Month: June 2020

Party in the USA, Travel

Mount Rushmore National Park-A Great Family Roadtrip

Christine
  • mt rushmore, national park, south dakota

A few summers ago, my family and I did a road trip to South Dakota to see Mt. Rushmore National Monument. It’s about a 6-hour drive from where we live. We spent about 4 nights visiting, with 2 days at Mt. Rushmore National Park.

There are lots to do at Mount Rushmore National Monument, including the Visitor Center, which had lots of activities for the kids to do as well as a little museum and movie about the history of the park. We had fun doing the kid’s activities, hiking up different paths to the memorial. You can see it from all different angles, up close, far away. Make sure to take your time through the Avenue of the Flags, it was fun to see how many flags you can recognize.

Some other activities we did while in South Dakota were:

  • Crazy Horse Memorial
  • Bear Country USA
  • Badlands National Park
  • Jewel Cave National Monument-3rd largest cave in the world
  • Custer State Park
  • 1880 Train Ride

And I have to mention our favorite place to eat was The Purple Pie Place, a hidden gem, just minutes from Mount Rushmore National Monument. It’s a small local place, that has a purple theme, which I adore, purple is my favorite color. They serve American comfort food and don’t forget to save room for thier pie, all flavors are delicious. Apple pie a la mode was my favorite.

We had such a good time in South Dakota, the kids learned some history, we checked an item off the bucket list and we had great pie, twice. I would definitely go back and explore some more in the near future. There is so much to do in The Black Hills, go exploring today!

Around Town

Easy Ways To Keep The Kids Occupied During Summer Vacation

Christine
kid, child, girl

School has ended and I have the “Well, now what?” sort of mentality. Our state has turned to a safer at home but normal summer activities are limited and/or closed. Our library is closed but is open for a drive-thru pick up, so we are hitting our summer reading lists hard.

We are lucky to love near so much designated Open Space, so we are exploring in our own backyard. Most of our hikes have been within 20 minutes of our home. It gets hot pretty quick so you need to make sure you hit the trails early.

Some ways we have found to keep the kids interested is go on a stick hunt. My son loves to find a good walking stick. We also found some online scavenger hunts that you can print and attach a clipboard and pencil.

My five year old enjoyed being the line leader and that seemed to buy us some more time. It ‘s tricky hiking with children. For the most part, my older girls seem to do fine as long as they are not too hot. And don’t forget to bring water bottles. The kids enjoy a good water break every so often,.We sometimes bride them with a treat after the walk, like a stop at the local donut shop.

The kids enjoying the view on our latest hike,

The pools have not opened and we are not sure when they will, hopefully, July 1, but until them, it’s water fun in our backyard. Water balloon, spray guns, water slides, if it gets them wet, they love it.

We are still doing a bit summer school so we don’t suffer from the summer slide too much.

You definitely have to be creative this summer, it will be an outside the box summer. Every day, I’m looking for creative things to do, places we can go that are open and safe.

Around Town, The Macaroni Mama Blog

National Donut Day

Christine
berliner, breakfast, bun

Happy National Donut Day! Did you that June 5th is National Donut Day? Today, many donut chains are offering free donuts, some with no purchase necessary. Check around your town to see where you can cash in with your free donut.

What a great chance to visit a local donut house in your area, maybe buy some other samplings to support small businesses while discovering a great new place close to your home.

Growing up on Long Island, we have Munchkins all the time for celebrations. Birthdays, holidays, or whenever you went over someone’s house, there were always Muchnkins involved. So donuts always remind me of a celebration.

Another great idea is to make some homemade donuts with your kids. We’ve done a super tasty recipe air fryer donut recipe using canned biscuit dough, so easy and you don’t have turn on the oven. Check out the recipe we use here.

Check out my Pinterest page for some more great donut recipes here.

Enjoy those donuts, friends!!

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Best Ways to Spend to Time With Your Spouse During Quarantine

Christine
couple, prenuptial, marriage

It’s hard with three children to be home all day for weeks and not have that spouse quality time. It’s so important to a marriage to make your relationship a priority right?

We’ve been struggling to find the time for ourselves. Between work, home school, chores, dinner, reading to the kids, by the time bedtime comes for the kiddos, we are beat. Some days it really is an effort to spemd that time together.

Some ways we have found to spend some alone time without the children are to watch a movie together after the kids are in bed or sometimes we will put a kids movie on for them in the basement and set them all up, then we watch ours together, alone, without the kids.

Another way we find to spend time together as a couple is to take a walk around the neighborhood. Let’s be honest, the kids are kinda tired of all the walks we’ve been taking these last few months so sometimes they are excited they don’t have to tag along. Our oldest is old enough to home with the others for 30 minutes while we walk around the block.

We’ve played restaurant. My kids helped me make an easy dinner, they set the table and played restaurant. I let my nine year old make us pudding for dessert, an easy thing for a kid to make. The kids put on “romantic” background music and loved serving us. They even dressed alike so they looked the part, they spend hours working on a menu and setting the table. I must say, the kids loved it and my husband and I had a blast too.

Good old fashion card games is another fun way to connect. SkipBo and Phase 10 are a few of our favorites. Sometimes it will bring out the competitiveness is either you or your spouse, so be careful with this one.

Now things are slowly opening and we have moved to a safer at home approach, I still see us staying at home quite a bit. But having the option to eat out and do something fun, outside the home with my spouse is something to look forward to.

What are some ways you are connecting with your spouse? Let me know in the comments!