Greenville: Splashing Around at Otter Creek Waterpark
Brina and Karlie going down the blue slide together on a double tube!
Our end of Summer Break activity was going to the Otter Creek Waterpark! None of us had ever been to this Greenville Waterpark so we decided it should be the one we try out to celebrate the end of summer. It was actually one of the closer ones to us since we were coming from Easley. The girls had a BLAST swimming around. We arrived shortly after they opened and didn’t leave until late in the afternoon. We splashed around in the water and went down the slides many times! It was a lot of fun hanging out at the waterpark with the girls!
Brina having a grand time at the waterpark!
Hanging out with the girls at the Otter Creek Waterpark! Great way to wrap up summer vacation!
Brina doing flips under water!
Going down the huge orange slide together. They went down all the slides many times!
Karlie’s coming!
Carrying up the double tube. It was quite the teamwork to get the big tube up the stairs without bumping into too many people!
Splashing around!
Brina all smiles!
Karlie loving the water slides!
Come on Mom, stand right over here…… Hmmm….this looks like a trick?! BRINA!
Yikes! There’s something coming at me under the water!
Brina enjoying our fun day at Otter Creek!
Karlie doing flips under water!
Brina arriving at the bottom of the green slide!
Karlie at the top of the white slide! She LOVED it! I did all the slides many times, but the white slide once was enough for me. WOW, it was so fast and my heart was in my throat as I flew down it. Not to mention with that much speed once you hit the water you had received a nice swimsuit wedgy, ha! Karlie on the other hand did the white slide many times!
Karlie flying down the slide again! It doesn’t look as steep in this picture, but trust me it was plenty steep! I thought I was going to fly right off of it I was going so fast! Fun times with the kids!
Yes, I am Still Here!
A big “THANKS” to all of you who have checked in with me to make sure everything is okay since it has been rather quiet on my blog the past few weeks! 🙂 Yes, I am still around. Summer was a fun, but a very busy time for our family. I think the four of us were only home together three weekends the entire summer break. We had a lot of travel and other activities going on. It got to the point where I had to make a decision on what my priorities were going to be and I chose to make the best of the last few weeks of summer break (and the first few of the new school year) by spending more time with my family.
God has been working in my heart and life over the past few months. A lot has been going on with our family, good stuff, however, even the best things take time and energy. A few weeks ago as I was being pulled in so many directions my husband kindly suggested that I “pick my priorities and let some of the other stuff go” at least for a little while until life calms down more. I took his advice and invested more of my energy into my family as the kids were gearing up to go back to school.
I have truly missed blogging and interacting with everyone online, but the extra time with my family was precious and the memories that were made during our time together was so worth it. While I hope to get back into more regular blogging I am going to try to take it easy and not stress if I don’t have a post up at least 6 days a week. It is my goal to post “regularly” just not necessarily “daily.”
Hope life has been treating all of you well! I am looking forward to sharing with you some of our recent activities and adventures soon. A lot has happened over the past few weeks! Thanks for hanging in there with me.
Living on a Budget: Groceries $40 for 4
I apologize it has been so long since I have posted my $40 for 4 grocery update! It has been a fun, amazing, wild, memorable several months with a trip to India, Charleston, Disney, Kennedy Space Center, Sea World, family staying with us on and off for a month as well as many other wonderful activities! I have been doing my best to stay within budget but having you alongside of me and reading my regular post definitely keeps me more accountable because I have blown the budget several times since I last posted! Here is my weekly update on our Groceries $40 for 4.
Groceries from Save A Lot | RiteAid and Ingles
Save A Lot | RiteAid Groceries:
- $4.87 at Save A Lot | RiteAid for 1 gallon Milk and 1 bag Brown Sugar (ran out of milk and used the rest of my brown sugar for the homeless dinner our Community Group hosted on Monday evening so had to restock these items)
Ingles Groceries:
- $11.79 at Ingles for 2 loaves Bread, 1 gallon Milk, 1 Yellow Sweet Onion, 1 container Pina Colada Yogurt (on clearance & so delicious I almost didn’t share it), 1 bag Fresh Green Beans (clearance $0.99), 1 bag Fresh Cauliflower, Broccoli, and Carrots (clearance $0.99), 1 container Mushrooms (clearance $0.99), 1 container Dill Veggie Dip (clearance $0.99), and 1 package Wholly Avocado Dip (clearance $0.99). Everything was marked down, on sale, or on clearance at Ingles.
Groceries from Ingles and Save A Lot | RiteAid
Ingles Groceries:
- $7.77 at Ingles for 1 container of Dill Seasoning, 1 loaf French Bread, 1 container Peach Yogurt (on clearance), 1 container Fresh Pink Lemonade (clearance $0.99), 1 container Veggie Dip (clearance $0.99), and 1 container fresh Chicken Salad (on clearance) Everything was marked down, on sale, or on clearance at Ingles.
- Save A Lot | RiteAid Groceries:$17.33 at Save A Lot | RiteAid for 1 package Flour Tortillas, 2 multi-packs Trident Gum (clearance $0.74), 2 Ham & Cheddar Lunchables, 1 bag Chicken Breasts, 6 packs Sandwich Creme Cookies (clearance $0.69), 1 pack Powdered Donuts (clearance $0.84), bags of Cheddar Cheese Balls, and 1 Watermelon.
I was able to get a few great items this week. Thankfully, I was able to make it by the store and pick up some items that we’ll need over the next couple of weeks even if a couple of unexpected items got added to the list. Thanks for helping keep me on track even in the midst of this busy season! I don’t anticipate life slowing down too much though since the girls will be getting out of school next week and we have a lot of exciting adventures planned for their summer break.
This week I spent $41.76 on groceries. I was bummed that I went over on my budgeted amount for the week again but thankful I was only $1.76 over! I would have made it but I was asked to provide snacks for the girls field day so it was extra items I wasn’t planning on for the week that helped me slide past my goal. I was happy to find a few items marked down on clearance and provide snacks (watermelon, cookies, and cheese balls) for 20 students while staying pretty close to my budgeted amount. I hope that next week we can come under budget!
It is my goal to give you regular updates on this budget section so you can celebrate the good weeks with me and thump me on the bad weeks! As always you are welcomed to join the journey with me. I would love to hear your story and how you are doing too. The purpose of our family doing this it to watch our grocery spending while allowing us to feed our family, enjoy life, share with others, and yet stay on track with our budget.
Living on a Budget is a series of ways our family uses a budget to help keep us accountable with our finances. Life doesn’t always go as planned. We have used some of the ideas I will be sharing for years while others are ones we are just starting to implement as we continue finding ways to be creative and have fun with what we have been given. Having a plan in place allows us the freedom to be smart with what we have been given, get more creative when it is a tight (week, month, year or a season) and when necessary live a much more simplified life. A budget helps us stay on track so we have more opportunities to enjoy the many blessings we have been given as well as share what we have with others. There is so much more to life than having all the stuff. We may not have the newest or greatest items in our house, we drive used cars, and wear hand-me-down clothing…..however, if our family is taken care of and have love for each other and others we have more than all the riches in the world.
