A spin on sidewalk chalk

Summer is in full swing and my daughter and I are tackling our summer fun list. Yeah, I changed the name. 'Bucket list' makes it all sound a little too morbid. 'Summer fun list' is a much more suitable name.  Our first craft project of the summer was making sidewalk chalk paint.  This is a simple way of putting a new twist on sidewalk chalk in order to get kids excited again about creating works of art on the driveway. You will need several small containers (however many colors you wish to make).  We used four small plastic containers bought at the dollar store. 

In each container add 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch.  Add 4 Tablespoons of water to each container and stir slowly.  Add 6-8 drops of food coloring and get creative with mixing colors. Stir slowly again.  Use paintbrushes, rollers, sponges, etc. to create your works of art.

The colors take a minute to dry so don't let children get discouraged.  Once the mixture dries a little the colors are very vibrant. Don't be afraid of putting food coloring on the driveway.  Our creations easily washed off. Even when the hot sun got to her and we moved to the shade of the porch, a hose easily washed it away.  I bought the containers with lids thinking we could save the mix.  However, she used it all up! No problem...they only take a few minutes to mix together and get started again another day.

Camels, Amish, Croquet, Baseball, Trains and more!

A little croquet playing in my parents backyard

The summer is flying by!  Three weeks into summer vacation and we have already tackled some of our bucket list. I feel at this rate we will run out of things to do. A week after school let out we went to visit my parents for a week. My daughter could not have been more excited.  The only downfall for her was the cooler weather that prevented my sister from opening her pool before we got there. Oh well, plenty of more activities to take on.

We got to enjoy a couple of my nephew's baseball games. The first game we went to you never would have known it was June.  Game time temp? A mere 57 degrees.  That is Indiana for you...if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes. It will change. We also got to help my Aunt and Uncle celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with a beautiful party. My daughter's take on the evening? "Ooooh, red velvet cake!".

The best parts of a stay with my parents is sitting on the wrap around porch or back patio with a cool drink watching my daughter and mom play croquet in the backyard or baseball in front yard.  There is also usually a day where I sneak off alone to do a little genealogy research at the library.  I get so caught up in the microfiche and before I know four hours have passed.

The highlight of our trip was taking a little ride over to Amish country.  I love trying to explain the whole culture and way of life to my daughter. I have to instill a little family history on her since we come from Amish roots. She loved taste testing cheese, seeing the horse and buggies, and dining in an Amish restaurant. Then there was this Amish farm we visited.  We were able to take a wagon through the fields where they have a vast array of exotic and domestic animals.  They come right up to the wagon and you can feed them. We were also able to pet smaller animals before we left.  My daughter was so thrilled to hold a baby goat.

On our way back home after an exciting week at my parents house, we stopped at a train themed restaurant.  We have passed this place for years every time we come and go from my parents. It is in the middle of nowhere on a state highway.  My daughter has begged to go for years now and I kept telling her someday we would. Well, it was lunchtime so we thought we would stop. All around the restaurant, outside, are old cars, crossing signals, rails, engines, etc.  Inside they had three model trains running on tracks up above the dining room.  My daughter was more than content to wait for her food and watch all the trains going around above her head.  After lunch we headed outside to take in all the attractions.  Unfortunately, we didn't stay as long as my daughter had hoped.  I had to drag her away so we could beat some nasty storms home.

Overall, it was a great week. Summer vacation is off to a great and very busy start!

This is me feeding the ostrich while taking the picture. 

This camel was so funny. He followed us the whole way and would stick his head in far enough to touch you.

Feeding and petting all the animals was even more enjoyable than a zoo.

Highlight of my daughter's day- holding a baby goat.

The wagon that took you all around the farm and some of the animals just followed you the whole way. We fed them right off of the wagon.

My daughter is just taking it all in!

My daughter and her grandma feeding the animals

 

My daughter on one of the display trains at a cool restaurant out in the middle of no where.

My daughter at the train restaurant.  She was in love and I had to drag her away so we could beat the storms.

More of the train restaurant!

My daughter inside the old phone booth at the train restaurant.

 

 

Playing baseball with her cousin and grandma at grandma and grandpa's house. 

A Tooth Fairy Visit

After months of complaining that all her classmates had lost a tooth, my daughter was finally in 'the club'.  She was starting to get frustrated considering she is one of the oldest kids in her Kindergarten class and was one of the last to lose a tooth. 
The tooth was loose for a little over a week so the Tooth Fairy had time to plan a special note for her. Ever since she lost the tooth she has been flashing her smile to everyone.

All smiles! We enjoyed one of her first days of summer vacation with lunch at McDonald's and she lost her tooth after she bit into her hamburger. She was completely over the moon. 

We made up a note to leave for tooth fairy.  My daughter was actually the one who found this little glass container to put her tooth in.  We simply wrote "Tooth Fairy" on the side with a sharpie. 

 

Obviously, I blurred out my daughter's name.  However, you get the idea.  She was so excited to get a special note just for her from the tooth fairy.  I hope the tooth fairy leaves another note the next time my daughter loses a tooth!