More Cheap Movies!

UEC 14 in Cleveland, TN has their Morning at the Movies this summer. All movies begin at 10am and cost $1. You can catch the movie on either Tuesday or Wednesday each week.
UEC is located at

137 Pleasant Grove Rd

McDonald, TN 37353

 

 

Mac Point Beach on Lake Ocoee

(you can't tell from the photo, but that hill from the upper sidewalk on the right down to the water is pretty steep)
35 miles from our house is Mac Point Beach on Lake Ocoee. It takes about 40 minutes to get there. I'm always nervous to try out a new beach. But we didn't need to be too nervous! We actually really enjoyed it.
From Cleveland you head east on highway 64 until you see it on your right. There are signs. The cost is $3 to park. It is on National Park land and so if you have a National Park pass, you can use that. The beach is fairly narrow, but it accommodated quite a few people. There are picnic tables and benches. There is some shade. There is a small pavilion with about 5 picnic tables. There are grills. There is a sand beach.
And my favorite: FLUSH TOILETS! Anyone who knows me knows I hate to rough it. I hate vault toilets or port-a-potties or anything like that. So I was happy. But no hand soap so bring some hand sanitizer.

Although there was shade, we brought our canopy and was glad we did.
The beach is really close to the woods and at one point I got bit 5 times in just a few minutes. But otherwise bugs were not a problem. There is a swimming area with no lifeguards. BUT, I was surprised that this is not a zero-depth entry to the lake. There is a concrete wall bordering this area and when you enter the lake you are immediately in 3 feet of water. Little children could not just play at the edge of the water. All our kids had life jackets and played fine in the water. We brought our paddle boards and it was fun to cruise around on those.

Parking is limited. Maybe about 25 spots. If it is full, there is overflow parking down the road but then you have to walk that busy 2 lane highway to get to the beach.

Saturdays will be crowded so get there early if you want to find parking. I was pleased to see a ranger come by and actually asked some people to leave who were not following the rules (they had a dog and no dogs are allowed - it is clearly posted).

There is no boat launching at this beach/park, but paddle boards or kayaks are welcome. The kids had fun.

Koch's Bakery

Okay, so this has NOTHING to do with Budgets. But I found this little gem today while looking for a different bakery.
And I. Am. In. Love.
I am still dreaming of the sour cream (I called it an Old Fashion) doughnut I had today. And sadly, I only got half of it because I shared it with my son! Boo!
This is how the display looked when I went in today:

Except they also had Oreo doughnuts displayed on top as well. The regular doughnuts are $ .99, the nicer ones are $1.19 and the deluxe (think HUGE honey buns, apple fritters, etc) are $2.39. Very comparable prices to Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts but far superior! Between Julie Darling donuts (by Coolidge Park) and Koch's, you'd never need to go anywhere else for donuts!!! Well, except maybe Sublime Doughnuts and Revolution Doughnuts in Atlanta. Those are both worth the drive.

Can you tell I love doughnuts?

Koch's also had a lot of other things like muffins, cupcakes, brownies, whoopie pies, some really good lookin' square cake with carmalized frosting in the middle, and cookies. They even have a breakfast sandwich. Oh! And their decorated sugar cookies were amazing!

 You'll know you've found it when you see the painted brick wall in the parking lot:

 

 It's okay to splurge once in a while, right?

*As a side note for any of my No Nuts Moms Group, Koch's has a lot of nuts in-house. These doughnuts would not be safe for an allergic child. I don't bring them home. But that's probably a good thing or I would have bought 3 dozen (and eaten 2 dozen of them myself!)

http://www.kochsbakery.com/
http://www.jddonuts.com/
http://sublimedoughnuts.com/
http://revolutiondoughnuts.com/

Free Night at Booth Western Art Museum

I still think it strange to have a Western Art Museum here in the Southeast. But I love it because I am from the West!
Now that my oldest has turned 13, we have to buy him a ticket if we want to visit the museum (kids 12 and under are free). And I hate having to do that!
So, I found out that the first Thursday of each month the museum is open to the public for free from 4pm-8pm. That will be this June 4. I do not know how crowded it can get. But sometimes a little crowded is okay if you didn't have to spend any money!
If you are wondering if the museum will be interesting to your tykes, you can search for my other post on the museum from last year and see what we thought.

Summer Schoolwork

This will be my third (maybe fourth?) summer using these workbooks. I have one for each child. They don't cost much (under $15 on Amazon) and it gives my kids something to do each day to use their school skills.
The book is broken up into 3 months with 20 days in each month. My kids have to do 1 page a weekday. The pages can take anywhere from 5 min to 20 minutes depending on age. It's not a lot, but I think it helps them retain some of the things they might otherwise forget over summer. I know they go up to 7 into 8th grade because we bought one for this summer. I don't know if they go any higher than that.
I have found that the younger grades tend to be a bit easy. My son's K going into 1st grade book is quite easy for him. He's already completed 9 days (it's only day 4 of our summer) because he can do a page in a couple minutes.  One year I purchased the next one up for each of the kids. That worked well for the younger kids.
I grade the pages each night (there is an answer key - never fear algebra illiterate!) and they have to correct their mistakes from the previous day before doing the current day. That way they aren't just rushing through.

http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Bridge-Activities%C2%AE-Grades-Activities/dp/148381582X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1432857371&sr=8-2&keywords=summer+bridge+workbooks

DATE NIGHT!!

Need a night out? Don't want to break the bank? I just saw this on the City of Dalton Calendar. You can dabble in some culture!

Fabulous First Friday in June!

Fri, June 5, 5:30pm – 7:00pm

 

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Where	Creative Arts Guild, 520 West Waugh Street, Dalton, GA 30720, United States map
Video call
Calendar	Dalton Events Calendar
Created by	gteems85@gmail.com
Description	Exhibit opening and artist reception; no admission charge; light refreshments will be served. Works byLisa Q. Caldwell and Laurie Steele in the Main Gallery; Del Martin will show works in Gallery 111. For more information, contact Bradley Wilson 706.279.3129.

Screen on the Green

Screen on the Green Dalton Style will be coming back this summer. It is presented by Young Professionals of Northwest Georgia and sponsored by Optilink. It is a free event. And who doesn't love free???
The first movie was voted on via facebook. Looking at the votes, I am pretty sure it will be Big Hero 6. And if you haven't seen Big Hero 6, I highly recommend it. It was so much better than the previews let on!

You can find out more information (like about the inflatables and activities that start at 7pm) on their facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1624728591072118/