Activity 10

Our self-imposed summer has just one month to go! I wonder how much stuff we can pack into it?

For activity 10...we went to the beach! It was the first time for all four little marshmallows. They were in awe! Admittedly, I'm super paranoid and even though I surfed as a kid, I don't feel the ocean is for swimming since ours has a very low visibility. I'm a little uncomfortable with the kids going past thigh high and lucky for my comfort level, none of them wanted to test those boundaries. Phew!

We collected shells, sea glass and even hermit crabs that we let go afterwards. We are planning many more trips since we realized we have a beach just an hour away!

Even our dogs got in on the fun. It was exciting that they both gave us no problems on the car ride and they enjoyed walking thru the waves and romping with the kids. This has been the best activity so far!

I'm also starting to plan our school year. I'll make a separate blog soon about which choices I've made for the upcoming year.

Summer activity 8 and 9

It's hot! So far that is the point that sticks in my mind most about this summer. We've been trying to let the kids play in the mornings and after the sun goes down. In spite of the heat, we decided to brave the zoo. It was a weekday so we did get stuck in traffic for a bit, not too bad and I got to get a few skyline shots. 


The kids had a blast. I made a lunch for everyone of pita sandwiches, couscous and lentil mint salad, an apple and cupcakes. We had snacks of homemade popcorn with peanuts and pickles with cream cheese and lunch meat. The variety kept us from buying concession stand food which saved a lot of money! I even bought little zoo animals at the dollar store which kept us out of the darn expensive gift shops. We ended up spending 25.00 in gas and that's it. Pretty good for entertaining a family of eight. 

Happy birthday America! We celebrated today with food and rest. Our little town does fireworks on the third of July, so that left time for me to concentrate in the kitchen. A big hit this year was the mini apple pies. I just hollowed out the apples with a spoon, filled with applesauce mixed with cinnamon and a little brown sugar, cut circles out of pre-made pie crust...and tada! Cute little treats!

Activity 5, 6, and 7

Wow, what a super busy two weeks. Our most exciting activity was closing on our house! We are super excited. It has great bones but we also get to renovate.

Next, we started and completed our first project. We have a big yard but I wanted a corner off the deck as a hands on discovery center. I took ideas from the Lowe's May creative ideas magazine and ideas from those HGTV yard crashers. The kids love it!

And lastly...I've been searching for an older dog for a while now. Our 1 year old Jersey is rambunctious and an escape artist. She wants to play with other dogs so bad, she goes to great lengths to escape and find other doggies. We knew she'd be too rowdy for a puppy. So along comes Dude a neutered male boxer. He was well taken care of, has great manners and so far it's been great. He is so gentle with the kids and he craves their attention without being annoying or hurting them. He seems to really like out dog Jersey and I have a feeling our house is perfect for him. Yay for everything going great!

We all scream...

...for ice cream!

We had an hour break from the rain tonight and got ice cream for everyone.

Activity 3-car wash

Workin at tha car wash


Today was a good day. We are participating in the summer library program so we did that, had lunch and even took a nap. Nice for mommy at least! ha

To end our day I set up one of the home activities I wanted to do...car wash! Even my big kids didn't mind this because it was so hot and the water was refreshing. The little marshmallow's had a blast. Some water, soap and a few wash cloths and they are in heaven. They must have washed their cars two or three times a piece. Just in time too, because a big thunderstorm is rolling in. We are suppose to go to the pool tomorrow, but we might get rained out. I need to check over my list and find an indoor activity.

Happy summer! 

Activity 2/What We Did This Summer-2012

6 in the bed and the little one said "roll over...roll over."

We were all hoping for our activity to be more exciting today-however first the heat was oppressive. Yuck, like clothes stick to your body oppressive. Instead we sort of camped out all day in my room. Then it ended up raining. More boo. So we are again watching movies. At least we ordered some new one's. First up was Journey 2, which is silly and after the four littles are in bed we will watch John Carter. We are hoping the imbd score is wrong and it is better than the critics say. 

Summer Fun Day 1

Today began our family 2012 daily summer adventures. My goal is to do something fun everyday. Yes, I'm being a bit ambitious. Someday's I have blocked to do the same weekly activity but other's we will do something different. We will do paid activities and activities that cost little to nothing. The main goal is just to have fun as a family.

I woke up around 7:30 and made a quick breakfast of a hashbrowns and eggs. Good thing it was a hearty breakfast because they ran around playing hard.

Today's adventure was at a splash park. The marshmallows are very social and quickly made some friends to make sandcastles and splash around. We had lunch and everyone crashed at home to veg out for a couple of movies. We will top our day off with a grilled dinner, some kiddie pool time and a purple cow coke float. Fun. Fun!

Summer time!

It's summer! For the first time in forever, we are actually taking a real summer break too. The kids are super excited. If you're interested check back often. I plan to blog about our summer adventures, kindergarten graduation and getting ready for the new school year!