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McIntosh State Park, Ventura, IA (Yurt)

This weekend we rented a yurt at McIntosh State Park for a couple of nights. We had a good time, even if my son didn't want to go to bed at his bedtime and then wanted to get up too early.

My in-laws joined us and had reserved the other yurt. This is the second year in a row we went camping with them. It's a nice thing to be able to do with them and the kids.

The yurts have twin bunks beds in it and a full size futon, a table & 2 chairs. And outside there are picnic tables and a fire ring. This yurt is ADA acccessible, the other one wasn't. The bathroom by the yurts is ADA accessible as well.

I would highly recommend renting a yurt there. The yurts on right by the lake and there is a fishing pier right there too. Also, there is a bathroom with showers right by the yurts. The rest of the campground is on the other side, so the bathroom is basically for the 2 yurts. There is a little hiking path right behind the yurt. And there is a nice playground there as well, and a swimming beach.

Only downside is the the yurts are near (not too near) a busier daytime road so you hear the traffic, but you can't see them through the trees. And at night the road is quiet.

Smores & roasted marshmallows are always a hit in the evening. My favorite is the NEW Caramel marshmallows with Symphony chocolate on some graham crackers. YUM!

This Year's Garden Bounty

Memorial Weekend Bonfire

What an eventful weekend so far, and it isn't event over yet. We started out with family coming in to town on Friday to stay with us. Then we went to the community center pool to swim (we promised Isabel a pool party with family for her birthday). Then Saturday we went to the Lowe's Build & Grow clinic so that my daughter could build a race car. Then it was to the nature center with the kids and my mom to go hiking, playing & have a picnic lunch while other family went to the Mall of America and daddy picked up a friend from the airport. Then it was back swimming at the community center again, grilling out for dinner and finally a bonfire. I love bonfires & roasting marshmallows.

Yummy Food

The other day I was all into making homemade foods. I decided to try making some Artisan Bread. The recipe I am using the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day and made the basic recipe that makes 4 1-pound recipes. The cool thing is there is no kneading and the dough lasts 14 days and it only takes 5 minutes of actual work each time to make a loaf. I don't think it took much more than 30 minutes of work this first time to make the dough, so next time it might be even quicker. It turned out great and was yummy.

The bottom picture is of some pollo pinto gallo with a bunch of hot sauce on it (just the way I like it). This was a favorite dish when we have visited Costa Rica and is a typical dish there and now is a typical dish in our home. Although in Costa Rica it is usually just pinto gallo and the pollo is served on the side.

The other thing I made that I didn't take a picture of was strawberry-rhubarb pie with oatmeal crust & crumble topping. That was yummy, in fact, I think I may go help myself to some leftovers.

Making Floss Balls

This was a project I did this week. It seemed simple enough and was pretty. I used water balloons that we had at home and left them small to keep them as round as possible. On each one I used a 1/2 skein of DMC floss. To make these I poured some liquid starch in a bowl and soaked the 1/2 skein of floss in it. Then wrapped the soaked floss around the balloon. Then placed the balloons in a single layer in a bowl to dry for 24 hours. After the floss was dry we popped & removed the balloon and now we have a pretty bowl of floss balls.

Bunny Finger Puppets

So, I made these for the kids for Easter and after I looked at the link that inspired me to make these, I realized I REALLY need to add tails, they look so much cuter with tails. So, these are semi-finished in this picture.

The Hubby & I

Our 3 year daughter took this picture. She did a pretty good job.

Birthday Freebies (updated 3/15)

Ok, I will keep adding to this, as there is still another week until my birthday, so be sure to check back.

Free mini-pizza w/ breadsticks purchase at Godfather's Pizza (local one)

Free stir-fry meal from BD's Mongolian Grill

Free One-Scoop Sundae from Culver's

$5 off purchase of entree & pepsi at Ponderosa

Free Gourmet Burger at Red Robin

Free Surprise (dessert to buffet, they tell you at restaurant) at Famous Dave's (sorry, don't care for surprises, I want to know what I am getting, I will pass)

Free Creation from Cold Stone Creamery & $3 off coupon for b-day cake

Free Mile High Pie Slice from Champps with any purchase

Free dessert w/ entree purchase from Chili's

Free swirl shake w/ Roastburger purchase from Arby's

Free dessert from Fazoli's (no purchase necessary)

BOGO Blizzards from DQ

Free 160z. beverage from Orange Julius

$10 off $10+ from Timberlodge Steakhouse

Free drink from Caribou on birthday ONLY

Free entree up to $7.50 from Noodles & Co.

Free dessert @ Buca di Beppo w/ entree purchase

Free Birthday Parties Digital Magazine from Betty Crocker

Dessert Shooter from Applebee's (although don't really need this coupon to get this)

10% off entire purchase in-stores @ Harry & David

15% off from Crabtree & Evelyn

5 full size Lancome lipsticks with $35 purchase

Free Aveda PerFume essence or Body product up to $25 (no purchase necessary) AWESOME!

Free dessert w. entree purchase @ TGI Fridays

20% off ENTIRE regular price purchase @ Michael's

Free cookie dough w/ pizza purchase from Papa Murphy's

$5 off any purchase from Pizza Ranch

BOGO Entree from Qdoba

Coupon from Old Country Buffet (won't know what it is until I print, but I don't plan to use)

Free Fountain Drink & Donut from Kwik Trip

$5 off $20 from O'Charley's

25 pts & Free Blu-Ray (choose from 5, pay $2.95 s/h) from Disney Movie Rewards

Various special discounted items from Alice.com

$1 off any order from Wendy's

____________________________________________________________

So, which ones will I use for use or maybe?

For Sure *used already

Culver's

Godfather's

Timeberlodge

Aveda

*Betty Crocker (downloaded it, has some good ideas & has a cake in there I may make for Isabel's birthday)

Caribou

Pizza Ranch

*DQ

*BD's Mongolian

*Disney Rewards (used the points, but not free BR since I don't have a player)

* Orange Julius

Kwik Trip

Wendy's

Maybe (but mostly likely not)

Fazoli's

Michael's

Harry & David

Cold Stone Creamery

Noodles & Co.

Qdoba

As you can see, there are a lot out there and I am sure there will be more in my email over the next week. And I will only use a small percentage of them (mainly because a lot of these are not local for me and I would need to combine with a trip to the Cities or Rochester). So, if you are interested in getting some of these, just google the location and look for a birthday club or email sign up and you will be set to go. Make sure you do this at least a month in advance or you might not get into their system fast enough.

There is just not enough time & money in my life to be able to take advantage of all of these, only a very small portion.

MNO: Tubing @ Buck Hill

Snow Bird?

My Daughter's Hair

My daughter desperately needed a haircut, but paying for one was not at the top of my budget. It was getting too long and becoming more & more snarly. This was her third haircut and I decided to try doing it myself and I think I did a decent job. She just has a very basic, straight cut. I ended up taking about 2 1/2 inches off.

I made some more bows for her hair. I really liked how these turned out. I wanted to make the red & white one so she could wear it to preschool for her Valentine's party. They were simple to make, although I made the red & white one first and have the bottom flower flipped, which I did on purpose because I liked how the ribbon & lace on that one looked better flipped. I got the idea from Craft eNVy.

Cross Country Skiing

Today I went cross country skiing for the first time. It was a blast. I went with my friend Carrie. It was her birthday yesterday, so I planned a little birthday fun for her and we went skiing during the afternoon and this evening we met up with our friend Cindy and went to Applebee's for drinks and appetizers. I had a great time CCXing and hope to go at least one more time this winter. Andy would like to go some time with me too, so maybe after my in-laws are back from their vacation we can have them babysit while we go.

Korker Bows & Puffy Bow

Here are some new bows I made for Isabel. I made a big puffy bow which she loves and 2 sets of korker bows (one with pink accents and one with yellow accents). I actually made 2 sets of the pink accent korker bows so that I can give one set to one of her friends who has a birthday coming up soon. I think Isabel likes that I make her bows. I know she loves choosing out what to put in her hair and will say "I look so pretty" when she has one in she really likes.

Celebrity Look-a-Like

Or we have this one with 8 completely different people.



Third times the charm?



Ok - just for giggles, let's try the picture on the same day but a different angle.

http://www.myheritage.com/collage

Ha! That's funny, 4 completely different people and now I have dudes in my picture.

Guess I just look like myself. There was not one person that appeared in more than one collage.

Naples City Beach

(The Hubby at) Imaginarium and Manatee Park

At Lover's Bay State Park in Florida

We are having a good time so far. This might be the only hot, sunny day. But as long as it's not cold snow I will take it.

New Hair Color

Not sure how well you can see the dark purple streak in the front. There are two in the back as well. Maybe some natural sunlight pictures in Florida will show it better. Anyways, my friend Caitlin who is a professional colorist was willing to play kitchen beautician for me and color my hair & I LOVE IT!. She did an all over color of medium blond then went back and put in the purple streaks and hand painted in blond highlights all over with bigger chunks framing the face.

I always wanted to do some kind of fun color in my hair but never had the guts. This year I decided that if there is something I want to do and it is financially feasible, I am going to do it. Life is too short to not try things and live your life.

Making Bows

I made the light pink ones last night and then made the dark pink & blue-striped bows tonight. I made these for Isabel & 3 of her friends. I just thought Isabel needed some new bows and thought I would make bows for her friends whose moms borrowed me some things during my pregnancy and/or for Henry.

Isabel is going to love that she has a bunch of new bows made by mommy. I have not made her any in a while. I am going to make her some korker bows next, but I need to go buy a dowel and some think grosgrain ribbon.