Fun places to visit/do with your kids this summer

Every summer, my kids would complain that they are so bored at home. Told them that I would put them in summer school but then they all screamed and yelled and said "heck no". Well, then don't complain. So, to stop them from complaining less this year, lols, I have some few agendas up my sleeve for them. Done a lot of looking online trying to find activities to do with them during the week and on the weekends that it's not already filled with other activities.

So I've decided to share with everyone who has kids or grand kids, nieces, nephews on all the cool and some inexpensive ideas that you could do this summer. Some of these ideas/activities we've done in the past as family already. So, take your whining kids out and hope you enjoy the short summer together! I know I will definitely do that!

I got this information from a FB friend Stacy after complaining how expensive tickets were for Great America and for Wisconsin Dells. She referred me to check local Children's Museum for discounts on the tickets. Boy oh boy...she made my day! Tickets were almost cut in half from the original tickets!

Check below!!!

Below are just some other suggestions:

1) A very inexpensive family activity is to take your children for a walk at a close by nature center trail. We try to do this every year. Sometimes they complain about it but in the end...they get a good exercise!

2) Beach. We take the kids to Manitowac beach and Sheboygan beach at least 1x or 2x per summer. We usually just pack some already cooked food and then eat there. This saves us time, that means more time splashing, frolicking in the water and trying to build sand castles!

3) Visiting lighthouses. We haven't done this yet but would love to try to visit one this summer! We have a light house in Manitowac in mind. Can't wait!

4) Local park. Try to find a park that has a man made pond or even a stream, etc for the kids to go fishing. We have one here in Appleton. We always go to Memorial Park and have the kids fish there. There is also a small botanical garden right in the park too which is a double plus! You can find some kites at your local Dollar Store and take the kids out to fly kites too. We've done that in the past and kids had a blast!

5) High Cliff State Park

6) Devil's Lake

7) Petting Zoo at Plammen Park in Appleton. They also have trails there too and a perfect place to fly kites!

8) Door County...Penninsula State Park and other local parks nearby. EVERYONE has to visit this area. It is an absolute beauty!

9) Local fishing stream or rivers. We usually take the kids to fish at Oconto...about 15 minutes away from Green Bay. River is very shallow so the kids can play in the water and try to catch cray fishes as well as fish. We bring lunch and just eat there whenever kids are hungry. This is always fun for us!

10) Library!!! People always tend to forget that the library is always open in the summer too! I know for sure I do! This summer, I will try to take my kids to the library once every week.

11) Bay Beach!! Ticket $.25 per tickets. I believe most expensive ride will cost you about 4 tickets which is $1.00 for a ride.

12) Cherry, raspberry and strawberry picking up in Door County. This is always a delight for the family!


You can always google up ideas/activities that is around your neighborhood too!!

 I hope everyone has a wonderful summer and enjoy it while it last because here in Wisconsin and the bordering states, our summer does not last very long.

There shall be eternal summer in the grateful heart.  ~Celia Thaxter

 

WHAT A BUSY SUMMER!

Looking at my calendar for the summer...I can't believe how almost every weekend is filled with activities. This summer is going to fly by so fast!!

Tuesday June 7th: Last day of school for Menasha school children

Thursday June 9th: My birthday!!! Meeting with a friend for lunch (Vennessa). Dinner with my hubby and children for my birthday!

Saturday June 11th: Wisconsin Dells !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday June 18th: My sister-in-law Hlau's pre- hmong wedding (money talk only, not official eating yet until 2012 as my other sister-i-law Ka just got married this year).

Saturday June 24th: My parents "hu plig" at my brother's house. Us sisters are all contributing $200.00 each to surprise them on that day!

July 4th weekend: Tournament...Maybe going to MN this year. Not sure yet but if not, will go to Green Bay's instead and then fireworks in the evening in Oshkosh!!!!

July 16th and July 17th weekend: My sister Annie and Houa's baby shower! They are both having girls and due almost the same time! How cool is that?

August 6th weekend: My sister Choua's american/white wedding in Milwaukee!!!!

Somewhere along this calendar...I still have to find a date/time to fit photo shoots, take kids to the beach, camping, devil's lake and tubing down the wolf river.....not to mention I HAVE TO VISIT A WATERFALL (Somewhere) !! We need a longer summer!!

Summer all filled!!

Below is an update on my red riding hood outfit. It's not done yet as I still need to do a lot of hemming and adding on the jewels, accessories to it! The red cape is also not done either. Will probably have it done by end of next week!

Weekend Recap

It was going to be a beautiful weekend so we thought that we would go fishing on Saturday and afterwards go to Green Bay to my In-Law's house to eat some pho (noodle).

We went fishing early in the morning. We did not catch any white bass nor any kind of fish. Oh well, I think we caught enough from last weekend's fishing extravaganza. I was kind of getting sick of fishing anyways. After about 3 hours and not a single bite, we decided to head to Green Bay. On our way there, we decided to stop on by Bay Beach to check out the new ride which was the Zippin Pippin roller coaster that was brand new this year. Also, we stopped there because my oldest daughter Selina was there already along with my sister and nephew. She didn't go fishing with us but instead left early in the morning to go to Green Bay.

Pictures below of our little fishing trip early in the morning.

My son Brandon fishing. It wasn't even cold but he wore his coat.

 Below: My baby Princeton. Goofing around as usual.

 Look how naughty he is...constantly touching the little minnows and getting himself wet!

 Below: My niece Heaven went with us too.

 Below: My daughter Paris...playing very close to the edge of the water. Had to yell at her and Heaven constantly to move away from the edge of the water.

 Below: Princeton again.......he can't seem to get enough with playing with the water and the minnows.

So after fishing, we stopped in Green Bay at Bay Beach.

The new roller coaster at Bay Beach!! Zippin Pippin!! FYI: Each ride will coast 4 tickets per person. Which is $1.00 per ride because tickets costs $.25.

 Below: The younger kids waited as well as I to watch their dad and older sisters Selina and Chyna take a ride on the Zippin Pippin. Kids had to be 48" in order to ride. Brandon didn't want to ride it because he was scared. I could care less for it either. I'm afraid of heights!!

 Below: Hubby, Selina and Chyna waiting patiently in line to get on the roller coaster.

 Below: After the roller coaster we decided to take the whole family to ride on the Farris Wheel. Princeton got impatient and crabby.

Below: Princeton does not look too happy.

It started raining when we got onto the Farris Wheel. That was fun riding on the Farris Wheel while it was raining!! Princeton LOVED it!! I on the other hand.......was a chicken and I still am!! I will refuse to go on it by myself!! They had to all talk me into riding that sucker!! I just hate heights!!

After Bay Beach, we headed to my In-Law's house to go eat some pho (noodles). Boy oh boy, was it super yumi! Thanks Ka for the pho!!!! After eating, we all just sat around, talked and watched movies. Later on, we decided to spend the night there so that we could do some drinking and playing cards. It was nice to have the somewhat whole family there. Missing were Tong, his wife and child. It was a jam packed house...which was awsome!

Pictures from spending time with the in-laws.

 Below: Okay....I didn't take this picture! Jo took this of my hubby's butt! And yes, Jo was proud of taking it too!

 Below: Jo and Ka. My sister in law and her husband.

 Below: Hlau and her step child eating ice cream with Paris and Heaven.

It was a fun filled Saturday! Woke up on Sunday at about 7:30 am and came home. We did some lawn work and was going to go for a nature trail walk afterwards but they sky turned on us....so we had no choice but to hold off on our walk. Maybe next time.

There were tornado warnings in our area...the sky went from bright and sunny to dark and scary looking clouds hoovering between Menasha and Appleton. We live in Menasha near the border of Appleton so our side was bright but Appleton was pretty pitch dark! Look at the pictures below:

Picture below: Sky towards Appleton...very dark clouds rolling into Menasha. Beyond the tree is Appleton which it was pitch dark!!

 Below: You can see the dark clouds trying to push itself in.

What a weekend!! I had fun, the kids had fun. Life is good......lols!! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too! This coming weekend is memorial weekend.....can't wait!!

It was 16 years ago.....

I gave birth to my oldest daughter Selina PaChia Lor. OMG.......it was the hardest labor EVER! Dam, I could still feel the labor pains. Almost had to have a C-section because she wasn't coming out. I could still hear my mother in law pleading with the nurse and doctor to take me away to get the c-section done because they were all so scared for me. I swear, I think everyone was in the delivery room with me...my mother in law, my parents. LOLs!! At first I was embarrassed but after the contractions came...dam, who the hell cares who sees me!! I remember my mother in law crying and my parents crying in the delivery room.......yes.......the painful memory.

Now...16 years later.  Gosh...time sure fly by fast!! We have our differences and our spats, our little moments....but gotta love her...cuz I have to...Just Joking. I do love her. I have to say, she's a pretty smart/obedient kid and she's not those girls that likes to go parties/drinks or hang out with a big group of people......she's also not boy crazy like some girls too. Am I proud of her? You can say I am.

So, if anyone one of you are reading this...and see's her picture...and see her out at bars/clubs....remember she's still under age and should report to me immediately!!! LOLs!!! She knows that she has so many aunts and uncles/cousins that will kill her if they ever found out she's been a bad girl...hehehehe. I'm glad she knows that......makes my job as a mother a tab bit easier!

This past Thursday, her and I had a little time go go out and do a pre-mini photo shoot. Wanted to scout out the location for next weekend. As time was very limited...since it was on a school night and she swore she had like hundreds of homework/finals to do.....we had to limit our time. I promised her that we'd only take 1 hour....she looked at me funny and said that my 1 hour will turn into 2 hours...lols! So brought my hand held camera only and off we went to the nature center in Kaukauna, WI to shoot some photos.

Pictures below. Obviously I didn't use my very nice camera to do this shoot....I only used my hand held camera. Can't wait to go back and get better pictures!! Here are some photos from the ultra mini shoot.

Happy sweet 16 Selina PaChia Lor!!

Preview = Red Riding Hood outfit creation

I've been wanting to sew this outfit for awhile now so FINALLY I was able to do some sewing/cutting late Wednesday night into 1 AM Thursday morning. Ahhhh.....tired but feeling INSPIRED!

I was checking online to get some examples of a red outfit and red hooded cape. I just fell in LOVE with these outfits! Check below!!

I Love the puffiness of the dress pictured below, the red fabric with the black see through fabric over the red. It's an absolute beauty. I don't think I can sew this exact outfit but maybe something similar to this. I will have a two piece outfit instead of one probably.

PICTURE BELOW: Here is the hooded cape that I love so much! It's so pretty!! Mine won't be as flowy and spreaded out down at the bottom but it will be similar to this. I'm sewing a very long one just like this pictured one too. This cape in the picture is a velvet material. I'm using a satin fabric instead b/c it's cheaper than velvet fabric.

BELOW PICTURE: My husband helping me cut the fabric for the skirt. Look at his hair!!! What a girl! Awww...he's such a helper! While he's cutting the fabric for the skirt, I'm cutting and piecing together the hooded cape.

PICTURE BELOW: Hooded cape. My husband is my model for now as I don't have a mannequin so please just ignore him..lols! Hooded cape not done yet. Needs a lot more sewing!

(Front view)

 (Side view)

 (Back view)

I should be done with the hooded cape by Thursday night and get started on my skirt! Can't wait!

I bought the fabric for the hooded cape from a thrift store for $2.75 total!! Great deal!
The skirt fabric I bought 4 yards for a total of $23.00 from JoAnne's Fabric.  Not too bad but I thought it could've been a little bit cheaper.

Will probably have the whole outfit done by middle of next week or even sooner depending on how inspired I am...more like how much effort and time I want to put into it! Check back for the end result of it!!

A "mini" photo shoot =Paris

My 7 year old daughter Paris.

Thought I'd take my handy dandy point and shoot camera to the park today Monday May 16th and take some snap shots of my daughter Paris while my other kids play at the play ground. She LOVES to take pictures and when it comes to photos, she's such a natural. We went to a park in Neenah for the pictures. Gosh, my kids are growing up so fast.

I didn't take my nice professional camera out because I wanted to make a point to everyone that you don't have to have a professional camera/lens to capture nice moments/photos. You just have to have vision and know how to point and shoot as well as being creative. Although, a professional camera is always best but not everyone can own one as it is very expensive.

I put these pictures into black and white because I feel that black and white captures so much of their youth and it's so innocent looking. I wish they'd stay young and innocent forever. I hope you enjoy the pictures!!