Weekend Wrap-Up

Good morning!  Lots of good stuff happened over the weekend.  First, my first ever guest post over at Michelle's Tasty Creations.  I tried to make it extra special by doing a multi-recipe, budget-friendly post that I hope appeals to a variety of folks.  I took a single deli roast chicken and showed how you can break it down and make multiple creative but easy meals - would you believe 3 family dinners and 2 work lunches out of one $8 chicken?!  Part 2 posted here yesterday showing the final recipe and how to make a wonderful, low sodium chicken broth that you can continue to use in the rest of the recipe or freeze as it is in 2 cup containers for future use.  I hope you'll check it out!

Secondly, after 3 weeks of attempting to go kayaking and interference from the weather, we finally took the kids on their first kayaking trip - it was a great trip!  The kids both did awesome - Little Man helped me in the two-person kayak and the Princess navigated on her own like a seasoned pro.  Not one fuss or whine or bit of nervousness out of them.  They really loved it and enjoyed seeing the nature along the riverbanks as well.  Besides the usual birds, fish, and turtles, we had a blue heron linger nearby while we got a great closeup view of him and a deer who was unfazed as the Princess tried to paddle up to get a look - she says he was a buck - he disappeared before we got close enough to tell.  Of course, it wouldn't be a trip with us without a bit of a fiasco...



We had decided not to make reservations because there was a possibility of storms.  We woke up that morning and it was sunny and hot so we decided to go - that and the kids had been waiting so long and were so excited we decided it was worth a shot.  The entire drive to the river we watched the radar as storms came across Lake Michigan and continued to grow and seemed to be headed right toward our destination.  We arrived at the kayak rental place only to find out they were completely booked.  Did I mention that while we deal with it eventually, dear hubby and I are not particularly great at dealing with such a crisis without being snarky with each other?  While the kids panicked about the thought that we might not be able to go...again...we searched on our phones and called different rental places along the river until we found one that had a two-person kayak and wasn't booked...another hour away...  Being the dutiful parents that we are, we decided it was worth it to drive the extra hour to take our excited kids kayaking for an hour and then face the long drive home...  In the end it was great and well worth the extra hassle.  Not a drop of rain the entire trip - well at least not until after we stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings for a late lunch on the way home - but by then it was welcomed and we were happy to get what little rain we could.  Ummm, yeah, did I mention that I did not take my phone or camera with us for fear of tipping over so I don't have a single picture of the day...  Next time I promise I will invest in a waterproof disposable so I can catch the fun that you missed...like the hubster tipping over in the first 5 minutes on the river (you did not hear that from me!)  If you are ever looking for a river to hit in Michigan for kayaking, canoeing or tubing, the beautiful and pristine Muskegon River is the place to go!  

Sunday we decided was project day.  After sleeping in - hey even the kids slept until 8 a.m. which is a rarity - it was breakfast and grocery shopping.  Then we had discovered a fallen tree at the back of the hay field so my muscular better half went about cutting that and stacking it for firewood while I mowed the lawn (well about 10 weeds that had popped up in what used to be the lawn anyways...) and the kiddos napped.  In the middle of us doing that, a single dark cloud appeared and all the sudden dumped buckets of rain on us.  Of course, my truck windows were down because the radar showed nothing...I guess at least the smudges from the kids' shoes got washed off the door...  The mower and I also got a bath.  As soon as the cloud passed the sun came right back out and it steamed up to about 95 degrees again.  Time for burgers and dogs on the grill then showers and tucking munchkins in bed just in time for Big Brother (yes, we always get sucked in...).  I did squeak in some time working on a few little crafty projects in between loads of laundry and dishes too so I'm hoping to get them finished and photographed for you this week.  Happy Monday (an oxymoron I know...)!