January All Year Long: WEEKEND REVIEW: Yard sales and Pixie Woods

In an effort to be a better mommy, one of the goals I made for myself is to explore the world with my children and make great memories. So I decided this Summer I will make an effort find something new and different to do with my kids on the weekends. It doesn't have to be grand, just something new and different to them.

On our first weekend we woke up early and went to our annual community wide yard sale. It was more like a flea market with more than 50 "vendors". I went to look for furnishings and home goods. Instead I came out with mostly toys. Go figure. You can't pass up a $1 doll bed and a $5 remote controlled dinosaur.

Here is a pic of our haul.

Minus the doll bed because Maya's dolly was sleeping and couldn't be disturbed

At least I got a used trunk for cheap. I'm hoping I can turn this into a DIY project one day.

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After playing with our yard sale purchases, we got ready to visit Pixie Woods Amusement Park

Our local amusement part held an event called Children and Youth Day. A superb amount of vendors that had anything to do with children came to provide information about their companies and missions. You had the sports and recreational people, pediatric dentists and doctors, and the non-profits who help families achieve a better life for their children. Those are my favorites. My daughter took part performing with her ballet company and let me tell you...she was pretty awesome. She always amazes me how willing and happy she is to perform in front of strangers.

They had games and prizes to give the thousands of visitors that were there. There were so many people, so many booths, my head started spinning. I didn't know where to even start! Should we walk through the vendor tables or should I take my kids on the rides and explore the numerous themed playgrounds? Oh, I got it. Let's start with FOOD! Hooray for food!!

After eating the usual hot dogs and nachos, we were ready to explore, only I made a major mommy blunder...I forgot the stroller! dun Dun DUN!!!! I knew then that our time was limited. We got to check out a couple of the park's mini towns and playgrounds and took some pictures, but with it being close to nap time and having a large amount of ground to cover, my son, Julius started to unravel a bit.

The kids made puppets guided by two of the funniest, caring, and PATIENT ladies I've ever met. Then the kids insisted on playing a tic-tac-toe bean bag toss game-thing (sorry I told you i'm not always good with words). Julius was pretty darn good at it, but he refused to leave so we went back in line to play again. The lady running this booth wasn't too happy about it. I didn't know what to say except that she didn't need to give him more than one prize, he just wanted to play. She still wasn't happy and gave him the sideways look when he started getting louder saying "I play, I play!" So I blurted out the next thing that came to mind which was "He's two" and shrugged my shoulders.

And with two words her whole demeanor changed and welcomed him to play a few more times.

You see, my son is a little larger than kids his age and sometimes looks older as well. But his behavior and his communication skills are still that of a two year old and it confuses people sometimes. It's happened all throughout his little life. One time someone asked him at 8 months old "What's your name?" and expected him to reply. So I've gotten used to being asked his age or just blurting out "He's two" quite often. It seems to comfort strangers and quiet their thoughts. I have no problem with it.

Since we played so much tic-tac-toe, there wasn't time for anything else. Julius started walking in a zig zag which usually means "i'm too tired to walk and see in a straight line" so we headed home. I felt a little sad we missed out on the free rides (because they are kinda expensive on a normal day) and that we didn't see all of Pixie Woods, but what the heck? I live less than 15 minutes away. There's no reason not to return. Plus the kids seemed pretty happy with all that happened so no guilt walking away early.

So if you are just like me and you live in the area, make sure to put Pixie Woods on your to do list this summer. It's only open until October 26th this year. If you want to know more about Pixie Woods, click here

Here's a few more photos from our Pixie Woods adventure...