I is for....

Ice Cream! We took Wed off while Kipp had surgery. Thrs, (that's actually today), we went for homemade ice cream, using the recipe our friends the Littles used. Ours ended up not quite frozen, so we stuck it in the freezer for a bit. It still ended up pretty soft serve, but it was tasty! Ilea observed, "It's like sugary soup!" They ate some, and then we stuck it in the freezer again. Stay tuned for J day tomorrow.

H is for...

Hansel and Gretel House! OK, we were having a hard time coming up with something for H. So the kids looked through my activity books and found this one. I actually had enough graham crackers, so they went to it. It was fun, and they got to eat it later.

G is for...

Gardening! Monday we did a very little gardening. Ilea had some seed to put in a pot. It was catnip, for our cat. We'll see what we get. Kyler had planted a few seeds at Cub Scout Camp and they needed to be transplanted. So he got his own pot also. We'll keep watering and hoping for some sun now!

New Carpet

On July 15 we finally got some new carpet in our family room. When we moved in, 9 years ago, we said we'd do it in about 5 years.....so here we finally are! The new carpet is a blue flecked burber, and we really like it. It's still very squishy, which feels great! Next project is to have the cat declawed....

F is for...

Flaming Geyser State Park! If you haven't been to this great park, you should do so. It used to have an entrance fee, but they took that away a few years ago. It has a model airplane field, playground, miles of hiking, cooking pits and shelters, lots of parking, and a gorgeous river with tons of rocks to throw in it. Sat we met some friends from church for a big picnic. We've been many times, and there is even a letterbox there! No picture, but enjoy the park on your own.

While we were at the picnic, Kyler won an airplane (being the only contestant). So after we went home Kipp helped Kyler make the plane and we went Flying! It flew pretty well! We all got a turn. Kipp could fly it the best, but everyone got some good tosses in.

E is for...

Early Easter Egg decorating with Egg Yolk Paint! This was Fri, day 5. We also got to Eat a picnic for lunch at the end of VBS, which was fun. Then we came home and made 5 colors of egg yolk paint. If you don't know about it, it's just an egg yolk, a few drops of water, and some food coloring. The colors are shiny, vivid, and the paint is kind of thick. The eggs came out great! I even made a rainbow one that I love! The colors sort of blurred into each other, and dried really smooth. Fun project!

D is for...

Doughnuts, Dance, and Drawing.... We got one of the kids' favorite treats for after lunch. They each picked their own. Then they Danced to their favorite video (crazy Frog), and finally Drew pictures. They made some welcome home cards for Dad, who is out of town this week.

C is for...

Clay and Cupcakes! Today, Wed 7/23, is Day 3. We really started on Monday, but I didn't get to posting everything until today. I'll try to keep up, but don't hold your breath.

The kids made Clay Characters, including Cactus, a Cobra, the letter C, Candle, Colored rainbow, and others, which may not have started with the letter C. Later Ilea helped mom make cupcakes, and both the kids decorated them. Yum!

The C thing kept going with Chicken and macaroni and Cheese for dinner. Then we Cleaned up. We also Chatted, Changed sheets, and the kids are going to sport Camp tonight. I spent time on the Computer doing some appraisal Comps. Kipp also found a music video for them called Crazy frog. They love it! I have to say it does grow on you. While they are at camp, I'll be making Cards.

B is for Books & Build a Barn

Day 2, Letter B. Did you know that if you read 8 books Barnes & Noble will give you a free book? What a deal! Both my kids have done that, and you just print out a form to fill out. They have a selection of books for different grade levels that you can choose from, about 30 books or so. Ilea chose a book by a favorite author of our, Bruce Coville. It's the first in a series called Into the Land of the Unicorns. Kyler chose Tale of Despereaux, under protest. He wanted Pokemon, but funny enough, B&N doesn't consider that quality literature! They are making a movie of Tale of Despereaux which should be out at Christmas. He'll love it.

Then we came home and built a barn from a box. The kids were both creative, with horses, straw from straws, and lots of color. It kept them busy for a long time. 2 down, 24 to go!

(Copy of) The ABC's of Summer

We got this idea from the Littles. They are doing an activity each day based on the alphabet. So for our first day we did Astronomy. Ilea had received a glow-in-the-dark solar system, so we put it up on her ceiling. (We later arranged it to be proportionally correct - it barely fits in her room). We also checked out a few books on Astronomy, and I read one out loud while the kids colored in an old space coloring book we had. We learned a few new things! For instance, did you know that Venus' day is longer than it's year? True! Plus, we learned a trick to remember the planets in order. My(Mercury) Very(Venus) Excellent(Earth) Mother(Mars) Just(Jupiter) Served(Saturn) Us(Uranus) Nine(Neptune) Pizzas(Pluto) - although we know the last one just got booted! Anyway, we're off to a great start! Stay tuned!

Camping

This year we went to Scenic Beach, on the Hood Canal. It is a really nice campground, small, with secluded sites.















We did a little letterboxing on the way over to the camp, in Bremerton. Then we set up camp and had dinner. The kids liked wading in the water, but Jenny thought it was too cold.

Sat we mostly letterboxed some more, in Silverdale. We also saw WallE, then went to Red Robin for Jenny's Birthday Burger. We like to camp in style! Back to the site for smores, swimming, and enjoying the fire.

Sun we came home. All in all it was a good weekend. Our air mattress stayed up both nights and it didn't rain! Success!