Labor Day Weekend 2013

Our long weekend, illustrated with terrible cell phone photos!

Saturday, we went shopping. All day. The boy was thrilled >>cough, cough<<

We started the day with brunch at IHOP! Yummmm!! I had the Two x Two x Two, with Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes. Tim had strawberry-banana French Toast. Dino had his usual Silver Five mini-pancakes, which he dipped in all the flavored syrups.

First we bought him his Cub Scout uniform. We bought the shirt and pants a size too big, counting on his continuing Scouts for a good long time! 

Then we took a trip to the pet store. While I took Dino around to see all the animals, Tim had the aquatic experts test a sample of his fish tank water, because he hasn't been able to keep anything alive... Ph, Nitrogen, hardness, everything was good levels... except Ammonia! That was off-the-charts bad! They recommended a 50-70% water change, and a better water conditioner. The next day, we drained about 60% of the water then added fresh tap water and the new conditioner. Tim will take a new water sample for testing at the end of the week to see if it is suitable for sustaining life now! While the water level was down, he also wrapped the water filter intake with a piece cut-to-fit filter material (made for air conditioner intakes, but cheaper at Lowes than the very same stuff they sell at the pet store at a higher price) because fish would occasionally get stuck when swimming by. The filter helps disperse the intake pressure so they won't get stuck! 

Next was a trip to the mall. I distracted Dino with a Chick-fil-A kids meal with nuggets and fruit while Tim shopped for a new shirt. Then I got distracted by shiny things at Glitter... We wrapped up our mall trip with a stop at the frozen yogurt bar!

The sky was starting to look a little gray, but we headed out to Kart Kountry anyway! We raced single and double Karts, and Dino got to drive the Kiddie Karts! 

After a quick walk through a flea market, we went to a shoe outlet store. Dino had great fun picking out the brightest, gaudiest shoes he could find for me, and couldn't understand why I didn't want to try on any of his picks! He found a great pair for himself:

 (Wonder how long those size-15s have been on the shelf??)

Saturday evening, we had a delicious dinner at Buca di Beppo. Dino requested the kids macaroni and cheese, his favorite! For the 4 adults, we ordered 2 salads, 2 entrees, and 2 pasta dishes:

• Apple Gorgonzola Salad
• di Beppo 1893 Salad 
• Prosciutto Stuffed Chicken
• Chicken Saltimbocca
• Chicken Carbonara
• Spicy Chicken Rigatoni

(clearly we like chicken!) Each dish was "small" size, serving 2-3 people. So by my count, we had enough food for 12-18 people... There were a lot of leftovers. Tasty, tasty leftovers.

This charming advertisement greeted me in the restroom:

As I understand it, the men's room features vintage photos of chubby little boys relieving themselves. Very eclectic art at Buca!

Sunday after church, we stopped by the wedding venue to count and measure tables.

We didn't do much else on Sunday, except eat leftovers and attend to the fish tank.

Labor Day Monday, we went to Familypalooza at Southeast. Dino got to check out a Police helicopter!

Dino had a great time! Hot dogs for lunch, crafts, inflatables... Not just any inflatables - inflatable water slides! 6 of them!! But when he was about halfway through the inflatable water slides, it started to rain. By the time he had finished, it was a downpour. We scrambled under the awning with everyone else, then decided to cut our losses and head for the car. The storm had dropped the temperature quite a bit, and Dino was freezing and miserable. Impressively, the KidWay performers kept right on singing and dancing on the outdoor stage in the middle of the rain and wind, to keep everyone's spirits up!

After cleaning up and drying off at my house (and after a quick trip to Kmart to buy some flip-flops since the boys' shoes were soaked through), we went to Mellow Mushroom for an easy dinner - French Bread pizza and apple slices for Dino, and build-your-own pizza for us with sausage, pepperoni, salami, roasted red peppers, and spinach!

Disclosure: Though this post contains affiliate links, I have not been compensated in any way for writing this post or pulling this information together.