August Has Started With Free Blessings!

 Today we ventured to the Utz Summer Bash, which is our second time attending.  It's filled with vendors who provide games and free prizes.  Oh, and bags of potato chips.  Lots and lots of potato chips.  More than we'll be able to eat before it's expiration date.  But it was fun and it gave us something to do for FREE.  

Wednesday night we scored four free tickets to the local minor league baseball game.  It was us against the county next to us, and we lost.  

Tuesday was National Night Out, which is always held the first Tuesday in August.  We got to eat a free dinner while the kids played games and each took turns dunking a police officer in the dunk tank.  My girl always goes for the face painting.  

During the week my kids were hit with the biggest and most unexpected surprise of all.  My husband's work sent each of them a Visa gift card for back to school shopping.  We were all surprised by it.  This new job has been a blessing for my husband and an answered prayer.  These gift cards were also an answered prayer because I've been feeling the stress, and I know my husband is too, with some recent financial stuff that is hitting us.  

I have also been using our grocery store gift cards that had been gifted to us.  

We only have a few weeks left until the new school year begins and I had kept these weeks open so my dad could have fun with the kids before life gets busy again but once my daughter got Covid he's been very leery of being around us.  With a rise in Covid cases he wants to do everything he can to protect my mom and I understand and appreciate that.  I'm just not one to live in fear and I don't want us to hide in our house just because there's something evil out there, something that's not going away.  My daughter got over it after a few days and the rest of us did not get it, thankfully.  Anyway, I'm trying to make the best of the rest of the summer we have left.  As the season is winding down I'm wishing for more days.  I went into summer with a lot of expectations and plans and have failed to get most of it done.  I'm either too busy or too tired.  Eh, maybe next summer.  

I'm just so incredibly grateful that we've had a good week of FREE and fun things to do.