End Of Summer & Lunar Festival

Well, we didn't complete our bucket list this summer, but we gave it our best shot! We definitely kept busy and had fun, and the last month of summer was full of rain and clouds--my favorite weather. It was one of the best summers I've had in a long time!

Yesterday was also the moon cake/lunar festival! My friend gave me some moon cakes, so I saved them for last night. She said the moon is supposed to be the biggest of the year! The cloud cover we've had has its downside, and we couldn't see any stars and couldn't find the moon. The kids loved their moon cakes, though (especially Jo). Jo kept walking around with the box of panda-shaped moon cakes saying, "It's a moon cake!" and "roar!" and "It's a bear! Roar!"

We stayed up late--well, by our standards. We'd told the kids the moon cakes were for after we saw the moon. At about 8:30, we gave up and pulled up a picture of the moon on the internet. The kids finally went down to bed at 9pm. A couple of hours later, I ducked back outside and--would you know it?--the moon was out!

Today is the official last day of summer of 2013. I am looking forward to my favorite season: fall.

Summer Bucket List Update

We've crossed a few more items off of our summer bucket list! Last weekend, we took the kids for a swim at the local rec center. Jo was in heaven! She loved the walk-in pool with the splash features. We also went and visited Andrew at work for lunch (photo above). Finally, we didn't make it to Bonnie and George's house, but they came out this way to visit us and brought us some of their home grown tomatoes.

I'm starting to worry we won't get everything done by the end of summer! I'm giving myself until the literal last day of summer (September 21) to try to get everything done. We shall see!

* Watch a fireworks display on the Fourth of July.
* Bake a berry stars & stripes cake with Oliver.
* Run through the sprinklers.
* Go to a splash park.
* Play in the "creek" at the Children's Mordecai Gardens at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
* Watch our first parade.
* Ride the outdoor train at Belleview Park.
* Visit a petting zoo.
* Take the kids for a swim.
* Have a real outdoor picnic on the grass with a picnic basket.
* Watch a sunrise.
* Go for a hike in the mountains.
* Go on a road trip.
* Go out for an ice cream cone, and eat it outside!
* Make our own ice cream, and let Oliver choose the flavor.
* Pick and eat vegetables out of the garden we're growing at Grandma Judy's house.
* Eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine at Aunt Bonnie & Uncle George's house.
* Throw water balloons.
* Go tent camping overnight.
* Look at stars in the sky.
* Visit Andrew at work for lunch.
* Take the train downtown to visit Grandpa Larry for lunch.
* Go to the Fireman's Museum.
* Use sidewalk chalk.
* Blow bubbles.
* Take Father's Day photos with the letters that spell out "DAD" again.

Father's Day Picture Gift - 2013

We just ordered the kids' Father's Day gift to Andrew a few days ago. We did this last year from Shutterfly, and I thought it came out really cute. I bought the letters from Michael's last year and decided to save them. Cute!

That also finishes another item on our summer bucket list. Woohoo, we are making progress!


* Watch a fireworks display on the Fourth of July.
* Bake a berry stars & stripes cake with Oliver.
* Run through the sprinklers.
* Go to a splash park.
* Play in the "creek" at the Children's Mordecai Gardens at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
* Watch our first parade.
* Ride the outdoor train at Belleview Park.
* Visit a petting zoo.
* Take the kids for a swim.
* Have a real outdoor picnic on the grass with a picnic basket.
* Watch a sunrise.
* Go for a hike in the mountains.
* Go on a road trip.
* Go out for an ice cream cone, and eat it outside!
* Make our own ice cream, and let Oliver choose the flavor.
* Pick and eat vegetables out of the garden we're growing at Grandma Judy's house.
* Eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine at Aunt Bonnie & Uncle George's house.
* Throw water balloons.
* Go tent camping overnight.
* Look at stars in the sky.
* Visit Andrew at work for lunch.
* Take the train downtown to visit Grandpa Larry for lunch.
* Go to the Fireman's Museum.
* Use sidewalk chalk.
* Blow bubbles.
* Take Father's Day photos with the letters that spell out "DAD" again.

Kid Friendly: Ice Cream in a Bag!

You can make ice cream with your kids by having them shake it in a bag! I must have seen this idea on Pinterest: kids can "churn" ice cream by shaking it in a bag full of ice. I looked online for a recipe and found a simple one on Disney's website. In a Ziploc bag, you add:

*1 cup of half & half
*2 tablespoons of sugar
*1 teaspoon of vanilla.

We made this recipe a few days ago, and that bag leaked a little. So, this time, we put that bag into a second one. Then, take one of those gallon-sized Ziploc bags and fill it about halfway full with ice, and add approximately half a cup of rock salt. Place the smaller bag with the ice cream mixture into the bag with the ice. Then, let your kid go crazy shaking it for about five minutes. Voila! Ice cream!

It's supposed to make a single serving, but we found we got two small servings out of it (perfect for our little kiddos). We did two of these each time. Each time, one came out pretty well, and the other didn't. So, this recipe is kind of hit-or-miss, but it's a lot of fun regardless!

This is our attempt on Tuesday night. One of the bags didn't churn well, but the other did fine.

Oliver actually lost his ice cream on Tuesday night for pushing his sister, so we tried again on Thursday night. The process was a lot better the second time, especially since I had Andrew to help me. Here they are loading the large bags with ice and rock salt:

Here are the kiddos shaking their ice cream bags. It took about 5-10 minutes of shaking to churn some ice cream. Oliver was so excited this time around, and he declared that he wasn't going to push Jo!

Just like Tuesday night, our attempt last night had one winner and one failure. The one that worked turned out perfectly!

I think the kids enjoyed it!

Well, it looks like we're making some progress on our summer bucket list. This past weekend, we went to the splash park at Centennial Center Park, and, today, we made ice cream!

Our updated summer bucket list:

* Watch a fireworks display on the Fourth of July.
* Bake a berry stars & stripes cake with Oliver.
* Run through the sprinklers.
* Go to a splash park.
* Play in the "creek" at the Children's Mordecai Gardens at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
* Watch our first parade.
* Ride the outdoor train at Belleview Park.
* Visit a petting zoo.
* Take the kids for a swim.
* Have a real outdoor picnic on the grass with a picnic basket.
* Watch a sunrise.
* Go for a hike in the mountains.
* Go on a road trip.
* Go out for an ice cream cone, and eat it outside!
* Make our own ice cream, and let Oliver choose the flavor.
* Pick and eat vegetables out of the garden we're growing at Grandma Judy's house.
* Eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine at Aunt Bonnie & Uncle George's house.
* Throw water balloons.
* Go tent camping overnight.
* Look at stars in the sky.
* Visit Andrew at work for lunch.
* Take the train downtown to visit Grandpa Larry for lunch.
* Go to the Fireman's Museum.
* Use sidewalk chalk.
* Blow bubbles.
* Take Father's Day photos with the letters that spell out "DAD" again.

a SUMMER bucket list!

How perfect is it that this just popped up from Melissa & Doug on Pinterest? I just made my first bucket list earlier this week!

http://pinterest.com/pin/216383957069005328/

They recommend making a summer bucket list. Write down all of the things you want to do this summer!

I recommend not making it too long; after all, you want to be able to complete it over these next three months. I've created a summer bucket list for my family. It includes all of the things I want to do this summer, even if we've done them in the past.

* Watch a fireworks display on the Fourth of July.
* Bake a berry stars & stripes cake with Oliver.
* Run through the sprinklers.
* Go to a splash park.
* Play in the "creek" at the Children's Mordecai Gardens at the Denver Botanic Gardens.
* Watch our first parade.
* Ride the outdoor train at Belleview Park.
* Visit a petting zoo.
* Take the kids for a swim.
* Have a real outdoor picnic on the grass with a picnic basket.
* Watch a sunrise.
* Go for a hike in the mountains.
* Go on a road trip.
* Go out for an ice cream cone, and eat it outside!
* Make our own ice cream, and let Oliver choose the flavor.
* Pick and eat vegetables out of the garden we're growing at Grandma Judy's house.
* Eat cherry tomatoes right off the vine at Aunt Bonnie & Uncle George's house.
* Throw water balloons.
* Go tent camping overnight.
* Look at stars in the sky.
* Visit Andrew at work for lunch.
* Take the train downtown to visit Grandpa Larry for lunch.
* Go to the Fireman's Museum.
* Use sidewalk chalk.
* Blow bubbles.
* Take Father's Day photos with the letters that spell out "DAD" again.

Summer Fun in the Backyard

Happy Independence Day weekend!