Charleston Falls Preserve

Ben is a courier and he'll occasionally get a job that works out timing-wise where we can all tag along. This weekend he got a job up to Dayton and I quickly Googled what there is to do and see there. Generally I'm looking for something that is easy and isn't going to cost a lot of money. I landed on Charleston Falls Preserve. It looks beautiful, it's free, and it wasn't going to take too much time. I packed the backpack carrier and snacks and we were on our way within 30 minutes.

The girls were excited to get out of the car by the time we arrived. The walk to the falls was short and easy and there was no complaining from anyone in our family (which never happens). Ida oohed and aahed over a couple different things along the walk (mostly dogs) and Cora kept saying how much she liked nature.

It was misty and cold, so we didn't stay long. This was a perfect little pit stop adventure for us, but I'm also looking forward to coming back for a longer trip when it's a little bit warmer.

Snow Days

There has been quite a bit of snow over the last couple of days and we're loving all of the extra outdoor time. Saturday, the girls were at my parent's house for most of the morning so I had lots of extra time to shovel the steps, walkway, and driveway. When we got home from my parent's house, we played on the patio for a bit before having friends over for hot chocolate. We leaned into that hibernation feeling and spent the evening hanging around and watching movies.

Sunday morning, we woke up and found a whole lot more snow. We had a couple things to do in the morning and we could hardly wait to get outside to play. The walks to and from the car were very slow and involved a lot of snow stomping. After lunchtime, we bundled up and headed outside. Cora got a snowball maker from my parents, so we spent a lot of time throwing snowballs at the fence. The girls spent most of the time just stomping around the backyard making as many footprints as possible. Ben and I had a heated snowball fight and it was hilarious to watch the girls cheer us on and try to help.

Monday was a long day at work and I wanted nothing more than to get outside for a walk. We walked a little bit down the street, but the girls just wanted to stomp through everybody's yards. We headed to our backyard to throw snowballs and watch the sunset. Playing in the snow is always best when followed by hot chocolate and pizza picnics in front of a movie... so that's exactly what we did.

Another Lemonade Stand

Cora loved running a lemonade stand last year, and she has been asking every weekend for the last month if she could have another one. This weekend, we finally got around to buying all the supplies and had two lemonade stands. We set up our front porch side table, some cute fabric, and the same sign from last year. We use the same drink dispenser be bought last year and it makes the setup so easy. Total setup takes about 10 minutes and the kids usually love spending about an hour or two selling lemonade.

Our neighbor friends came over to help out. The kids loved running around as we waited for the next customer. When a customer would come by, they would all rush to fill up the drinks and collect the money. They loved pitching in to help out and they were so excited to get a little bit of the profits.

Cora paid me back for the lemonade supplies, paid her friends, and still managed to make a good amount of money. Cora spent quite a bit of time picking out a treat at Target. She finally settled on two little stuffed animal keychains and even picked one out for her sister.

Cora had so much fun Saturday, she wanted to run another stand on Sunday. We didn't have quite as many customers, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Cora loves the social aspect of the lemonade stand, so she loved having my parents stop by and hang out for a bit.

Ida wasn't quite old enough last year to help with the stand, but she is getting there this year. She loves hanging around, waving at all of the cars, and tasting the lemonade.

We love our little lemonade stand and I love watching my girlies work hard.

Father's Day Zoo Trip

We made two trips to the zoo this weekend. Saturday, I had a work party so we suffered through the hot weather and enjoyed a quick trip. We stopped by the picnic, ate, checked out the animal encounters they had (lizards and pancake turtles), and rode the carousel. Ida tried out the carousel again and loved it. She rode an animal that doesn't move up and down and Ben was right by her side cheering her on.

Ida did the painting a couple weeks ago and Cora drew a picture on top of it to make the perfect present for my dad. She drew a picture of "Poppy, me, and Ida swimming". 

Sunday, my dad wanted to celebrate Father's Day with a family trip to the zoo followed by a brunch. We saw some animals, rode the train, and enjoyed running around with the family. 

Ida Rue was loving running around with Poppy. The girls are so lucky to have him as a grandpa. 

The zoo trip was followed by late brunch at my sister's house. The kids played outside in their water table and baby pool and they had the best time. It was the perfect weekend with our family celebrating some of the dads in our life.