pick) for dinner and then came home to do some sparklers. That makes Kenzie super excited anyway. This time Will wandered around yelling about fire while she did them. It was quite funny. We bathed the kids and got them in bed only a little late. Kenzie was later because she got to choose a big reward for doing all her jobs (except 1) last week so she wanted to have a picnic with Steven and me. She also didn't go to sleep for a while anyway because of fireworks and the fact that she napped earlier. After we put the kids down we met our neighbors in their driveway and set up chairs to have a "baby monitor firework viewing party" and take in the amphitheater fireworks. We had a pretty good view. Definitely a better option than dealing with the traffic that came with staying to see them at the park. Quite a few people in our neighborhood also have impressive displays so although it was super loud and kept Kenzie up, it was pretty cool.
And with that, our first crazy weekend of July is done. It's actually our craziest weekend of the month more than likely (though next weekend is a doozy too). I think it was pretty successful and a ton of fun! Excited for the rest of the month... and also already a little tired. =)
Let's back up though. I didn't write a bucket list update last week because we only checked off one minor thing. We ended up renting a movie and watching it with some yummy popcorn. The kids love popcorn. We just use an airpopper and the kids don't even realize how much better it can be with butter so we don't have to worry about giving them any of that. Super easy. We rented Zootopia. We had Cinderella checked out from the library, but elected to rent something more current since the last time we tried to do a classic Disney movie, Kenzie got bored. Good thing too because when we did try to watch it, she lasted about 30 minutes. Kenzie (and Will) really enjoyed Zootopia though. I thought it was adorable, as well. We all sat down and watched the first half of it on Thursday night before bed. Then, we finished it on Friday morning. Steven didn't get to finish it with us because he had an upper endoscopy scheduled that morning. (Which went well by the way.) Saturday Kenzie had her very first dance recital. It was awesome. She did so well. You can read all about it here if you haven't already and are interested.
This past week has been pretty low key. We were just resting up to begin the craziness that is July. We didn't do too much and then Steven elected to take off Friday so he could have a 4 day weekend.
Friday morning we took the family down to the pool bright and early. The kids both practiced their swimming skills. Kenzie has a few more lessons in a couple of week and we just like to make sure Will keeps practicing. We met up with our neighbors and their kids too so the kids loved that. It's always fun to have friends at the pool. We then ran a few errands to prep for the weekend. We also ended up going to the library because we wanted to sign Kenzie up for her own card. Let me tell you, that was one excited kid. She immediately picked out 5 books to check out (the limit on her card) and was all smiles.
Saturday officially started the craziness of July for us. It was my birthday so we woke up bright and early and headed out to St. Augustine. We stopped at Chick Fil A for breakfast on the way. Then, we made our way to the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. (Check "Visit St. Augustine" off the bucket list.) We stopped at Plaza de la Constitucion once there for a few pictures and met up with my mom and sis-in-law, Danielle. They walked over to the bridge with us and we took some pics. Kenzie wanted to walk to the center of the bridge to see how it went up for the boats (it's a drawbridge). We weren't able to see it raise, but she still thought she was pretty cool being up there. Will was just super excited to watch the boats go by and the fish jumping as people were fishing. After taking a few pics by the water, we packed it up and headed to Salt Life Food Shack for lunch.
We decided on Salt Life because we really like the show Tanked and we knew they built a tank for them. It was a pretty cool tank. A bit smaller than I imagined it to be in person, but still cool and the fish were beautiful. We met Mom and Dad Y for lunch as well as Joe (Who was in St. Augustine the entire time but elected to hang out and have a martini or something instead of dealing with the heat. Haha.) The food was super yummy, as well!! I'm not sure what we were expected but we initially thought we were just going there to see the tank. Turns out, the food was worth the trip for us, too. We even had a couple of awesome birthday coupons so it was extra nice. My family spoiled me for my birthday and I came away with some Vera and a bunch of running gear. (The only thing not pictured is my medal/bib holder from my sis-in-law, bro-in-law, and niece because they let me pick which one I wanted from a group. I am super excited to get it and will make sure to share a pic when I do.) Kenzie took the camera again and had a blast taking plenty of pics of random things... even including some people we don't know. I had to delete those and we have now had a talk about who and what we can take pics of and what we shouldn't.
After lunch we headed back home because we had plans to have our neighbors and a couple of friends over for a sort of "block party" for the holiday weekend. You know... just all the cool kids. We set up the kiddie pool and water table for the kids and then just hung out in the driveway and had a great time chatting. We made a ton of sausages, burgers, and hot dogs and almost everything was eaten. We ended up buying some cheap fireworks at Publix and some sparklers. The neighbors also brought over some sparklers and the kids had a blast with those. The fireworks might have been small, but the kids loved them. (We are calling that a check on "Seeing fireworks" for the bucket list. Who knew $10 worth of fireworks would be that exciting for the kids?) The kids got to bed way late (well, Will went to bed at a normal time) but it was worth it to see Kenzie smiling like a fool about her first ever sparklers.
Sunday, we had church in the morning and then our neighbor's little girl celebrated her first birthday with a Minnie Mouse themed party! So cute! After her party, Kenzie and I did a bit of shopping to find a bathing suit for me. I found a great one on clearance so I was happy. We then headed out to Mt. Dora for Freedom on the Waterfront. It was HOT!! We had to park about a half mile away and walk (downhill... so that means back to the car was entirely uphill) so that was fun. Haha! They had bounce houses for the kids. Kenzie had a blast with that. Will loved it until he ended up sitting down and realized that the floor was crazy hot. Then he wasn't into it anymore. We practically had to pull Kenzie away by her hair though. She wouldn't do the slide though because it was too hot. Poor kid. She tried. We got a snow cone while there and I thought Will was going to launch himself off my back trying to get another bite when Steven stopped feeding him. It was quite humorous. We ended up only staying about an hour. It was just too hot. We knew were weren't planning on staying for the fireworks and it was a smallish set up so we had enough after about an hour and headed home because we wanted to bathe the kids and get them in bed at a reasonable hour. We knew we had been running them ragged all weekend and we still had one more day of fun to go before the holiday was over.
We laid low for a lot of Monday, the 4th because we knew we had big plans for the evening. We didn't know if we would make it to the fireworks, but we were wanting to try. As it turned out, our neighbors had a ton of leftover food from their party so they invited us over for an impromptu lunch barbecue. Yummy! The kids had a blast playing in their daughter's new water table. We had to pull them away for naps though. Both kids were so exhausted from the weekend that they took 2+ hour naps. Kenzie so rarely naps so it was a nice change because she was getting a bit testy due to her lack of sleep. After naps we set up for our annual 4th of July picture. It is so difficulty wrangling two small children (and a dog) every year. It just gets crazier every year too because the kids get more independent and have more opinions... like the opinion that taking this annual picture is for the birds. We got one that we liked though. Not super excited about the sun flares in it, but at least everyone (except Jack) is looking. =) When you take about 50 and only get one, you call it a day.
After that we elected to go ahead and try out the Fireworks at the Amphitheater. The amphitheater is where we had church service for Easter and is located almost directly behind our neighborhood. We knew it was the first year in many that this had been put on so we didn't expect much. Kenzie was just hoping for a bounce house or a craft station. Well, she got her fill worth. We pulled in and noticed about 6 bounce houses immediately. Kenzie was ecstatic. We got over to the bounce houses and it was a bit like watching a pinball machine. She just ran from one to the other. We got there early so even Will was willing to try a bounce house. Him and Kenzie had it all to themselves and he had a blast. Bonus... this one was covered so the floor was cool unlike the one the day before. The best part was the obstacle course race that was there. Kenzie must have gone through it about 10 times. She even beat other kids a couple of times. Even bigger kids. Unfortunately, it was HOT HOT HOT again and we had to pull Kenzie away because she was turning a serious shade of red. We walked around the rest of the (tiny) set up and found a booth for a haircut place here in Apopka that I plan to try with Will next week since he is getting shaggy. They were spray painting kid's hair for free. Kenzie had to partake in that. I wish we had tried Will. He would have looked adorable too. After that we decided not to stick around for the fireworks. It was just too far away and too hot. Instead we went to McDonald's (Kenzie's pick) for dinner and then came home to do some sparklers. That makes Kenzie super excited anyway. This time Will wandered around yelling about fire while she did them. It was quite funny. We bathed the kids and got them in bed only a little late. Kenzie was later because she got to choose a big reward for doing all her jobs (except 1) last week so she wanted to have a picnic with Steven and me. She also didn't go to sleep for a while anyway because of fireworks and the fact that she napped earlier. After we put the kids down we met our neighbors in their driveway and set up chairs to have a "baby monitor firework viewing party" and take in the amphitheater fireworks. We had a pretty good view. Definitely a better option than dealing with the traffic that came with staying to see them at the park. Quite a few people in our neighborhood also have impressive displays so although it was super loud and kept Kenzie up, it was pretty cool.
And with that, our first crazy weekend of July is done. It's actually our craziest weekend of the month more than likely (though next weekend is a doozy too). I think it was pretty successful and a ton of fun! Excited for the rest of the month... and also already a little tired. =)
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