Summer Fun

It seems that all that I post ab0ut lately are the great deals that I get, I swear that I do more than shop. In fact this summer we have been having a lot of fun. I am the type that likes to get up and do things in the morning and then spend the day vegging so our schedule has been like this for the summer:

Monday: Library, the kids each get to pick out lots of books and they get rewarded for all of the reading they are doing.
Tuesday: Movies (well we only went once and Bella wasn't a real fan, but we are planning to go again)
Wednesday: Park Day, I love Park Day! I love getting to spend time talking with my friends while the kids stay busy. I also love watching the fun that they are having, even Bells has learned how to play on the toys.
Thursday: Zoo day, we have been going to the Zoo every Thursday for the last four summers, and the kids love it. We have a pattern that we follow each time we go and the kids know every animal along the way.
Friday: Dad day when he is home, or spend the day playing with friends. This week we had dates, Annika and Mom got to have fun together and Dad and MacKayla went out for some fun. The kids really enjoyed the one on one time.

Along with that the girls and I took an adventure this summer. We drove down to San Diego for my class reunion and to spend time with family. The reunion was an interesting thing, it was held in a bar and was really not the kind of place that I wanted to be. I did enjoy seeing my old friends though, it was neat to see how much they have changed over the last decade.

The highlight of the vacation was having a BBQ with James' whole extended family. I love his family and anytime they get together the day is just a blast. The girls favorite part of the trip however was Grandma's shoes. Those girls would wear Grandma's high heels all day long if we let them. Even Bella was frequently found toddling out in them.

The girls also loved that their cousins family has a pool and we spent many nights swimming with them. They are all fishes and love to play, especially Bella, she would jump in the water before I was ready, the kid had no fear.

After we got back from vacation the girls began their swimming lessons and resumed their tennis lessons. They both did really well in swimming and MacKayla passed her class and can advance to the next one. And despite never having played tennis before, after a few lessons the girls and starting to get the hang of hitting the ball. MacKayla has a pretty strong hit and Annika does too when she connects.

So that is basically our summer in a nutshell. We will be going to Aspen Grove soon so stay tuned for more Wammack Adventures...

With our friends at the Zoo, it's been fun to look back at the photos of the kids on the tiger over the last few years, we started with three kids and are now up to six.
Annika getting a good hit in on her ball.
Gotta love the full body motion in the picture, MacKayla really puts her body into it.
Annika being the "fishy in the middle."
MacKayla working on her back floats, she was able to hold it quite a while.

*Update* Great deals - Plus a contest for you

*Update* The winner of the contest was Tina! She was off by only $0.51, way to go Tina, I will drop off your coupons later. Thanks for playing everyone!

Total paid for everything $43.79 of which $8.07 was just tax
Total Saved $289.82

Today was a great day for shopping and I want to share the fun with you. Whoever guesses the closest to the amount that I spent will win the coupons needed to buy 10 Mac and Cheeses, 4 Easy Macs, 2 Capri Suns and 2 BBQ sauces for less than $3.00 (you will pay tax and $2.50 out of pocket but will leave with a $1.50 Catalina to use on your next trip.)

Here is what I bought today.
75 boxes of Mac and Cheese
30 Containers of Easy Mac
20 BBQ sauces
25 Capri Suns
22 Tuna pouches
7 Bags of chips
7 Candy bars/gum

Hints for you
1. I paid tax on everything
2. The tuna was on sale 3/$4 and I had $1.5 off 3 coupons, so I did pay a bit for them
3. The amount is >than $30, but <$50. The contest ends at 10:00 tonight.

June Books Read

So June was a fairly busy month and I was kinda on a break from reading, so my numbers are really LOW for this month. Oh well, there's always July...

Earthborn
Card - 448
This book was one of the major reasons that I didn't get much else read. I had a real hard time getting into the story, but I didn't want to stop until I had finished it. It was the concluding book in the Homecoming series, and while I really enjoyed the rest of the series, this one started with new characters, situations and naming conventions, and I was not a huge fan of it. So if you are interested, read the Homecoming series, but skip the last book, it really doesn't go anywhere you need to read.

Clementine
Sara Pennypacker - 160
This was a fun and quick read of a girl (about 10) who is prone to trouble. I enjoyed this one a lot.

Hart's Hope
Card - 304
Card is known as a great writer, but some of his early books are weird, and this one fits into that category. I enjoyed reading it, but the story was very odd. The tale is of a boy who is finding out who he is. The world is controlled by magic and other forces. All in all the story was good, just go into it knowing that it is weird.

Total for June: 912
Total for 2009 thus far: 17548