Living in Phoenix, AZ where the heat is already about 200 degrees hotter than where anyone else lives, one of the things we love to do to get out of the heat is take weekend road trips out of town into higher and cooler country! My husband and I will take off on our own and just take an all day drive or sometimes we get together with family members for camping trips or sight seeing trips.  There are great places to visit in our beautiful state that are within just a couple of hours driving distance. 

This summer, we have already taken a day and driven up to Prescott, AZ. We took in a folk arts festival with our son, daughter-in-law and little grandson. It was a great day. Prescott always seems to have something going on and is such a great place to visit.

       Trips up to Flagstaff and the south side of the Grand Canyon are also easy to do on a weekend, as well as trips to the Mogollon Rim or even over to the White Mountains.  We have done all of these trips over the years with our children.  As adults, the drive to these places were relaxing and beautiful. But, to kids, a couple of hours can seem like an eternity and it takes some creativity to help them have fun and make memories with you that will last for years to come. 

      Car Games are always a life saver.

• My kids remember playing "A" My Name is Alice  and laughing so hard over our choices of places and foods. 
•  Another game we loved was a Word Association Game.  It went like this:  One person would start by saying a word such as "Pillow."  The next person would have to think of an associated word like, "Bed."  The next person might say, "Sleep", and so on until someone repeated a word and then it would be over and we would start all over with a new word. 

It is second nature to me to sing in the car while driving. My dad always sang with us when I was a child when we drove places. It is one of my favorite memories. We would sing old songs like "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "I've Got 6 Pence." I taught those to my children as well. With our kids, we would also put in tapes (in the old days) and now CDs and sing along to favorite oldies. Beach Boys and Beatles tunes were some of our favorites. Our kids loved having Mom and Dad join in singing with loud pizzaz and gusto as we drove down the road. Everyone laughed and had fun.

      Maps

      We traveled with our children before the days of GPS.  So, we navigated using maps! It always surprises me to learn that people do not know how to read maps.  It really isn't that difficult.  My kids have GPS now, but they still look at maps as well.  Reading maps is a very good skill to have and maps give you a better idea of the lay of the land and the area you are traveling in than simply by following a GPS voice.  

      Don't get me wrong, there are some really good benefits to having better technology when it comes to traveling though.  For one thing, because of social media, we have a lot more access to tools and ideas that will help kids have more fun on trips and to help families create more memories together.  

This Summer Road Trip Bundle from the Dating Divas would have been awesome to have when my kids were young. For THREE DAYS only you can snag this Road Trip in a Box kit and the U.S. Traveling Map for one amazingly low price! Just $6.00! Hurry! This deal ends Wednesday at midnight! I think it will be a great tool to use with my grandchildren now when I get chances to take road trips with them. I always try to put together little travel packs for them or to just get them something to keep them entertained when they go on long trips. But this bundle will take a lot of the decisions and just plain work out of the process. Plus, these prinables looks so great! It makes everything more exciting when it comes packaged in such a colorful, fun way!

        When you get tired of playing the old standby car games, you can pull out this bundle and play Road Trip Bingo or Road Trip Truth or Dare! There are also good behavior rewards, Destination Activity Tags, and so much more! 

      That isn't all! Remember how I told you about the importance of maps? In this bundle, you also receive The Diva's U.S Traveling Map: a picture-perfect way to document all of your favorite memories from around the U.S., all in one beautiful, completely customizable map! With darling and modern flag embellishments to mark your favorite places that you have visited.  (It kind of reminds me of this thing  that I did for my son!) 

      My husband and I were just settling down after his Father's Day festivities and we were talking about some short trips that we would like to take, as well as a couple of long ones! I'm starting to love the idea of his retirement coming soon and the time we can spend together. I as so glad that we still love being together and spending time doing things that we enjoy.  
       Are you planning any road trips this summer?  We would love to hear your plans! What are your favorite ways to pass the time as you drive? Leave a comment and let us know! 

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      This post was originally written for Memorial Day last year.  It has been a busy, crazy time for my girls and I the past few weeks, so I didn't get to repost this for you in time for Memorial Day this year.  We all spent that weekend much differently than we did last year, but we did take the time to remember the meaning of this holiday.  Since it will only be a few weeks until July 4th, this post is still appropriate and I hope that you can use some of the ideas and inspiration that I shared.  

 
     Memorial Day and Independence Day are special to me.  There are many veterans in my family and one of my Uncles gave the ultimate sacrifice as he trained to help keep our land free.  It nearly broke my Dad's heart for him to lose his brother and he kept the newspaper clipping in his wallet for the rest of his life.  My Dad served in WWII and rarely spoke of his experiences there.
    While traveling with my husband lately, he talked to me about his time in Viet Nam, recalling some frightening moments there and I am so grateful that his life was preserved.  I am so grateful for the freedoms that we have that have been bought with a tremendous price throughout history and for those who continue to sacrifice so much to serve and defend in this world of turmoil.
    It does seem odd that we celebrate such a sober holiday as Memorial Day with backyard barbecues and  swim parties.  But, it is because of those who fought and died for our freedom that we are able to do the things we do the way we do them.  We can travel from state to state without hindrance.  We can buy the food that we want to eat.  We can celebrate the way we want to celebrate and observe our religious customs in any way we choose to do so.  This is not the case in many places in the world.  What a glorious blessing it is to live in this free country.    
​       To prepare for a Patriotic Celebration, with swimming, grilling and family,  I headed to Dollar Tree to pick up most of what I needed.  I was so excited about the things I found there to help get everyone ready for the patriotic holidays. Here are the things that I brought home with me!

,      One of the things that caught my eye right away was, of course, the sparkly beaded ribbon. (You can see it in the photo above.)  They had it in red, white & blue!  I knew I had to do something with it! If you buy a supply of it on line, there are 32 rolls of ribbon in a case.  I picked up 3 rolls at the Dollar Tree  in my neighborhood. I decided that I would make a printable with a saying that I love to put on display in our tablescape.  Here is what I did, click on the pictures:

You can download and copy the print for your own use by clicking the button.

     Our family likes to celebrate with a barbecue and for dessert, some ice cream is in order!  Look at the ideas I got from walking into Dollar Tree! 

   I love the battery powered star light strands that I put on the tiered server!   You can't beat the price.  If you want to order a case, there are 24 in a case! 
     If you have a large family, you can order all of your supplies online and have them delivered for free to your local store.  Just go to the Dollar Tree website to check it out. 

     These ideas would be great for July 4th as well! Here is a slide show with some images just to give you an idea of what I did.  I will expand on this at the family party.

     The end result of an ice cream sundae was so delicious! It looked good and tasted good! I think that the end result speaks for itself! 

     I think the ice cream bar is going to be a hit, with a little help from Dollar Tree!

     Like our free printable?  There are more available to you when you subscribe to us on the newsletter.  
​     Hope you are having a cool summer so far!  

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     Last week I shared our family's favorite Salsa recipe. That got me thinking about the first time a friend brought me a jar of her fresh salsa and how it inspired me to start making my own because it was just so good! If you have an abundance of tomatoes on your plants this year, you can make salsa until it is coming out of your ears, and what a great little gift to give to a friend or to bring to a game night! Of course, it is always fun to dress your gift up a little, so that is where these Salsa Gift Tags come in! 
      I haven't done a lot of water color painting, but I have wanted to give it a try, so feeling inspired by the vibrant colors of the salsa ingredients, I painted a little gift tag to use on my jars of salsa!  These will print out on business size cards.  All you have to do is punch a hole in the corner and tie them onto your jar.  I used baker's twine that I purchased from Dollar Tree! 

      The salsa will get eaten in one sitting, most likely.  But, just in case, tell them to keep it refrigerated and to eat it up within a day or two.  Salsa at it's freshest is best! 

     Now, here is the file for you to print off your own cards! I used Avery business cards to print them, or you can just print them on card stock and cut them apart. I hope you enjoy them! 

       To have access to special free printables, only available to our readers, be sure to subscribe to our blog! We only collect your email so that we can send you updates once per week and send you the link to our latest freebies and blog posts! We would love having you as a part of the 3 Winks community!