Yesterday Kent found out that he was going to need to go out of town again for work and craftily (is that a word?) arranged it so that he wouldn't have to be gone over Kylee's birthday. That meant that he was scheduled to leave this morning. Before you give me the pity look for my husband having to travel for work....let me show you what we did today.
You know I have been very intentional about having fun this summer. I can literally hear the days ticking away in my head. But today was different. In light of Kent's abrupt absence (the kids begged, "Dad can't we just travel with ya? Pleeeeease?") I decided that today would be the day that we knock some final items off our Summer Bucket List.
To do that, we had to leave Ankeny and head for Des Moines. We went here, here, here AND here. Yes, all in one day. And yes we had a blast. Had the kids wanted to go home at any point during the day I would have. But our good luck (and our snacks) kept on going so we did too.
Coincidentally, we ran into some good Ankeny friends at Ashby.
Quick story- we showed up at the zoo and I planned on making just a quick stop when I noticed a sign that said Summer Splash: waterslides, inflatables, pools, sprinklers, slip 'n slides, and free icees! I asked the girl if that was all happening today and she said it's going on all week at the zoo from 12-4. So, Des Moines area friends, if this crazy heat and humidity is keeping you away from the zoo, don't let it! Get your crew to the zoo and beat the heat with some water fun!
The kids were absolutely in heaven with this waterslide/inflatable combo.
The new Australia exhibit is open!
Kylee is not an Ankeny brat. Check that Des Moines skyline behind her!
They actually do get along this well most of the time.
"Mom, can you please stop taking pictures and just take us to the beach already?!"
We're vying for Miss Photogenic 2023. Yes I'm still making SummerFest references- come on what else did you expect from an Ankeny brat like me?
Even an Ankeny brat like me can have a heck of a lot of fun when we get out of town. After all the fun we have today I have wonderful thoughts of all the fun we can have in Des Moines too. I should totally write up a "Des Moines on a Dime" post because we spent almost nothing today for all the fun we had. Seriously!
Ashby was free (in addition to the wading pool there are two parks there).
Union Park was practically free (we had packed a picnic lunch then paid $1.00 for the kids to ride the carousel).
The zoo was very inexpensive (we used to have family zoo passes that expired a couple weeks ago but the kids got free zoo passes for doing the summer reading program at our local library- yet another reason I love Ankeny. Our library rocks. In addition to zoo passes, the kids got weekly prizes, free ice cream coupons, and I-Cubs tickets! Whoops, get back on track Laura....so I was the only one who had to pay to get into the zoo).
Gray's Lake was free (although I suspect next time we go I'm going to have to shell out the $5/half hour to rent a pedal boat. Had Gray's Lake been the first stop on our list today, we would have done the pedal boats. We were a little too tired to commit to pedaling a boat all around the lake after we had been out and about all day.)
*Ahem* there's one more thing that has to be said. I totally have to give myself props for navigating to and from all of the aforementioned places. Yes, I have a map ap on my phone and no, I can't figure out how to use it thankyouverymuch. I only called Kent once during the day to see if he knew a quicker route from Union Park to the zoo, but alas, he suggested the route I was already taking. Woo hoo! If you know me, you know I have the worst sense of direction so today was a major success. In more ways than one.
How are you spending the final days of your summer?
1 comment:
WOW! You guys were busy! Good for you!
PS I'm totally an Ankeny brat too! :) You may have convinced me to broaden my horizons!
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