After realizing that my grand idea of heading to the city park wasn't going to work out as I had hoped we began weighing our options of what else we could do.

This was when I realized ...

... there was some sort of sick karma retribution going on. Can you believe these guys wanted to go to ANOTHER sportsman store!!!!

Of course, it doesn't help that as I've gotten older {and poorer} I'm not much of a shopper any more.

Apparently I had made DH suffer like this with some sort of shopping trip early in our marriage, I'm convinced.

Needless to say I dropped them off & headed over to see what the show times were at the mall theatre. Stunned by the lack of what actually looked entertaining & the cost of a matinee where we were, I returned to the boys.

Again, lovin' this whole cash budget thing. I explained to them just how much it would be to see the movie {not including any popcorn or drinks} & how much we had left in my wallet.

Without a single argument the kids decided seeing a movie was a waste of money & they could easily be entertained in other ways.

{hang on while I picked myself up off the floor of the hunting section!}

We headed for the park, walked along the water front & eventually ended up taking the Gondola ride to see some sort of waterfall ~ dam controlled ~ thingy. I thought it sounded cool!

20 minute ride, $25 for the four of us.

As we begin to drop down over the city area DH says "hey look, there's a path! We could have walked down here for free!"

{insert mean glare here!}

La la la, what a cool water thingy. Ooh, isn't it pretty.

Time to make the U-turn.

DS#2 noticed it first ... then of course we are all laughing at it. On the posts that hold this contraption in place at the bottom of the hill someone has lovingly placed a troll statue {about 6 inches tall} then next to it in the wiring that connects to the power box someone has {again, lovingly} placed antenna balls of Jack-in-the-Box along with Mrs. Jack-in-the-Box!

As we all joke about the effort required to do such a practical joke I look up & notice the sign in our Gondola "Caution: Obey all safety rules" This just makes us laugh even more!!!

Then as we climb our way back up to the main station DS#1 notices opposite of the waterfall thingy, someone has performed some impressive graffiti! More points for him!!!

Exiting our Gondola ride, I'm feeling guilty for spending money on something we could have just walked to & both the boys say "that was fun Mom, good choice!" awww.

The only other eventful thing to mention for the evening was our decision to eat out {since we were doing so good with our spending} & when the waitress brought DS#2 his chocolate milk she spilled it all over the table, he & I!

We all laughed & assured her, if she didn't do it ~ one of us would have!

Apparently testosterone makes you laugh more! Or maybe the lack of estrogen???

More to come...

TOAM