Pirate Treasure Maps <<Argh>>

My (not so) little boy has a birthday right around the corner, and while he's been planning it the last two months, just now have I jumped on board in preparing for it. He's picked a pirate theme for the party, which is interesting because not once has he shown interest in pirates before. But whether it's the lure of sword fighting or... wait... it's gotta just be the sword fighting.

We're putting together goodie boxes in the shape of treasure chests full of things like eye patches, bouncy ball "cannons", pirate gold, hats, and even swords. I figured a treasure map for each kid was in order, so this morning we sat at the computer and cut and pasted clip art from various websites to make or own maps, then printed them in black and white so that the kids could add their own color.

This activity took up some time, which was a good thing. The kids were so excited about it because they were able to feel like they were helping prepare for the party. Here's what our map ended up looking like, printed on cardstock for durability.

Big Picture Painting

Never underestimate the fun that can be had in simple activities. Today on our trip to the mega "grocery" store (one that I have declared boycotting many times, but like an addiction I just keep going back) I went down the craft isle. I let the kids pick out an afternoon activity. We walked out of there with a poster board for each kid.

My son got real creative with his painting, using some old packing foam as a paint brush, making some fun and different strokes. My daughter thought her poster board actually looked fine blank, and has not painted anything yet. My guess is I'll have to shoo my son away from it for at least a week, it will be the center of petty arguments, till finally I can let him paint it behind my daughters back. Yay, that's how things work in this house. :)

Kids museum day

I live in a big metropolitan area. I'm not sure what the population is exactly, but I know it's over a million people. With size like that you would think we have things like a decent museum, but you would be wrong. Until this year.

Our previous pathetic building of a kids museum was just renovated, and now we have something worth mentioning to visitors. Since I'm always looking for fun things to do with the kids in a place where my shoes won't melt to the pavement, I bought a membership. I'm sure we will spend plenty of time here this summer.

Summer reading program at the library

I think every library across the country has a summer reading program for the kids to stay interested in books, and not loose their skills gained from school during the break, complete with game boards and prizes. This week we went on down to our closest library and signed up. The kids are really excited about it, let's see if that excitement lasts long enough to finish the game! Lol

(I like this picture... You can just barely make out the top of "Molly Dolly's" head smooshed beneath the books.)

Camping!!!!

I can't think of a better summer time activity than camping. I love it. It's relaxing and refreshing, and I always feel recharged after being in the fresh, clean air away from city noises. The kids can get as dirty as they want and you don't have to worry about it getting on your freshly mopped floors, then you don't even have to worry about bathing them at bedtime... just let them soak when you get home. :)

This trip was extra great because we went with the boy scout troop. That meant there were plenty of parents there to help watch all the kids, and plenty of friends to occupy my kids, which meant I could actually sit down and enjoy the sunset with a hot cup of coffee.

Three days, two nights, and now we're back home with the bad part of camping... laundry and clean up. Blah.

Summer 2013

Well, I didn't really post that much over the school year. My kids were both in school and had different schedules with their extra circulars, plus I went back to work full time. I've been hanging on by a thread... Barely.

Towards the end of the school year show and tell was no longer well thought out and matching the theme of the week, but instead whatever plastic gold we could dig out of the car seat cushions in the parking lot. Reading logs got looser and looser on what I'd let fly as counting, and towards the end I even let my son pack his own lunch and he went to school with chips and a cookie. Yes, chips and a cookie.

My first reaction is, "Thank goodness it's summer!!" But that joy is shortly followed by fear. It's hot. The kids have energy. I partially work from home. How is this going to work???? Here we go on round two of finding 104 days worth of activities for them.

Day one it was my husbands idea to take them go carting. Go Daddy, great idea! We found a place that was reasonably priced and the kids had a blast!!

Egg Carton Toss Game

I save all kinds of "garbage" that I think might be useful in a craft someday, I think it's left over from my childhood days of hoarding toilet paper tubes for all my inventions, like radios and time travel machines. But under my kitchen sink was getting a little crazy and out of control, so when I got off work an hour early this last Friday, and somehow didn't have anywhere we needed to be... it was craft time!

 

 

I really didn't have a game plan when we started, I kind of made it up as we went. First I lined up all the egg cartons in a row, stacking the egg part on top of the lid part, tucking the little tab downward to form a tight fitting row.

 

 

Then I cut off the the closing part of the front carton.

 

 

And the lid of the last carton.

 

 

Then I got out the paints and we started giving our creation some color. We made up rules for a game as we painted, like red spaces are worth 100 points, dotted spaces are bomb spaces and you loose a turn, the brown space wins the game. By the time we were done painting my son had made up so many rules I had no idea how we were going to play... I couldn't keep track, and I don't think he could either!

 

 

After a short time the paint was dry and it was time to play! We gathered little balls from the toy room, designated a line to stand behind, and started taking turns tossing the balls into our new game. My sons rules grew as the game went on, and my daughter got frustrated at loosing her turn so many times (somehow she always landed on the "loose your turn" spaces), that the game quickly fizzled from being organized to being a free for all. The game evolved as the weekend went on, and was well worth the space spent saving those things.

Catch those sales!!!!!

There are two times of the year when it makes sense to stock up on crafting supplies. The first is in August. Those back to school sales are great for buying all your glue, tape and markers for the entire year. The second is after Christmas/New Years.

Almost every store out there has holiday stuff they want to get rid of cheap and fast. Ribbon, tissue paper, holiday themed kits, gift tags, etc. All this stuff might seem worthless to some, but to a person looking for odds and ends to fill craft boxes for the year it's a gold mine. I recently picked up ribbon spools for 10 cents, paper for 15, and a huge box of foam stickers for only 15 cents. Score!
Moral of the story? Think out side of the box, hunt those clearance signs, and stock up!

Winter Break Sledding

It's amazing how quickly winter break flew past us! It was so jam packed with activities that I didn't even have time to sit and write about them!! We took a trip to the local children's museum, traveled out of state to visit family, had a sleepover with some friends, but I think the highlight of the vacation was sledding. It started by going out in the backyard to play. You know, throw a few snowballs, make some snow angels, that sort of thing.

 

I expected this to last only 5 or 10 minutes before everyone froze and was back inside with wet socks asking for hot cocoa, but no. Instead they found the sleds (and the lid to the recycle bin) and asked to go sledding. So we took a walk to the park where the biggest hill in the area is.

We weren't the only ones with this idea, the hill was packed with excited kids bundled up, screaming with joy. Even with some wipeouts, tumbles, and a close call with a tree, no one was hurt. We sledded until my behind was frozen (I really need to find adult sized snow pants!) so I made the call and we headed back home. The way the kids talked about the fun they had on that hill made me any frozen cheeks a joy.

Pipe Cleaner Friends

Oh, how time flies! I feel like these last few weeks (OK, nearly a month and a half) have gone by in the blink of an eye! We moved. My son started at a new school. We had to trade in our summer ritual of eating a relaxed breakfast in our jammies for clock watching and lunch packing. We packed and unpacked a sea of brown cardboard boxes. And to top it all off I went back to work full time. To say the least it's been nuts!!

BUT, there's always a silver lining in everything. Even though our time was limited, we found a little of it here and there for some fun. One of the things we did was really quite simple, even amongst the moving chaos. I bought some pipe cleaners and pompoms at the store (they actually came all together, even included some googly eyes). And we got creative twisting and turning, gluing and giggling, and came up with some very neat creatures.

The one piece of advice I have for you if you find the same combo pack in the store is this: Directions for how to make the cute animals on the outside of the package are NOT included. I assumed they were, and it wasn't until we got home and I read the small print on the back that stated the pictures were only ideas... one of them even used products that weren't supplied in the pack. :( At least it was only a minor set back, but now I'm a little wiser.

 

Here's what our pile of supplies looked like. We used tacky glue.

 

 

End of Summer Summary

Wow, this summer has been a whirlwind! I can hardly believe that we're preparing for school to start soon, and many of my friends are already posting back to school pictures on their facebook wall. These last couple of weeks have been especially crazy for our family, and that is why I have not posted ideas on the blog. Just two weeks ago we made the decision to move to a new home before the first day of school. So in these last 12 days I have found a new job in a new city, found a house in this new city, and have been quickly saying good bye to all our friends here and packing boxes. The first day of school for my first grader is Monday, so we still have a lot to do in a short amount of time. All creative ideas have been put on the "keep in mind for later basket".

So what have I learned this summer? That summer vacation is not something to be afraid of. Yes, it was exhausting and we're all looking forward to school starting back up. However I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the freedom that the lack of structure gave us these last couple of months. If we didn't have anything planned we took our time getting dressed, ate breakfast on the couch, and enjoyed plenty of laughs being silly while brushing our teeth. These are things that will change in a week. "Stop goofing off and brush those teeth! We have to leave in 2 minutes!"

What does this mean for the future? I've really enjoying writing this blog over the summer. It's been a win-win situation. I liked being accountable to all of you to come with fun activities, my kids have enjoyed all of the cool things we've done, and I've gotten really great feedback from friends who've enjoyed gaining ideas. So I don't want this journey to end. I plan on keeping up with the posts over the school year. But my goal won't be nearly as ambitious. Instead of trying to post daily my goal is to post two to three times per week. That would mean fun Mommy/kid activities on the weekend, and once or twice in the middle of the school week. I think that's realistic for me.

I have really enjoyed the aspect of helping ideas spread, so if you have something you're proud of please feel free to share it on my facebook page, 104 Days of Summer Vacation. Maybe your idea is just what another mom is looking for.

Well, I'm off to pack some more boxes, then head to Target to pick up our school supply list I haven't even touched yet. I hope they still have a small selection of folders to choose from and we're not stuck with the ugly reject folder. ;)

Bead Bracelets

During the school year I was right on top of preparing a fresh and healthy breakfast for the kids every morning. As the summer has progressed on I've gotten more and more lenient about what can be classified as breakfast. Most mornings I've been able to pass off a banana or a bowl of yogurt as this most important meal. (Although I have those dark days too... like the one morning I let the kids open a box of crackers for breakfast.) But this morning I decided to get on top of it again and make a hot meal. Whole wheat pancakes (with white chocolate chips) was the winner.

While I was cooking them up my son busied himself at the table with a container of beads. By the time the kids were done eating and I sat down to eat he had already finished a bracelet.

Here's a tip: If the kids are stringing beads on a thin string (this is a stretchy material) in which it doesn't make sense to tie a knot at the end to keep the beads from falling off, use a piece of tape to hold the end down.

As the day unfolded we ended up going out to Hobby Lobby to get some more beads. My daughter was in heaven! She found seed beads and thought they were just great. She thought they were "shrunken" beads. After looking at small beads, and sparkly beads, and dark beads, and giant beads, and swirly beads, and shiny beads we picked out some that my son wanted to make a torch necklace out of.

We didn't actually have time to finish the torch (we had to run off to the eye doctor). But I'm sure he'll finish it before breakfast is over tomorrow.

Baked Clay Pots

While we were at the fair yesterday, sitting and watching the people doing the pottery demonstration, I mentioned to my son that I think I know how we can make some pots at home. Well, I think that's all he thought about from that moment on, because when we got home last night, as tired as we all were, he asked again and again if we can make pots. I told him we'd talk about it tomorrow.

Well, rise and shine first thing this morning and he's asking me when we can make some pots. I got him to hold off until after breakfast, and after getting dressed, and then I couldn't hold him at ease any longer... the pot making began.

The recipe is really quite simple.
1/2 c salt
1/2 c flour
1/4 c water
I used whole wheat flour so they turned out brown, but if you use white flour you'll have a white "clay".

Mix everything together until it forms a ball.

Shape as desired. We cut out a circle using the top of a scoop.

Then coil some clay snakes around the circle. We smooshed the sides together with our fingers.

Bake at 200 degrees for about 3 hours. The bottoms of our pots were kind of thick so they were a little soft still. We turned them upside down, exposing the soft part, and baked for another hour.

They have a little sparkly look to them when finished. We haven't decided yet if we're going to paint them or not, but chances are good that we will... everything seems to end up painted in this house.

County Fair

It seems like I've made so many outings lately, but there's just so much to do over the summer that it's hard to stay home! And I realized this morning that we hadn't been to the county fair yet, and there aren't that many days left to make the trip.

I piled the kids in the car at around 10am, stopped at the ATM to make sure I had cash just in case I needed it to park (which I did), and about a half hour later was going through the entry gate. I thought we'd only be there for about 2hrs, but there was simply so much to see and do that we didn't leave until over seven hours later!

We saw lots of different animals; in petting zoos, livestock show barns, and educational farm mock ups. By far my sons favorite was the baby pigs. He could have spent the entire seven hours petting those pigs if I let him!

We found a mini circus that had shows every hour and a half, so we had to watch. I was really amazed at the quality of those performers. They had good tricks, were fast paced, and very entertaining. Well done!

We found a pottery wheel demonstration. They even let the kids take a little dollop of clay to shape. Unfortunately they didn't get to keep it, but add this one to the list of things my son wants to learn now.

There was an area that explained how weaving works. They had a large table set up that let you feel how different fur feels from different animals. The other side of the table had tufts of plant based fuzz to feel, like bamboo and hemp. I thought this area was really interesting, I liked how hands on it was.

A guy selling knives was demonstrating how sharp they are by making some really cool vegetable sculptures. I'm going to have to try some of these for myself.

There was an area set up with all sorts of good info for people to grow their own plants at home. There was this really neat picture frame box to make a vertical garden. This is another thing I want to try and make now.

I still can't believe that we stayed there over seven hours! But it was well worth it because we all had fun. My feet ache now, and the kids stayed up way too late, but oh well. That's what summer's for, right?

Neighborhood Bike Ride

Thinking back to when I was a kid I have so many fond memories made on my bicycle. I rode that thing everywhere, it was attached to my hip (ha ha). I'd ride it around town to get from point A to point B. I'd ride it with my family to the park. I'd ride it down to and along the river, and I'd ride it through the country roads where I wouldn't see a car for miles. I even competed in bike rodeos as a child, and still have a trophy I won one year. As a teenager I rode it on weekend bike tours, completing 300 miles in a 3 day weekend, stopping to camp overnight. It was fantastic.

Even now a-days I bike when I can. I've made several trips to the grocery store with the kids in the bike trailer (I can fit three bags of groceries in there along with the kids). And I took my son to school many times this last year riding in the trailer. But I had to stop. He simply got too big for it. And he wasn't a strong enough biker to ride alongside me yet. So you can imagine my excitement this summer when he finally decided to leave his training wheels in the dirt and become a two wheel riding "expert".

He's been practicing hard, and today I felt he was ready to try a "real" bike ride. With my daughter in the trailer, my son on his two wheeler, and my husband next to me on his bike we rode all over the neighborhood. We went passed three different parks, stopping in at one so my Olympian in training could show Dad a trick he can do on one of the play structures. We found a new bike trail, but the sign alerting us of the coyotes made my son nervous. The thought of climbing back up the steep hill that sloped downward at the trail head made me nervous. So we kept to the sidewalk and made our way back home.

It was so much fun. I'm really looking forward to many more family bike rides, and I'm so happy that I'm helping my children build their childhood memories with this kind of summer fun.

Round Cereal Bars Recipe

I'm only human after all. This entire week has slipped past me with out posting our activities! I usually sit down to type after the kids go to bed, but with the Olympics on I've been glued to the TV and have left my computer to sit and collect dust.

Here's a recap of some of the things that happened this week. There was a guys fishing day, where the boys went out to the lake to see what they could catch (which ended up being nothing, but the bonding was good).

While they did that we had a girls day in which we made heart shaped purple cookies, painted our toe nails, played with the princess dolls and watched a girl movie uninterupted by big brother complaining about it.

This week we also went to a street fair and shared a funnel cake, went swimming, rode our bikes, spent even more time at the park, and watched the sun set.

To refuel ourselves today I made a batch of cereal bars. They're kind of like a Nutrigrain Bar base. There are several variations you can make from this recipe, based on your taste, what you have on hand, and how nutritionally packed you're trying to make them. I've tried to include all these options in the easiest to read format.

Round Cereal Bar Recipe

Combine
     1 c rolled oats
     1 c whole wheat flour **or 3/4 c white flour + 1/4 c wheat germ**
     2/3 c brown sugar
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp salt
     **optional add 1 scoop protein powder or 1/4 c powdered milk
Add
     1/4 c oil **or 2 T oil + 2 T unsweetened applesauce**
     1 egg **or 1 T milled flax seed + 2 T water**
     1 tsp vanilla
     1/4 c apple juice **or white grape juice**
     **optional add 2 T pureed veggies, yams work well with recipe
Optional (but highly recommended) Stir In
     1/2 c to 1 c any combination of nuts, seeds, dried fruit &/or choc chips
          (I personally like to add mostly healthy add ins, what ever I have handy, and then
          just a sprinkling of choc chips to make the kids think they're getting a sweet treat.)

There's two options to bake the treat. My favorite is #1 because it is easy to transport so this snack can be taken on outings without falling apart. Option #2 is better for at home snacks.

#1. Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin. Fill tins 2/3 full. Depending on how many fruits and nuts you added it might not fit nicely in 24. You can either bake it in 2 batches, or put the remainder in a random dish and bake one big treat, or fill them all the way full and just have big snacks (they're harder to get out when you do this). Bake at 325 for about 20.min, until set and browned. Cool for about 5-10 min before removing, and then let cool completely before storing.

#2. Spread mixture evenly into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 325 for 30-40 min until golden brown. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

I over filled my tins a little and you can see in this picture what happened. You don't want them spilling over the sides like that. It makes it harder to take them out.

And you get crumbling like this.

Crumbled or not this recipe is a winner. It never fails that when I take this snack kids gobble it up and moms want to know how to make them. I took a batch to a play date at a friends house today and there were none left over to take home.