Following is my original explaination of what the Weekend Warrior series was intended to be:

As a reminder, I intend for this series of posts to give suggestions of good day trips you can make in and around Omaha with your family. Hopefully it will give some good ideas of things to do close to home for local readers (and for those of you visiting Omaha, it might give you some ideas of what to do while you are here).

The Weekend Warrior Spots I wrote about near Omaha are:

• The Henry Doorly Zoo here
• Adventureland in Iowa here
• Eugene T Mahoney State Park here
• Shenandoah, Iowa here
• Lake Zorinsky here

I will probably continue to write about places around Omaha as I think of them, but since I have moved to Scottsdale, AZ now, I will also write about Daycations/Weekend Warrior Spots near here. I have not been to many (really only to Wet N Wild, Tombstone and the first part of the Apache Trail so far), but I have a list of places I want to write about. Here is my goal list:

• Tombstone
• Bizbee
• Apache Trail
• Tuscon
• Phoenix Zoo
• Wet N Wild
• Sonoran Desert near Tuscon
• Tonto National Forest (including Three Bar wildlife enclosure)
• Grand Canyon!

If you have any suggestions of places I should research and add to this list, I WELCOME (cough cough BEG FOR cough cough) suggestions!!!!

One of the weekly items I used to do that I want to bring back is my Friday feature called Weekend Warriors. It is where I share a bunch of info on one of my favorite places to visit in a day or weekend. I thought I would start out by reposting my very most often viewed blog post EVER! The original Weekend Warriors: Lake Zorinsky post can be seen here, or just keep reading because I am posting it below as well! Enjoy!
As a reminder, I intend for this series of posts to give suggestions of good day trips you can make in and around Omaha with your family. Hopefully it will give some good ideas of things to do close to home for local readers (and for those of you visiting Omaha, it might give you some ideas of what to do while you are here). So far I have talked about the following:

• The Henry Doorly Zoo here
• Adventureland in Iowa here
• Eugene T Mahoney State Park here
• Shenandoah, Iowa here

Today, I want to talk about a favorite place for our family to visit any day of the week: Zorinsky Lake.  Check out the pictures I took of the sunset over the beautiful lake (this is from up on the trail):

Zorinsky Lake is located at 156th and F streets in West Omaha. There is a HUGE lake with about 7 miles of walking trails around it, a couple playgrounds, lots of picnic shelters, and now a brand new swimming area with water slides (opening tomorrow!!).

We LOVE to walk around the lake as a family and could easily spend all day there. If we were to spend the day there, here is what I would do:
Pack up a cooler for lunch (or the makings of a BBQ), then  choose which of the following activities I wanted to fit in:

• The new pool (This does cost money, but not bad for a daycation)
• Walk around the lake
• Play at the playground
• If I had a boat (or a friend with one) I would happily just go boating all day!
• Fishing
• BBQ

Now, just as an FYI, you can reserve some of the covered shelters if you want to make sure you have a place to eat and hang out. You can find more infor about Shelter rentals here.

AND I will add a few things: The water Park is AWESOME and inexpensive for what it is. You could spend all day there if you wanted to! Or spend part of the day there and enjoy the rest the Lake has to offer as well.

Also, many of you in Omaha are likely aware of the fact that the lake was drained to get rid of Zebra Mussels and was empty and frankly really ugly for the last year (ish). Well, I can happily report that when we last went to the lake in June right before moving, it was almost totally full agian and lookig BEAUTIFUL as usual!!

So, head on over to Lake Zorinsky and ENJOY!!!

I just finished the Grocery Round Up for Scottsdale, but there are a couple deals I need to Mention in their own post. One is ONLY GOOD TODAY! Here they are:

• At Safeway TODAY: As part of $5 Friday there is ONE deal I think is AWESOME and worth mention. Today only you can get Lucerne Chunk Cheese 32 oz for $5!!!

• At Bashas this week, Beech Nut Fruities On the Go select Varieties 4 oz only $.69 each!!! (If you have a baby/toddler that eats baby food, there are the best EVER and I have never seen them this cheap!!! Also a quick easy fruit snack to send with older kids to school!!)

Here are my favorite deals in Scottsdale grocery this week:

Albertsons Market

• 7Up 12 packs 4/$10 (with minimum $25 purchase)
• Albertsons Gallon Milk $1.67
• Fritos or Cheetos 9-10.5 oz $1.99
• Snow Crab 8Up, Previously Frozen $4.99/lb
• Blueberries (local grown) 18 oz 2/$4 (limit 2)
• London Broil, Cross Rib or Bottom Round Roast or Steak (family pack, boneless) $2.99/lb
• Toufayan Pita Bread 12 oz 10/$10
• Plums $1/lb
• Gourmet Mini Carrots 1 lb bag $1 each

In addition to their regular week long special, HyVee also has a 4 Days of Savings Sale Friday 7/22-Sunday 7/24 that includes the following:

• 7U

Bashas

• Bashas Homwtown Grocer Split Chicken Breasts ot leg Quarters $.97lb (first 4)
• Farmer John's Bacom 12 oz $1.99 (first 3)
• 7-Up, RC Cola or Canada Dry Products 4/$10
• Fresh California Peaches or Nectarines $.59/lb (first 5 lbs)
• Bananas $.35/lb (first 6 lbs)
• Beech Nut Fruities on the Go 4 oz $.69 (this is an AWESOME price-I will be stocking up on this one!!!)
• Roma Tomatoes $.98/lb
• Haas Avocados 2/$1 each
• Organic Avocados $.99 each

Fresh & Easy

• Kitchens Best Mushrooms 5 oz $.98
• f&e whole chicken (fresh never frozen) $.77/lb
• Blue Diamond Almond Milk 64 fl oz $2.99
• Farmer's Gems eggs 18 ct 2/$4

Fry's (Remember their sales are almost always WITH card)

• Fry's Water 24 pack 16.9 oz bottles $2.79
• Frys Sandwich Bread 24 oz 10/$10

The following items are part of a buy 10 get $5 off deal. You can mix and match the items, but the price shown is AFTER the reward (meaning you have to buy 10 qualifying items to get this price) AND you must use your shopper card to get these prices as well:

• Kroger Peanut Butter 16-18 oz $1.99
• Pepperidge Farms Goldfish 6.6-8 oz $.99

In addition to their regular week long special, Frys also has a 3 Day Sale Friday 8/17-Sunday 8/19 that includes the following:

• Shamrock Dairy Sale 50% off!!
• Kroger Skinless Boneless Chicken Breast, frozen 3 lb bag $4.77 (That is only $1.59lb!, Limit 2 bags)
• Korger Bratwurst or Italian Sausage 18 oz, limit 2 $1.99

The following items on the 3 day sale are part of a buy 10 get $5 off deal. You can mix and match the items, but the price shown is AFTER the reward (meaning you have to buy 10 qualifying items to get this price) AND you must use your shopper card to get these prices as well:

• Doritos $1.88 (after D Back rewards)
• Pepsi 2 L $.99 (after D Back rewards)
• American Beauty Pasta $.39 (16 oz, After D Back Rewards)
• Blue Almond Almond Breeze Beverage $1.99 After D Back Rewards)

Safeway (Remember their sales are almost always WITH card)

• Navel Oranges or Pears $.88
• Pantry Essentials Milk $1.67

As part of $5 Friday there is ONE deal I think is AWESOME and worth mention. Today only you can get Lucerne Chunk Cheese 32 oz for $5!!!

Sprouts

• Whole Cantaloupe 3/$1
• Red Bell Peppers 3/$1

***Remember that I generally just price match at Walmart as much as I can rather than go to all the stores separately! I LOVE being able to do that. You can also pricematch at Target, but I find it easier to pricematch at Walmart.