Summer Fun 16 and Upcoming Projects

Can you guess where we went today?  I was asked to share an upcoming post with a DIY project,  and I needed a few supplies. 

I am actually very excited about some of the items I found at the thrift store today. I have some fun fall decorating planned for most of these items.

These two items are for Kara. She is at the age where she wants to change her pink (cotton candy explosion) room to something more grown up.  She would like to change it over to a nature theme, and has big plans for the mirror and wine rack.  With a little fixing up, that wine rack will soon be an accessories rack, and the mirror will have a whole new look. 

          Tonight we had a girl scout meeting and afterwards Kara got to hang with her friends. 

Silliness ensued.

This was actually pretty cool.  They figured out how to make rainbow chalk tatoos. 

What kind of fun things did you do today? 

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Our Summer Fun Challenge Day 15

You may have noticed that there was no  day 14 in our summer fun challenge.   Well that is because we had a big day on Saturday, and had a big day planned for today.  

Today I had the chance to spend the day with my teenage daughter in a quaint little tourist town in Michigan, called Frankemuth.  It is one of the most visited places in all of Michigan.   There is just so much to see and do. 

If you ever visit Frankenmuth, you MUST eat one of their world famous chicken dinners.

They serve them at both Zehnders and the Baravian Inn.   If you come with several people, you have the option of family style.  Since it was just me and my daughter, we got our own plates. I chose  the traditional dinner. She orderd chicken parm, which she said was the best she ever had.  (I don't usually make it, so I was fine with that statement)

Another store Frankemuth  is known for is this place.. The Cheese Haus.  

At the Cheese Haus you can taste many different types of cheese, including  CHOCOLATE Cheese.. Yes, I did try it.. It tasted more like chocolate than cheese.  My daugther refused to even taste it. 

At another place we stopped at, we came across this guy..  Guess what he was giving samples of..

Hmm... looks kind of interesting...

We left the store with a half pound of chocolate mint FUDGE. Yum!!  There were several fudge shops in Frankenmuth to chose from.  All made fudge on site, and allowed the customers to watch how they did it. 

Another stop in downtown Frankenmuth that we really enjoyed was the Frankenmuth Historical Museum.  It only cost $2 for adults, and $1 for students.  Throughout the museum there are  many hands on exhibits you can try out.  I was suprised when she tried to carry the water buckets. I had to snap a picture.  They also had a Titanic exhibit at the museum that was very informative. I really learned a lot.

I tried to take a picture of the two of us, but she is a lot more camera shy than her sister. 

Our next stop was the River Place Shops, just a bit up the road.  It was just so cute and colorful.  There were so many fun shops to see. 

Throughout the town, they had many photo opportunities.   I just loved the cupcake cutouts

This store looks interesting!  They actually had an Enchanted Forest Store! 

After River Place we went to the most famous store in Frankenmuth. That store is Bronners, the world's largest Christmas store.  They seriously have everything thing you can think of in this store.  It had 16 sections, and was like Santa's workshop on overdrive.  

Some of the sites we saw:

Santa and Mrs Claus eatting in the cafe

A gigantic wedding cake decorated with ornaments

Hundreds of lit Christmas trees

Decorations in all over the store

A gorgeous tree with ornaments hung by ribbons

Millions of ornaments in every color, type and style

I did pick up a few things at Bronners that I will be sharing in a few days!

The only downside to our visit is my daughter refused to pose for silly  pictures.  I could tell she though I was crazy everytime I posed behind a cutout.  I didn't care, I was having fun!

What a great day with my daughter, memories we will always cherish.  

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Saturday Shout Outs (Double Feature)

They are finally here. Two weeks of Dare to Share features.

If you ever wanted to go to Hawaii, Kathe with an E  linked up an incrediable tablescape that was not only pretty but inexpensive.    This would also be a great way to decorate for a beached themed party. 

If you are like me and have seen coconut oil talked about all over the internet, but not really known what it was for,  Earning My Cape    share many tips on how to use it.  I think I will have to try some.




Make It Easy Crafts  shared a fun and useful book cover that is perfect for your summer paperback. It could also make a great gift. 


 

Another fun post came from Phaedras Adventures. She shared how you can make kool aid  lip gloss that Kara has now added to her want to try and make list.  It is a fun activity for the young girl in your life.




You will need to  go check out these adorable costumes from Daffys Dream celebrating India's Independance Day. 





Turtles and Tails  shared a great tutorial on how to turn an ordinary stool, into something really  fabulous.  I want to find something that I can try this on now too!


Thank you all who have shared your wonderful links.   It is always exciting to see all the great project and link ups.   I hope to see what you have to share this week on Dare to Share.

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Summer Fun Challenge Day 13

Could you tell where we went today based on the sneak peek I posted on Instagram?  We had a fun few hours walking up and down a busy street that was closed off to traffic.

It was really bright out, so you might not see what Kara is holding in her hand.  It was orange, soft and melony... (I don't think that is even a word!)  It was a cup of Melon flavored ice cream.   We live in an area that grows a lot of melons, and this weekend was the annual Melon Festival.

One thing we did at the festival was listen to a great musician for kids named Guy Louis.  He has a great interaction with the kids and encourages them to get up and dance.  We first saw him 10 years ago when we lived on the other side of the state.

He kept teasing Kara because she thought she was "too cool" to get up an dance.  There were a few others in the audience that were teased as well. Afterwards we had the chance to talk to him and share with him that we had seen his concert before, back when she was 1 or 2.   He that thought that it was great that she still  really  enjoyed his music, even if she was a too cool almost teenager.  :)

We took this shot during the concert.

On interesting thing they did this year at the festival was add an ICE rink. Yes I said an ICE rink, in August. It wasn't real ice, but you could skate on it like real ice.  They had open skate times, but we didn't try it.

We found this booth, but we didn't stop to eat today.  We so wanted to try some of the items on their menu though.. deep fried Snickers, deep fried Milky Way and deep fried Twinkies.     We were saving our money because Kara really wanted to go on the bungee tower that they had at the festival last year. Unfortunately, they were not there is year. Kara was a bit bummed..

After hitting some of the craft booths with her birthday money cheered her up. Check  out her new bling.

I was happy that my T Shirt Backpack  is still holding strong and made it through another event.  So far I have taken it to Cedar Point,  to the county fair twice, to the zoo twice, and to two festivals. It will hopefully go back to Cedar Point one more time this summer/fall.   I might have to make a few more of these in different colors.

Once we got back home, it was time for more playing with the puppy.  I swear that dog smiles in her pictures!!

At this point, we are not sure yet what we will do tomorrow.

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Dare to Share #21

Well it is Friday once again, and that means it is Dare to Share time!  We are still going strong with the Summer Fun Challenge.  The kids seem to be enjoying it, and we are making great memories.  

Pic 1: Enjoying an outdoor movie.   
Pic 2:  Jellyfish at the zoo 
Pic 3:  Mom and Kara at the zoo
Pic 4: Everyone checking out the seal tank
Pic 5: Kara really enjoying a chocolate dessert
Pic 6: Kyle made us a delicious dinner
Pic 7: Kids Bowl Free Bowling
Pic 8: Banana Split from Dairy Queen
Pic 9: Kara enjoying the day with her furry friend

The best thing of all is our fun adventures did not cost very much at all. We spent less than $10 at the zoo, because we have a family pass.  The outdoor movie was completely free (though we did stop at McDonalds for McDoubles). When we went bowling, we only had to pay to rent our shoes. Bowling was free with our passes.  Even the banana split was on sale for only $2.00.   The entire week of fun cost only about a total of $25. 

I would love to see what you have to share this week! 

I don't really have any rules.  Share as many posts as you would like. 

I would love it if you would place my button somewhere on your blog so more people will know about my party.  

I will be featuring projects  on the blog, Pinterest and Twitter.. This week is a double feature week! 


Now link up, and have FUN! 

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Summer Fun Challenge Day 12

Kara had a fun day.  She was dog sitting for a neighbor.  She LOVES dogs, but with the zoo we already have she is NOT going to get one.

She has loved our neighbor's dog since the first day she met her.  The dog loves Kara too. Here they are going for a walk.  

Isnt she adorable! She lookes like she is smiling as big as Kara.

 

I see a resemblance, don't you.  LOL! 

Another fun thing we did, was finally make some water games to play the next time we have a hot day.  We made waterbombs out of  sponges  and... 

a sprinkler out of a pool noodle.  It looks like we might have to wait a few days. After weeks of days in the 90s, it is only going to be in the mid 70s for the next week. Isn't it supposed to be hot in August.  It was actually warmer for a week in March than it has been the last few days..   It will probably warm up just in time for school to start..

We have something big planned for tomorrow.  Stayed tuned to see what it is ...

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The Pumpkin Gang are Back

If you are a newer follower, you might not know about my pumpkin gang that I designed last year  using dollar store pumpkins.  Even though it is still August  and I am  NOT thinking about Halloween yet,  I am posting this because you need to start watching for the dollar store pumpkins NOW. The last time I was in the dollar store they were adding their fall line, and these pumpkins sell out fast.

I plan on adding to the pumpkin gang this year, and have a few ideas.  Here are the links to my old posts, so you can see how to make  last year's pumpkins.

I actually used a white pumpkin for the Vampire that I had bought on clearance from the craft store the year before. I wasn't sure what to do with it, until I saw a Vampire party in a magazine.   I really like Vampy, and I am partial to him.   You can see how to make him, HERE.

The next pumpkin I made was the Mummy.   His eyes, gauze and pipe cleaners are also from the dollar store.    You can see how to make Mr. Mummy HERE.

Frankenpumpkin was the next one to join the gang.  He was pretty simple to make with just paint and google eyes.  You can see how to make Frankenpumpkin HERE.

 Another one of our favorites was our black cat. There are a couple of ways you can make black depending on how you want him to looks.   With his big eyes and white whiskers, he is definitely on the cute side.

If you add black felt eyelids and black pipecleaner whiskers (which I did not have or they so would have been on his face), he has a different look.   You can see how I made the black cat HERE.

The last on to join the gang was Witchipoo.  Her hair is made from a boa that I also bought at the dollar store.  I used some scrap felt for her hat, and some painted clay for her nose. You can see how to make her HERE.

Stay tuned to see who joins the gang this year!

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