Even though it’s suddenly unbearably hot in Davis, I am so excited for summer and have been planning all kinds of activities for us to do as a crew of three while P is out of school for the next few months.
We already go to the library every week for new reading material (and cds/books on cds) but I’ve started to put together themed reading subjects with activities to go along with them. Since they are both into it, I have come up with lots of cooking related fun. Check out this book! Stories about food with corresponding ideas for kitchen play. I’m optimistic that my obsessive compulsive neat freak personality can let go a little…because, you know, mess is hard for me but good for kids’ learning and growth.
Blueberries for Sal…right into our pancakes!
They loooooved that the blueberries were in their pancakes (because usually I serve their fruit on the side). I made the batter the same way I typically do without any sugar and using mashed ripe bananas to sweeten them. With the blueberries added in, they were more than sweet enough. The next step is teaching THEM to make the batter, although maybe not by sight the way I do (yet).
Last week we had a fundraiser night for P’s school at Chipotle. They donated 50% of their proceeds from that night to his school! Go Chipotle.
He was very excited to support this cause (so was I – a night off cooking!).
Inspired by their excitement over eating out AT A RESTAURANT I decided to do more lunch dates with them this summer too. I think it will be much more doable now that V is dropping her nap, although swim lessons may tire them out enough to bring naps back for at least the weeks they are enrolled. We will see…it sounds good now, but only time will tell. I’m not looking to spend a ton of extra money, but I do want to do some special bonding activities with them both together.
We have been eating outside more and more 🙂
Sweet siblings.
Hydrating snacks include: watermelon, grapes, cucumbers, celery, cantaloupe, and home made POPSICLES!
Can you believe this same water table is still going strong!?
Soooo, we did something different with the hot tub…
Setting the temp down to 85 and turning it into a pool. It’s covered in shade too and has been the biggest hit ever and now I’m wondering why we didn’t do this last summer! Kyle and I go in the hot tub every night after the kids go to bed (even when it’s 40 degrees and drizzling in the middle of winter!), but once the weather hit 100 degrees we weren’t really feeling it. So I suggested we make it cooler and voila! We now have a teeeeny tiny pool. It seems a little silly, but I don’t really care because it feels glorious. The kids LOVE IT!
Summer is looking to be pretty fun. 🙂
Brilliant decision to turn down the hot tub! I bet it even feels refreshing on a hot night too.
That’s a great fundraiser to have with chipotle, especially since it can be a totally kid friendly place. (I’m bummed the tofu sofritos are too spicy for my wimpy self so i have only been there maybe twice in the past year despite the fact there’s one just a few blocks away). I’m sure the kids would be very into lunch restaurant dates- and it’s a fun way to introduce new foods and practice grown up stuff like table manners 😉
TABLE MANNERS!! Dude. Will my kids ever NOT touch everything!?!
What a great idea to use your hot tub as a pool! May I ask what brand/name your hot tub is? I totally want to get one and have NO idea where to start. I have 3 kids ages 6, 4 and 2 and sometimes bringing them to the pool is just too much work but a tiny “pool” (hot tub) in our backyard doesn’t sound half bad! Also we use our water table still all the time too. I just purchased water beads and filled the water table with those. All 3 of my kids dig it! My 6yo loves to play with his legos in them and my 2 and 4 year old just love the feeing of them and putting them in buckets.
It’s “Belize Spa”. I love the idea of water beads! Totally gonna do that this summer 🙂