{Wordless Wednesday}

Last day of work until Thanksgiving and Black Friday craziness - LET'S DO IT!

When Going on a Beach Trip

I have a hard time figuring out how to pack when I go certain places. I'm getting better but I've learned a lot by struggling through situations that I was ill prepared for. My little family of three recently took a weekend trip to stay with some of our friends in a condo right on the beach. This was after Fourth of July weekend where the healthiest snack we toted to the beach were my husband's home made boiled peanuts and fruit kabobs accompanied by marshmallows. The kabobs were not very easy to transport and after we polished off the peanuts I ended up noshing on chips for the rest of the day - not good!

So, this time I was determined to have easy to eat snacks prepared for the whole weekend that were also more on the healthy side and this is what I came up with:

• Snapea Crisps -a good alternative to cheetos, can be found near lettuce/salad packs
• PB&J Crackers -I meant to get just PB crackers but the kids loved these and they were an alternate to messing with sandwiches
• Goldfish -not the greatest but better than chips in my opinion and I get the whole grain version to feel better about it too!
• Cherries -just make sure you take a baggie for the pits
• Grapes -perfect no-guilt snack
• Apples w/dipping sauces -dips include yogurt, PB, & caramel and none were too high in calories

I hate how some packaging can get glommed
up at the beach so this was the solution for
the Goldfish and crackers.

I have a great cooler tote bag I got for donating blood that I shoved all the fruit in with ice packs. I love that tote and will covet it forever. (on a little side note: I highly advocate giving blood, it is one thing we can give that doesn't cost us anything but time and you can get cool garb on top of it! win/win!)

I found similar totes while I was browsing Big Lots today that came with one big tote like mine and a mini one for $20. Worth the investment, you will not be sorry!

Big Lots - $20

The cooler tote fit in a big old Victoria's Secret beach tote along with the dry snacks and we were good to go. Once we got to the beach I ran down to the gas station and got a little styrofoam cooler to fill with ice, water, and juice which would have been cheaper to have gotten before we went to the beach, but there again, you live and learn! I should probably go back to Big Lots and just pack drinks in a separate tote with ice packs (so long as the drinks are pre-chilled)...

Strawberry Delight

Today our little family headed over to a local farm to pick strawberries for the first time. The farm we visited also has a petting zoo which was free unless you wanted feed (25 cents/handful). It was so nice to spend time outside as a family and it's always so much fun watching our daughter interact with animals and  experience new things. 

 "Feed me!" -Sir Goat

 Counting sheep...

 Are all donkeys friendly?

There's nothing like a fresh picked strawberry, add this to the bucket list!

I will say that I think picking strawberries would be easier for parents with children a bit older (our daughter will be two in a month). Our daughter didn't really understand that we could only pick certain strawberries so we had to keep a very close eye on her. 

Finding a farm nearby was so easy. I used this website: 

http://www.pickyourown.org/

Then, I just followed a link to the farm we visited. No muss, no fuss. We paid $2.50/lb. We got over seven pounds! My husband has already made chocolate covered strawberries and topping to make strawberry short cake. I see a lot of running in my schedule this week!