Firefighter Combat Race

A few weeks ago (because I”m slow at updating the blog and finding the time to write!), Big Monkey was working and the kids and I were looking for some things to do. We ended up making that Saturday and VERY busy day. The kids did their race, we picked blueberries and then we went to the Firefighter Combat Challenge.

The Firefighter Combat Challenge is a traveling competition for firefighters. While wearing all their gear and an air pack, they must complete a series of challenges. The goal is to do them all correctly and in the shortest time. We watched a little bit of the competition and then saw they also had a kids challenge area. Little kids could try out the challenge for themselves on a smaller scale. Little Monkey was old enough to try it but Little Monkette wasn’t. She was a bit sad about it but got over it and cheered her brother on.

Little Monkey got suited up with a jacket and helmet and we checked out the Bahia fire truck while waiting his turn for the challenge.

Ready to Respond!

We watched a few other kids do the challenge and talked about each step he’d have to complete. Little Monkey and another kid lined up, ready to try it out and listened to the directions intently.

Finding out what to do.

The first part was to pick one of the two hoses and carry it to the other end of the row and drop it by the ladder.

Running with the hose!

After dropping the hose, Little Monkey climbed a ladder, and then slid down the slide.

Sliding down!

Once he got to the ground, he ran over to the kid sized Keiser Force Machine. It simulates a forcible entry chopping. Using the mallet, Little Monkey hit the beam until it got all the way to the other end. This took him a bit of time but he kept at it.

Testing out his chopping skills for forcible entry!

The next step of the challenge was to run and grab the fire hose, carry it down to the marker, aim and shoot the water to knock down a target. Little Monkey said this was his favorite part of the challenge!

Shoot the target!

The last part of the challenge was to drag a dummy kid to safety. Little Monkey had a hard time getting a good grasp on the kid but once her figured it out he got the dummy to safety.

Dragging the kid to the safety zone!

After he was done, Little Monkey said he was tired and it was a lot of work. It wasn’t too much work though, because he ended up doing it twice! He thought it was a lot of fun but at the end of the day decided he still wanted to become a policeman when he grows up.

After doing the combat challenge, we also went into the Safety House where they taught the kids about smoke alarms and what to do if you hear one. Then the kids go into another part of the converted trailer where they fill the room with non toxic smoke. The smoke alarm goes off and they have to get on their hands and knees and try to get out. (There is a firefighter with them showing them what to do.) They feel the door to see if they can go out of it but it is hot, so they climb out the window and down a ladder. Little Monkey liked that and thought it was a cool thing.

They also had a room filled activites the kids could do, coloring, build a fire truck (paper folding), watch a video, etc. The event was lots of fun and helped wear the kids out even more from our busy day. Even better, the entire event was FREE!

Check out the Firefighter Combat Challenge webpage to see if they are coming to a town near you!

Crocheted Softies Book

The other day I got another fun surprise in the mail! I won another giveaway from Sew, Mama, Sew’s Giveaway week. This giveaway was from Vegan Craftastic. I won Crocheted Softies, a book about how to crochet 18 different cute little animals. Since I don’t know how to crochet, I was planning to give the book to my mom if I won. So, I have passed the book along to her and hope that she will learn to make a few of the creatures inside. There is a cute little fish and octopus. I think both of them, along with the crab would be fun additions to the beach house.

Crocheted Softies

Thanks Vegan Craftastic and Sew, Mama, Sew for having the giveaways!

New Monkey Hat

About a week or so ago, Sew, Mama, Sew held its Giveaway Day. I entered quite a few, just hoping to get lucky enough to win one. Well, I ended up winning two! Yay! So far only one of my prizes has arrived but I’m excited to share it with you.

I won a Monkey Hat from Raven’s Rascals.

Here I am trying it on right after opening the mail. I am also wearing a new shirt I got from Uncle K and Aunt S for Christmas. It is very comfy.

Monkey Hat (and new shirt)

I was hoping the hat would bring with it some cooler weather (it was coming from WA) and lucky enough for me, it did. Today we headed out to run some errands and it was chilly out so everyone bundled up. Little Monkey decided that since I took a picture of the kids all bundled up, he should take a picture of me too! He made me pose in the same place they did.

Posing with my monkey hat!

I am loving my new monkey hat, though Big Monkey thinks it is quite silly. What does he know anyhow?!?

Go check out Raven’s Rascals. They are a Relay for Life Team and are raising money for the American Cancer Society.

Raven’s Rascals Relay for Life Team
Blog: www.ravensrascals.blogspot.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ravensrascals
Etsy: www.ravensrascals.etsy.com

Our Christmas Card

A big thanks to Shutterfly again this year. They let me do a review of their site and give away some free cards. In exchange for my post, I was given some free cards of my own. I used them to get this year’s Christmas card. I was planning for a picture of our whole family again but we just didn’t find a good time or place to take a picture. I ended up taking a few pictures of the kids one day while we were at the Magic Kingdom. They were doing some filming for the Christmas Day Parade, so we weren’t able to find the big tree or many other Christmas decorations without lots of television cameras and gear around. We did find one tree up in the train station though so we decided to use it. I took a handful of pictures and then used the best one out of those.

Merry Christmas from the Monkeys to you!

I love how they are cuddled together and holding hands! Little Monkey and Little Monkette are so sweet together…most of the time!

Merry Christmas to you!

Quick Halloween Decorations

Yes, I know…Halloween has come and gone…but I wanted to share two quick decorations that we made this year. I am hoping to remember next year and save up some materials so we can make more.

Chug Ghost & Tub Jackolantern

The ghost was made from a milk chug container. I had gotten Little Monkette a Happy Meal at McDonalds one day with milk. She didn’t end up drinking it but we used it in cereal. I was about to toss the container into the recycling bin when I thought….this could be a cute little ghost! I washed it out, ripped off the label and grabbed a Sharpie. A little coloring and a piece of twine and we hung the ghost up outside. Next year I’d like to have a whole family of little ghosts!

The jackolantern was made from a large container that once held pretzels. Big Monkey bought the pretzels at BJs before going camping with his buddy. We finished up all the pretzel about a week before Halloween. Grammy and Pops had given the kids some Halloween gifts and there was this orange plastic type ’tissue’ paper inside the box. I removed the label from the pretzel jug, drew on the outside with a Sharpie and shoved the orange inside.

Quick fun Halloween decorations. No real cost to us since it was stuff we already had and both items were headed for the recycling bin. Now that Halloween is over…the ghost and jackolantern are off to the recycling center!

Kids Fun Run

Last week the kids and I went to a food truck event in Ocoee. While we were there, the nice lady from Chick-fil-a let us know that today there was going to be a 5k and Kids Fun Run. I basically brushed off the idea because it meant getting up early and driving over there. I certainly wasn’t going to run in the 5k (seeing that I haven’t been running since July!). A few days before the event, we found out the Big Monkey was going to be working on the day of the race. I asked Little Monkey if he wanted to go run in the race or go build something at Home Depot. He said, “I’ll make you a deal. We can run the race and go to Home Depot after.” Smart boy…and while it was probably a possibility, I figured one was enough. He decided that he wanted to do the race. I registered them both online and prepped them Friday night for an early wake up today. They both did great. We got up, had breakfast and got in the car. We got to the race while the 5k was still going on, so we got our stuff for the kids race and cheered for the 5k runners/walkers.

Wearing their shirts and bib numbers!

When the race was about to start all the kids lined up under the balloon arch. I told Little Monkey that he needed to hold onto Little Monkette until they crossed through the start line and the crowd dissipated some. After that I would be right there to help Little Monkette get to the finish line and he could run off and finish ahead of us. I told him to cross the finish line, get his ‘medal’ and wait next to the fire rescue truck (right next to the finish line). He was a great big brother holding onto his sister!

We're ready to run!

When the countdown began, I was waiting on the other side of the start line to get a pic of them. It was so cute…off they went.  Little Monkey was holding Little Monkette’s hand but trying to get her to go faster.

Come on Little Monkette!!!!

I told Little Monkey that he was free to finish the race and wait for us. He took off! Little Monkette ran/walked/ran. I tried running with her, ahead of her and cheering her on. There were so many people watching and cheering and everyone thought she was so cute. A long line of spectators and volunteers started cheering and putting their hands out for a high five. She didn’t know what to do but figured it out. She was so cute giving them all high fives!

High Five!!!

Eventually we got right up to the finish line and she got her ‘medal’ (a lanyard with a Chick-fil-a cow clipped on!) and goodie bag. She was so excited to see that Little Monkey finished and got a medal too!

We finished!!

After the race we enjoyed walking through the craft vendors and riding a few carnival rides (thanks to the free ride tickets the kids got in their goodie bags!). The kids got the shirts, the ‘medals,’ stickers, pencils, free face painting, carnival rides, water, etc all for FREE! It was a great event and I’m glad we decided to give it a go. Little Monkey was very excited to show his ‘medal’ to his Mimi. He says he wants to do it again. Looks like we’ll be trying to find some more short kid fun runs! Thanks to Ocoee Founders’ Day Event and Chick-fil-a for a great free family day!

Shutterfly Giveaway Winners!!!

I almost forgot about the giveaway!!!

Good news though, I remembered and took the numbers over to random.org to see who it would come up with.

Drumroll please……..

The Three Winners of  25 Cards each are:
2 amypaul
6 Deana
4 Cheryl

Congrats girls! Please check your email shortly for more information!

Thanks to everyone who participated. Hope you have a great holiday season. Thank you to Shutterfly for the generous offer!

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Little Monkey won tickets again this year from Radio Disney to go to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party! Big Monkey ended up having to work, so I asked Little Monkey who he wanted to invite to go with us. His first pick was Mimi and his second pick was Uncle K. Uncle K ended up buying one more ticket so that Aunt S could come along too. She REALLY wanted to go.

We headed over to the park a little early because your party ticket (7pm-12midnight) can actually get you in starting at 4pm! We got to ride quite a few rides before the actual party began. Little Monkey loved having everyone come with us. This year, Little Monkette was tall enough to ride on the race cars. She LOVED it, so much so, we had to make her get out when it was over. Lucky for her we were able to go on the ride again later.

Little Monkette and Mimi on the race cars.

Just before the candy started flowing, we took a ride on the carousel. Little Monkette enjoy it as well. We had to wait awhile for the ride and she kept telling her horse to giddy up! Little Monkey liked it too and when the ride ended he was stuck WAY high in the air on his horse!

One Happy Cowboy! (and one blurry pic!)

Getting candy was one of the fun parts of the night. Little Monkey was very good about spotting the balloons that let us know where the candy was. We filled our bags up over the course of the evening, some even twice! (Little Monkey brought me his first full bag and said, “Mom can I dump this in your backpack so I can start over?” I let him and he was so excited.) He and Little Monkette loved eating the candy. Little Monkey was very good about trading out candy he knew he couldn’t have. After gathering quite a bit of candy, we had the kids pose for some pictures in their homemade costumes. It took some bribing for Little Monkette to wear her hat but Mimi did a great job offering her candy to wear it. She finally agreed and we got some good pictures.

My Jessie and Woody!

Thanks to a nice family, we managed to snag some great seats to watch the parade. It was so much fun to watch the parade through Little Monkette’s eyes. She loved it! She kept leaning under the rope to see what was coming next. I had to keep pulling her back to make sure she didn’t trip any of the performers! At the end of the parade they handed out Mickey head lollipops. Little Monkette immediately wanted to eat one. Since she still needed to wear her costume on Halloween, we changed her shirt in an effort to try and keep it clean (She had already gotten some candy mess on it!).

We rode a few more rides while waiting for the fireworks, including a second trip on the teacups! Both Little Monkey and Little Monkette loved it. I was so surprised!

She looks a little nervous but she was loving it!

We watched the fireworks from the bridge and then decided another ride or two might be in order to avoid the massive amounts of people that were leaving the park. Just before leaving the park, we waited to meet Buzz and take pictures with him. (We tried to take some pictures with Woody and Jessie at their dance party  but it wasn’t really happening.) We found our way back out of the park and to our cars. I was certain the kids would be out almost immediately from all the walking and craziness of the day. I was WRONG! They were awake all the way to Mimi’s house and then almost all the way home. I could hardly believe it. We got home around 11:30p and they went right to bed. Much to my amazement they both got up very easily in the morning to head to school.

Thanks again Radio Disney AM 990 for giving away tickets for the party (They have no clue I’m writing this…it was not a requirement of winning…We just wanted to tell you all about our fun time and say thanks!)

Shutterfly Christmas and Holiday Cards (And A Giveaway!)

The nice folks over at Shutterfly contacted me this month to see if I would be interested in using them for our Christmas cards again this year. I, of course, said yes! Last year they did a great job on our cards and it made it much easier for us!

I thought I knew what card design I would use last year (and even wrote about it here) but I ended up picking out a different design that fit our photo better. I love how simple the process is. The hardest part is deciding on what design to use. This year we will be using Shutterfly again, thanks to the ease and simplicity of the process.

I’ve been checking out the Christmas Cards and I love so many of the designs again this year. There are so many options and I love the sorting features available. I was able to narrow my choices (but still have a LOT of options left) by changing what size I wanted and what type of card or even colors I wanted.

I love the fun design of this card (but feel we’d need our picture taken on the beach too!):

Sweet Scribbly Letters

I also like the design of the Picking The Tree card. It reminds me of a long time ago when people actually went and cut down their own Christmas tree. We just drag ours down for the attic and put it together now!

Picking The Tree

If you like to send cards at other times in the year, Shutterfly has you covered there too. They have a large selection of greeting cards including, Thanksgiving, New Years, Birthday, Valentines and every day cards.

If cards aren’t really your thing, check out their photo gifts and calendars. They make great gifts for Christmas or other events throughout the year.

Want to win some free cards from Shutterfly?? They have given me 3 sets of 25 cards to give away to my readers!
Here’s what you need to do to enter:
Go check out Shutterfly’s Holiday Cards and let me know what your favorite design is. It is as simple as that!
Random.org will choose three winners for me.
The giveaway will end at midnight Wednesday, November 2.
Good luck!

Shutterfly is offering me 50 free holiday cards for my review. All opinions are my own. Are you a blogger? Want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season? Register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q

Craft Pumpkins

A few weeks ago I found some 2x4s in the trash. They looked to have been used for something but were in good condition with just a few nail holes. I picked up a few pieces, thinking we could come up with something to do with them. Big Monkey thought I was crazy but then ended up using some of the wood to make a shelf he wanted for his locker at work.

We took another piece and cut it into smaller sizes. I thought it would be fun to make some wooden pumpkins for Halloween. A free craft and fun decoration for the house. Little Monkey helped me paint the 2x4s orange to start.

All orange and ready for faces

During one of Little Monkette’s naps, Little Monkey and I took the time to paint some faces onto the pumpkins, turning them into jack-o-lanterns.

Painting on faces

Once they were done and dried, Little Monkey lined them all up by the front door. He told me that he liked mine better because they were nicer. I told him that he did a good job on his too. He ended up picking out my littlest pumpkin to take to his teacher.

Yay for free fun decorations.

 

Little Monkey with his two pumpkins and my littlest pumpkin.