Picture Perfect ... Almost!

One of our "s" activities was to create shadow art.  I had a great idea of tracing everyones' shadows on the drive way and painting them with chalk paint (crushed paint and water).  Except I forgot just how hot the driveway gets when the sun shines.  And you have to have full sun in order to get good shadows.   So like we always do, we improvised.  I traced shadows the kids made while standing.  They traced the shadows made by nearby leaves.  Then when it came time to paint ... they painted the parts of the driveway that were completely shadowed and not hot. Not exactly what we planned but they enjoyed it anyway.  Bonus ... the chalk paint was awesome!

Yesterday the kids went to a friend's birthday party.  It was Descendants themes so D was thrilled.  Even more exciting (at least for S and I) was that it was at a Tae Kwon Do studio.  We have been trying to get both kids to try out Tae Kwon Do but with little success.  This party has changed that! They started by running around and exploring the equipment that as out. Next, they learned to stand at attention when told to.  They got into a circle and also practiced some punches and kicks. The "best" (according to D and S) part was when they did the obstacle course. The cake was cut with a big sword which the kids loved!  They also got to each break a board at the end of the party. Of course now they both want to know when they can start lessons?!?!

After a relatively not too sticky summer, July has arrived with a vengeance!  The next 2 weeks (at least) are expected to be in the mid 90s with feels like temps near 100.  That means lots of time in the pools and finding inside things to do. Yesterday I took the kids to a new-to-us bounce house.  They had a blast jumping, sliding, and zip lining for 2 hours.  They got to run off some energy and were tired when we got home. They didn't spend much time actually bouncing in the castles meant for only jumping.  In fact S informed me that just jumping was too boring.  They LOVED the zipline and spent a long time swinging then running around to do it again!

This week the kids chose letters P and B for our fun activities.   On Thursday we went to the pool and had fun.  But no pictures since I was swimming too! Tuesday we made bouncy balls from a kit I found at Target.  There was a ton of messy pouring but the kids had fun.  And surprisingly, the balls bounce pretty high! Today we combined 2 of our favorite activities into 1 - bubble blowing and painting.  I mixed food coloring (should have used washable liquid water colors) and we blew bubbles onto paper.  Easy and fun for everyone!

Our plan for the 4th of July was parade, picnic, fireworks.  Lots of fun, laughter and time for the kids to run around outside. Instead it rained!  So our 4th of July changed a bit. First we did jester crafts. Then the kids played at home.  We had a tv room picnic while watching "Ant-Man." Then we set off just a couple of fireworks in the rain. Not the day we had planned, but a good day anyway!