Summer Fun: There Are Not 104 Days of Summer Vacation

And my kids are kinda upset . . .because they only get 70!

So, we're making our "Phineas and Ferb"-inspired list of things to do, starting tomorrow (in no particular order and, of course, with full knowledge that we won't get to all of them):

1. Fly a kite.
2. Campout overnight downstairs.
3. Have a pj read-a-thon.
4. Draw and play hopscotch in the driveway.
5. Long midday bubble bath.
6. Make ice cream in a roly ball.
7. Draw with chalk inside and/or outside.
8. Paint.
9. Fondue party.
10. Learn a new song on the keyboard.
11. Build Legos--Friends or Ninjago world.
12. A night 'round the firepit singing and making s'mores.
13. Play with one of our science kits.
14. Make friendship bracelets.
15. Work on woven placemats on loom.
16. Make paper beads.
17. Make paper airplanes.
18. Game-playing marathon.
19. Play putt-putt golf.
20. Go to a zoo.
21. Sleepover with Ma and Gong, and Gommie and Pop.
22. Go to the arcade.
23. Go horseback riding.
24. Go to an art museum.
25. Go to a science or natural history museum.
26. Try a new ice cream parlor.
27. Go strawberry picking.
28. Go blueberry picking.
29. Make jam.
30. Go to the beach.
31. Build sandcastles.
32. Go swimming.
33. Make our own bubble solution.
34. Make a bundt cake.
35. Write to a pen pal.
36. Playdates with friends.
37. Tie dye.
38. Have a movie marathon (Star Wars?  Miyazaki? Harry Potter?  Disney?)
39. Go to local festivals.
40. Go see a movie in a theater.
41. Make popsicles.
42. Have an astronomy night.
43. Go birdwatching.
44. Have a lemonade stand.
45. Sort through books to give some away.
46. Do community service projects.
47. Go letterboxing.
48. Go to the library.
49. Build fairy houses.
50. Scrapbook.  
51. Go on a sketching outing.
52. Do a Star Wars craft.
53. Make something with Sculpey.
54. Celebrate July 4th.
55. Celebrate Solstice.
56. Celebrate Mama's birthday.
57. Make our own crayons.
58. Make ice cube candles.
59. Watch the Olympmics
60. Host a culture night for England, Japan, India, Egypt, Thailand, Navajo, Ethiopia, Carpatho-Russians.
61. Make fudge.
62. Make sun prints.
63. Go to concert in the park.
64. Have a picnic at a new park.
65. Visit an historic house or living history museum.
66. Make a dance CD for a family dance party!
67. Try new grilling recipe.
68. Practice meditation together.
69. Watch a new musical.
70. Hang pictures.

Spring Vacation: Staycation

Thursday and Friday were specifically dedicated to our family's spring break "staycation" since we couldn't, in good conscience, drag a recovering-from-the-flu child out of town.  So, instead we have

• indulged in a huge pancake breakfast at our favorite breakfast place, which I delighted in after my own almost two-year hiatus
• built new and old Lego sets (Sis has the Friends beauty parlor and Bud and Mama are putting the medieval castle back together again)
• danced in a brief rain shower, while trying to spot a rainbow
• watched a red-tail hawk in a nearby tree ("hawkspotting")
• watched lots of new-to-us "Phineas and Ferb" episodes, including the three-part rollercoaster arc (the original first episode, the time traveling Quantum Bugaloo, and the "Rollercoaster, The Musical.")
• visited the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport (the kids had fun but, frankly, it was awful--very poor didactics when they existed at all because they didn't give kids the info they needed to appreciate the topic at hand or answer their poorly-worded, not-open-ended questions; dirty and broken exhibits (piles of used paper, broken pens, missing stars for constellations, and numerous broken electronics); mediocre aesthetics--poorly designed and hung didactic panels in various fonts on small sheets of paper, chipped paint, dirt; lack of basic instructions or clearly intuitive procedures for hands-on activities.  All around CRAP.  The only good parts were the hands-on activities in the "My House, Your House" exhibition, with the build-your-own cabin, walk-in Mongolian ger, and the Fiji fire pit.)
• eaten lunch at Bloodroot--peanut and mustard greens soup, tofu salad with sesame oil dressing, grilled Swiss cheese, Bloodroot "burger," cheese omelet, oatmeal bread, chocolate devastation cake, brown rice pudding, and lemon-lavender posset in a china cup.  MMMMMMmmmm!  The posset might be the best dessert I've ever had there, better than the pumpkin or blueberry tofu mousses or the cranberry kissel (tied, perhaps, with brandied fruit over ice cream!).  Sis thought so, too.  But, otherwise, the kids didn't like it at all.  Which has me considering a vegetarian month here at home to break the must-have-meat/not natural foods habit.
• gardened, after a trip to the garden store--Sis got red, orange, yellow, and purple pansies plus some trailing verbena with red flowers.  We also have some sweet basil and new pink phlox for the rock wall (since the old phlox is creeping into crevices beautifully).  We spent time outside planting and watering all of these.
• played a new game called Yoome, which requires not only the game but also an iPad app.  It's hard to explain but it's basically a get-to-know-you game with dualistic (is that a word?) questions (ketchup or mustard?  winter or summer?) that one player answers secretly and the others try to guess; best guesser wins.
• read more poetry before bed, including the perfect spring poem for today:

"Maytime Magic" by Mabel Watts 

A little seed

For me to sow...

A little earth

To make it grow...

A little hole, 

A little pat...

A little wish, 

And that's that.

A little sun,

A little shower...

A little while,

And then--a flower!