Happy Black Friday. If you braved the crazy hours and crowds I hope it was productive. I hope you bought from a list and only bought what you had cash for. :)
Today's tip ... the grocery store sells bunches of fresh herbs for $.99 and up. They're delicious.
The garden center sells fresh herb plants for $1.99 and up. The garden herbs may cost a little more but they will continue to produce fresh herbs as long as they are alive (keeping things alive isn't so easy around here). And they'll keep the area they're growing in smelling and looking wonderful.
To save even more, consider growing your herbs from seed. They don't take long to sprout and begin growing.
The other day we stumbled upon a new park, not much more visible from the entrance but a small sign. Up for an adventure we turned in and followed the gravel roadway, wondering what could possibly be ahead.
A covered picnic table. And the road continued. Another covered picnic table, this one backed by what appeared to be a small path. No playground, no water park, no ball courts, not even a restroom.
But maybe that path was the passageway to Grand Adventure. So we meandered.
And we did indeed find Grand Adventure. Over an hour was spent exploring the floating docks and accompanying sealife, enjoying I-Spy while examining bits and pieces of nature beneath the pathways, and playing freely at the swampy edges of a large grass playspace (complete with hills to roll on, anthills creating obstacle courses requiring great precision, and echoing shelter posts begging to be banged into musical instruments).
Our Fun and Free this week ... Grand Adventure. These impromptu treks are often our most memorable and most fun happenings ... the play isn't planned, there are few rules and restrictions (just the legal and safety ones!), and the brains get to go, go, go (and, often, I get a rest while they explore and play).
Each Wednesday I will post a free, or almost free, fun family activity. Please share yours in the comments, I'd love to add some guest posts to this feature, especially from different areas of the country and world.
The kids and I planned a little adventure to use as this weeks "Fun and Free Wednesday".
We traveled to the Shell Factory in North Fort Myers, Florida. The idea behind the visit was to suggest looking for free quirky places in or near your own town and spend some time exploring. Play tourist in your own town.
image courtesy of the Shell Factory
The Shell Factory is basically a large indoor shopping area, with shells, an outdoor restaurant, a little zoo, bumper boats, and a few other little things. Entrance to all but the zoo is free.
We've been to the Shell Factory before, but not in the last few years. My memories included a Waltzing Waters light and water show set to music, glass blowing, a train room filled with moving trains and lit buildings (which was what prompted the visit as the youngest is big on trains and "The Little Engine that Could"), and other similarly neat stuff.
Well, the place had changed a bit. The trains were gone, the glass blowing had been replaced by a taxidermy display, the light/water/music show ... gone too. There is now a fun pirate room with a talking mechanical pirate and a huge Christmas shopping area -- the best part of which was a guy who came in looking for a Santa suit and he looked just like Santa (even Momma was thinking he might be the real deal ... he sure looked like the genuine article). We meandered for about 45 minutes and we were done.
image courtesy of the Shell Factory
The place seemed tired and dated, and in need of some serious energy infusion, another bit of Old Florida ready to retire. It is in a really tough location - business, tourism, hotels, restaurants have left that area and, other than the Shell Factory, there isn't much going on. The place has quite a history and is really very unique, but I'm not sure that's enough to keep it going.
We left less than mesmerized, but still with plenty to talk about on the ride home. It certainly was unique. We'll play tourist in our town again, just perhaps not there.
Here's a video of one of the Waltzing Waters shows, just because that had been our favorite thing at The Shell Factory and the attraction we were most disappointed to see was no longer there.. If you ever have the chance to see one of these shows do. It's really beautiful.
Each Wednesday I will post a free, or almost free, fun family activity. Please share yours in the comments, I'd love to add some guest posts to this feature, especially from different areas of the country and world.
This isn't quite free, but very inexpensive.
Ingredients:
a couple inexpensive PVC pipes (all the same size, we used 1/2")
end and corner PVC pieces (elbows, t-pieces, end caps, whatever looks good)
1 connector to connect the garden hose to the PVC pipes
Cut the PVC pipes, either into a variety of sizes or all the same size. Drill holes into the PVC pipe. Use the tiniest drill bit you have and drill sparingly, too many holes and there won't be any water pressure (learned that through experience!). Be creative with the holes and know there's no right or wrong. I let the kids cut the pipes and do the drilling, with safety glasses and supervision.
Throw the kids outside with all the PVC gear and let them get creative. Half the fun is in the building and seeing how each creation works, the other half the fun is in the getting wet, wet, wet.
This is a great "there's nothing to do" activity for the kids.
Total cost was less than $20, with every item purchased being reusable.
