Lemonade Stand

Yesterday afternoon my daughters came to me and asked for help setting up a lemonade stand.   I cringed.  I was in the middle of something and the last thing I wanted to do was drag our little table outside, find paper to make signs, make lemonade, track down some cups and then supervise the kiddos outside while they try to sell a warm cup of punch stuff for 25 cents to the very few people who drive down our street. 

But...one look at my daughter's hopeful face and I couldn't say no.  

Here's my daughter and a friend from next door at work.

I decided I have changed my attitude about lemonade stands.  I didn't hear complaints about being bored for five hours.  Oh yeah...those little girls sat faithfully by their business venture for five hours.  The only cost to me, two cups of warm sugary stuff for 25 cents each.

50 cents for five hours of fun outside.  I love lemonade stands.

Swimming Lessons

Today is the first day of two weeks worth of swimming lessons.  I spent $36 for each girl on these lessons but I know that it is worth every penny.  Last year, my girls started lessons somewhat uncomfortable in the pool.  Now, they have all turned into fish which, makes swimming with them sooooo much easier.  So, I wanted to start the summer off on the right foot with more swimming lessons. 

Maybe I'll have some future swim team girls on my hands...

The Summer Kick-Off!

We have been very busy this year so I wanted to kick off the summer with a weekend adventure that would give us some really great family time.  I originally wanted to take the family to a hotel in Park City with a stupendous pool and then spend Saturday at Park City Mountain Resort which has an alpine slide that I'm dying to take my girls to.  But that idea just didn't fit the budget.  So, I opted for camping (which we all love to do).  I didn't want to just go camping up in the mountains this trip though.  Where to go then?  I remembered that when I was a teenager, my family went to a place in Kaysville, Utah called Cherry Hill.  They have grassy, shady camp sites with flush toilets and showers (yes!).  The best part is that they have water slides, a lazy river, a pirate ship pool, two pools, miniature golf, batting cages, kiddie play land, climbing wall, places to eat...I could go on.  This place was the perfect location for our kick-off to summer weekend.

*Another really great thing about camping...less electronics.  Oh yeah.

Our total cost for a three day, two night trip for a family of five = $250.

That included our campsite for two days, all day water park passes, a game of miniature golf, 250 batting pitches, unlimited playtime in the kiddie play land, and all our food (we even ate out at the campground two nights which meant less meal planning for me ahead of time).

We had so much fun together and the best was that we actually wore out the kiddos on Saturday.  They were asleep just minutes after hitting their pillows.

Mission accomplished.