Kaboom!

We had a fabulous time on the fourth, just hanging out at home as a family.

Of course, there were required items:

Big, honking box of fireworks:

Check!

Patriotic decorations:

Check!

Good seats to watch the fireworks show:

Check!

Chickens?

Check and check!

Pyromaniac 10-year old:

Check!

Kaboom!!

Staycation Day ?

I totally lost track of our staycation plans, but I'm pretty sure that this is Day3 - and luckily for you, the last day before the kids headed off to Great Wolf and I went to the homeschool conference - all without a camera.

We started the day with a bike ride through Deep Run park. Here is the fam after a particularly steep part:

And what's an active summer outing without a stop for ice cream?

The "Open" blinked on just as we pulled into the parking spot:

Now, that's staycation! - in a cone:

My son didn't believe me that you could/should turn your Blizzard upside down, but skeptically tried it for the staycation cam (insert the I-told-you-so dance here!):

We headed home for quick showers and then off to a new movie theater that opened in downtown Richmond, Cinemaland at the Bowtie Theater:

The owners renovated an old train stop (warehouse, depot yard?) and left lots of the industrial feel. Old pipes and wires are turned into lighting and lots of brick everywhere. The concession stand had lots of goodies like nachos that made me wish we came for lunch.

But the best part was that we came to see "Up" - in 3D!

Great movie!

Huge hallways and big, clean bathrooms (with our favorite - the Dyson hand driers!) made the place a hit with me.

I just wish I knew who these poor, unfortunate children belonged to...

Our family's staycation assessment: great idea. We all had lots of fun, got to do things we wanted to try, and had lots of time with Daddy. My husband and I liked the low cost. If I could have made the laundry and dishes disappear, it would have been perfect!

Postcards from Staycation - Day 2

After church and lots of mowing and weeding ("But you don't MOW on staycation!" came the wail), Daddy took the littles to the traditional fun spot of our every vacation - mini-golf!

The siblings battled it out:

The littlest little came up with the only hole-in-one of the afternoon:

Daddy shows them how it is done:

A summer craft perfect for a rainy day at the beach, friendship bracelets:

I woke up this morning possessed by the idea of making these. I showed my daughter how to make the striped one and I made the "manly" red, white, and blue one for my son. I see a lot more in our future...

More hanging out planned for the rest of the day - and LOTS of Super Mario Cart!