Free Fishing Weekend

No fishing license? No problem! Grab your pole, dig up a worm, and enjoy free fishing this weekend. Most states are allowing anglers to fish without a license this coming Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7. For more information on Kansas' free fishing weekend, go here. If you're in Missouri, check out this site. For those in other states, a quick google search should tell you if your state is participating.

50 Free Photo Prints at CVS

Here's yet another great freebie, just in time for capturing all those summer memories. CVS is offering 50 FREE photo prints, 30 for opening a photo account (no charge) and 20 more for adding your Extra Care card number. Happy picture-taking!

National Parks Offer Free Weekends

A visit to a national park is a great way to enjoy some outdoor family time and can make for a great mini-vacation. Combine that with this summer's fee-free weekends, and you've got a winner. The National Park Service is offering three fee-free weekends in which they waive the entrance fees to over 100 national parks. The dates for the free weekends are:

• June 20-21
• July 18-19
• August 15-16

For more details or to locate a park, go here.

Kids' Nature Journals

One of my summer goals is to keep both my kids engaged in learning without the trappings of a classroom. Luckily, both are avid readers, but I'm always on the lookout for fun, educational activities. About a week ago, I came across an article about nature journaling and immediately added it to my summer must-do list.

Here's what we did. I found these blank drawing/painting pads today at Halfprice Books for $1 each (thank you, clearance). Now I'm thinking I should have grabbed a couple spares!

To transform the cutesy books into more rustic looking nature journals, we started with a couple paper lunch bags from my stash. I crumpled them to make them more interesting, reflattened and traced a cover, and then glued them onto the fronts. Then I set the kids loose with the two leaf stamps we had and some green and gold paint.




After labeling them (my daughter still confuses the d for a b in her name), I decided to reinforce the binding with some sort of tie to help make them sturdy enough to withstand our outings. We used some jute twine that we already had, and as an added bonus, we created loops the kids could slip over their wrists for easy carrying.

The kids can't wait to take these on a nature walk, and I can't wait to see all the brilliant observations and illustrations sure to come. On Friday, I'll pass along some good sites and tips for nature journaling for anyone interested in trying it.

Strawberry Jam

And here is the results of our labor. I managed to wrestle enough strawberries out of my 5-year-old's fingers to make 10 jars of strawberry jam. We also froze three small bags of sweetened berries for later shortcake.

It is amazing though how much bigger those berries looked when we were plucking them off the plants than they did halfway through cleaning and cutting the tops off!

Bountiful Berries

This morning, we all headed out to a nearby strawberry patch and came home with almost 10 pounds of these delectable little beauties. Tomorrow, we'll dig out the canning supplies and make up a batch of strawberry jam. That is, if I can keep enough of them away from my kids! Here's a great site for anyone who wants to find a local farm to go berry picking at. Next up: raspberries. Yummmm.

Menu - June 1st

Monday
Take me out to the ball game!
- Yup, it's dinner on the go courtesy of a ridiculously timed baseball game tonight.

Tuesday
Chicken Tacos
Easy Mexican Rice
Chips & Salsa

Wednesday
Marinated Steak, Baked Potatoes with sour cream and fresh chives from our garden, & New York Deli Coleslaw

Thursday
Tator Tot Casserole
Fresh Fruit Salad

Friday
Homemade Pizzas

Saturday
Date Night
- Which means sandwiches for the kids and Dave and Buster's for us. Can you tell it was my husband's turn to plan the date? BUT, I did find a coupon for $10 of free game play at least!

Sunday
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad
Vanilla Ice Cream w/Grilled Pineapple and Crushed Peanuts
- If you haven't tried grilled pineapple, you should. It's delicious!

For even more menu ideas, check out I'm an Organizing Junkie.