Umbrellas aren't always for stormy days

The neighbor boys were hiding from the sprinklers with umbrellas, so of course Daylan had to join in. It became a 30 minute 'you can't catch me' game. I love to see the boys playing and inventing new ways to play with ordinary toys. What else can you do with your sprinkler, besides keep cool?

DIY waterslide

Typical Daylan finding ways to scare mommy. At Random Lake beach they have a bumpy slide, which in itself is a rough one, but when you add a bucket of water; its a superslippin slide. The fun is just so endless when you spend it out at the beach and quite plainly anytime outdoors when the sun is shining.

Habor Fest Cardboard Boat Regatta

This was our first year at Harbor Fest with Aunt Joan! Daylan crafted a cardboard boat out of recycled art supplies. Him and Jo raced them down the 'lake'! As always Daylan's won. At the Fourth of July celebration they have an art armada where people have the chance to build their own cardboard boats and races them. One year I will get the ambition to build one.

compliments of the sheboyganpress

Nursery Desgins

I needed a change to Adelyn's nursery already. Above her crib I painted her name on 6 canvases and hung them above her crib. That got old very fast. So I repainted them all pink and decided on a tree design. I stenciled it out and cut on canvas in half and away I went painting. I used command strips to hand them and voila. I found some vinyl shelf liner at Michael's for 1.99$, what a deal! I used my circuit and cut out her name and date of birth and stuck them on the wall. It added such a personal touch. What have you used vinyl for?

Summer Sunflowers

 We purchased a sunflower kit at Target. Daylan moistened the dirt and put it in the pot. Then he picked out the perfect sunflower seeds and buried them in the pot. He added just the right amount of water and waited for them to grow. We have been keeping a science journal to practice the art of observing. I let him tape a seed in the notebook and illustrate what the planting process looks like. Every week or so we observe changes to the sunflower and journal it. Have you ever kept a log of observations?
Great books to combine with sunflower growing:

 

Eve Bunting always has a way with words in her books.
Ford is an easy read about the basics of planting sunflowers.

mixxing up

Daylan was mixing up some creations outside today. We used oatmeal, baking soda, and vinegar. He practiced measuring and mixing. His favorite was watching the bubbles form from the soda and vinegar. Maybe we will try for a good old fashioned volcano soon; so the bubbles really explode!

Nature Fort

D created a fort with the neighbor boy out of sticks, rocks and leaves. We added a kitchen with recycled bowls and buckets to mix up nature soup. He went around sprayer 'fertilizer' around everything hoping it would help it grow. Old spray bottles are like gold in our house. D loves to help squirt everything. We made a recycled wind chime to decorate his fort with and add some ambiance to the nature. What do your nature forts look like?