Ice Cube Sailboats and Ice Treasure Hunt

I thought I was really behind in the blog, but I'm not.  I guess we just haven't done much.  Well we did do sun printing, but I don't have an after picture yet.  So I'll share today's activity.  We did Ice Cube Sailboats and an Ice Treasure Hunt.

Ice Cube Sail Boats
Supplies:
*Ice Cube Tray
*Food Coloring
*Tooth Picks
*Squares of Paper
*Wax Paper

Fill the ice cube tray with water and add drops of of food coloring.  I did about 3 drops of each color and then mixed colors per box instructions.



I then covered the tray with wax paper (though my husband says I should have used seran wrap) and poked toothpicks through.

Add paper squares to your tooth picks.  (I used 2x2 inch squares of construction paper)



Set Sail!

I love the swirls that it made in the water.

What was left of our sail boats.

 
Ice Cube Treasure Hunt
Supplies
*Container to freeze water in
*Toys to freeze
*Ways to melt the water

I gave Brock a squirt gun, water bottle and a medicine dropper

When I froze the water, I did it in layers.  I filled my container up about 1/3 of the way and inserted some toys, then froze it and then added another 1/3 and added more toys and so on.

Our Dog Maci Cooling Off

This little guy came to visit.  There were two of them.  I can't believe how many toads we have this year.

Brock finally threw the ice block in the pool and let the water melt it.  Took the easy way out : )

I might not be around as much this week.  Mark has the week off and we've got some family stuff planned.  But when I get back, I'll probably have a huge post!

Bleached Shirts

Today's activity didn't go quite as planned.  It turned out okay, and Brock is proud of his products so that is all that matters.

Today we made bleached shirts.  I found the idea here. Her's turned out so cute!

Here's my tutorial though not as good as the one above.

Supplies:
*Solid T-shirts (I get mine at Hobby Lobby)
*Bleach
*Spray Bottle with fine mist setting
*Squirt Guns

Process:

Cut a stencil out of freezer paper and iron to your shirt shinny side down.  Put a piece of cardboard in between the layers.

Before you allow your child to attack the shirts with a squirt gun, mist around your cut out so it is sure to stand out.  Then let your child squirt the front and back.  He should be wearing gloves, but I missed that step.  And yes his pants are backwards and he is wearing my old shirt ha ha.

Let this shirts sit in the sun for a few minutes to let the bleach take affect.  This won't take long and be sure not to let them sit too long or you'll get holes. 

Rinse, wash and dry.  I did this all with machine, but they were still a little damp so I hung them outside to snap this final picture. 

A few tips I have, don't let your child get too crazy.  I think ours got too wet and the freezer paper just didn't hold up.  Either way, it was pretty fun.

Picking Strawberries and Strawberry Shortcake

Saturday we went Strawberry Picking at Ed Dunneback and Girls Farm Market (facebook).  We had so much fun.  Some of the things on The List I'm uncertain of how Brock will react, or how much fun he'll have.  But he really seemed to enjoy picking strawberries.

Okay, so he's a little lazy when it comes to picking. : )

Caught you snacking!

Miss Emma hanging out

And of course the rewards are sweet.  My husband and Brock made Strawberry Shortcake on Sunday with the berries we picked! Yumm!

Caught you snacking again!

 

Also a quick note. I've gotten a few emails from people saying they aren't getting my updates in their email. After you subscribe, you will get an email in your inbox asking you to confirm it, so make sure you do that. You aren't going to want to miss a thing!

Playing Catch Up

We got a little busy so I haven't updated.  I'm sorry.

So lets see, first up is picnic at a new park.  We went to Lemery Park in Wyoming, MI.  It was nothing fancy as far as child playset, but it got the job done. 

There were some other things there to do, like a tennis court and I think a trail, but Brock wasn't intrested or is still too young.

We also had a picnic at the park.  This is one thing we'll probably do often this summer, but this time was our first time eating on our new blanket!

And of course we brought some of our yummy applesauce!

This picture cracks me up.  She's so serious!

The next day was rainy and yucky.  But Brock really wanted to get out of the house.  So I often check into grkids.com (Here is their facebook) to find fun things for us to do.  Well I happened to notice they were going to have trucks at East Grand Rapids Branch of the Kent District Library.  Brock LOVES all kinds of trucks and him and Mark have been reading a book about ABC's of Trucks, so I thought this would be perfect...even if it was rainy. 

Do you know what is sad?  Brock can tell you all of these construction vehilcles and I probably couldn't tell you even one.  He's so in his element here.  He had a blast!

Apple Sauce and Picnic Blanket

Today we made apple sauce in the crock pot.  It's pretty darn good!

Here is the recipe:

Supplies:

§        8 medium sized apples
§        1 cup of water
§        ½ cup of Sugar
§        1 teaspoon of cinnamon

 Directions:

1.     Peel and core the apples.  Cut them into bite size pieces.

2.     Place apples, water, sugar and cinnamon in a crock-pot and cover.  Cook on high for 2 hours.

3.     Continually check on apples and mash with potato masher until desired consistency is achieved.  Add more sugar if desired.

4.     Cook on low for another 2-3 hours

And of course, here are some pictures :)

Brock wanted to eat all the apples.  As soon as I dumped them out he took a big bite out of one...

And then taste tested them once we had them sliced...

And again when we had them diced for the crock pot.

And because I'm horrible at taking the after pictures, that is all we have.  But trust me, it is yummy!  And the house smelled delicious!

For those of you wondering whatever became of our Ice Painting, I'll show you know.  I made a picnic blanket out of it!

I sewed our hand prints onto the fabric and then sewed it to a fleece blanket.

Here is a close up of our hands.  Turned out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

See our blanket in action tomorrow when we go on a Picnic at a New Park. 

Apple Sauce Source



When Life Hands You Lemons...

...make delicious lemonade!

This is where I found the recipe. 

Here is the recipe if you don't want to link outside here.

Supplies:

§         1 ½ Cups White Sugar
§         8-9 Cups of Water (More or less for a sweet or tart taste)
§         1 ½ cups lemon juice from freshly squeezed lemons
§         Lemon Juicer
Directions:

1.      In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve sugar.  Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

2.      Squeeze lemon juice out of lemons

3.      Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave the pulp.  In a pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups of water.

**Tip** To get the most out of your lemons, you can either soak the lemons in hot water for 10 minutes or put them in the microwave for 30 seconds.  This helps to release the lemon juice.  Then before cutting them in half, roll them on the counter with the palm of your hand

And some pictures:

Squeeze the Lemons

Taste Test the Lemon Juice

And make a funny face :)

The lemonade wasn't cool enough to drink till Brock was in bed, but Mark and I tasted it and it is so good!

My lovely husband also made us a PVC Pipe Sprinker, seen here.

And of course it makes a good drinking fountain too.

Reptile Day

We went to the zoo Saturday to see reptiles.  We decided to do a quick trip around the zoo as well.  We had already paid to get in, so might as well.  We touched snakes and lizards...I had fun, Brock is not too keen on the idea.  Though he tried to be.

I've never seen the bald eagles out of their nest.  This was kind of neat to see.

Since going to the Dairy Farm, Brock loves cows!

I can't remember what this guy was called but he was quick!  Unfortunatly I didn't get many pictures in the reptile area because it was very crowded.  So this guy is all I got.

The sun was in his eyes.  Poor kiddo.