A "Free" Experiment

Last week was Campbell's last week of summer break. I wanted to make a great week of it for her, but didn't want to break the bank in doing so. I felt it would be a good time to see what I could find around town that we could do for free. The experiment worked great.

On monday, we toured a candy factory. We got to go in the back and see how they made the different candies. During the tour, we also got samples of the candies that were being made. The tour lasted about an hour and the kids loved it.

On Tuesday, we went to the Pioneer Museum downtown. I was thrilled to find a museum that had free entry. It had some really interesting items and displays. The kids really liked seeing the doctor and dentis equipment from the 1800's. Caleb also loved all the guns. Outside, there were some statues and a huge gazebo. We spent about an hour out on the lawn just playing in the gazebo and around the statues.

On Wednesday, we toured the Olympic Training Center. I wish we had done this sooner. We probably would have hit it more than once over the summer. It started with a short movie which was just some highlights from the most recent olympic games. After the movie we headed out for the tour. We got to go into the gym where gymnasts and boxers train. We also got to tour the shooting range, the weight room, and the wrestling gym. We did not get to go in the pool area but we got to see it through the window. After the formal tour we got to take our time looking at the statues. The kids had a blast running around the statues.

Campbell had a sleepover here Wednesday night, so Thursday was spent here at the house playing with her friend. We also spent some time at the pool. Technically we pay our monthly fee for this, but we can swim whenever we feel like it.

Friday it was raining. My initial plan had been to go downtown and play in the water park. Since it was raining, that was out of the question. Instead we went to the mall and played in the play area for a bit. We also spent the afternoon cleaning the house.

All in all, we had a fantastic week and it was all free! I had to really search for these things to do which is disappointing. I'm sure there are more fun things out there that we aren't doing because we don't know about them. I will have to do more research and find them.