Some Father's Day Amazon Deals

With Father's Day coming up soon, Amazon is doing some great deals on some of the favorite mens' products.  They are doing lightning deals like they did at Christmas, and some of these are HOT.  I won't post them because they end too quickly.  Some of the ones I've seen:

• Three GPS devices under $100 through June 9 (that's tomorrow!).  The Motorola Motonav is 63% off and has almost a 5 star rating.    This is $170-180 everywhere else.
•  That link with the lightning deals also has an area to look for gift ideas by price points, interests, and also has a few top picks lists.  
• I love the book Geek Dad, under $10
• They have the new black Wii with Wii Sports AND Wii Sports Resort for $199.  This should include WiiMotion Plus AND it also comes with $30 in video game credits for buying more games.
• There are some great cheap magazine deals going on as well, so check out the June deals page.  Most of the ones linked below are $5 and $10 off the listed price.  $10 for National Geographic is a fabulous deal!

Hope these help you find the gifts you need.

Free Fishing Weekend and Scandinavian Days

Just a few more free activities that I forgot to mention yesterday.

This weekend is free fishing weekend all over Iowa, meaning you can fish without a license without getting fined or arrested.  Get out with your worms and pole and have a great time.

Also on the slate for the weekend is Scandinavian Days in Story City.  We love the antique carousel and can't wait to see all there is to do this weekend.  For a link to the weekend's activities, click HERE.  The parade starts at 10 am Saturday.  Get settled at the front of the line for max free candy. 

Lutefisk for everyone!

More Family Fun!

I just got notification of a few more fun events.  I will also add these to the side calendar.

Blank Park Zoo is doing Zoo Brew on Wednesdays at 5:30 pm.  These are adult only.  They are also doing Family Friday Nights in June, July, and August.  We attended a few times last year, and it was a great time.  The animals tend to be a lot more active in the evenings, and there are lots of extra activities to do. 

This Saturday, the Science Center of Iowa is having the first of three all day cultural events.  Click HERE for the schedule of events.  This one will be focused on Performing Arts, and there will be two more focusing on Visual Arts and food.

Free bowling starts June 7 at Perfect Games in Ames, and I posted a link to the national free bowling page in an earlier sanity savers post if you're not local.  Just pay for shoe rental, but it looks like shoe rental is even free with a purchase of a lunch entree.

Also, check out Bass Pro for lots of fun activities including a free summer camp!  I'll just link to their fun page HERE.

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One last one for now, and since it is more involved, I'll have to post it to the calendar later.  In Ames, in many locations, Raising Readers is doing some early literacy programs (typically for children younger than school age.)  This is the information I have:

To register, please contact Mona Berkey at contact@raising-readers.org or at (515) 239-5667 one week prior to the session date. Please provide your name, e-mail address/phone number, the ages of your children, and the sessions you plan to attend.

Co-Sponsored by: Ames Public Library
515 Douglas Avenue, Ames, Tuesday Evenings, 6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
• Session 1: Talk to Me! –July 6, 2010
• Session 2: Fun with Rhymes –July 13, 2010
• Session 3: Beyond the ABC’s –July 20, 2010
• Session 4: Fun with Books –July 27, 2010
Registration: OPEN

Co-Sponsored by: Ames Public Library
515 Douglas Avenue, Ames, Tuesday Mornings, 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
• Session 1: Talk to Me! –August 3, 2010
• Session 2: Fun with Rhymes –August 11, 2010
• Session 3: Beyond the ABC’s –August 17, 2010
• Session 4: Fun with Books –August 24, 2010
Registration: OPEN

Co-Sponsored by: Huxley Public Library
515 N Main Avenue, Huxley, Friday Mornings, 10 a.m. – 11 a.m.
• Session 1: Talk to Me! –August 6, 2010
• Session 2: Fun with Rhymes –August 13, 2010
• Session 3: Beyond the ABC’s –August 20, 2010
• Session 4: Fun with Books –August 27, 2010
Registration: OPEN

New Casey's Pizza Coupons

Not the greatest coupons, but I thought I would pass them along. Sign up to get these in your email when they come out.  Free breakfast potato with a sandwich and 2 large pizzas for $19.99.

Anti-Scatter Flash Cards

We enjoy playing with flash cards here, but do yours look like this?

Mine do, right now, because I gave my little one a box of number flash cards to play with.  I did not tell her to scatter them just for the photo, this is how she plays with them.  I'm all for having fun while you're learning, but my little one doesn't pick up after herself.

I bought a great set of cards at Dollar Tree once, and they had a little clip holding them together.  They were almost like a little book, and I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread.  After that, I did that to all the cards we bought.  It's so easy!

Just take some little binder rings and a hole punch, and you're good to go.  You could measure the holes and mark everything, but I just take the first card, punch the holes where I want them, then use it as a template for the next ones.  I've found you can only do about three at a time or the holes get messy.

If you wanted to really get fancy, you could cover the cards with contact paper to make them a little sturdier or you could use some of those hole-protecting stickers to keep the rings from pulling through, but this set of cards cost me 99 cents in the Book Closeouts sale.  When they get worn out, my child will either know her letters already or we'll buy more.

And voila!  An end to the constant cleanup and the lost letter X.