sum sum summertime

All of a sudden we're halfway through August.  The thought of second grade looming in our future, I decided it would be a good time to revisit our summer list.  I enjoy making these types of lists because otherwise I would drift through the days with the vague idea that yes, didn't I want to make bouncy balls with the kids today?  But holy crap it's time to start dinner.  This is also one of the main reasons I LOVE Pinterest.  I wouldn't say I am obsessed with Pinterest, I have passed that stage thankfully.  I have a summer board, a board entirely of other peoples summer lists and of course a board with my 2012 summer ideas.  Maybe I'm a teeny tiny bit obsessed.  But you have to understand that previous to Pinterest I was a magazine hoarder and clipping saver.  This is much tidier.  Here is my list which is changing and evolving as the summer goes.  Also this isn't in an order or anything, it just is.  

The first thing we did was go to the beach.  We even made a calender and put glitter around the days we'd be on vacation.  

When we got back from our super fun week at the beach, we had another full week.  Some friends and I planned a "camp"  week  We each took a day and planned activities.  For my day I chose something already on my list.  BUBBLE RAMA.  We made giant bubbles, rainbow bubble snakes and tried bubble painting.  Bubble painting didn't go very well, but the twelve(!!!) kids still had tons of fun getting messy with soap.

unicorn poop bubble snake

1.      Bubblerama

2.      Sprinkler party

3.      Crayola factory - Lucky us we live about an hour from the Crayola factory.  I go a Living Social deal so we went.  I must say, I was pretty disappointed.  Growing up we went and it was EPIC.  It was an actual facory tour and then some coloring.  Now it's a lot of coloring and a guy behind a humungo plexiglass screen making a batch of reds.  Still at the Crayola Factory Expieriance (yes I should have known better from it's new name) I put a few how-are-crayons-made books on hold at our local library.  And as soon as we got home I showed my guys the Mr. Rogers episode when he goes to the Crayola Factory.  

4.      Movie night - so far we've watched a movie every other week.  We've viewed The Secret of Arriety, Rio and Willow.

5.      Fun mail

6.      Make ice cream

7.      Hawk mountain

8.      Camping - We had plans to camp this past weekend actually.  Blahblahblahcouldn'tgottoRicketsGlenwenttoFrenchCreekrainrainrain.  After an entire day of preparations on my part and one entire night of sleeping on the ground we woke up to find the sky had opened.  We made the executive decision to pack up and GO HOME.  Laid our sleeping mat down in the living room and continued to follow our iternirary (with one exception) and menu plan.  I thought I'd share my packing lists and menu in another post.  On day one we'd planned to visit Hawk Mountain (see 7), however we didn't know what the weather would bring so instead we decided to use our Living Social deal to see the Dead Sea scrolls at the Franklin Institute.  Here is what I loved about the exhibit, the ossuaries, the glass vessels, the letter seals, the fossilized fruit pits, the cooking vessels, the dead sea scrolls themselves.  Here is what my kids liked, leaving the exhibit.  Day two we went to the Goschenhoppen Folk Festival.  Which was AMAZING!  Day three we decided to have a simple picnic at the Daniel Boone homestead.  the website says that you can do a self led tour for free, which sounded perfect.  No one was in the mood for an old house tour.  The kids were actually excited about the idea and wanted to know more about Daniel Boone and see his stuff.  However when we got there we found out that you can only go in the house if you pay to have a led tour of the house.  So we did and of course we were all ready pull our hair out at the end.  We learned approxiametly one fact about Daniel Boone.  And sadly it seems there is nothing really there from when Daniel Boone lived there.  Most of the out buildings are origional to the time period, but NOT the property.  Anyway, we had some delicious BLTs and looked at some old stuff.  

9.      Water balloon painting

10.  make and eat magic shell

11.  grapes +toothpick  This is an all time fave.

12.  Make our own bouncy balls

13.  Letterboxing - We found a letterbox on Mt. Misery and reignited our passion for this fun activity.

14.  Go to the movies- I'd planned to take them to Brave, but heard it was scary.

15.  Berry picking

16.  go to the fair

17.  hang out with friends

18.  Go creek walking

19.  Visit a farm

20.  Do some planting

ice block fun!

21.  Tie dye party - We'll be crossing this off our list this Friday!

22.  Make vacation jar- I love the way ours turned out.  We collected lots of shells at the beach and I saved a small pail of sand.  I picked up the jar from Target.

23.  Night walk

24.  Picnic

25.  Feed the birds

26.  Seashell craft

27.  Photo scavenger hunt here is an idea I had meant to implement at a place like Daniel Boones house and I forgot.

28.  Play dough - I used this recipe and these instructions.  

29.  Color scavenger hunt

30.  Paint canvas - Ours will say "you are my sunshine"

31.  Batik flags

32.  Decorate 4th of July t shirts - These turned out SO well and we are all wearing them in the picture in our Vacation memory jar.  

33.  Solar oven

34.  ice block fun This was a huge hit!  I froze water in a large plastic container that I used to store rice in.

35.  Rain painting

36.  full body painting This is something Ro had the idea to do sometime last week. I know it's going to provide lots of fun and mess.  

berry picking baby

We have a lot left on our summer list.  I try to have a combination of outings, things to do if it's raining and things to outside.  Today is bouncy ball day.  I'll let you know how it goes.