FOURTH ANNUAL STAYCATION: PART 3 – “LIFE BY DESIGN” WITH FAMILY TIME

 

If you saw my previous two posts you saw how I made the staycation invitations and how I decorated and prepared the house for our staycation this year.  So today I can’t help but finish it up with a little “Life By Design” with the family.  You know….what we did and how it turned out.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of the fam Friday night, but since my theme this year was “falI” as in “Fall-in” For Family Time” I greeted the girls with a fall flower for their hair to go along with my “fall” theme.  Like I said on yesterday’s blog – I know….I know I’m a cornball.   But it’s how I roll.  (I just wished I had remembered to get pictures of them.)

For dinner I got these great, giant paper platters because they’re perfect for the type of dinner we had: slices of pizza, munchies, salad, chips and dips, etc. – without having to overcrowd your plate or repeatedly go back for more.  The upturned edges keep everything from sliding off the platter (great for little munchkins) and when we were done they got tossed in the trash.  These were from Hobby Lobby. They have all sorts of design themes and colors depending on what occasion you would need them for.

See what I mean about the multitude of munchies along with pizza.  Those platters worked great.

A very, relaxed, casual, easy din-din.  And lots of relaxed convo and laughs afterward.  We let the kiddos stay up late to watch a really old family throwback movie, The Princess Bride.  That was always one of our fave’s so it was kind of fun to snuggle up in the family room and watch it again with the grandkids.

I made it easy on myself and had breakfast pre-made for the next morning.  I made these yummy egg muffins……

And a yummy frittata.  This way they were ready to roll and re-heat with no hassle or fuss.

I’ll share both of these recipes next week.  Super easy by the way.

After breakfast, and before the much anticipated Texas/OU game the kids headed out front with Dad, Uncle D and Doogie for some street football.

Like I said…nothing fancy here.  Just simple, old fashion fun.  Am I right?  How joyful is it to have your whole family together and watch your grandsons playing football – just like my boys used to do.  (Not so long ago)

Oh, my…. Be still my heart oh Lord…before it bursts out of my chest with Mimi love.

Next it was time for our annual munchkin treasure hunt.  I took pictures of different areas of the back yard and printed them out as clues for them to follow to try to find the final surprise goodies.

Big sis lead the way pulling the clues – each of which was accompanied with a piece of candy for each of them.

And finally….

The prizes were found and we had three very happy campers.

Next it was time for the big football game which of course meant backyard tailgate time.

And fortunately we were blessed with picture perfect weather for it.  Which meant…

Hanging out back…

And watching the game in the outdoor living area.

Sometimes while sitting…..and at other more intense moments….sometimes standing.

Of course we had a multitude of tailgate munchies – but, again, no pictures.  (Sometimes it’s just hard to get pictures while your scurrying around catering to the family if you know what I mean)

We were blessed with an OU win which made these OU grads very happy dudes.

Next it was time for the adult surprise.  We do this every year – Doogie and Mimi watch the little munchkins so the adult kids can go out and have some fun.  Normally I send them on an elaborate scavenger hunt to find out what the surprise is and where they’re going, but since I didn’t have the time to plan it all out I decided to do a word scramble that they had to guess in order to know where they were going.

It didn’t turn out exactly as I had envisioned – with them having to really think hard about it  Almost the minute they saw the blank sheets in the back ground grouped the way they were they all figured it out.  In about a minute they grabbed the letters and spelled it out:  Top Golf

So the word scramble might have been an epic fail, but the actual surprise outing was not  They were all happy to golf on this gorgeous day.

 

Drinks, munchies and golf – compliments of Mimi and Doogie – was the perfect way to spend some quality sib/sib-in-law time.

And, while they were away we had our own fun – donning the spider rings….

And doing some serious baking.

By our own little baker.  She wants her own shop when she grows up.

And as talented as she already is…

I have every bit of confidence she can do it.

When the boys woke up from their naps we all went to the park…

We tried to fly kites……(another epic fail)

But, they got to see a big ole turtle….

And slide down slides…

And swing on swings and climb…

And climb some more.

And about the time we got home – mom and dad and aunts and uncles were back, too.

Then it was dinner and games and convo and a fire out back till after midnight. (Kids went to bed early that night)

The next and last day was picture day.

If you read my earlier posts you saw that I decided to make this years picture theme  “A Family United Yet Divided”.  My boys and daughter-in-laws went to OU and my daughter is currently in Stillwater going to OSU (an interior design major by the way).  So we put out our sign and put on our college gear.  Doogie and Mimi must remain neutral of course so we had to share the love equally and wear a little of both.  The orange pumpkins helped bring a little more orange to the somewhat unbalanced color scheme – thanks to the “fall” theme.

We had the camera set up on the tripod and let it snap away….

A simple no frills weekend, but lots of sweet, special family time.  Some great memories for us all.

It’s something they all look forward to each year so we will keep doing it as long as we can and as long as they want to.

So if you’re thinking about doing a family staycation remember they don’t have to be about a lot of running around and lots and lots of “busy-ness”.  It can be a time for sweet, simple quality time together laughing, talking and just hanging out.

Now time to plan 2017.

Happy Fall, Happy Staycation and…

Happy Decorating!