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Ep 17 :: Mom Hacks - How to not only "survive", but THRIVE, with your kids this summer!
36 Plays17 days ago
Today is all about how to HAGS ("Have A Great Summer" - remember that from yearbook signing back in the 90's?) Tips and tricks on how to make it a fun, memorable and AFFORDABLE summer.
Links:
Kids Bowl Free - Use my link HERE
All Trails App - HERE
Fishing Liscence Info for VA - HERE
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The Success by Keys of Moon
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Transcript
Introduction and Technical Challenges
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi friends, welcome to Diggin' In. I'm your host, Megan. This is a place where we discuss the things that really matter in life. We cut through the surface to dive deeper. So pull up a chair because here we're Diggin' In.
00:00:17
Speaker
All right, guys. I am recording this on a Friday because when I went to record it yesterday, it was not working. I don't know what happened, but I don't know if it's the internet. I don't know if our house was struck by lightning and some of this technology situation is fried. I don't know, but we're here. Lord willing, we will get through this. Welcome back to Digging in It's Friday, as i said. I'm actually recording this on a Friday. I don't usually do that. They post at midnight, and so they're ready for you on Friday. But we're doing it different today. So there you have it. I am in my office. I tried to record a few different times, so I'm going to try and forget what I recorded and just start fresh.
00:00:59
Speaker
Let me start off by saying that last week, phew, was a heavy one. ah Didn't mean to, but you know we're just we're just doing it, folks. Whatever is going on that's what I'm sharing. um But anyway, i I want this one to be a little bit more lighthearted
Humor and Cultural Reflections
00:01:17
Speaker
and fun. um And I'm dubbing it the mom hacks episode, but just for funsies, when I walked into my office yesterday to sit down and record this, I have my hands full with my computer and a cup of coffee probably. um
00:01:31
Speaker
And, you know, who knows what else. But anyway, i was walking by my desk to come around and I knocked over this little glass thing that i had from one of our women's retreats. It was like a...
00:01:42
Speaker
it doesn't matter. It was a cup essentially, but it has this like rubberized sleeve on it. And as it was falling, I stuck my foot out to try and like break it to make it like a, at least a little bit, uh, more of a gentle fall or landing. Um, anyway, I, i did that and it went, I was like, no, it landed on the top rim part. It it was on my desk holding pens and pencils and highlighters and that kind of thing. And it hit, of course, the right spot. So it shattered into a bunch of pieces. And I was like, seriously? And then as I'm trying to like pick up the big pieces to at least gather those so that I don't step on them, my office door was already like I kicked it closed. Didn't want my dog to come in and walk all over it because Lord knows none of us need that kind of situation on our hands.
00:02:30
Speaker
Um, but anyway, I'm picking up the little pieces. Well, the big chunks, I'm picking up the big chunks and putting them into what's left of this container. And I'm like, this reminds me of when I lived in New York city and people would say to themselves, I'm having this conversation, mind you with myself out loud, not just in my head. Does anyone else out there? Am I the only one?
00:02:50
Speaker
You have a conversation with yourself, but not only are you talking to yourself, you're doing it out loud, alone, with no one else around. um That's me. Not always, but often. Anywho, so I'm like picking up the big chunks and I'm talking to myself out loud, reminding myself of when I lived in New York City. So when people would encourage themselves by ah saying, at least it was a thing,
00:03:12
Speaker
you know when you're walking down the street and a pigeon poos on you while it's flying overhead, it's good luck. It's good luck to get pooed on by a pigeon in New York City. And I think that people just tell them that themselves that to make themselves feel better.
00:03:27
Speaker
So anyway, i broke this glass yesterday and I was like, you know what? This going to be good luck. This is going to good day. it's It's actually good luck to break glass. And then I was like, it really actually might be like a I mean, I don't believe in good luck. I believe in the blessing of the Lord and there's nothing that happens, you know, just, just happens. Like it's not outside of his sovereignty. Now it every time, like,
00:03:49
Speaker
You break a glass. Is that God allowing you to break a glass? No, I wouldn't go that far. But anyway, all that to say, there are certain traditions in, i don't know if it's like Greek Orthodox or if it's Jewish wedding. I know i feel like Jewish wedding, it's that sounds right, that it would because I think they smash the glass and they say, mazel tov, at least I think they do. movies. That's my only reference point. I've never been to a Jewish wedding. I've never been to a Greek Orthodox wedding, but I'm thinking about like my, big my big fat Greek wedding and, and they raise the people up in chairs. Anyway, broken glass has to be the sign of a good thing. And then sat down to record and none of it was working properly.
00:04:29
Speaker
it would start recording and then we get these crazy error messages. Anyway, not today, Satan. That's what I'm going to say. which brought me to my last point before I actually dig into the meat of today's episode. But when we went to Italy for our 10 year anniversary, Adam and I, it was back in 2018 and we went to several different places in Italy, but one of our stops was Florence and we were sitting next to the Duomo and it was at this beautiful cafe and it was a nice spring morning, our anniversary is in May. And so we went like
00:05:00
Speaker
End of April into May. So we would be there over our anniversary. So we're sitting there and it's beautiful. And like New York City, there are pigeons because it's a city. And we had um gotten our coffees and we're sitting outside with a pastry.
00:05:14
Speaker
The Italians, mind you, don't believe in protein in the morning, which I learned the hard way does not work for my body. Having an espresso and then another espresso and then a chocolate croissant and then, you know, maybe something else with sugar in it. Not good for me. I had headaches and I finally, i was like, I need to just get something with eggs.
00:05:34
Speaker
and They do do some frittatas, I suppose. Anyway, I digress. So we're sitting there, literally just sat down. It was like the perfect spot, too, that we found. There's a lot of outdoor cafe eating in European countries, but sometimes you get, you know, a really, really good seat outside seat, and sometimes you just get an outside seat. But anyway, it was in the sun. we were going to sit there and have our quiet time and do some journaling, and we sit down. Adam sits down across from me, and we look at each other, and he picks up his cappuccino so and
00:06:04
Speaker
i
00:06:08
Speaker
I almost spit my coffee on him because I was already holding mine and taking a sip. And I kid you not. i don't remember his right or left side, but anyway, just right on his shoulder and it like dribbled down his chest and he puts his coffee down, kind of slams it on the table. And he's like, are you kidding me?
00:06:30
Speaker
There's a whole backstory. We had had a really rough night the night before. It's a fun story. Maybe we'll tell it. I'll write that down. We'll tell it on in the June episodes because June is going to be all he and I together talking about redemption and marriage and all that good stuff. So stay tuned for all of that. But I'm going to pause here for just a second to write this down so I don't forget to tell you guys the story of what happened the night before we were in Florence.
00:06:55
Speaker
Okay, i wrote it down. So we we'll talk about that in June. It's funny, but all of it to say it was a rough night the night before. And then this happens and he looked at me and was just like, you could see that like, you know, one of those cartoon type things where the steam was shooting out of his ears, but he didn't want to be upset because we were in this like just absolutely perfect little setting and so he stood up and he kind of it was like it was like out of a comic like um a comedy show or a comedy movie he like stood up slammed his napkin down in his seat and he was like i'll be right back so
00:07:34
Speaker
goes inside, goes to the bathroom and I'm just sitting there. I'm like, Oh Lord, please just help him to gather his thoughts and help him to be, you know, like let's make it a lighthearted situation. It's going to be okay. Like, don't let this ruin our day. It's going to be a beautiful day. We were going to go see, you know, the, the, marble statue of David. And, you know, we had things that we were going to be doing that day, but also some loot, like loose time to just explore and not have ah an agenda.
00:07:59
Speaker
The whole trip was incredible by the way. Anyway, so I'm like praying for him. I crack up in my Bible,
Motherhood and Summer Planning
00:08:05
Speaker
start reading, do a little journaling. He's gone probably, i don't know, maybe around five minutes or so, maybe a little bit more. It was a longer time than it should have like normal bathroom trip for a guy. And so he comes back out and he walks around the table because I had my back to the door from where he came out of. He comes around, he walks around the table, he sits down and his shirt I can tell is like a little bit wet, but it almost looked like he had somehow taken a hair hair dryer to it. He sits down and he was like, not today, Satan.
00:08:35
Speaker
And we both cracked up. And I mean, he said it pretty loud and people were looking at us and I was like, oh my goodness. I go, what did you do? And he was like, oh, I went to the bathroom and they had one of those hand dryers in there, which is pretty typical in, at least in Italy that we found because they don't do a lot of paper products. Like you have to ask for napkins and then in restaurants and stuff, it's all linens. But anyway, he, he, the hand dryer. So he took
00:09:02
Speaker
I'm sorry. I can't get through this. He takes his shirt off. It was like a snap button down top. but He ripped his shirt off and he like rinsed it in the sink and then he dried it under the hand dryer for a little bit. And and like I said, it wasn't totally um dried up.
00:09:18
Speaker
Anyway, it was awesome. So I'm having those vibes today as I sit down here to record This episode, nine minutes in, haven't even started. So there's your funny for today. i hope you enjoy. But we are going to talk about mom hacks today. I've got some some notes here. It's going to be much more lighthearted than last week. I do hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day. If you're one of my dudes, you know, Allie Beth Stuckey calls them related bros because it's related gals. because her show's relatable. So it's a relatable show, related gals, related, wait, yeah, related bros, related gals. Anyway.
00:09:57
Speaker
I feel like it should be related to ladies. Anyway, I digress. I have come to learn that there are not only females listening, but there are some dudes being blessed by this as well. I think probably because the show with Adam um was, you know, one of our popular ones. But anyway, all that to say, I'm doing my best not to say ladies or girls or gals or any of that. Folks, I hope you had a wonderful...
00:10:22
Speaker
excuse me, a wonderful Mother's Day. I hope you celebrated your mama or whomever is in your life that acts as a mama, because that's ah that's a lot of people for me um that just also act as an encouragement in my life.
00:10:36
Speaker
But I hope that you mamas were encouraged and celebrated well. And then ah you guys out there, i hope that you made your ladies feel special, even if they're not a mama. um It was interesting. I was listening to something earlier in the week that was talking about mothering and that even if you are not a mom, even like ladies, I'm speaking to ladies right now, even if you aren't a mother to a human child, now I don't believe in this whole like fur mama situation, like
00:11:09
Speaker
you can't truly mother a cat or you can't truly mother a dog or any other type of animal, horse, rabbits, whatever. um We do, as women, have a a, I don't know, innate, if that's the right word, but we have things that are built in us that are God-given. We are to mother. We naturally have nurturing instincts that have been created in us by God. But sometimes that looks a little different. Like I know there are several older ladies in my life that are, they've been never been married, they're single, and they are still mothers to many in the way that they love, encourage, and serve the body of Christ. So all of that to say, it is a very special privilege and gift to be able to be a mother to a human child. Um,
00:11:58
Speaker
But if you aren't, still be encouraged because you you have the capability to mother. So as we pivot from that, I wanted to talk about just some fun things, some ideas for summer. You know, I'm not sure about you guys, but for us, summer will be here next week. We get out of school like end of May, which is awesome. I absolutely love it. And this year we're going back later in August. So it's going to be a long summer. I'm sure, you know, we'll check back in in August. the beginning of August and see, we'll see how things are going. But, um you know, it's good to have some flexibility, some relaxation time, but especially for me, parenting a teenager, and this has been the case all of his life, but he
00:12:42
Speaker
and needs downtime. And I learned that the hard way. We can talk about that when we get to talking about camps, but he also needs to be stimulated, like, you know, have, uh, things to do, get out of the house. That's a big, big thing for us around here. Now I know that there are super hot days and those, you know, the heat zaps you and you need some time to have downtime. Um, and this was easier when he was younger. and I know I'm a little bit all over the place, but I'll try and, and be a little bit more succinct here in a moment. But When he was younger, i had much more, um I don't want to say strict, although unfortunately they were strict. I was, you know, you get this gift of motherhood, right? And you have this child. And I don't know about you, but for me, I'm like, that's a heavy mantle in the sense that I want to be the best mom ever, which P.S. And I'm sure he would agree with me. Fail at this miserably regularly. Right.
00:13:35
Speaker
But I want to do what's right for him because I want to do that to honor the Lord. Like the Lord's the one who gave me the gift of being a mother. Ultimately, Noah is the Lord's and he's on loan to me. And so it's like when you lend someone something, you're hoping that they're going to take care of it and give it back to you in better so shape than they borrowed it, right? Like someone brings you their car because yours is in the shop.
00:14:00
Speaker
And you use it. If it's me, I'm going to return it having gone through a car wash with a full tank of gas and probably some sort of home-baked snack in the front seat as a thank you when I turn this car back over to whomever it was that let me borrow it. I just think that that's how you should treat other people's things personally. um But anyway.
00:14:21
Speaker
All that to say, he's mine on loan. And so I'm trying to do the best job that I can. And then to back that up, as he was younger, i had things that were certainly implemented as far as structure goes, because especially for Noah, he thrives on structure. At the same time, it is summer. You want to be a little more flexible and not so rigid. And if I were to have another child right now, it would look completely different. I mean, and this is, you know, I think there is a lot that goes into like birth order and how things shake out in their lives and who they become and all this, that, and the other.
00:14:53
Speaker
I'm just praying that God uses every single decision that I made in a redemptive way because I, you know, I got to get out of my way sometimes. I just end up mucking it up and it doesn't need to be that way. So anyway, grace upon grace, Lord, may you use my brokenness um always and, and, and, That's how he gets the glory from it, right? It's nothing that we have personally done. i mean, yes, we can make good decisions, but again, that's by the grace of God. That is not because I, Megan Rafalski, am some genius in raising children. That is by far and away the biggest crock, if you will. Anywho. Okay. So let's back up just a little bit. If you are mom to littles, if you are mom to older kids, I just want to give you hopefully some strategies or some ideas that have helped me over the summer um and other things that I've discussed with different friends that have helped them as well. And, you know, some of this is coming from, so just a little bit of background. So for Adam, he grew up, um, his mom stayed home his entire life life. Um, and so his childhood growing up during the summer looked a lot different than mine. Mine, on the other hand, both parents worked, they were out of the house. My mom were ran her own company. We were in, it was daycare until I was 12 or 13. I can't remember.
00:16:15
Speaker
But that's where we were every single summer. And so every summer looked the same for me as far as I could remember. We would do summer camp all summer long. And so there was always one day was swimming. One day was bowling. One day was, oh darn. Oh, um roller skating. And then every, i don't know if it was like every other Friday we would go to a movie or every, yeah, I think that was right. Or maybe it might have been just once a month. um And then,
00:16:43
Speaker
And we would go to different pools. We'd go to the same skating rink. There aren aren't that many skating rinks in town. but um And then bowling was at the same place as well. But we would change pools. We would sometimes change theater. But we would go to movies. And then we would have, obviously, days at the daycare where we were just outside. And then I think we would do like ah um almost like a field day type thing. But it all looked the same.
00:17:08
Speaker
All that to say, that's where I got all my skills that pay the bills when it comes to playing bowling. I'm actually a really good bowler because although nowadays I care so much about my fingernails looking pretty, i always break my thumbnail, my right thumbnail, and I get bowler's thumb, which is where you get like a little bruise at the end of your thumb. that I know these things. That's how
Work Experiences and Life Lessons
00:17:28
Speaker
silly this is. I bowled a whole, whole bunch. So That's what my summer looked like. And then after, man it's it looked different throughout the years. I mean, obviously, once I got to high school, I worked a lot. I enjoyed working. I i was a waitress. When I was younger, my first job ever was, and it was funny, ah my friend, Joe Mobley, shout out, ah one of my dudes that listens, um he he put up on his Facebook page one day a couple months ago, what was your first job? and I like, Ooh, Ooh me, I got this one. I, my first job was working at a grocery store and I was a, you had to start as a, as a bagger and then you would work your way up. So I started as a bagger. That's what I was hired for, did all the training and you know, which was ah brutal, but you got paid to sit there and watch videos all day long. It was miserable. Anyway, I just wanted to get out there and do it.
00:18:21
Speaker
So I bagged for, i think it was like two weeks. And then they quickly promoted me to cashier because I took it very seriously. I was very excited. i was over the moon to get paid for something. So that was when I was like, I want to say 14 because it may have been 15, but I had to have a worker's permit, which had to be signed by my school, signed by my parent, you know, to get her like, do it all on the up and up. So there were no child labor laws, uh, violated.
00:18:48
Speaker
And so my mom would drop me off, um, on some of the days that I would work every now and again, I got a ride somehow. I don't remember, but anyway, that was before i was driving. So I was a cashier until I could work in restaurants. And then I started as hostess and again, quickly moved up to waitress. And I loved, I mean, if something happened and I had to go back to work Or even honestly, once Noah's out of the house, I don't know what the future holds. i I mean, I have some ideas of what I feel like the Lord has laid on my heart that I might be doing. But who knows? Maybe I'll just go work at a restaurant for funsies like in the morning. i don't know. Breakfast is not really my vibe. But maybe like a lunch shift. That would be so much fun. I love love it. I mean, I love food. I love serving people. And maybe that's why. And I love people. I love meeting new people.
00:19:34
Speaker
Um, and it's so funny when I, when we go out, sorry, you guys, this has nothing to do with motherhood Mac. Oh my goodness. my Mom hacks right now. I'm just telling stories, but when we go out, it makes me so sad nowadays, Adam and I both worked in restaurants. And so we very much appreciate good service. And if you,
00:19:56
Speaker
are good at your job in ah the restaurant industry, we very much reward that because it's just sadly so few and far between nowadays. And I mean, we don't have a ton, a ton of interaction because we don't eat out a lot, but when we do, you can see it very quickly. Um, so many kids, I say kids and it's not always kids, young adults, whomever,
00:20:18
Speaker
around, you know, the corner back where the beverage station is on their phones, like scrolling social media or texting or whatever, or one of my biggest pet peeves. And the, one of the things that grossed me out more than anything is when I go to the restroom and I know that there's a server or someone who works in the restaurant in the stall next to me, because I can tell by their shoes. And I can tell because they're sitting there listening to something on the phone, like watching something, scrolling, whatever. I'm like, or having a,
00:20:48
Speaker
Oh, this is the worst. Having a speaker phone conversation with someone in the bathroom. But it's like where they go to just like sit and which anyway, I digress. We're not getting into that. All this to say.
00:21:03
Speaker
There is a skill to being a good server, and we very much appreciate it and reward that. And not everybody can do it well. Just saying. But that's a good job, especially, I feel like, to serve people.
00:21:15
Speaker
Anyway, encourage your kids to work in the restaurant. I feel like you should always – everyone should work in a restaurant for at least once for a little time. It's good for you. Um, okay.
00:21:26
Speaker
So backing up before they get a job, before they're doing those types of things. And when they're little and they're younger, I'm just going to share some of the things that we have done that I know was helpful for me. And, um, then a couple of other things that I know were helpful for others as well. So let me just start with cooking. So in the summertime, we do a lot of cooking.
00:21:50
Speaker
summertime meals. Like um ah nowadays we eat at like eight, sometimes nine o'clock because we're out working in the yard and we just like being outside and we forget that we need to feed ourselves. I would like to change that. We'll see if that happens. But anyway, we all, ah we we grill a lot.
00:22:06
Speaker
We do a ton of grilling, whether it be, you know, fish or steaks, lots of burgers. um We'll do burgers. Now we got a Blackstone for, um it was last year, I think.
00:22:19
Speaker
I don't remember. It was, i think it was our anniversary gift last year. I don't remember. It doesn't matter. But we got a blackstone. And now I've been doing some like really fun stuff with the blackstone. Adam was very protective of his blackstone. Like watched all these videos on how to cure it and, you know, season it and all that good stuff.
00:22:41
Speaker
which, Hey, I respect. ah He is very good at making a very wise purchase and then taking care of what he has. He's a very good steward. I'm very thankful for that. So anyway, i just did it on my own and that's pretty par for the course for our marriage. He'll, um, he got, it got it all seasoned and all that good stuff. But I started, uh, recently I'm doing like a fried rice. That was fun. um But anyway, all that to say, burgers, like now with the Blackstone, we can literally, you can grill your veggies on one side and do your meat on the other. I'll do like either boiled potatoes or roasted potatoes or rice. I'm trying to think what else. But very simple meals. And then once my tomatoes start coming in, we do a ton of caprese salads.
00:23:25
Speaker
We'll do tomato sandwiches. Like there's all kinds of stuff, but we keep it very light and easy as much as possible in the summertime because we're on the go a whole bunch. And if it's complicated or it takes a long time, then I'm less likely to eat healthy because i don't want to spend the time inside.
00:23:44
Speaker
I'm just outside all the time. So something that was helpful for me, I remember, gosh, I think Noah was probably, it was like,
00:23:55
Speaker
early elementary school. The kid, I mean, he got it. He got it honest, right? Like he loves food. We love food here. I especially love food. Adam has developed more of a love of food, but I i love food. Anywho, I was just really done with having the food conversation. Like, when are we going eat? Can I have a snack? I want this. I want that.
00:24:16
Speaker
So one summer i remember I was like, you know what? I'm trying something new. I right before the last day of school, i got a bunch of like carrots and I'm not a huge fan of the pre peeled carrots because even if they're organic, the process that they go through involves formaldehyde to peel off the ah the skin and to then like go through the process that makes them those little like bite size, you know, pre ready to eat carrots. Just not personally, not my thing. So I always cut up my own carrots. We have our little carrot sticks. I got cucumbers and slice them. Those can get yucky somewhat quickly depending on how much moisture in them. So I would peel. I don't always peel all of it off because there's nutrients in the skin, but I peel some of the peel off.
00:25:05
Speaker
then I would wrap it in a paper towel to absorb some of the moisture and sometimes slice it in half. And then, um again, the seeds, there's a lot of juiciness in that that middle part. So I would like absorb some of the moisture and then I would cut them into bite size, you know, snacking size. I would um get snow peas. And so I would make little bags. There would be carrot bags, cucumber bags. I think I did some broccoli, like raw broccoli. i would do apple slices. The way I do my apple slices, i slice it up, throw it into a bowl with some ice, a little bit of water, and then lemon and salt.
00:25:42
Speaker
So not a ton, like ah like a half a lemon or so, and then a sprinkle of salt. The salt is like not only a preserving agent, but it's also a cleansing agent as well. And then just zhuzh them around and let them sit for like 10 or 15 minutes and then drain them out. And i sometimes I just eat them immediately. i actually like the taste of a little bit of salt on the apples. But if the kids are picky, just rinse it off and then throw them in baggies. And I tell you what, sometimes, and and there's really no rhyme or reason, but sometimes it'll last like a week and a half that way without turning brown.
00:26:15
Speaker
So I make up all these little baggies. I've got grapes in some. I got blueberries in some. But it's all fruits and vegetables. And I put them all. I made my bottom drawer in the refrigerator the snack drawer. So there were hummus cups in there.
00:26:31
Speaker
um i think at at one point I stopped doing that because they were expensive to do it that way. I would just get a big tub of hummus and I was like, you can ask me for hummus. Other than that, if you want to eat something, that bottom drawer in the refrigerator and then I had a basket in our pantry on the bottom so that he could access it at his height level.
00:26:49
Speaker
And I had like in there i would have, um you know, like I did do some pretzels. And I'm trying to remember the other things that I had in there because we don't do a lot of processed snacks. So it really was just pretzels. Oh, I think I may have done some animal crackers.
00:27:09
Speaker
But the basket in the pantry, he did – it was what a one of those a day. That was the rule with that because I didn't want him just going and like, oh, you can eat anything you want. And then he goes and gorges himself on animal crackers and pretzels. Oh, and cheese. Duh. Hello. Cheese and almonds. That was the other thing. I made almond baggies and put them in the snack pantry.
00:27:30
Speaker
And maybe – Some other like mixed nuts, but we, he was into almonds at the time. So I did all these pre-made baggies and I was only doing it once a week. And so he, he could eat as much of that as he wanted without asking permission. Didn't need to ask me at any point. He could go and get himself a snack out of the bottom drawer.
00:27:50
Speaker
And one snack a day out of the basket in the pantry. So then we didn't have to have the conversation. and it was the most magical thing because then I didn't even have to think about it. He had access to it. And then at the end of the week, like on a Sunday or on Saturday, I would go through, see what was there, assess. And then sometimes I didn't replenish it because he would mostly tend towards the fruit. Although he did love vegetables at the time too. Peppers. He would go in the garden. Oh, yeah. And cherry tomatoes. I have all kinds of foods that I would put in there. But he would go in the garden with me and just like snack on stuff, which was awesome. Not so much these days.
00:28:26
Speaker
And i I swear it's the hormones, you know, all over the place. It changes your palate at at a certain point. I remember his second birthday. I made steak. Well, Adam grilled up steak.
00:28:36
Speaker
We had asparagus. And I think I did a roasted potato of some sort and probably salad. And we told him he had to eat more of his steak before he could have any more asparagus because he just wanted to sit there and eat all the asparagus. It's like things that you never thought that you'd have to say to your kid, eat more steak before we'll give you asparagus. That was one. i never even had asparagus until Adam and I met. Um, so anyway, now it's more like you have to take some of those Brussels sprouts. You have to eat some more Brussels sprouts before you can have more steak or more burger or more meat or more pasta. oh my goodness. We're in a pasta era over here.
00:29:11
Speaker
So anyway, that was super helpful for me because it just drove me up a wall to have the conversation about food all the time. So that is one that I definitely recommend. And then batch cooking. So for me, batch cooking is much more of a winter thing. I don't do it as much in the summertime. Although if I'm going to make something that's a little bit more tedious or time consuming, I'd much rather go ahead and make it once instead of twice. um
Summer Activities and Family Bonding
00:29:37
Speaker
And sometimes again, depending on what it is, i can even triple it. And then I will have like enchiladas. That's a ah good one for me.
00:29:47
Speaker
A friend of mine, Sweet Jan, made – we were going through a hard time and she brought over these Acapulco chicken enchiladas and they were so good. It was just shredded chicken, enchilada sauce, and then slivered almonds. So it gave this like really nice crunch and then it had like cheese on top and all that stuff. It's tedious just because you got to roll the enchiladas, put them in the casserole dish. So what I do is I go to the – um what's it called dollar store and I will get foil pans.
00:30:14
Speaker
And so I'll make like a huge pan of them for us to eat for one night for dinner. And then enough that it will at least carry over for leftovers and maybe even like a lunch and a dinner. So one big pan to have now. And then I'll make sometimes I've made 10 like not single serve, but like one family's worth meal and I'll put them in the freezer. So I'll put them, you know, I won't do the second baking step because you got to make the chicken and blah, blah, blah. But anyway, all this to say, whatever I'm cooking, I try and make more of it and then freeze it or even refrigerate it depending on what it is. And if if this is helpful and you want more tips like this, let me know. I'm happy to dive more into this and talk more about it. um
00:31:01
Speaker
And in the specifics and like share recipes and things like that. So leave it in the comments or shoot me a DM on social media. By the way, P.S. I'm thinking about taking a social media break for the summer. I might do like just my digging in, but on my personal page, I just, I need, I need to get away. um So all that to say, DM me on the digging in podcast, social media on Instagram.
00:31:25
Speaker
Um, anyway, so for me to make those batch meals, then i can enjoy myself all day long and then just pull it out of the freezer in the afternoon when I remember, oh yeah, i probably need to put together a plan for dinner.
00:31:38
Speaker
All that should have been preface by saying it's always easier to implement a plan than to come up with something out of nowhere. And so if I can make a plan and then if you deviate from the the plan, because things, plans change, especially in summertime, um, and things like that, no, but no big deal. But um what I was going to say before I transitioned to that, just if there's a way to make a meal possible,
00:32:01
Speaker
you know, for the evening and then have, you know, something that can keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. And then you can bake it off, you know, a day, a couple days later down in the week. Great. The point is to try and get as much as you can done in and one setting. It does take a little bit more time. But again, like I said, I'm going to be chopping all of these, you know, vegetables that are going to go into this recipe, I'd rather double that. I enjoy chopping, but it does take time.
00:32:28
Speaker
chopping, slicing, dicing prep. I love that kind of stuff. But if I'm going to do that, might as well just do it once and multiply my efforts by putting it into the fridge or the freezer and then being able to pull it out on a rainy day or an unrainy day, but just later down the road. So that, that are, those are two food items that I wanted to touch on that were helpful for me and that I still use this to this day. In some instances, I might go back to the fridge snack thing because, oh my goodness, I'm going to pull my hair out with the food.
00:32:57
Speaker
but Okay. So now I want to dive into some free items, some free things to do because I am a frugal shopper. I'm a frugal person just all the way around in general.
00:33:11
Speaker
Adam is more willing to spend. I had this conversation the other day with a friend um and I'm sorry, squirrel. We're going to chase it for just a second. But if Adam's going to buy a chainsaw, he's like, I'm going to get the best bang for my buck out there and I'm going to invest in this chainsaw because I'm going to have it for the rest of my life because that's how he grew up. His dad made really wise purchases, probably a little bit more expensive, but they were good, you know reputable sources, that kind of thing. And he he actually still does have many of his – I remember getting a wheelbarrow and Adam's like, you don't just go buy a cheap wheelbarrow. My dad still has the wheelbarrow that he had.
00:33:48
Speaker
forever ago. um And I have to remind him when it comes to like some of the stuff, they don't build things the way that they used to. Like I remember my grandfather worked for Sears Roebuck and the anything Sears was like, oh my goodness, this is going to last forever. And if it, you know, you likely had a warranty to go with it. um You know, that just came because it was like the Sears guarantee.
00:34:12
Speaker
i don't know. Maybe that's why they went out of business, but I don't know. all of it to say, especially with like cell phones and stuff nowadays, it's that whole engineered obsolescence drives me up a wall. But suffice it to say, Adam is a very good um shopper in the sense that he makes a good, wise decision. I, on the other hand, sometimes I'm like, what's the cheap ah but option on Amazon that I can grab and use for the time being? It doesn't have to be perfect, but it's something for, you know, temporary. that's not always a wise choice with your dollars by the way because oftentimes and it depends on what it is some of the stuff you're going to throw away anyway i'm not a huge fan of wasting things and then some of the stuff it's like i should have just gone ahead and bit the bullet and gotten something better as a for instance we got noah some um what i thought was nice um what are they sweatpants for christmas and he wore them after two washes they were pilling i was like forget this so he sent them back Um, there are other sweatpants that he has now that were our, you know, name brand things and they were much more pricey, but they have lasted longer. So, you know, you just got weigh your options. Okay.
00:35:18
Speaker
So I digress as always. So some free options. um A couple of these, I'll try and give the caveats that at least I know of. Excuse me. And I know that not all of you are in my area that are listening to this. So what I suggest is using, you know, your search browser to look for, you know, ah oftentimes there's a mommy blogger or somebody in your area that has done the legwork for you. So you can, you know, I i personally don't use Google. um But you can use your search engine to look up, you know, free summer activities and then put in your zip code. And that usually is a good way to kind of hone in what's happening around you. So I'm near our nation's capital. I have a lot of access to some wonderful activities over the summer. um i highly recommend making time to come up here and go to the museums, you know, even
00:36:12
Speaker
and We've always talked about going into the city and staying in overnight, but it's just hard to pull that trigger to pay to stay somewhere when we can just drive back home and it's an hour-ish, um you know, and not do that. But, and, hey, if you're going to be in the area and you want a free place to stay, hit me up. We can talk.
00:36:31
Speaker
um so anyway, museums in your area. um Some of them will do like a free or an extremely discounted price day. You know, like one of the things on my list to talk about was a movie theater. So currently ours is being renovated. I think it's supposed to open a day actually. Anyway, um they would do, and I don't know if these new people are going to do it or not, but on Tuesdays,
00:36:58
Speaker
um I guess, gosh, for us, it was like three or four years ago where we were going like every week, but it was a free movie Tuesday and it was only in the morning. It was like 10 a.m. I think was the the movie. And it was just, it was a set, you know, you couldn't choose which movie you wanted to go see. And it was not the, um,
00:37:17
Speaker
like latest releases, you know, that we're showing, but they would play things that were kid, kid movies and it was free. So sometimes we would get popcorn. Sometimes I bring my own snacks, you know, just whatever, but it's a free option. So even if you do buy the snacks that are way overpriced, um, you know, you're only buying that instead of like $10 a pop for a movie ticket, especially when you have multiple kids, that adds up. So some movie theaters will do that. You just have to go to the website and check it out.
00:37:44
Speaker
um But the going back to the museums, sometimes even if it's not a free option, you can use like you know get a discounted you know discount day or whatever. This does take a little bit of research, but I'm telling you if you take like a Saturday morning or whatever day is convenient for you and sit down and hash out some of these things, it's super helpful to do so because then you've got something in your back pocket.
00:38:07
Speaker
again, for a rainy day or, you know, just to make a plan. And I'll go back to talking about making a plan at the end. Okay. Next thing on my list, VBS, Vacation Bible School. I grew up going to them. I loved it. That is part of my testimony. I think I've shared a couple different times. Just such a sweet, sweet time. um You know, I remember going to my grandparents, Lutheran Church, VBS, and Um, and then i think I went to my other grandparents church as well, but anyway, I think that we charge $15 and that is designed, I believe to have buy-in. It's that whole idea of like, if you just sign up for a free event and then we go and plan for a thousand people to show up because they registered and then they don't show up.
00:38:53
Speaker
Now we have supplies for a thousand kids and we only have 800 kids. And Oh, by the way, we had a cap at a thousand kids. And so, somebody is missing out because you signed out and didn't show up. So, or signed up and didn't show up. So I think that that is the case, but I know for our church in particular, they never want cost to be a hindrance. And so if you need a scholarship, if you can't afford the $15, cause you've got 10 kids, totally understandable. Reach out to the church, our church, um whatever church you're looking into that does VBS, they will likely um waive that fee. Now,
00:39:27
Speaker
Granted, they can't do it for everyone. The whole idea is that this is a needs-based thing. um But I do know that the heart behind BBS is not to have cost be a hindrance. Also, they do a snack every day. That gets expensive depending on how many people, you know, so the cost of it is supposed to be minimal, but also to keep you committed so that, again, you don't just sign up and not show up because then somebody else is missing out.
00:39:51
Speaker
So VBSs are great. I know some families will bounce around and they'll do their church VBS and then they'll do like three other VBSs for different um churches, which, hey, they're in a good, safe environment. It gives you the morning to take care of some stuff and your kids are in a safe place or you volunteer. um And then it's great. You're together with your kids. Depends on whatever your needs are. So VBS is always a really good thing to do.
00:40:14
Speaker
Up here, while I'm on the VBS and church camp situation, um there is something called Wind Shape Camp. Chick-fil-A puts it on. um Noah did that for, i want to say it was like four years in a row, and he absolutely loved it. It's a full-day camp for a full week. So i want to say it was like 8 or 8.30 that they started, and then pickup was 4.30 or so He was plain exhausted every single day. And it was great. He had a wonderful time. It was like, you can, you could choose, i can't remember how many options, but let's just say it's like 12. And, you know, nine of those are more like athletic, outdoor, active, um, things. And then some of them are like cooking or crafting, or, I'm trying to remember the other one Oh, one of them was STEM. Um, and then there's like soccer, basketball, um, football,
00:41:08
Speaker
What else? And then they had like different theme type things. So you could pick your top three, I think, items that you wanted to do. And then they kind of have like they can – you do collective things. Like I know in the morning they have a huddle and then the afternoon they have a huddle. They have a lunchtime. They have a snack time. And then dispersed throughout that day, there are these activities that they want to participate in.
00:41:33
Speaker
So it's great. Highly recommend Wind Shaped Camp. It is a little bit pricier. It's definitely not free. um It's pricier. But I do remember one year when we were going through some hard stuff and financially couldn't afford it. And I reached out and they – I don't think they took – well, they might have given us a full scholarship. I don't remember.
00:41:49
Speaker
Or it might've been like for three quarters of it and we paid for just a little bit of it. Um, but anyway, always reach out, especially when it's a church camp. Um, churches don't want cost to be a hindrance. They want to have people come in their doors and they want to bless people. It's a church. And if they don't, you might want to reconsider where you are as a church anyway. Um, okay. So yeah, wind shape camp. It's great. It's, they're all over the nation.
00:42:15
Speaker
So you can just go to Winshape. It's W-I-N shape, S-H-A-P-E, I think.com, but just search it and you'll find it. And um I know the one up here, it sells out often, very frequently, ah quickly when they announce it. So you may have missed the boat on that, but check it out. It's a great camp.
00:42:33
Speaker
So next, I want to share about Kids Bowl Free. um i We do this, and this is sadly, I think our last summer. Well, no, next summer will be our last summer. No, this is our last summer to do it because it's kids up to 15. It's free.
00:42:50
Speaker
So you just have to go onto their website. I'm going to at the on the show notes. I'm going to include my link for you to go and sign up. So what you do is you register your family. It's totally free for the kids. totally I say totally free.
00:43:05
Speaker
You register and the bowling game is free. Now, most bowling alleys will require a shoe rental for a certain age and older. um i know for our bowling alley, it's $5 per shoe rental. So when we go, i also register myself. You can pay for a family pass. I think it's $30 or so. i'd have to check I'll have to double check, but I will link this in the show notes so that you can go and sign up.
00:43:31
Speaker
You can do the free version where it's just the kids and you go with them, but don't bowl. I enjoy bowling. already talked about that. And so does Adam, but he doesn't always come with us, but you just get a family pass and um you pay the one-time fee. So that is like paying for your games. And then it's kids bowl free and you get ah your family's vouchers for ah that week. Like I said, you pay for the shoes often, but not always.
00:43:58
Speaker
um Some let you do socked feet again, depending on the age. But it's great because then you're paying a minimal amount. I know i can't remember how much ah per game it is, but it's usually around $7 to $10 per game. So that is saving a lot of money and it's two games. um I don't know if you have to do them in the same.
00:44:17
Speaker
Oh my goodness. On the recorded version of this, I just did peace signs. Oh, now I got confetti. Oh man, squirrel. Anyway, I don't know if you have to do those both games at the same time. I don't think that you would. We always do two games. But anyway, so when Noah and I go, it's $10 to bowl because we pay for our shoes. And that's it. And it's great. And we love it. So that is a free slash very low cost option. Again, if you're not in my area, I will send you or I'll put the link in the show notes and you can go and put in your zip code and find out what bowling alley is closest to you. I don't know that they're always going to be close to you or next to you or whatever, but for ours, it's only 15 minutes down the road. It's great. We actually have a couple of options of different ah bowling alleys that participate in our area, which is great. So anyway, kids bowl free is a great option. Hey guys, hopping in here post recording. I just went on my app to check and it is two free games per day per person. So you could literally go seven days and play two games per person for free.
00:45:20
Speaker
Which reminds me, I also forgot to mention that there's an app for you to keep track of it and your coupons get dumped into it every day or every week. i don't remember, but it's there for you and it's super simple to use.
00:45:33
Speaker
Okay, so you know that I like to be outside. So I'm obviously going to have some outdoor excursion suggestions. We have, so this year is the 250th anniversary of Our Nation's Independence. So I know that they're doing a lot of different like free or explorer activities.
00:45:50
Speaker
um Not camps, but you know just different ah events, if you will. So if you go to our national parks websites or if you if there's ah a park near you that is either state-owned or federally-owned parks, I guarantee you there's all kinds of different things that you can get involved in that are probably free, if not a very nominal fee.
00:46:14
Speaker
to cover supplies and things of that nature. But you can go on, depending on your kid's age and skill level and all of that, you can go on a little hike or a little stroll, I should say. There's um a couple different places here ah that one of them used to be a golf course and it went kerplonk. And now it's just a nature preserve and the golf cart paths are still there. So it's very easy for strollers and things like that. And you can go and it's along the river and it's beautiful. And you can pack a lunch. You can pack snacks. You can bring a Frisbee. You know, there are so many different things. There are football, a baseball glove to just get outside and go do. The biggest thing is to make a plan. Like i said, at the end, we will talk about making a plan. So picnic in a park, a hike, do that. There is an app that I wanted to tell you about. i don't know. i think I can link it as well in the show notes.
00:47:10
Speaker
It's called All Trails. I love it. It has been very helpful for us. So I took Noah on a hike a couple of years ago um and it had a waterfall and it was like his favorite thing. He was like, I have decided i don't want to go on a hike anymore unless it has a waterfall. And I'm like, oh, let's not completely limit ourselves, but i do try to find one that has water features. Um, he loves photography. So he, he likes doing that last summer.
00:47:38
Speaker
That's a whole nother, another story for a different day, but Oh my goodness. I, we went, I think it was about almost two hours away. absolutely beautiful. There was a grotto and it was freezing cold water, but it was really fun and nice. And it had natural slides. Oh my goodness.
00:47:55
Speaker
Talk about an ice plunge, polar plunge, whatever. I mean, it's spring fed water, so it's constantly moving, so it can't warm up. But the rocks were so hot from the sun that after you did like the cold plunge, you just laid on the rocks and warmed up. It was awesome. But then we got caught in a thunderstorm and that was a little scary, but we survived and it was great. And he was so sweet. It was like, it was a really great memory and we often talk about it. So also that to keep in mind, hello, you're building memories with your kids. And let me just tell you, I have a high schooler now and that those summers I'm like, I blinked and they were gone. And let me tell you in the moment, yes, there are definitely times where I can feel like, wow, will this ever end? Or, oh my goodness, we do the same things or whatever, but you're building memories with your children that they're going to carry for a lifetime. Don't miss it. Don't miss it for any reason. Just try your best to be present. And that is a whole other theological conversation. I feel like if we're not at peace with the moment, like with just being in the moment, we're always striving or thinking like my life should look like so-and-so's or they're doing this and we're only doing this. Comparison kills, my friends. Comparison kills in all ways and in all ways. So don't do it. Just do your own thing. Be you. Love your kids. Be present.
00:49:12
Speaker
Sorry, I'm going to stop preaching. Okay, back to the summer fun stuff. So AllTrails app is extremely helpful because it will tell you, you know, this hike, it'll, first of all, it's, if you share your location, then it'll show you hikes around you. You can put on filters to say like, I want easy hikes, or you can put on things to say like water feature or waterfall or swimming hole or whatever it is that you're looking for. And then you can find things that are, you know, ah we don't want to go more than an hour away because we don't like being in the car. Fine.
00:49:43
Speaker
put your radius, you know, no long, no more than, I don't know, 20 miles or whatever it is. So you can filter through things and you could do a hike a week, people. It's not hard. And it and I say hike.
00:49:57
Speaker
Again, if you have littles, you can make that what it is. You can do a stroll. You can find something on this um on this app. But it's very helpful to be able to find what you're looking for. And it gives you, um, the elevation so you can see, you know, like, okay, if you are doing a hike with someone that has bad knees or can't do strenuous, you know, super duper uphill, downhill, et cetera, you can see the elevation change. That's very helpful. It'll tell you roughly how long it will take you. It'll tell you how the, the actual distance, um,
00:50:32
Speaker
And then it will also tell you if it's a loop or an out and back or, um, can't remember what the other thing is it's called, but anyway, it gives you all the details and then you can make a saved list. Like I have one on there. I've got a saved list for like big family hikes. So we want to do like big longer ones. And then I have a saved list for like short fun hikes. And then I have a Noah list that has waterfalls. So So highly recommend it. Love that app. Love being outside. And again, take food, take fun, go do it. All right.
00:51:02
Speaker
Fishing is on my list because I have a boy. i love fishing personally, although I'm still, it's like funny. Some days I'm like, oh I'm going to take this fish off the hook. No big deal. And then there are other days where I'm like, I do not want to touch this thing. So typically I don't go fishing alone because I'm too much of a weenie to But again, if I was, you know, by myself, I guess I'd have to buck up and do it. Right. But fishing. Now this can get tricky because we did get a, what was it?
00:51:28
Speaker
Citation. We went on a family trip down to the North river, which is like a river that leads into the Chesapeake at the end of the summer. A few years ago, I'll never forget it. Oh my goodness. We had a citation for not wearing a life vest in a canoe. it was so frustrating. Yeah.
00:51:44
Speaker
Anyway. And then also we are, like our fishing license had expired. So silly. Um, fishing though, you can go to private fishing areas. If you know someone with a pond, that's great. Um, always, obviously if it's not your property, reach out and, and you don't want to get you know in trouble for trespassing, know whose property you're going to have permission to go do that. Uh, but you can find plenty of fishing holes. I'm pretty sure that on that all trails app is also an option to do fishing, like to find a fishing spot, but you do need to get a fishing license. Really people, it's just a tax. Let's be honest. They're just trying to take your money and they want to make sure that they've got a regulation on it. So you do have to do that though, or else you'll get a ticket for not having it. And the ticket is more than the registration. I can't remember what the registration is.
00:52:34
Speaker
Well, that's not true. I can't remember. Anyway, I'll try and find it and link it in the show notes as well to help you out in that direction. Alrighty. Now we're going to transition to things that like might cost a little bit more. So skating rink. I love skating. It's an indoor activity. So we usually reserve that for crazy hot days or rainy days. Um, I know our skating rink during the year, I'm not sure if they do it during the summer, but during the year they had middle school skate night because they just wanted to give kids an outlet to have a place to go. That was kind of like not getting into trouble, you know? And so it was free.
00:53:08
Speaker
You could bring your own skates um or you could rent skates there, which I think, again, it genuinely was free. But the whole idea was that you were going to spend money on like concessions and stuff, which our sweet little skating rink up here, they keep the concessions like reasonably low. It's not like $10 for a slice of pizza. You know, it's something I think it's like $2.50, you know, like something reasonable because they're not trying to gouge, but they are trying to make a little money. Totally get that. So anyway, you can find that again, they may have like a discounted day or, you know, a military or military discount day or things of that nature. Just check into your local skating rink and see what they offer.
00:53:47
Speaker
But skating is typically a very um cost effective way to get a little bit of exercise and movement and not be sitting around. So there's that. OK, so now let's talk about things like ah Trapoline Park or um I don't even know what you would call them, but there's like there's so many up here. There's like Zava Zone. and oh man, I don't even remember. There's so many different ones. There's a new place. It's a climbing place called Up, which is like, it's got these different themed climbing walls. We haven't been there yet. That sounded cool. um These places are going to cost a little bit more. i know um some of them will offer like ah a membership or a
00:54:28
Speaker
you know, like a punch card type deal. And, um, sometimes give a little bit of a discount for that, but you'll just have to, again, go into your search engine and look and see what you have around you put in trampoline park or laser tag. I don't know, maybe they have a laser tag place near you. Um, and then those are options. Again, we're going to talk about planning at the end. So those are options. And then obviously camps, there's camps, there's FCA camps, there's, you know,
00:54:54
Speaker
again, church camps, there's sleepaway camps, there's, you know, one near us, it's, you know, a Christian run organization camp. There's young life camps, there's, um you know, middle school and high school youth camps through the church. All of those I highly recommend. We have never, at summer's best two weeks was one of those that we we totally missed the boat on, which I'm really sad about. But I have friends who have gone, they their kids have gone for years and years. And it's literally, I think it's, it says summer's best two weeks. I think it's 10 days. Maybe it'll be 14.
00:55:23
Speaker
um That's a long time to be away from your kid, at least for me. I'm like, I don't know that I could send my kid away that long. Um, but apparently they love it and they're growing in independence. So that's good. Um, but yeah, there are definitely camp options out there. I'm sure you're aware of them. Again, you can search those on your own. Those are going to cost a little bit more, put a pin in that. We'll talk about it at the end with planning. And then one that I absolutely love, and I got really scared for a hot second when I went and I was doing some of the research for this the other day.
00:55:54
Speaker
It's a drive-in movie theater. If you've never done a drive-in movie, you are missing out. So we do have a truck. Thank the Lord. um Love our truck. ah But if you don't have a truck and you've got, you know, an SUV with a hatchback or whatever, it's great.
00:56:09
Speaker
You bring a bunch of pillows. You know, we used to have these egg crates that I used to put on top of beds until we got like pillow toppers. And so we would roll those out and do like sleeping bags to make it as soft and cushy as possible. And then you pack up at our at ours. They used to not charge. And then it was like minimal. And I think it's just gone up again because they make money on the concessions, which helps keep their prices low. But you pay at least ours you used to pay per vehicle. and I think it was like $20 maybe. It might have been gone up to $25 per vehicle. Now they're doing it kind of like a movie ticket price. So it's not per vehicle anymore. It's per person.
00:56:47
Speaker
But all that to say, when I went to go look at it, i was like, oh, no, it shut down. I'm like, no. So apparently, i don't know the full story, but the one that we go to it changed ownership. So it's not closing down. Praise the Lord. We have done that once every summer for gosh, probably five or six years now. I love it. The first time we ever went was when we saw Finding Dory, like when it came out in theaters, that's where we went was the drive-in movie theater. And it was awesome. Just such a cool experience. You can bring your own food in. And there's a, like I said, ours has a fee for that now.
00:57:22
Speaker
where they'll sell concessions often because that is where they make money to be able to keep the lights on and all that good stuff. Um, so drive-in movie theater, if you haven't done it, you got to do it. And if it's far enough away where you need to go to the drive-in movie theater and then stay in a motel, fine, make it a thing, find a motel or a hotel that has a pool. Um, sorry, but I can't help myself. Motel, hotel, holiday. And y'all remember that song? I love those reels um that are like, I can't remember where i put my car keys, what I had for dinner last night, you know, all these, that there but I can remember this. and It's the lyrics to some sort of silly song from way back when.
00:58:02
Speaker
And isn't that true? And just another thing to talk about with like motherhood and what we listen to, our kids are hearing and it goes into your head and and and you retain all those things and how important it is.
00:58:13
Speaker
what we allow into our lives. Put a pin in that because we're going come back to talking about some harder things of motherhood um at the end of the month, I believe. Next week I'm going to have on well, we'll come back to those details in a minute. Okay. So we were talking about drive-in movie theater. Highly recommend it. So, so much fun. i know ours is doing, wanted to go this weekend, but I don't know if we're going be able to so to swing it. They're doing um Mortal Kombat. Not my thing, but they are doing, The Michael Jackson movie, I haven't looked into it, but I am interested in i'm interest in that potentially.
00:58:49
Speaker
But last weekend, I think it was, or maybe it's tonight. We can't go. But they're doing a double feature. So they always show two movies every night on the same screen, but they have two screens, again, at our theater.
00:59:02
Speaker
So the first one starts at sundown, which right now is about 830. In the summertime, the movie doesn't start until like nine. So it is a late night. But if you do the double feature, that's a nine o'clock movie. And then the second one starts at like 11 or 1130. I mean, i already start falling asleep during the first movie. I don't know if I could do a double feature, but part of me wants to because they were doing Top Gun and then Top Gun Maverick. That would have been fun to do a double feature for that.
00:59:28
Speaker
But again, i don't know if I can stay asleep or awake because I am so, so not a night owl. All right, you guys. It is we're running up on an hour and I truly thought that this would be probably a 20 to 30 minute podcast. So thanks for sticking around. i hope it was helpful.
00:59:45
Speaker
I do want to talk about making a plan. So what I have done in the past is print it out because Noah also likes to know what's going on in our lives. He likes to have a plan. He likes to know. And even more so now as he's gotten older, but he just likes to be in the loop. So what I would do, because again,
01:00:02
Speaker
Uh, questions ad nauseum kind of drive me nuts. So I would print out a paper calendar and I would put in kind of like our anchor points. So like things that we already had planned, if it was a family vacation or it was a birthday celebration or, you know, whatever it is that we already have, um, VBS, you know, those types of things that are set in stone already. will put those down on the calendar and I will put them in pen because I know that they're not changing.
01:00:26
Speaker
And then I'll just leave the other days open. Now, when we would make other plans, I would write those in in pen so that we knew that day is taken up or that you know evening or whatever it was. And then that kind of shows you, okay, this week we only have one thing going on. I need to plan. something, at least one or maybe two things. Now, everyone's capacity is different. Some people like to be on the on the go, go, go and always have a plan. And then others don't like that so much. But again, write it in pencil. You can make it fluid. You can make it change and make it to what you want it to be. But if you don't have a plan, you won't execute it. And so if it is a matter of keeping a calendar and then on the side at the other side of it, having like just a piece of paper that says summer bucket list, and then you can mark things off as you go, great.
01:01:15
Speaker
That could work. Again, you just have to make it work for you. um a couple of things that I didn't even list on there that would be you know something that I would consider special because it's spending money. There are a couple of ice cream places that we have around here that I like.
01:01:30
Speaker
Most of the ice cream places that are good are very expensive. So that is like that's an outing for us. That's just not something we would be like, hey, can we go get ice cream? I mean, we would randomly, but that is that we, again, we don't eat out a ton. So that is something that's special to us. So you can have like a special ice cream place that you do, you go to, or i know there's like those, I can't remember what, what the one is called, but they have those like milkshake places now where it's like these huge milkshakes that will fill, feed your entire family. Put that on your list. You know, you you make it specific to your area and what you have available. Yeah.
01:02:05
Speaker
But if you have a bucket list going, then you can take from that bucket list, write it on the calendar, and then mark it off your bucket list. But you've got ideas and you don't stall out in the heat of the summer like, oh my goodness, i don't want to do anything. Obviously, I didn't put on that list. Pool, you know, like schedule in some pool days at your community pool or obviously, you know, some people are members at different clubs and And you're probably going to go and use that pool anyway. If you're into golf, if you're into tennis, you know, put that on your list, mark it off. If you're into pickleball, I love pickleball. Not amazing at it. I'm good because I'm athletic, but I am not amazing at it. It doesn't matter. go have fun with it. um Noah loves playing Frisbee. We used to do ultimate Frisbee all the time. Take a Frisbee, go to the park, pack a lunch. Like it's an hour, but it's an outing and you're building those memories. And I know for myself, and this is why I'm saying make a plan. It's so important. If I don't write it down, chances are I'm not going to do it. If I don't plan it, chances are it's not going to happen.
01:03:08
Speaker
So again, not to stress you out, but to help you hold yourself accountable to doing the things that you want to do, which is make memories with your kids because you only have them under your roof for so long. ah All right. Well, we did it. I'm going to hit stop here in a second and pray that the Lord captured all of it because whoof man, it was quite a task to get this done today.
01:03:31
Speaker
Uh, I'm going to link all the things that I talked about, hopefully in the show notes for you. If you ever have questions, reach out to me. If you haven't already subscribe, like comment, uh, share the podcast with someone if it's helpful. As always, to God be the glory in it all. May he just be glorified and magnified in all that we say and do. um Just love him so much. And that is my heart in all of this. It's definitely been an up and down roller coaster already with this podcast, but I know that he's calling me to do it. So I hope he gets the glory from it because girl, boy, guy, gal, I got nothing to offer you if it ain't from him. so Have a good one, folks. Enjoy your weekend. Get outside. Take your shoes off. Touch the grass. Breathe in the fresh air.
01:04:13
Speaker
Get away from your phone and all other pieces of technology. In Jesus' name. Love y'all.