Summer Fun Update III

Recently, we have done the following:

• Have a lemonade stand (cookies for cancer?):  helped the local cat shelter
• Make friendship bread starter and share--Sis says "no."
• Party/activity in honor of Aunt Sis:  planted two memorial hydrangeas, which aren't happy with the heat
• Go swimming at Y with friends:  Well, we went swimming by ourselves at the Y.  We'll go with Gommie
• *Go to nature center:  for camp!
• *Go to aquarium:  for camp!
• *Go to bird festvial:  Such fun!  Loved the Eastern Screech Owl
• Host a sleepover with friends:  went to a sleepover with several friends; had one sleepover last week and stayed up watching Minecraft videos and making fudge

Still to Do, Maybe:

• *Beach trip in city--in August
• *Putt-putt golf--maybe an indoor monster glow-in-the-dark one
• *Baseball game--probably not
• Go to outdoor concert--probably not
• Have a barbecue (after bricking fire pit)
• Raise butterflies--Nope, too late
• Mario kart-athon
• Movie night
• Old tv show marathon (ours or theirs)
• *Go to Renaissance festival--probably in September
• *Go to zoo
• Stargazing at observatory
• *Biking--I'm thinking of trying biking
• Try a new craft/art project/Make ice cube candles/make soap/Activity kit day:  all very similar.  Maybe.
• Learn to cook weekly dinners
• Learn how to work washer/dryer
• Hang pictures.
• Make popsicles/Make homemade virgin pina coladas--maybe make virgin pina colada popsicles?
• Make blankets for cat shelter/Community service project (volunteer with cats?)--maybe
• Learn a new game
• Learn a new magic/card trick
• *Go letterboxing or geocaching locally
• Start afternoon tea party tradition ("Tea Tuesdays")/Practice making lemon curd and clotted cream--maybe just have one big tea party
• Pajamas day
• No electricity day
• Kite flying
• Wash car
• Buy new couches?
• Do nothing special

Done:

Meet friends at ice rink:  Yep, it's now a weekly event.

*Attend town festival in June/volunteer at historic house:  we did this before school was even out!

Family book club (we're reading Menagerie and also Redwall):  I started Menagerie over 4th of July weekend.  It was pretty good.  The kids haven't started Redwall yet.

Eat Dole Whip:  first night of summer, we got Dole Whip and Fluffernutter sundaes!

Make ice cream:  Strawberry Soda is great.  Peaches and Cream is great, too.

Picnic:  we had a deli picnic, but I hope to do something more sophisticated soon.

Watch some movie musicals:  we started by watching "Lost Broadway Treasures" and other compilations of famous songs.

Play in sprinkler:  and used it to make a slippery water slide!

*Go to culture festival (Scottish, Irish, Greek, etc.):  we loved the Greek festival food, as always!  

Decorate chalkboard for summer:  we started our own mini-drawings of Awesome Summer Things.

Celebrate 4th of July:  Yes, we did!

Celebrate Solstice:  they stayed up "all night," which was midnight for Sis and about an hour later for Bud.  I even played Mario Kart with them at midnight.

Celebrate Mama's birthday:  a weekend of take-out meals and movies!

Birthday party for kids:   Minions movie birthday party, with decorate-your-own-Minion jars and Minion cupcakes.

Learn how to clean bathrooms:  Bud earned a ticket for this already--on his own initiative!

Learn an ASL sign a day (or more)

Learn some computer coding using Scratch:  they have started making a cat draw stars around the earth.

Make shrub for 4th of July:  Bud and I really like it

Photos with public art around town ("benching," Bud called it)  We're about a third of the way done.

Attend friends' Friday Night Dance Party:  for first one, the kids swam and tried "kiddy crack" (butter-cinnamon-sugar spread on graham crackers); they also like badminton, or "chaosminton" with several shuttlecocks.

Explore new music genres together ("Music Mondays"):  we started with the 80s, then Celtic (Secret of Roan Inish soundtrack), Broadway, jazz, and patriotic.  Not sure what this week will be.

Research places to go in England, etc:  I'm reading Susan Branch's book about falling in love with the English countryside

Purge and donate toys and books:  doing really well with this; lots of donations.  Kids prepping to have room makeovers.

Do a 1000 piece puzzle:  Bud and Mama are our puzzlers--they've done cupcakes, Broadway, London, New York, among others.