Amusement parks are not so amusing

Saturday, I turned 33 and spent the day at 6 Flags with 4 of our kids. The husband's company picnic was held there and we thought "wow, how cool is THAT? OMG, the kids will have so much fun!" 

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. 

That foolish optimism makes you think I had never taken multiple children anywhere before, right?

Hey, give me a break here. I try to just go with things. Life is supposed to be an adventure, right? Well, 6 Flags with a 4, 7, 9, and 15 yr old was certainly interesting. Let's just say, the husband & I are really happy we decided not to take the family to Disneyland this year like we had planned. 

6 Flags was a smashing success, in that we learned that this family is not amusement park ready. 

Well, that and also because this happened:

BOOM.

33

This Saturday, I will be 33.
So, here are my 33 resolutions for the upcoming year:

1. Grow my hair out a little. Between chin & shoulder length sounds good to me
2. Take a bicycle maintenance class
3. Wear more hats
4. Be less flaky
5. Spend more one on one time with each of my 4 kids
6. Take a dance class
7. Visit my family in my hometown way more often
8. Have a family picture taken
9. Build up my savings account
10. Go to a professional football game
11. Have people over for dinner
12. See live music once a month
13. Always have my nails painted
14. Remember to take movies back on time
15. Re-learn to drive stick-shift
16. Get that Sylvia Plath tattoo I've always wanted
17. Go to the DeYoung museum
18. Put the laundry away as soon as it's done
19. Go to a play
20. Have more picnics
21. Buy a real camera & learn still life photography
22. Take/teach my kids (and husband) to ride a horse
23. Learn to hit a baseball
24. Return phone calls & messages
25. Say no when I need to
26. Hike Mt. Tam again
27. See the Sundial bridge in Redding
28. Volunteer somewhere
29. Teach my teenager to drive
30. Lose 33 lbs
31. Take an all girl's trip
32. Write more
33. Watch a sunset from Muir beach with my family

I like the number 33, it has a nice ring to it. I think it's as good a time as any to get going on some simple life goals, don't you? :)

Summer obsessions

Things I am obsessed with right now:

The Heartless Bastards:

I love her voice, it's unique and sexy.

LC by Lauren Conrad which is available at Khol's:

I want every piece in this line.

Edible gardening:

I not only grow people, now I grow my own food. So. Cool.

If you're broke and you know it, go to WIC

I qualify for WIC and their services have been a real blessing.

We are provided with 3 gallons of milk, 2 boxes of cereal, a carton of eggs, 1 lb of cheese, 2 bottles of juice, a bag of beans (or jar of natural peanut butter), 2 loaves of whole wheat bread, and $6 in produce. This is a savings of $40-$50 per month for us. 

The produce coupons differ from the other ones, in that it has an actual dollar amount instead of a list of items. This is important to note, since produce prices vary greatly from store to store, and if you want the most from your coupons you should shop at the cheaper stores.

One of the best things about the program is the nutritional counseling they provide. I am pretty smart about this stuff, but I learn something new in every class. I know that the program is flawed and a lot of people have criticized it for not having the very most healthy, organic, vegetarian friendly options, but with 4 kids, 2 adults and a solitary income, it's been a life saver for us.

I thought I'd show you what we're able to get with our $6 produce allotment each month:

June's bounty

This month we got a 5lb bag of carrots, a HUGE head of cauliflower, 2 giant zucchinis, green onions, celery, and an avocado. This isn't going to last the whole month but it does go a long way in supplementing what we pay for out of pocket. I can't wait to get cooking :)

WIC is a national program designed to help low income women & young children get a healthy start.

If you think you might benefit, go here to locate your local office to see if you qualify.

Gunther's: it's worth the wait.

It's not technically Summer yet, but with 90 degree weather, I think we can all agree that Sacramento has officially downgraded from 4 seasons to 2. Good bye 5 minutes of Spring, though your 70 degree days were loved. 

Hello hellacious temps.

Lucky for you & me, Sacramento has an abundance of places to cool off on a hot day, and one of the most beloved spots is Gunther's Ice Cream.

Gunther's sits in Curtis park, one of my favorite Sacramento neighborhoods.
It's such a funky little area with a great, kind of artsy vibe. 

Gunther's have been serving up their locally made (right there on the premise!) ice cream to grateful Sacramentons since the 1940's, and you can tell how much they care about both their product and their customers in just one bite.

It's really that good.

A word of advice- be ready to wait for your treat. This place is ALWAYS packed. I've never been to Gunther's and not had to wait in a line that goes out the door. Their service is (thankfully) pretty quick, but if you've got a bunch of little ones with you, I recommend sending an adult in to get your ice cream and waiting outside with the kids, unless there's a booth available inside, then just have a seat. It's gonna be worth the wait.

I got the peach ice cream the last time we were there, and it was amazing. Creamy, flavorful goodness. 

I don't have a particular flavor that I love most, since I am an equal opportunity ice cream lover. 

There are over 50 to choose from, and I'm betting they're all good.

A single scoop will run you about $2.60, and you can choose your cone. I don't like those ones that taste like Styrofoam. Go with the waffle cone. Trust me on this.

Gunther's has cakes, milkshakes, freezes, dipped cones, sundaes, floats, sandwiches, etc etc.

There's something for everyone, even the sugar or dairy free folks can find something delicious.

So, next time you're out & about and thinking of ice cream, bypass the chain and hit up the local spot.

Gunther's Ice Cream is located at 2801 Franklin, Sacramento, CA 95818

The Hunger Games (aka, I am late to the party as usual)

I succumbed to Instagram as well, obviously.

I finally got around to reading the 1st book in the Hunger Games trilogy. It is definitely YA reading material, but I liked it nonetheless. It's something new and even though  I don't normally read sci-fi, I'm more of a fantasy & historical lit girl, I gave this a try and it turned out to be a good bet. 

This is exactly the kind of YA I think adults should be reading and I'll tell you haters why:

They're not your over-done teeny-bopper romance, and I can read these books quickly, get some enjoyment out of them, and then pass them on to my tween & teen to read. Bam! We now have a shared interest to pour over together that we didn't have before, and how can that possibly be a bad thing?

I think of myself as pretty literary, with a particular love for very wordy 1000+ page tomes, but I don't pretend like I'm too good for a YA series. If you go around judging every book before you've even cracked the cover, just because it's YA, you're probably a judgmental douche rocket. Just sayin'.

Anyway, I liked the book and think it's a good choice for an interesting, entertaining piece of brain candy. 

No place like home

Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to.  ~John Ed Pearce

Growing up in a somewhat small bedroom community surrounded by farmland, lots of my weekends as a little girl were spent visiting my parent's friend's horse ranch. I fed, groomed & rode horses from the age of about 7-15. I helped clean out the barn & shovel poop. Their house was surrounded by rolling hills and there was an undeniably beautiful silence out there.

When my mom was a little girl, she spent Summers out in the fields picking tomatoes. You could walk from one end of town to the other in under an hour and never feel the need to glance quickly behind you in fear of an unknown follower.
And though it's had a lot of urban sprawl over the last 20 years, my hometown is the kind where most everybody really does know your name, and if they don't know yours, they certainly know your folks, or your grandparents. It's a place where people settle in to raise their children and stay for generations.

I loved it there when I was little, but then I hit that age when all small town girls decide their dreams are just too big to be fenced in.
I moved to a far-away city at the age of 17, and have kept on moving ever since.
In the last few years, though, I seem to slowly be making my way back home again.
At the age of 32, with a husband, 4 kids, a cat, and a dog, I think I am finally ready to set down roots.
And isn't it ironic that the place I ran from 15 years ago is exactly the place I find myself heading towards?