Back to School, Back to Lunch Packing

Now that the boys are back in school, I'm back to lunch packing. I thought I would share a few of my lunch packing tips I've developed over the past few years.  I pack lunches for my boys every day for school.  One of my goals when I pack a lunch is to make them as trash free as possible.  All the supplies I normally use for lunch packing is re-usable.

Menu
I have a weekly lunch packing schedule that I follow to make things easier on myself but to avoid packing the same old lunch every day.  Sometimes I mix the days up a bit if it would be easier to pack a hot lunch another day or we're out of bread on Monday, but generally I keep to the schedule.  Sides could be fruit, veggies with dip, pretzels, crackers, cheddar bunnies, a muffin, granola bars.

Monday:  sandwich (Nice and easy for a Monday!)
Tuesday:  tossed salad with dressing in a small container
Wednesday:  hot lunch in a Thermos (Nine times out of ten, I make my kids' favorite pasta the night before to have leftovers for lunch)
Thursday:  creative lunch. Ideas include sandwich sushi, waffles with cream cheese, cold meatballs with marinara dip, cold pizza, cold quesadilla, mini quiches, corn dog muffins pitas wedges with hummus.
Friday:  lunchables style "snacky" lunch

Supplies
We have two types of lunch boxes.  Both of them are divided containers so that once the lid is opened, the child can have access to everything at once and just dig right in.  I have visited school during lunch period and witnessed many other kids having trouble opening parts of their lunches, which really wastes valuable eating time.

The ones that I use the most are Ziploc divided containers that I bought at Target.  These are not perfect as a package of them usually only lasts for about one school year before they start to fall apart.  I really like them though because each compartment seals completely, keeping everything separate.

We also have two of the Pottery Barn Spencer Bento Boxes.  These are nice because there are a lot of compartments and they can fit more variety of food.   These are big boxes and require a big lunch bag to fit them and a drink.  The latch is a little questionable and seems like it could break, but both of ours have held up for now.  

For drinks, I usually send a reusable juice box container filled with water and a little squirt of Dasani Drops.

Other supplies I use are silicone cupcake liners, Thermos brand food jars, re-usable food picks, and small cloth napkins.  

When the kids are done eating, they know to stick everything back in their lunch bag and not to throw anything in the trash at school.  This helps prevent losing supplies that are not disposable.

Some Lunch Examples

Lunchables lunch Friday: ham, a pumpkin muffin, granola balls, cheese squares, fruit,  crackers, and a treat

Lunchables lunch Friday: 3 sour bears, crackers, cheese, pepperonis, strawberries, and a Trader Joes granola bar

Salad lunch Tuesday:  Salad, dressing, a leftover rhubarb bar, and a hard boiled egg with a tiny container of salt

Sandwich lunch Monday:  Sandwich, muffin, fruit, and Southwestern Quinoa Salad

Creative lunch Thursday:  pitas with hummus, raspberries stuffed with chocolate chips, watermelon, and crackers

 For more ideas, visit my favorite lunch packing blog, Wendolonia.

Raising Black Swallowtail Butterflies

One of the most fun projects our family did this summer was something we just happened into without even planning it.  I'm so glad it did happen though because we all had a great time learning more about caterpillars.

One day while playing outside, my bug-loving son Andrew discovered a bunch of little caterpillars on the dill weed we had planted in a pot on our front porch.  This year was the first year we have ever grown dill.  Friends on Facebook were able to identify the caterpillars as Black Swallowtail.  Andrew collected four of the caterpillars in a large plastic peanut butter jar and I researched what to feed them.  

The caterpillars grew quickly on a diet of dill and parsley.  It was just like the book "The Hungry Caterpillar"!  I would put a bunch the herbs in there at night and come back in the morning to find the herbs all gone and the caterpillars visibly bigger.  After a few days, we moved two of the fat guys to a second peanut butter jar.  

Another suprising aspect was the amount of poop these buggers produced.  I had to take the caterpillars out of the jars daily and dump the poop outside!  

When it was time to leave on our vacation, the caterpillars were still binging and growing and we didn't want to miss out on what would happen next so we decided to take them along with us on the car ride to Minnesota.  We prepared by picking a bag of parsley and dill from the herb garden at Minnetrista.  When we stopped at an oasis on the freeway in Chicago, we even took the caterpillars inside with us so they wouldn't overheat.

The caterpillars safely reached Minnesota and finally turned themselves into chrysalises.  After about 1 1/2 weeks, they emerged as butterflies and we released them. 

The Island Muncie

Have you ever been to The Island Muncie?  Its a fantastic little oasis in Muncie!

Order a cold treat, find a comfy chair in the sand to relax, and just chill out with the sound of the waterfall in the background while you wait for someone to deliver your refreshing snack.  What could be more relaxing than that?  Oh, except I was there with two high-energy boys who wanted to chase a couple bees they spotted.  Yeah, not so relaxing.  But still fun!  Plus we got to mark another item off our Summer Fun List.

We each ordered something different and they were all absolutely delicious!  I had a pineapple juice float, Rob had a root beer float, Robby had a brownie turtle sundae, and Andrew had a mango smoothie.

The Island Muncie is open daily from 5pm until dark during the warmer months of the year.  Parking is in the trailhead lot on McGalliard, just west of Olive Garden.

Heat Wave!

I apologize that my blog has been on a bit of a break lately with the recent heat wave. Its hard to find much to write about when its so hot! We haven't been going on any fun outings. I haven't turned the oven or even cooked much at all. I've basically just been hiding out in the A/C.

Andrew attended mornings at Cardinal Kids Camp all week.  It was a "water week" and he got to spend every morning playing fun water games.  He had a blast and was happy to go each day.

Robby opted not to sign up for a camp and spent much of each morning reading.  I recently signed him up for an account on Goodreads and together we inputed a bunch of books he's read recently and enjoyed.  Now, the app is giving him lots of great recommendations on other books he might like. It is so pleasant to take him to the library and let him find the books the app suggests instead of me looking for books he might like and him rejecting them over and over.

In the afternoons, the boys spent a lot of time playing with Legos.  I enjoyed seeing the Legos get so much use after months and months of them just taking up space in the living room.  Andrew built a "Super Duper Glider".

On Tuesday afternoon, I let the kids watch the original "Karate Kid" movie for the first time.  They loved it! Andrew spent the rest of the afternoon acting out scenes with a stuffed snake around his head and a rope around his waist.

Several evenings, we went to the pool after the sun was no longer beating down directly overhead.  By that time of day, it was actually pleasant to sit in the shade near the water and watch the kids play.

Even our cat, Oliver, thought it was too hot to stay outside for long!  Thankfully, this heat wave seems to be over now and hopefully we can get back to some more exciting summer activities.

Summit Lake State Park Nature Scavenger Hunt

I didn't sign the boys up for any day camps this week and my husband has been away for work all week, so the boys and I are continuing to make progress with our Summer Fun List.  Today, we headed down to Summit Lake State Park to take a 2-mile hike and then play on the beach and in the lake.

In an attempt to make the hike more interesting, I created a nature scavenger hunt (see below) so we would have specific things to look for as we hiked.  It didn't quite work out as planned.  The boys kept fighting over who would get to carry the clipboard and who would get to mark each item off.  For future reference don't expect a group effort: bring a separate checklist, clipboard, and pen for each child!

Another problem we encountered was that when we left the house I forgot to grab the bug spray... and boy did we need it!  More whining than I thought possible went on and on and on about how annoying the bugs.  

Luckily for me, I finally caught a break when the boys realized there were ripe black raspberries all along the edges of the trail and they began to pick and eat as we hiked.

We were lucky enough to see a baby deer very close to the trail and counted that as our four-legged wild animal!

A Trip to Pine Lake Waterpark

This afternoon, I decided the boys and I just needed to get out and do something fun, make some progress on our Summer Fun List!  Even though the weather was a bit iffy, we decided to head to Pine Lake Waterpark.  

I first heard about this waterpark last summer and have been wanting to visit every since.  The park is located out in the middle of the countryside, a few miles west of Berne, Indiana.  The drive took us about 55 minutes from our home near Ball State.  It cost $20 for the three of us to get in.

We all had a blast for two hours despite the fact that it kept raining on and off.  Finally, the fun came to an end when a storm came in and lightening was spotted.  We changed out of our suits and made it to our car just in time to avoid getting downpoured on!  We will definitely visit again and hopefully for longer.  

Double slide!  

Beach area - bring your own sand toys, the sand is very soft and great for digging

A crowd gathers every time the 30-foot high platform is opened for really brave jumpers

Robby on the teeter totter 

Andrew on the platform

How many waterparks include a rooster that keeps crowing?

Robby on the 20-foot platform and Andrew on the 12-foot diving board

Robby on the zip line 

Andrew jumping off the zip line

Storm clouds that ended our good time

Anna's Summer Fun Ideas in the Muncie Area

Every summer, I get about a million ideas in my head of all the fun things I want to go try to do with the kids.  I decided to make a list of some of the ideas floating around in my head so we could easily reference the list and try to do as many as possible.  Robby pointed out to me that the list I made is exactly 25 items long.  Please excuse the fact that I don't have pretty handwriting.  I got all the organizing genes and none of the artistic genes in my family!

Since this list was written we have added, "canoeing on the river" and "check out some of the adventure bags at Minnetrista".

Brown Bag Lunch Fridays in Downtown Muncie

The weather today was perfect for the first of a summer-long weekly line-up of Friday brown bag lunches at Canan Commons in Downtown Muncie.  So, I packed up some picnic lunches for the boys and myself and headed down there.  I had been wanting to check out this music/entertainment series last year, but the weather proved to be stifling hot pretty much every week.  

The event is advertised as lasting from 11:00-1:00 each week, but other than the bounce house there wasn't much going on before noon on this first day.  My kids had a blast with the whole bounce house all to themselves though!  The organizers of the series plan to have a bounce house and/or other activities for kids every week this year, so hopefully more parents or caretakers will take advantage of this great free activity.

I really enjoyed the music provided by Barry Banks.  He was pretty humorous with his between-song commentary too.  My favorite song was one of his originals about how much he loves green beans fresh from the garden!  I can't wait to attend this event again soon on another Friday, and if Andrew gets his wish we'll be dining on hot dogs from the Big Ed's Dogs cart instead of bringing our own food.

Bounce House provided by HD Superent

Barry Banks singing one of his great songs in the Canon Commons ampitheater

Food vendors this week were Big Ed's Dogs and Slop on Top