The Fulton Family: AN INCREDIBLE WEEKEND!!!!

Friday morning I did NOT have my neighbor kids ( did I tell you I was babysitting my 3 neighbor kids 3 days a week this summer?) so the day was ours.

Mara started it by climbing into her toybox by herself. Alaric yells, "mommy, mommy-come see what Mara did". She's a climber and very adventurous!

We hung out in the morning and then headed to the public pool for the first time ever!!! I tell you- I was nervous! I'd never been before and definately had never brought two kids who had NEVER been in an outdoor pool before with me BY MYSELF!

It was great. The water was super cold and in pure Alaric fashion, he fussed and whined for awhile but decided playing was better than crying ( since I was ignoring him). He never really got IN the water but played along the edges with lots of toys.

Mara was the water baby I assumed she would be. She sat herself in her turtle and was able to push her way around much of the pool. She didn't like it when I put water on her head or shoulders but as long as she was chewing on something and moving around she was content. Daddy met us at the pool after work and got to see the kids and play some too!

Friday night was FIRST FRIDAY ON THE SQUARE ( first Friday of the month they have events downtown until 9PM). For the kickoff to the local rodeo ( perks of small town life), they had horse rides for the kids. Alaric was SO EXCITED. There he is on the first horse walking through the streets of the square.

He loved his horse!

He didn't want to get off!

Mara couldn't ride the real horse but she played on the hay bales instead!

PS...All the events on the square are FREE so this was a HUGE kickoff to our budget conscious weekend! We used a giftcard to Dairy Queen for a cool treat too!

We went home, put the kids to sleep and sat on the back patio and had beers- what a day!

Saturday was wonderful! Brian had to work for just a little bit Saturday morning so the kids and I went to a few garage sales. Then we rode our bikes to the grocery store to pick up items for an evening picnic ( we had a $15 giftcard to the grocery store and were determined NOT to go over. We bought a cheap bottle of red wine, a big loaf of foccacia bread, and the makings for a yummy pesto spread. We spent $14. 30).

Then we went to Nicks Park for a picnic lunch of leftovers and playtime!

Laric loves to swing with mommy!

Mar was more interested in Daddy's glasses than the camera but she gave us a cute shot!

The kids each tried new things- Mara went on the slide OVER and OVER and OVER!

Family photo on the big slide

Alaric hung from the rings for the first time!

We put the kids down from nap, got things ready for our date night out and rested up. Got the kids up and headed to our 11 year old neighbor's birthday party for snacks and some beers.

Left there at 4PM and headed to our church who was having a PARENTS NIGHT OUT! Parents volunteer as the childcare providers for a night while others get the chance to go out from 5-8PM. Each family only has to babysit once and then gets to use the service! WE LOVE IT! We were the first to drop off our kids.

We were trying to do a date night for as little as possible so we headed straight to our giftcards and got creative ( ever need a gift idea for us?PLEASE give us giftcards to anything. WE LOVE them! Even if they are only $5. They help us get creative!).

We found a $10 giftcard to campus bar Legends so we walked there from church and had loaded fries and two Miller Lights- with tip we only had to pay $1.75.

Santa brought Bri five tokens for the batting cages in his stocking this year so after Legends, we walked to our car and headed to the batting cages. 5 times in the cage- FREE! I went twice and Bri went three times! We take our turns very seriously.

Headed back onto campus and went to the Quad. We laid out a blanket and enjoyed our bread and butter and spreads- OH and our WINE! The meal was nothing fancy ( for our anniversary Brian did a gourmet picnic that was cookbook pretty). This time it was all about easy and time away! Because of the $15 giftcard the picnic was FREE!

Then we played frisbee for awhile and walked around campus and Urban Outfitters.

We finished our time on campus by using a 4 year old $5 giftcard from Potbelly and getting a chocolate malt and cookie- FREE! We walked back to church and were the last ones to pick up at 8PM!