Fun Summer Activity #5: Swim, swim, and swim some more

Step 1: sign your kids up for two weeks of swimming lessons

Step 2: get invited to house-sit for friends with a pool for 10 days

Step 3: watch your kiddos fall asleep everyday as soon as their heads hit the pillows

As you can tell, we've been doing some swimmin'. Lots and lots of it.

Also some sitting on the side with feet in the pool.

Daddy train

Making up tons of jumps, including the turn-around, the star, and the shredder

going off the diving board

and turning into little fish!

I'm really going to miss that pool.

Fun Summer Activity #4: Beach Camping

Along with clam digging, bike rides, and eating scones around the campfire, not much beats the beauty of the coast. My parents camped next to us and we had a blast. It was over way too soon!

Here's the gang in Cannon Beach right after a tasty lunch at Mo's!

We stopped to play at Hug Point and my mom and I couldn't get over how much this lady looked like her dog. Not a great picture, as I was trying to be discreet. But it still makes me laugh.
Wyatt loves those waves, and being silly.


And mom has a tradition of making scones on the fire in lieu of s'mores. All you need is a store bought scone mix, these handy sandwich/scone makers, butter, and her incredible raspberry jam, and you get....



This! Can you say yummy?

Fun Summer Activity #3: Water Park (and other stuff)

This week Craig was working up in Portland for my Aunt, so the kids and I headed up for a night to visit, and on our way home we met up with my sister-in-law and her 3 girls at a park in Wilsonville.

The kids had a blast, and despite the clouds it was actually a fairly warm day for playing in the water.

This water park is lots of fun, and I would recommend it if you are anywhere near the area for a day trip. In fact, we may go again later this summer! You can't miss it if you head East off I-5 in Wilsonville, it's on the right.

Behind the water area is a park with this amazing slide and lots of sand which my kids could have playing in for hours.

Earlier that morning we stopped in at OMSI. Here is my daughter petting a rat. I can hardly believe she is my own flesh and blood.

Let me assure you, the hairs on my neck were standing as I snapped these pictures. But I did my best to hide my feeling since I am trying not to pass on my fear of mice/rats to my offspring.

OMSI is a fun place and the kids always enjoy it. My in laws were so generous to buy us a year round pass for the Gilberthouse in Salem (for Wyatt's b-day this year), which also gets us in free to OMSI all year! Quite the deal, and we don't feel pressured to stay all day (just to get our $$$ worth!)

I scored this cute red bench from my aunt!

And the boys had fun climbing the monkey bars in her Portland backyard!

Lovin' Summer!

Fun Summer Activity #2: Pickin' Strawberries

Yesterday a friend and I headed out for a day of strawberry pickin'. It was nice and cool out and we had a great time. I ended up with 28 pounds, and will be making jam, and freezing a lot for smoothies and such. They are so yummy!

We ended up picking at two fields. This was the first and was pretty sparse and full of thistles that scratched our hands when we picked. As we got there I instructed the kiddos to only pick, big, ripe berries. After about 15 minutes of pickin' Will, (my perfectionist child who greatly takes after his father) came back with 2 berries in his bucket. If you know Will, you know how hilarious I found this. He would not pick an unripe berry. He would not pick a dirty berry. He would not pick a berry by a thistle. I love him!
Then he says in frustration, "Mom, if you blog about this be sure to say this is the worst place in the world to pick berries!!" Granted it was not THE WORST place I have ever picked berries. But if you are a perfectionist like Will, you might not enjoy it. He finally let me help him fill his bucket.

We quit after 15 pounds, and stopped off at another place we had passed on the way out. Their berries were .20 more/lb. but worth it. The rows were about 4x as wide and no weeds. They also have other varieties for harvest in July, like marion and raspberry. Will enjoyed this place MUCH more. We may go back!

All in all, it was a fun (yet tiring) day. I'm really glad the kids get to experience it. We will savor those frozen berries and jelly come winter time!

Fun Summer Activity #1: Oobleck

This week has been a whirlwind of activity and crazy busy at our house. Today marks our first full day of summer and we are spending it inside since the weather is rainy (awesome thunder and lighting storm last night) and I have a little boy with terrible allergies who was up last night wheezing and having trouble breathing (visit to the doctor later this afternoon). This morning I am making myself find time to sit down at the computer and blog!

I am posting something we did over the weekend, mostly to keep me accountable for all the fun summer activities I have rolling around in my head to accomplish these next three months. I will try to post them under "fun summer activities" so you all can see what we're up to.

So moms, my question is: Does this picture make you cringe??

This is called oobleck (I think), although you could call it whatever you want, and it is just about the easiest thing to make. I do recommend this activity for the outdoors, and have a hose handy for spray down for the kiddos (and your porch) when finished.
It is the weirdest stuff, feels like you can grab it, but then just melts in your hands. Try your feet in the oobleck, too, like Wyatt did.

The recipe:

1 part cornstarch

1 part water

mix and color with tempura paint if desired

I would also recommend putting it in a large container, mine was a little crowded for three kids to play around.

Definitely cheap (the entire box of cornstarch was less than $1 and I didn't use all of it), easy, and provided a fun sensory experience for the kids.

HAPPY SUMMER!