Want To Make List 5!

I know I will probably never make all of these items on my list but it is nice to have ideas and to have them all in the same place. If you haven’t been following along, here are the other lists: List 1, List 2,  List 3 and List 4.

Plastic Floral Garland

I saw these plastic flowers a bit ago and thought they were cute. We don’t drink too much bottled water around here (except when we go camping) but I do know plenty of people do. This is a pretty simple project and would be great in many different color schemes for decorating at a party or just to be festive.

Pocket Pockets

These pockets seemed like a smart way to upcycle some pants you might have laying around. You may have even used other parts of the parts for another project and have the back pockets still. Add a little bit of fun fabric and some fabric paint makes it a cute addition to any lunch box or you could use it in your purse for loose change, your phone or camera.

Stay Put Dish Towel

I think this might be a great idea to combine with the handprint towel that I featured in List 4. A simple way to keep your towels from slipping off the oven door bar or from little ones pulling it off! This tutorial uses buttons to keep it on the over door bar, but I think velcro would also work and may be faster for when you wanted to take it off.

Family Rules

I saw this family rules chart a while back and thought they were cute. The site also has a princess version and also a super hero version. A pretty simple idea that would be a fun addition to anyone’s house or kid’s room. And since you are making it yourself, you can customize the rules to what best fits your family.

Pillowcase Dress

Although I know some people are not too fond of the Pillowcase Style Dresses, I think they are cute for little girls. I really want to learn to make some for Little Monkette.  They seem to be pretty simple and of course there would be tons of options. You don’t actually HAVE to use a pillowcase to make them either.

Geocaching in Ponce

While spending some time at the beach house this past weekend, I decided to go after a few more geocaches that were in the area. We had some family friends over and one agreed to go with me. We biked down to the end of the inlet to find the three we were after. For some reason, we seemed to think that 5pm would be a great time to go (Trust me, it’s not. It’s really hot out then.).

We went to the first one with good clues and Mr. M found it pretty quickly. It was a little one that was velcro’d in place and held just a log. We signed the log, took a look around and planned how we might be able to get to one of the other ones we were after. We rode our bikes back out of the path and to the park that is at the end of the inlet. We ask the little old man at the guard shack if he knew how we could get down to where we wanted to go. He did not understand us at all and was trying to send us to some other location.

We decided to go to the one that was the farthest away first. Unfortunately, between the gps and our thoughts of how to get to the point we needed to be, we went the wrong direction. After pushing the bikes through some soft sands, we decided we were going the wrong way and headed back up towards a grassy part. We were able to ride our bikes all the way to where we needed to be. It was a cool place to visit. The area was past the dog park part of the beach and there were plenty of dogs playing in the water and running around on the beach. The clues led us to a general area but then we had to move a bunch of rocks in hopes of finding the cache. I tried to look for some spots that seemed to make sense and found it after a few tries. This was a larger cache and had lots of trade items in it. We ended up getting Little Monkey some sparklers and we left some Toy Story Silly Bands.

I drank a good amount of water while we were stopped at the last find and was pouring sweat! We got back on our bikes and rode towards the final cache. It was on the boardwalk and we were able to get pretty close staying on our bikes. The gps showed us just 30 feet away but according to the clues, we seemed in the right spot. Mr. M went ahead to look and see if, based on the clues, maybe we did need to go farther along the boardwalk. I was feeling worn out and sat down to rest and drink more water. (I am kind of surprised that I didn’t black out to be honest! I told you it was hot out there!)

Once we decided that we were in the right spot, even though the gps was sending us farther, we were on the hunt for the cache. While looking for it, Mr. M found a turtle! He was so excited that he missed the cache! I took the camera down to take a picture of the turtle and found the cache! (Do you see it?)

Turtle taking a nap by the cache.

Since Mr. M missed the cache (and I found the other big one), I showed him where it would be from above on the deck and he went to find it. It was kind of amusing but he did a good job. It was hard to get to. I took a few pictures of him trying to get to it. I don’t think Mr. M was too fond of that idea but it was his first real cache find (I don’t think the little one counts…this one took work!).

Tough work getting the big box out from under the bench!

This cache had lots of great stuff in it too. Since Little Monkey didn’t get to come along, I wanted to pick out another item for him. I could hardly believe it when I found a Woody figure. I knew that would have to be the item to take home to Little Monkey. We left some more Toy Story Silly Bands as our trade. I finished off my water and we headed back to the condo.

On the bike ride back, the wind was at our backs, so it felt SO much hotter since there was no breeze that we could really feel. I was feeling okay when we got back (no feelings like I would black out or anything) but definitely hot. We decided to go to the pool and join everybody else hanging out. My face was pretty red and flushed but I really wasn’t feeling too bad so I thought it would be fine.

I ended up with a headache later and then had a hard time sleeping. At 3am, I ended up getting sick. NO fun. The next day I hardly even left the couch because I was not feeling well at all. I was just dehydrated and my body was trying to recoup. Thankfully, I was at the beach house with Mom and Dad and they were able to help out with the kids and with me! After almost a full day to recover, I was finally feeling better.

I now have all the caches at are down at the end of inlet marked off. There are still plenty of caches over in the Ponce area but the ones down near the end of the inlet, for now, I have found! I love adding the little smiley faces to my map on the Geocaching Site!

Camping Weekend

We went to Rainbow Springs State Park for a few days to get a break and just get away. It was a much needed break after a crazy couple of weeks. Little Monkette stayed with Grammy, Mimi and Pops at the beach house. Roland and Little Monkey came along for the trip.

Roland liked riding with his head right behind Big Monkey.

Thankfully the drive to Rainbow Springs was just a short trip, about and hour and a half. We were delayed a bit because just as we were working on packing up the camper, a storm decided to pour down on us.  After the rain delay, we finished loading everything up and headed out. We got to the campground, after some delay due to a bad gps and a car accident that shut down the entire road. We set up our camper and went down to the springs. The water was SO cold and Little Monkey did not want to get in. Big Monkey convinced him to get in a little bit but he was not too thrilled.

We went back for dinner and then Big Monkey was going to put together a fire for us. That was quite the ordeal. After 35 minutes of waiting for a fire, one of our friends who had come over and was hanging out with us, and I decided to go to Walmart for some fire assistance.

The start of the fire.........

When we got back, we had Duraflame logs, marshmallows and lighter fluid. And finally, we had a fire! We enjoyed an evening with our friends that were also camping with us around the campfire. Eventually we all turned in to get some sleep so that we would be ready for tubing in the morning.

In the morning, we got up, got breakfast and then headed to the springs. The guys took two of our vehicles down to the park so we would have a ride back to the campground. Once the boys were back, we took our floats and headed down to the river. The water was of course pretty cold still but it was alright. Little Monkey rode in a little boat float so that he didn’t have to touch the water. The rest of us had to float in our tubes and be a little cold.

While we were in the river, we saw lots of birds, three river otters and a momma duck with her ten ducklings. They were so cute. Little Monkey did a great job looking around and checking things out. He did ask a few times, “Where are we going?” I kept telling him that we were trying to find Big Monkey’s truck. Little Monkey kept looking for it but didn’t know where it might be. After about two hours, we had made it to the exit point and got out of the water. It was quite a walk to get to where the car was. It was fun and we had a good time.

The rest of the day, we just hung out and the guys went back down to the river again. I stayed with Little Monkey and we watched a video to rest. Roland got a little crazy and was jumping on and off the beds in the camper. Little Monkey thought it was quite funny. I caught this picture of him on Little Monkey’s bed.

Silly Roland

We had another big dinner and some more friends came to hang out with us. The boys went out to the springs again and tried to convince each other to swim across the river to a party that had karaoke going on. Two guys finally went over and found out that it was actually a kids party (It sounded like old people singing!). Since they were two middle aged men, they decided that a kids karaoke party was probably not the best idea to be crashing! We all got a lot of laughs out of it.

We had a great weekend and luckily get to go again soon. It was nice to get away and take a little break from the world.

Best Pops Card

I don’t know how I even stumbled across this idea but I was very glad to have found it. (Now Pops also knows that it certainly wasn’t my idea!) It is very hard if not impossible to find “Pops” or “Grammy” cards at the store. Homemade is better anyhow, so here  is a homemade (with some help) option.

The site has almost all the work done for you. You just have to print their images, cut, fold, tape (or glue) and sign. It is a bit more work than a store bought card I suppose but your “Pop” or “Pops” will love it.

Here is how ours turned out:

Tootsie Pop

Opened up! (See Woody's Head peeking in!)

Toy Story 3

Thanks to a friend of Amy’s, (Check out her Etsy shop, she’s got great stuff!) we were able to head over to Pleasure Island for the premiere of Toy Story 3 in 3D! She knew that Little Monkey LOVES Buzz and Woody so she was happy to hook us up with some passes. We headed out to the theater and I got this shot of Little Monkey when he saw where we were headed:

He was SO excited!

We got there a bit early, and before Grammy and Pops, so we sat outside and tried to get Little Monkey to finish his dinner. Once Grammy and Pops arrived, we headed in to the theater to get in line. There were multiple lines. We found our spot and just settled. It was an interesting time of people watching for sure. Little Monkey finished up his dinner and played with Pops.  Little Monkette was very good too. She played with her frisbee (It came in their goody bags.) and hung out in her stroller.

Litlle Monkette liked her frisbee.

We ran into Kimberly and tried to find out about the “Skip the Line” line. The tickets said that if you brought a toy for Toys for Tots, you could skip the line. Since I had read the tickets, I pulled some items from our gift closet and took them with us. Once they figured things out, we got to move ahead in the line and turn in our toys. We all got our 3D glasses and found a seat. Radio Disney was there and played a few games while we waited for the movie.

The movie was good, but not what I was expecting at all. Grammy had brought toys for Little Monkey and Little Monkette and funny enough, the bear she got Little Monkette, Lots-o, was the bad guy in the movie! Little Monkette didn’t seem to mind though. She was doing well during the beginning of the movie, but I ended up in the corridor with her for most of the movie. She almost fell asleep but just couldn’t let herself do it. My arms were tired by the end, but I was still glad to see the movie. And I was thankful that Grammy and Pops were there to still sick with Little Monkey while he watched the movie.

It was Little Monkey’s first movie in a theater (and Little Monkette’s too) as well as my first 3D movie. He said he loved it and that the screen, “was HUGE!” He wants to go back and see it again with Mimi. After the movie was over, we took his picture with some of the Toy Story 3 signs.

Tired but Happy!

Thanks Kimberly for helping us get to see Toy Story 3 before it came out! Little Monkey was very excited and heck, the rest of us enjoyed it too!

A Waiting Project-OPT

I have this problem…you may recall it from this post and this post. I think Big Monkey just rolls his eyes now and goes with the flow.

The other week I found these in someone’s trash.

Old School Desks

The people were outside packing up a trailer, so I verified that they were throwing them away. They said yes and told me that I was welcome to take them.

I am planning to clean them up, do some spray painting (Little Monkey says he wants to use green.) and see what happens! I don’t know when I’ll have the chance to get to work on these…but hopefully soon. Little Monkey has already asked to go to the store to buy spray paint! I plan to blog the process and finished product when they are done!

Funnel Cakes and Fried Snickers

Ever since we got the deep fryer, I wanted to try quite a few recipes. The other day I had researched some funnel cake recipes and a fried snickers recipe. We had all the ingredients on hand, except the snickers, which I picked up while at the store. Aunt K was coming over to hang out with us and she arrived right in the middle of the funnel cake experiment. She was excited to participate and to get some hopefully yummy snacks too.

We already had the batter mixed up and just needed to put it into the deep fryer.

First try at a funnel cake.

First thing, we found that the batter did not want to go through the funnel. So we just kinda dropped it into the fryer. It was quite hard to make a good ‘shape’ of a funnel cake but we tried. In the end, we ended up with  funnel cake pieces rather than a funnel cake. We also tested out a variety of toppings for the funnel cake pieces, based on some suggestions we found online.

We put powdered sugar on the first batch.

Powdered Sugar Funnel Cake

The second batch had cinnamon and sugar on it.

Cinnamon and Sugar Funnel Cake

The third batch had brown sugar on it.

(Sorry, I forgot to take a picture!)

Out of the three batches, the powdered sugar was the best option. We also liked the brown sugar version but we could certainly pass on the cinnamon and sugar version.

I packed up some extra pieces and sent a bag home with Aunt K and took another bag to a friend’s baseball game that night. It turned out to be a decent little league baseball snack.

Since I had already purchased the snickers bar, I had also put it in the freezer so that it would be ready for the deep fryer. After checking some recipes, it appeared that I could just dump funnel cake batter all over the snickers and put it into the deep fryer. We gave it a shot and it didn’t turn out really…it tasted great! But it looked more like something you might find in the backyard that the dog left you.

Deep Fried Snickers

While it looked pretty gross, the good news is that it tasted REALLY good! We will probably try this again with a different approach maybe.

Happy Father’s Day!

We spent the weekend camping! So we celebrated Father’s Day a little early and let Big Monkey open his present before the trip. I knew he would want to take it with us, so I wanted him to open it and get it put together before the trip. Little Monkey and Little Monkette went with me to the store to pick it up. We got it all wrapped up and it was waiting for Big Monkey to come home. We had been out at Toy Story 3, so he waited for us to get home.

When we got home, Little Monkey was SO exited for Big Monkey to open his present. We tried to push it off for a few minutes so that we could all get settled. Little Monkey kept talking to Big Monkey about the gift and I was afraid he was going to give it away. He told Big Monkey, “Daddy, you are going to LOVE it. Daddy, it is for camping!” After that last one, I decided we better get to opening the present!

Opening his gift

Big Monkey got the Coleman RoadTrip XLE Grill. He was very excited. We can take it with us camping and we can purchase some additional accessories, to use the grill as a stove top and as a griddle. I have already ordered the griddle piece (Thanks to Swagbucks and Amazon.). We hope it will be here for the next camping trip.

He likes it! (Can't you tell?)

I hope you had a happy Father’s Day too!

Funny Sign

I have yet another funny sign to share with you. If you haven’t seen the other two, check here and here. The signs I had found before were at Walmart and then Target. Now I have one to share with you from Publix!

This has been a very long, very emotional, crazy week for us. (Big Monkey’s previous partner at work passed away from injuries he received in an auto accident. Big Monkey was a big part of the process for getting arrangements made and executed for both funeral ceremonies.) One the way home from hanging out with friends, we made a list of the groceries that we needed for our camping trip. I headed up to Publix to pick up some stuff, while Big Monkey relaxed and got the camper out and washed.

This sign made me laugh and I had to stop and take its picture. I really needed the comic relief that afternoon, so it was a welcome mess up from the store.

A new veggie called "NAME"

Free 8×10 Collage At Walgreens

If you order before Saturday night, you can get a free 8×10 collage print from Walgreens. Enter code: GOBIG8X10 and select in store pick up for no fees! Great time to pick up a last minute Father’s Day present if you need one. I ordered a photo for Big Monkey….we’ll see how he likes it!