Memorial Day Weekend

Sometimes unplanned really is the best way to go. Last weekend was the Memorial Day weekend and while we knew we had a couple of things to do mostly we just played it by ear and it turned out to be one of the most fun weekends we’ve had in awhile.

Saturday we held a garage sale to clean out stuff that has been accumulating since our last garage sale 3 years ago. In all honesty it wasn’t that much stuff as I regularly donate stuff to the Church garage sale or Salvation Army. If I think they might take it I even take kids stuff over to Once Upon a Child to sell.

In all the sale went pretty well. We don’t get a lot of ‘drive-by’ customers where we are at out here in “the country” but we still had a steady stream of people stopping in and sold about a third of what we put out. Probably because I’m either the world’s best or worst haggler depending on how you look at it. Make me a deal, I just want to unload this stuff. Eight bucks too high? I’ll take six. As long as you aren’t ridiculously lowballing me I’ll probably accept your offer. It gets stuff gone, that’s for sure.

The kids had a blast playing outside and ‘helping’ with the sale. By the time we were wrapping up they determined that they wanted to camp out. Mostly because Emilie wanted s’mores and Jack told you s’mores were for camping, ergo, we must go camping. So we drug out the ole tent and pitched it in the backyard. The kids loaded it up with sleeping bags, blankets, pillows, library books, and flashlights, and were ready to go. We roasted hot dogs and brats for dinner, then made the promised s’mores.

The dog and goat were VERY interested in camping too and wanted inside the tent. Tilly wormed her way past the barrier and was allowed to sleep on our feet on Sunday night (yep, two night in a row of sleeping on the lawn) but the goat never made it past the threshold. Let’s be honest he smells funny and makes belching/cud-chewing noises. Pretty much, as a general rule, we try to avoid snuggling with livestock.

Sunday morning the kids were up at the crack of dawn and ready to hit the road for our next adventure. A trip to Boise! Our new Zoo passes came a few weeks back and we’ve been harassed about going to the Zoo ever since. Plus, the smoker Kevin had been eyeing was on sale at Cabela’s and his card finally had enough points to cover the balance. Mmmmm smoked meat.

Since it was a gorgeous day we parked down at the MK Nature Center and walked to greenbelt to the Zoo. If you ever get to Boise make sure to wander the greenbelt at some point. It really is the best. We tootled around the Zoo and had a picnic lunch there. The kids rode the carousel and saw all their favorite animals (bats and jellyfish are high on that list). Between the walk down and wandering the Zoo the kids’ legs were pretty tuckered by the time we were finished. I love our stroller for that purpose alone (being able to keep going once the kids’ legs are done) but I think the stroller has about exceeded its usefulness and this is probably the last summer we use it.

 

 

 

The kids’ legs may have been, done but Kevin and I were still going strong. We walked around Julia Davis park (where the zoo is) then crossed the river and wandered up the BSU side of the greenbelt. Boise has opened a Trader Joe’s since the last time we were there and it was supposedly on Front Street which is a few blocks over from the Zoo. We’d made it about halfway back to the truck when we decided to set out in search of Trader Joe’s. We found the new Whole Foods first (it’s also on Front Street) then we wandered all the way back to almost the downtown core of Boise. Kevin hadn’t bothered to look up the cross street for TJ’s so we were kind of winging it. I mean Front Street runs for miles so it’s possible this store was all the way on the other side of town. Yes we have crazy half-baked whims we try sometimes….you never know what’ you’re going to find and the spontaneity is kind of fun. Fortunately we found it tucked behind a Chipotle restaurant right about the time we were going to throw in the towel.

We made a quick tour of Trader Joe’s as Kevin had never been in one. They are nice but neither of use can see what people get all hyped up about. Then we hoofed it all the way back to the MK Center. I looked up our mileage later and we covered about 6 miles, not including walking around the Zoo. Not bad for a couple of 30 something's pushing 70 odd pounds of wiggly child in a stroller. After that we hit Cabela’s to ‘ride’ the ATV’s, pet the puppies for sale in the parking lot, count the fish, and get fudge samples. That’s what goes to Cabela’s for, right? Oh, and we also picked up Kevin’s smoker.

On the way home we swung through the new Culver’s in town for dinner. It’s the only one in Idaho and is a Wisconsin-based company that features custards and fried cheese curd along with the typical burger & fry fare. Jack was rather dubious about the fried cheese curd, but the kids meal was to his liking since you can get chocolate milk and applesauce. Don’t really know what Em’s take was. She passed out around 5 o’clock and didn’t really wake until morning. It was that kind of a fun day…weekend really. We just put her in her jammies and zombie walked her to the tent and she was out.