It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday! 

We just made it back from our epic road trip.  Overall the experience was great. We visited a lot of places we had had not seen before.  There were a few things that we were not able to see, and will hopefully see on another trip.  There are a few things we would change on a future trip. We would not go with such a big group.  Because we were varying ages and mobility, some in our group were not able to do a lot of walking and hiking so they were not able to see as much as the rest of us.  

We stayed in a wonderful AirBNB outside of Cody, Wyoming that was not too far from Yellowstone for several days. It is so beautiful there. An added bonus is we had sweet horses close by that I got to visit every morning.  We also saw wildlife such as deer and bunnies in the yard.

We spent a few days in Yellowstone over last weekend. The place is so big, and there is just some many different things to see. It took several days to go through, and we did were not able to see everything.  We saw this very powerful waterfall.... 

and also saw this very calm river that was reflecting the clouds on the same day. 

Our favorite things to see  were the animals.  We saw quite a few different types of the animals, especially the buffalo aka "furry cows."  Many walked right on the road next to the cars. We stayed safely inside our car.  The only big animal that we did not see were the moose.  

I don't remember which entrance this was at, but this sign is near the Roosevelt Arch.  On our last day in the park we left through the Tetons and Grand Teton National Park. 

Going through the Tetons the terrain changed again, and we saw more of the Rocky Mountains, and more wildlife. 

We stopped by Jackson Hole, Wyoming and had lunch at the famous Cowboy Bar. If you go in to have a drink the seats at the bar are actual saddles. Jackson Hole is a beautiful place to visit.  

 

When we it was time to start heading home, we stayed the night in Cheyenne, Wyoming. While there we went to Union Pacific museum and saw one of the Big Boy trains. D is a big train fanatic, and has seen almost all of the Big Boys. I think he only has two left to see. Around Cheyenne they had giant decorative cowboy boots on display.  This one was one of my favorites. 

On this trip we went through 10 different states (including Ohio). We also went to several national parks, state parks and museums. We learned a lot about our history, and saw so much beautiful scenery. The flat Midwest terrain is so boring compared to the states in the northwest part of the country.  While I will probably always live in the Midwest, I definitely want to travel out west again. 

While on vacation, I saw several commercials for the new Minions opening up on July 1st.  I remembered I have several Minion party posts from a few years ago that might be good to share again for those planning on seeing the movie, or planning a Minion party. 

How to make Despicable Me Minions

Minion Party Bags

Despicable Me Party Favors

Despicable Me Party Food and Games

Well it is looking to be time to get the party started. We are still trying to recover from traveling over 5100 miles, and adjusting back to normal routines. It will be back to work on Monday.

Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Checking In for the Dare to Share Party!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It's Time to Dare to Share! 

I'm posting a little later than normal, because I am still out west, and I forgot that I am currently on mountain time.  This trip so far has been amazing. I am in awe with how beautiful the northern part of the United States is. 

So far we have been through several states, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.  We are currently in Cody, Wyoming outside of Yellowstone.  The picture above is from the Badlands in South Dakota. 

 

This giant Smoky the Bear was made by a chain saw artist in Hulett, Wyoming. 

You might recognize this from the Close Encounters movie. It is Devil's Tower in Wyoming. 

I believe I took this picture while in Montana. There so are many rolling hills and mountains. 

This is the beautiful view from our BNB out side of Cody, Wyoming.  

I took this picture today of the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone. 

I have literally taken hundreds of photos this past week, and I plan on sharing more soon.  

It's time to get this party started. I got the link to work! 

Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

We had a good time at the dance last weekend. While I mentioned we had a lot of plans last weekend, things do not always go as planned.  In the middle of the night, I woke not feeling well. It turns out I ate something that did not agree with me at all while at the dance. I was pretty sick, and it completely messed up our plans to see the Big Boy on Saturday. I took me several hours until I felt well enough to make the drive home.  I pretty much slept all the way home from Michigan and then went straight to bed once we did get home.  Thankfully though it was short lived, I felt well enough to go to the Strawberry Festival on Sunday. 

Usually we spent several hours walking around the festival looking at all the vendors and enjoying strawberry treats. We did not stay real long at the festival this year because it was extremely hot and humid. It was so warm we all felt pretty miserable.  We did get our usually strawberry shortcake from the Senior Center, and a strawberry smoothie from a local girl scout troop and then we went home to cool off. 

At work this week, I was asked to work full time to fill in for the baby teacher. She is officially on maternity leave. I love the babies, but I was extremely tired. The babies are very busy, and I had trouble sleeping every night.  My coworker was in the hospital this afternoon. (Thursday) She was dilated to 5 cms, so most likely the baby is here as I post this post.  She should definitely have had her baby by the time you read this post..

I am doing something for this party that I do not usually do.  I wrote this post ahead of time, and scheduled it for Friday night. We will be traveling all weekend for the first part of our epic road trip. I am not sure if I will have access to internet to post the party on Friday night.  I will have my computer with me, and I hope to check in from time to time.  

I will be posting reels and photos on both Instagram and TIK TOK if you want to follow our trip.  We have several really cool locations that we plan on visiting. 

There are two new Etsy listings I made for this summer's special festivities. I added a new America 250 Birthday Treasure Hunt

and a Road Trip Scavenger Hunt that I plan on playing during those long hours driving across America.   

Well it is getting late, and we have a very early morning tomorrow so I am going to get this party posted.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means...

it's time to Dare to Share! 

It's dance weekend in Michigan. This week and next have been extremely busy in a good way.  

We had another beautiful weekend last weekend, so we took another hike at a metropark, this time with the grand baby..  If you see these snack containers at the Dollar Tree, I highly recommend them. They come in a two pack for only $1.50 and hold a lot of snacks. 

On Wednesday we went to trivia, and we came close to winning a few of the rounds.  Thursday night, I helped my friend who has a home bakery make treats for a wedding. Tonight I saw my friends at the dance which was a lot of fun.  This weekend is a busy one as well, with a local festival, and seeing the Union Pacific 4014 going through Ohio for the first time. 

My co-worker still has not had her baby, but today was most like her last day for awhile as she has been having some contractions. I have been her back up in the baby room on a more frequent  basis. I have been amazed with how much she has been able to do the last few weeks. I know my entire last month of my pregnancies I had a difficult time because I was so tired. 

I mentioned a few Dare to Share parties ago, that we had a big trip planned this summer.  Well that time is almost here.  We plan on heading west for a trip of a lifetime.  I plan on taking a lot of pictures and sharing them here. I will still be posting the Dare to Share party, but next week it will have to be scheduled ahead of time.  Have you have taken a vacation that you planned almost a year in advance.  Where did you end up going?  Let me know in the comments. 

Well it's late, and we have a busy day tomorrow, so let's get this party started.   Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It is Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday!

It was definitely a fun week over our way. After several days of pouring rain, we finally had a beautiful day on Memorial Day. Several of the kids were working so we had some free hours to go to one of our favorite metroparks. It's the perfect distance to hike, and has this beautiful waterfall.   Once the kids got home from work we had a cookout in the dark.  :) 

On Wednesday we go to a really fun trivia night.  We won one of the rounds that night. They give out tickets to our minor league baseball team most weeks.  It's always a fun time, especially when we win. 

We went to a baseball game on Thursday with tickets we won from another night.  The weather was gorgeous and we won by a lot. 

Our local team is the Dragons, which are pretty cool mascots. My favorite mascot is Blaze. Even though I am a grown adult, I love getting pictures with the mascots whenever I go.  

Update on the baby teacher at our center. She has not had the baby yet, but is very, very close. I was in the baby room three afternoons this week so she could go home and rest. It could happen any day now. 

Well now that you know what I have been up to, I would love to see what you have been up to.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! 

This week was a busy, but fun one. We had graduation for our preschoolers on Thursday.  Several of the kids will be back again for another year of preschool, but there are a few who are leaving us for kindergarten. 

Right after the graduation ceremony, we had a surprise baby shower for our baby teacher. She is due with her first baby in just a couple of weeks. She did not need much in the way of traditional baby gifts, so we had a diaper shower. She was so surprised and happy.  She will have a lot of diapers to last her a long time for her little one. She has been a baby teacher at the center for 8 years, so other than the giving birth part she knows what she is doing once the baby is born.  We are all so excited for her. :) 

 We were off of work today for a long holiday weekend. The weather here was very rainy, so I pretty much stayed inside all day, and worked on a new Etsy listing. I am making a new American 250/4th of July treasure hunt that will be in the shop later this weekend.  We will be attending a holiday cookout on Sunday weather permitting. As of right now it should be dry at least during the daytime. When I was looking for old Memorial Day posts on the blog, I came across one of my favorite photos.  My youngest was walking with her girl scout troop during our town's Memorial Day parade. They were given small flags to hold and wave while they walked. They had just started to walk when she held her flag up high, and started waving it. I was standing behind her, so I was able to snap this beautiful picture. 

I did find the post I was looking for to repost.  It is Last Minute Memorial Day Ideas with a few crafts, a few recipes, and a fun way to put together a patriotic flower pot. It was easy to make, and was beautiful all summer.  

Now that you know what I have been up to this week, I would love to see what you have been up to. Link up and Have FUN! 

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Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

We are in Michigan again celebrating a friend's birthday at the dance.  Tonight we celebrated the birthday of our friend Marilyn.  It's also the birthday of another friend, but he was not able to come to dance tonight.  We will hopefully celebrate with him at the next dance.  

Hopefully those who celebrated Mother's Day had a good weekend.  Last week I mentioned I was making a project with my grand baby for her mom. She loves to color but since she is not quite 2, she is still in the scribbling stage.  I had her color printed flowers, and then I cut them out for her.  I helped her add them to the bouquet with glue dots on the back of each flower.  Her mom loved receiving flowers that she can keep for years to come.  I will be adding a flower bouquet kit to my Etsy Shop at some point in the near future. 

I also mentioned at last week's Dare to Share party that I would be sharing more about the Day Without Childcare.  On May 11th, day care workers and parents participated in the 5th annual event. People around the country went to their state's capital to request affordable and equitable child care for all.  If you have ever worked in or taken your kids to daycare, you know how important and sometimes difficult it is to find good and affordable care.  Child care workers do a very important job, for not a lot of pay. Many people are not able to stay in the field and afford to pay their bills.  A lot of centers have to close, because they can not afford to stay open.  A lot of parents can not work, because they can not afford to put their children in  child care. I do feel blessed that I work at a good center in a job that I really enjoy. I am now in a position where I do not have to pay a lot of big bills.  I know that is not true of everyone though, and hope to see a positive change in the future.  

I just looked that the time and realized it is getting really late. I better get this party started!  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday! 

Do you have anything planned for Mother's Day? Mine is going to be pretty low key. All three of my kids live in other states, so I won't be seeing any of them in person this weekend. My own mom is also a different state, so I will be some phone calls with both my mom and kids.  We will do something with D's mom, so it should still be a nice day. 

I am making a project with my grand baby to give to her mom this year. I did not post the project on Etsy yet, but I plan on it at some point once I see how it turns out. She loves to color. I had her color (scribble) on several printed flowers. I will cut them out and have her help me add them on a flower bouquet.   One thing nice about a paper bouquet, it will last a lot longer than real flowers.  If you do need an idea for a Mother's Day activity, I do have a Mother's Day Treasure Hunt and coupons on sale in my Etsy Shop.  

While this week was a quiet  one, next week will be a bit more exciting.  As many of you know I work as a baby and toddler teacher at a day care.  Monday is the 5th annual Day Without Childcare. It's a day where providers, parents, and child advocates get together to raise awareness to show how important affordable equitable child care is for so many families.  There are so many families out there that can not afford child care. When people do not have child care, they are not able to work.  Pay for child care workers is on the low side, so many people chose other jobs, so they can afford to pay their bills. Many day care centers close because they can not afford to stay open, or do not have enough qualified staff.  My center participated last year, and we are participating again this year.  I will share more about it at next week's party. 

 It look's like it is time to get this party started.  So link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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It's Party Time! Let's Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It's time to Dare to Share! 

HAPPY FIRST DAY OF MAY! 

It is hard to believe that it is May already.  The year is flying by! Does it feel like that to you too?  I remember the May months when my kids were younger.  They were always very busy with a lot of school and dance activities. Now that the kids are grown they are a little less busy, and a nice kick off to the warm weather of summer. We do have a huge trip planned for this summer, and it will be here before we know it. I will be sharing more about that in upcoming weeks. 

We spent last Saturday celebrating Kyle's birthday with some yummy sushi. I still remember taking him for sushi the first time when he was 14. I actually shared a post about it back then, which you can read here.  He is a lot more adventurous with what he eats now, and always eats the salad.  :) That was a memorable day, and I am still very thankful for the couple at the next table and what they did.  That act of kindness came at the perfect time. 

We live close enough the Ohio Buc-cees to visit whenever we want.  We stopped by tonight to look for a birthday gift for D's daughter when I saw this funny, but true, dish towel.  I work with several people who were born in the mid to late 90s and even one born in 2001. Another teacher was born the year after I graduated from high school. I am the oldest one at work.  While I look young, and don't feel my age that I am on the calendar, I think I need to get this towel.  LOL

When I was at Walmart this week, I saw they had a new line of T-Shirts with 90s music acts.  (BB, Brittany Spears, Spice Girls, and Shania Twain) I still love the Backstreet Boys who are still touring and being awesome, though they do not look like boys anymore.  I would have bought this shirt if it wasn't  cropped tee. Since I am from the 1900s, I would look ridiculous in cropped shirt at my age.  LOL   Were you a fan of boy bands in the 90s?  Even though I love Backstreet Boys, NSYNC is my favorite boy band. 

I have been fighting a cold this week that I got from one the babies at work.  This week was little more low key so  I did not take a lot of pictures.  

Well it is looking to be time to get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

 

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Let's Dare to Share!

 

It's Friday night, and you know what that means..

It is time to Dare to Share! 

The party is getting a little bit of a late start tonight. I have been dancing the night away with D and a few of my friends in Michigan.  It was a fun night, and we stayed until the end of the dance. 

On the way to the dance we had some rain, and then a really pretty rainbow.  The photo does not really do it justice, but it was bright and vivid for a very long time. 

 

I mentioned at last week's party that we were going to go to a Time Warp Prom.  It was so much fun! We do not have a lot of photos, because it was dark in the venue, but we took this one in front on the prom sign.  We had a random stranger take the picture. While it is a pretty good picture, we were not lined up in front of the Back to the 80s sign. Can you tell who we were? People thought D was possibly from three different movies.  He is George McFly from Back to the Future.  Some people thought he was the Michael Douglas character from the Falling Down movie.  We had never heard of that movie, but he looked exactly like that character.  A few other people thought he was from Revenge of the Nerds.  While I did not look have the infamous prom dress than Andie Walsh wore in the movie, I am in all in pink for the movie Pretty in Pink. I found this dress from Goodwill just a few days before the dance. It was pretty comfortable, and a very bright 80s pink. 

One reason why we are in Michigan this weekend to celebrate two birthdays. 

If you are a long time reader, you may remember this guy.  This is Kyle who used to share his recipes on the blog under the Cooking with Kyle link.  He is turning 27!!  The years are flying by..    Another one of my friends share the same birthday so we plan on celebrating with her too.. 

 

Well it is really late, so I am going to get the party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN!! 

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It's Time to Dare to Share!

It's Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Happy Friday! 

Last weekend I went to a church rummage sale and lunch with a friend.  When we stopped at the sale it was the last day and many things were marked down even lower.  I was so surprised to find an actual NFL authentic Brady Patriots jersey for sale. The tag said $20, which I thought was a good deal. When I went up to pay for it, I was told since it was the last day of the sale it was half price. I am a Tom Brady fan so I was very happy with that find! 

Another great find that weekend was at the Once Upon a Child store.  Our grand baby is obsessed with Gabby's Dollhouse.  Grandpa was looking through some bins, and found this Gabby doll for $3.99.  That same day I was at the Dollar Tree and found figurines for several of the Gabby Cats. She was so happy to see all her new Gabby toys.  I am still hoping to find Pillow Cat and MerCat, and then we will have the entire set. If she is still a huge Gabby fan in a couple of months we will probably be having a Gabby Dollhouse birthday party.  I did find some paper mache boxes to make some Dollhouse Deliveries and Meow Meow mailbox. 

This weekend we have some fun plans. We are attending an 80s themed prom.  The theme is Back to the Blockbusters. We are supposed to dress as characters in our favorite 80s movies. D is going as the dad in first Back to the Future movie. I loved all John Hughes movies, like Brat Pack, 16 Candles, and Pretty in Pink.  I did not want to spend a lot of money on an Andie costume, so I went to several thrift stores. I found a few things that kind of look 80s inspired. I am dressing all in pink for the Pretty in Pink movie.  I will share more about the prom at next week's party. :) 

Well it is getting to be that that to get this party started. Link up and HAVE FUN!  

 

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