Funny blogs can sometimes turn my day around. If you need a pick me up, check out one of these:
What funny blogs do you like? I can always use a little more humor in my day!
Archive for the ‘Sites to See’ Category
Fun Stuff Friday — FREE Bowling
28
Aug
This one’s a little late and won’t last much longer, but you may be able to get a few games in! Last Friday my oldest son had a day off of school and we intended to take a day trip to the beach. But then we were concerned about rough water due to Hurricane Bill and scrapped our plans the night before. My husband had already planned the day off, so he wanted to do something anyway. I dug through some old emails and found one a friend had sent about free kids bowling for the summer. My oldest has been invited to a couple of bowling parties recently and really enjoyed them so I thought that sounded like a winning plan.
The website is http://www.kidsbowlfree.com. The closest free bowling location to Sanford was in Cary, so we printed the coupons, loaded up the van, and headed up Highway 1. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a sign on the door that said the bowling alley was now smoke free, since having 3 kids with asthma makes me more than a little paranoid about them breathing cigarette smoke. It was clean, the employees were great, and the kids had a lot of fun.
I think this is good through August 31, so if you have a chance to do it in the next few days, it’s worth the trip to Cary!
Cue the new semester freak-out.
24
Aug
Today is the day I can log in to Blackboard and start my fall classes. On tap this semester is a math class and a computer class. I’m no math whiz, but I have always been able to get through with an A or B. (Except pre-calc…I got a low C and was just thrilled I didn’t fail completely. Still don’t understand the concepts.) And computers…well, clearly I’m comfortable with those.
And yet, when I logged in this morning and read the syllabi (syllabuses?) I started having a panic attack. And just in case this doesn’t sound familiar to you, I assure you it happened last semester, too. When I read about writing papers! and taking tests! I had the OMG, why did I think I could do this??? panic attack and almost withdrew right then and there.
We all know how that one turned out, though. If you don’t, you can go back to this post and see. Yeah, there was no reason to worry. But the Fear and Self-Doubt are back and compounded by the “I budgeted money for books but then had to pay to get the car fixed and thought I could do without them but looks like I can’t” problem. I need to come up with about $200 (and yes, I checked other sources to see if I could get them cheaper…not by much, and then I have to pay shipping) or pray that someone on FreeCycle has some they can offer me. God has provided before and I believe He will again, but the worry of that and everything else has had my heart pounding and my stomach rolling all morning long.
When I called my husband and proceeded to tell him that there was a final exam that I have to take on campus WITHOUT the book and that I hadn’t done math in over 10 years and there was NO WAY I could pass this class, he (I assume, because I know him so well!) rolled his eyes and said “Don’t you have an entire semester to learn how to do this stuff before the final?” Um, yeah…I guess I do.
Let the learning commence. It’s a new semester!
Fun Stuff Friday — Marbles Kids Museum
21
Aug
Marbles is located in downtown Raleigh, so it’s a bit of a drive for us Sanford residents. But it is definitely worth the trip! We first went a few years ago when we’d first moved here and were wholly unimpressed. The exhibits weren’t very good for a preschool age child and there just wasn’t much to do. They remodeled a couple of years ago and that has all changed! There are plenty of things to do for children of all ages…even the baby had fun playing in the floor of the baby area. (Well, until a bunch of toddlers came in and walked all over her. But this was the fault of the rude and tacky parents, not the museum.) The boys played dress up, pretended to be pirates, doctors, firefighters, animals, and much more. There was water play, a peas and carrots ball pit, a hockey rink, and a pirate ship to climb on. Best of all, this was all incorporated into a learning experience!
It will cost you $5 for every person over the age of 1 who wants to go in. If you have a Food Lion card, you can show it on Wednesdays to get $1 off admission. It’s definitely worth the drive and the cost of admission.
for more info: http://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org/
Fun Stuff Friday — The Aquarium
06
Aug
So I mentioned the zoo last week for FSF (That’s Fun Stuff Friday!) and today I’m talking about something that you also have access to with the zoo membership…the 3 North Carolina Aquariums. One of our “Learning Adventure” days this summer was a mini-vacation that included a day at the beach with a friend of mine who goes all the way back to middle school days, then a trip to the aquarium at Fort Fisher and a ferry ride on the way home. This was a very inexpensive trip for us. We hung out at her parent’s beach house on the beach day, then drove down to Wilmington where we’d gotten a hotel room for $30 (gotta love priceline.com!), were admitted free to the aquarium with our NC Zoo Society card, and then paid $5 (I think, may be a bit higher or lower) for the ferry. It was a great trip and cost us very little out of pocket, even once we factored in gas.
The aquarium we went to was great. We got to see an albino alligator (beautiful animal!), turtles, ducks, fish and much, much more. It was a lot of fun for the boys, and mom and dad enjoyed it as well! It is a bit of a drive (the others are even farther away, but we hope to be able to afford some more mini-trips at some point to see them) so if you can turn it into a mini-vacation I highly suggest it. Nobody likes being stuck in the car with cranky kids for 6+ hours in a day!
Overall, I recommend them, especially if your family can be admitted at no charge!
