Favorite Toddler Outings

I can't believe it's the last week in this round of the One Year and Beyond Series. Time has seriously just flown by! The last topic is toddler outings. There are so many things out there to do, both free and some you have to pay for.

Some things that we have done:

Train Ride, we took our train ride to the zoo. It's a little more expensive than just driving, but Baby Fox loved it!

Which brings us to the next thing, the zoo, this is the San Diego Zoo, it a great zoo and we could have spent way more time there, too bad we had to catch the train back home, else we probably would have stayed a little while longer.

Chicago has a free zoo! It's a really awesome zoo, and you should definitely check it out if you're ever there.

We went to the Ronald Reagan Library, got to see Air Force One, which was really cool. If you ever have a chance to go to any presidential library, go, they have cool stuff that was gifted to them from different leaders around the world.

Some museums even have Groupons out there, for even cheaper entry.

 

This was a kids museum, as a matter of fact if you have a Bank of America card,you can get into museums for free the first full weekend of the month, cool right?

Aquarium, I think I'm actually going to be taking the kids to the aquarium sometime soon so Mr. can work on some music stuff.

 We also like to head to the mall and go on the rides that they offer there. The fees are usually nominal.

Carousel

 Ferris Wheel

And of course Good Old Fashion Movie, Baby Fox is really good in the movies and will sit still and watch an entire movie. We were nervous for his first movie, he was almost 3.5 when we first took him. But he did great and we made it a big deal for several weeks leading up to to the big day, and told him we were going to sneak food in and that was part of the fun of going to the movies. He calls the movie theater, "bird feeder", it took us a bit to figure out when he kept saying, I want to go to the "bird feeder"

 

Then of course there are the fun kid places, made specifically for kids, this is called Play Loud, it's a really cool place for kids to run around and play, it's a little more expensive, but fun for the kids.

Our trampoline park has toddler time, it's $6 for them to jump all they want for 3 hours and it's only little kids, so no need to worry about the big kids jumping all crazy.

 A play museum called Pretend City, this is just what it sounds like, they have a pretend, store, gas station, theater, garden, etc. Everything is hands on and the kids love it! and after 4 pm they discount the prices heavily, you only get 2 hours of playtime, but you know what, after 2 hours I'm ready to go home!

Now onto some free stuff!

There is this outdoor Starbucks area that we love to go to. Mr. rides his bike there with one of the kids and me and the other kid drive there and we sit on the couches they have there and enjoy the weather and the kids can run around without having to worry to much.

Of course I had to add the beach!

Feeding the ducks, that look like they're going to eat Baby Fox...

Hiking

There are always free festivals going on. This one is was called Up in the Air - it had everything to do with flying, they BMX bikers, Dogs catching freebies, remote control helicopters/planes.

During the summer, all the free concerts/movies in the park. 

Another summer activity, splash parks, these are usually free around here.

We've only done this once, but it was super fun, going to Krispy Kreme to watch all of the donuts being made. Baby Fox sat there for at least an hour watching the donuts. Plus you got a free hot donut while waiting in line, win!

Did you know that the first Saturday every month Home Depot has a free kids workshop? You get an apron and every workshop they finish you get a pin to put on your apron. Some kids have at least 20 of them!

What are your favorite toddler outings?  Check out the other mama's blogs for their ideas  And be sure to link up with us below if you also have a post on this topic.   

  In the difficulty of motherhood, it's so important to find other mamas to relate to.  Toddlers can be a handful and leave you wondering what to do next.  This series is here to help you navigate through toddlerhood while being able to relate to other mamas going through the same thing.  We may not always know what we are doing but we give it our best shot anyway.  Come back each week to check out our new topic and read along with the other hosts of our One Year and Beyond series!  

The Not Quite Military Wife// Like a Morning Cup of Coffee//  Meet the Sullivan's

 From Here to Eternity//  Pig and Dac//   Everyday Love

A Cowboy's Life// Life of Faith//  Foxy's Domestic Side//  My Delicious Adventure

Oct 2:     Toddler Diaper Bag Essentials 

Oct 9:     Learning to love your post-pregnancy body

Oct 16:   Busy Toddler Activities

Oct 23:   Keeping in Shape While Caring for a Toddler

Oct 30:   Sick Day Tips

Nov 6:    How to Not Lose Your Patience with your Toddler

Nov 13:  Favorite Toddler Outings

An InLinkz Link-up

That Time I Tried an Outfit Selfie and Failed

My wireless remote broke for my camera, I tried to just click the shutter and run into place, but I can't seem to get anything in focus. My house is a mess and I have no where to take a picture right now...so I decided today is going to be the first selfie outfit post. I think I totally failed, you be the judge.

I really dislike it getting dark so early now. I leave for work at 5am and get home at 5pm, it's dark. So outfit posts aren't happening outside right now. I need to take them inside somewhere, but the lighting in my bathroom is horrible. I bring our lap from our bedroom in...it makes the lighting even more weird. I realize that all these pictures are slightly blurry too, because there wasn't much light, the flash didn't work and I need a new plan for outfit posts.

Anyway, enough complaining. This outfit I threw together in 5 seconds flat. I didn't have to think about it, I just threw it on and walked out the door. Which is much needed because I want all the sleep I can get, so I need something quick and easy.

This is the scarf I got from the scarf exchange I did with my girlfriends

I should have just used the DSLR camera and gotten slightly blurry photos, since that's how these turned out because of the low light and shaky hands.

I was playing around with some fake eyelashes, I actually bought these (Ardell 204) for our family photo shoot, but decided they were just too long and went with a different pair (a Japanese pair from Daiso, everything in there is a $1.50, it's awesome).. I finally got them to work and by work I mean I wasn't a fumbling mess and actually got them to stick to my skin. So instead of putting on eye make up I put on these babies and it totally looks like I did my make up...sort of.

I look like a deer in headlights in this one. So see my hair? I tried a no heat curl, and it totally worked! It was super easy, and even though I was running late yesterday, I just took the twisted braid out, combed my fingers through and I was done 30 seconds later. EASY! This was after a full 12 hours of having it in. When I first took them out my hair was a bit poofy, but it relaxed and I am loving how easy it is. They are slighly tighter waves than when I use the curling wand, but super simple and something to do so my hair isn't stick straight. Plus it gives my hair a break from the flat iron I use everyday. Yes I use one everyday, because I have some awesome bedhead.

I actually didn't end up taking my jacket off yesterday, but I really like how simple but put together this outfit is.

Moral of this post, I will not be taking any more outfit selfies. I look like a deer in headlights and my bathroom lights are less than desirable.

 also Linking up with Because Shanna Said So, Get Your Pretty On, The Pleated Poppy, Tucker Up 

Food Allergies: Now What?

Part two of my food allergy saga, okay not really a saga, but sometimes it feels like a cruel punishment for something I didn't do. If you missed it, here's part 1: finding out I have food allergies.

So I've just gotten the news that I have all of these allergies, boo. The doctor then tells me, sometimes the results may say you're allergic to something but your body might not react to it at all. So she wanted me to cut everything out that I was allergic to and then in a month start adding the foods back one at a time for 3 days to see if I had a reaction. I was hopeful.

This all happened before people really jumped on the gluten free, healthy band wagon, so there were not very many options out there for me to eat. Mr. and I went to the grocery store and walked up and down every isle reading food labels. So many food labels, and EVERYTHING has something it in that I'm allergic to. Two weeks into my cutting everything out I had already lost 10 pounds, and I was continuing to lose weight. Which wasn't a bad thing, but it wasn't great, because I was doing it the wrong way, I was starving myself. The things I could eat, like fruit and veggies, just didn't have enough calories in them, I would get full and probably only consume 100 or so calories. I just needed more calories so I started eating potato chips. Like bags of potato chips and I was still losing weight.

I think that first month I lost about 20 pounds, yikes! But I made it and was going to start adding stuff back in. I missed cheese/dairy the most so I added that first. I had stomach pains, no go. I waited 3 days, and tried some soy, no go...and on down the line of foods, each time I had stomach pains and each time my tiny dream that I wasn't really allergic to something was crushed.

I had a pity party, I cried a lot that first year. I would be okay and then I would just have a break down and just want to go somewhere quick to eat. Having these food allergies has changed our lifestyle. It was hard to be out and about and then say hey, we're hungry let's stop here for some food. Nope we had to go home and eat. Every outing revolved around food, so as to not be out when a meal came around. Mostly I brought something with me to eat.

The ONLY good thing about this whole food allergy thing? Okay maybe there are two good things.

1) It keeps my weight in check, especially when I was pregnant, not binging on whatever craving I had (with Baby Fox I craved a bagel and cream cheese for 5 months, it consumed my thoughts, I wanted one so bad, so bad in fact that Mr. who doesn't care for it, ate one because I talked about it so much). It has made us eat healthier and make better food for ourselves.

2) We have found some pretty great food. Food we never would have found had I not had the food allergies. So for that we're thankful.

Next I'll fill you in on some of our favorite go to foods, I know you're dying to know.

So anyone have any questions about food allergies?

An All Family Weekend

I've had a rough couple of weeks. This past weekend was helping me get through it all, knowing that I was going to get some good family time in. One of my cousins is a senior in high school and the other is a Junior and and I told them that I would go see them play this season. I picked a date that worked with our schedule and it happened to be a rivalry game, so the Varsity Team parents organized a tailgate, although not so much tailgate as they had a taco guy come in. But it was fun hanging out with everyone beforehand.

Can you guess which cousin is mine? haha...

The other one is standing right near the "3".

A lot of eating of candy and popcorn happened by this guy.

It got a little cold, so he bundled up, 5 minutes later everything came back off cause he was hot, go figure.

We actually left at half time, not by choice, my Dad wanted to leave and we all carpooled, so we had to follow. The score when we left, yep that 28, is our score. The end score was 7 to 35.

On our way out we saw a firetruck and I was having Baby Fox pose by it and as we were walking away the firemen were coming back from wherever they were, and asked Baby Fox if he wanted to get in...pretty awesome way to end the night.

We stayed with my aunt, Mr. was sick, so he stayed behind with my aunt and Mini Fox. Eating like a big girl.

Another reason we went out there was to see Cutie #1 (from Cousin #4) in his football game.

He's number 26

Mini Fox wanted to play too

It was 91° out, it was hot, Baby Fox helped keep Nana cool.

Matching shirts, although it didn't help them at all this weekend.

Baby Fox absolutely adores his older cousin and calls him My Buddy.

Sunday was family picture day! I decided I wanted to get them way earlier this year because I want to take advantage of the Cyber Monday sale at Shutterfly this year. Last year everything was on sale and then on Cyber Monday you got an additional 50% off, so hoping they have the same sale this year.

Waiting for the photographer

I thought this was a good sign of things to come...but this was the ONLY smile we got all day, the rest of the time she was stone faced serious. OH well!

A train! Baby Fox loved it.

Here's a sneak peak, the very last photo taken by iPhone, and we're all soaked, minus Mini Fox, she wanted nothing to do with sand, so we held her the whole time. I can't wait to get the photos back!

Afterwards we went to lunch at this cute cafe. People must have thought I put this much make-up on for Sunday brunch everyday...lol.

It was a great weekend with family. Everyone in my family is finally getting over being sick, so hopefully this week is much better then last week!

Linking up with Faith, Sarah and Heather for Mommy Moments

With Bella & Lisa for Weekend Link-up
and with Molly and Carly for Let it Shine