A Summer Bucket List Kind of Weekend

Before I write about this past weekend, I have to share some pictures from our weekend before that.  I have deemed it the Summer Bucket List weekend, as we had no plans other than to spend time as a family doing summer things together.  After a busy 4th of July weekend, we were ready for a low-key weekend at home, doing whatever we felt called to do or whatever the weather allowed.  So when Friday night was looking to be gorgeous outside, we headed to Riverfront Stadium to watch the Bucks take on the Alexandria Blue Anchors...

Baseball is one of my favorite summertime pastimes; however, it can be a test of patience when little people with short attention spans are involved.  Nine innings in a small, crowded space can be a lot to ask of little kids and not worth the price tickets have now become.  And that is why we like the Bucks.  For less the $20, we can score tickets, hot dogs, a couple of beers, and practically an entire row of seats to ourselves.  The Bucks staff does an awesome job providing kid-friendly entertainment throughout the game, yet the the baseball game and its fine summertime characteristics are still at the heart of the night.  The players never deny an opportunity for high-fives and autographs, Bucky is always around for pictures, and we've never walked away without a t-shirt, poster, balloon, or some souvenir that makes the kids smile.  We used to spend many dollar Buck nights at the stadium in college, and it's fun to now bring our kids to give them a small taste of one of America's favorite pastimes. 
  
My parents joined us for the night, and we had fun watching Cruz and Mila do their thing and work the crowd.  The Bucks didn't pull off the win that night, but we made it through another nine innings, a definite win for us!  

When we woke up to rainy skies on Saturday, we decided there was only one way to cure a dreary morning, with Minions!  We are big Despicable Me fans around here and there has been much build-up for this Minion Movie since we first saw a preview what seems like years ago.  Cruz and I read the chapter book together before bed, talked about the plot and characters a lot, and I was excited to give him the opportunity to see the story brought to life in its film adaptation.  And because I was feeling rather go-big-or-go-home that morning, we decided to make a day of it, driving to Coral Ridge to bring a couple of our own Minions to life at Build-A-Bear Workshop.

  

Silly girl trying on Minion boots...   

In the dressing room!  We finally stuffed our Olaf from Rob and Jill, too.  We had our hands full!

We had so much on our little away.  We had pizza, stuffed my purse with candy from Target, and stuffed an adorable Bob and Stuart to accompany us to the movie.  We had never been to Build-A-Bear before and I loved the concept.  Cruz and Mila watched their Minions come to life, gave them and air bath brushed their yellow fur, dressed them in overalls, and typed out certificates with their name and birth date.  Mila stuck with the name, Bob, for hers, but Cruz decided to switch things up a bit and go with Colorful for his Stuart.  They looked so cute carrying their Minions through the mall, and I'm pretty sure we sold a few more Minions for Build-A-Bear that day.  

This was Mila's first time in a theater and I was excited and nervous for her to experience life in front of the big screen.  We had taken Cruz to Wreck It Ralph when he was just shy of two and he was completely entranced the entire movie.  Mila loved the previews, but loved the snacks more, and was quite distracted with our popcorn, juice, and Twizzler combination than by the movie itself.  We made it through more than half the movie before I finally pulled Mila from the snacks, sparking quite the fit.  I took one for the team and let Daddy and Cruz finish the movie while Mila and I went exploring the mall together.  After all, I have a feeling I'll have more than enough opportunities to see the end once it's out on DVD. :)