Cousin Summer Camp!

This week was a whirlwind of activities! I am exhausted... but it's been a GREAT week! The kids got to have their favorite (and only... hehe) cousin over to play for the past 4 days. Adam's mom and dad were assigned to help at Young Women's Camp for their Stake, so he got to come camp out at our place this week. I planned ahead of time lots of stuff to keep the kids busy in order to create some memorable cousin time. I guess this week also turned into an experiment to see how many cheap to free summer activities I could come up with to do with 4 kids in tow. I think I succeeded, although I wouldn't recommend keeping up this constant pace of activities over an entire summer, or a mom would literally burn out. That's my advice. :)

day 1 - bubble snakes and sneaky cupcakes

Skip to my Lou is doing a Craft Camp during the month of June, with a new summer craft or activity everyday this month from various clever bloggers (so from these posts you also get exposure to LOTS of other great mommmy bloggers for even more clever ideas for you to do with your kids). I've been LOVING the ideas so far this month... lots of great stuff and it's all free or inexpensive and definitely fun for the kids. One such activity was making these bubble blowers that create these strange 'bubble snakes' as we called them. The kids had contests to see who could make the longest one...




That evening, since it was Monday, we had Family Home Evening (a lesson on kindness). Afterwards, we put together what turned out to be a very interesting FHE treat. I had in my head to do some sort of summer-themed cupcakes. So, I searched online, and found several sites with instructions for making these cute ice cream cone cupcakes. It was most definitely a hit! And as far as clever cupcakes go, these were very easy. Click the link for instructions (and for "piping" on the frosting to make it look more like ice cream, I just put some in a little ziplock bag and snipped the corner... works like a charm, without the need for a pastry bag and fancy tips)








day 2 - splash park, playdough, and movie night

In the summertime in Arizona, you just can't go outside to play unless it is early in the morning, or you are getting wet. :) So, we went to a nearby splash park. I was impressed with how long the kids played here... they just ran in and out of the tunnel thing and sat on the fountains and ate snacks, and sunbathed on their towels. It was good morning.
































That afternoon we made playdough, per these instructions. Once again, I was surprised at how long the playdough entertained them. We've done playdough before (but quite a long time ago) and I don't remember them playing very long with it... I'm guessing getting a bit older helps in the attention span category and they're definitely getting more and more imaginative as they grow up.



I added food coloring to the dough in ziplock bags, so the kids did a lot of the color mixing.... but then I finished it up for them by kneading the dough to even out the color








There's nothing better than a movie night! So that evening we got out the inflatable mattress and popped some popcorn... I thought I was being fun by also adding a handful of chocolate chips into their baggies of popcorn... take note however, that if you add chocolate chips to freshly popped/warm popcorn, the chocolate chips melt... it was messy... the kids loved it! ;) And they really loved the movie - The Sword in the Stone (an old Disney classic!) - they were glued to it the entire time... when it was over they brushed teeth and were off to bed!




day 3 - science center, books, and a creative campout

I got a culture pass to get into the Arizona Science Center fo' free. :) It's been well over a year since I've been there, so it felt like a novel outing. The kids enjoyed it and I was happy that everyone stuck together like discussed beforehand, so I didn't lose track of one of them while we were there.

You can't see this display very well, but the checked pattern continues down a little 'cliff' into a hole... however there is plexiglass covering it straight across. So, you're supposed to put a younger child up there and see if they will try to crawl or take a step past the visual cliff. Jake most definitely did NOT want to keep walking, because to him he would just fall down the hole. Emma and I thought that watching Jake stop at the edge and stare down cautiously was quite entertaining



Isn't Jake so cute with his crooked teeth, squinty brown eyes, and chubby cheeks?





This was supposed to be an experiment to see how long someone could hold onto this bar (it was VERY icy cold)... I think it surprised Becca when she got a hold of it, so when I told her to look and smile, she pulled this weird face instead













Adam being brave lying on the bed of nails






Later that day we made books... these kids love reading, and Emma is recently getting more clever in her writing as well... so this activity was well liked. Ben got home early from work, so I told him he had to make a book too. His book was titled "Man Named Ted". It was well-written with impressive illustrations. ;)




That night we did an indoor campout... we started out by making s'mores. I so wish we had a fun fire pit for our back patio, but since we don't we roasted over the grill. It worked pretty well... and Ben got even more creative by actually grilling some s'mores - it was delicious!







You are welcome for posting this great picture of me for your viewing pleasure






We set up the little tent in the upstairs loft and the kids filled it with pillows, blankets, books (including the ones we had made earlier), and a lantern. The kids read a bit, and did a lot of giggling.










day 4 - storytime, playplace, and marshmallow creations

On our final day of "Cousin Summer Camp" we went to the library for storytime. I didn't get any pics, because I was much too busy chasing Jacob and trying to keep him quiet with random stuff from my purse. I knew there was a reason why we don't go to storytime very often... and Jake is it. :) Emma, Becca, and Adam loved it though, and they stared at the story lady with their mouths gaping as she read to them, and participated enthusiastically in all the songs.

After playing at the library and checking out a few movies and books, we went to McDonald's to play and eat lunch. I ran into my good friend and carpool partner at the library so we thought heading to McDonald's would be a fun way to let the kids play some more. It was fun and LOUD. Like I said before, Arizona summertime has to include lots of indoor activities with plenty of A/C... so plenty of other moms with energetic kids were thinking the same thing as us. It was a great time... and Emma was so happy to get to play with TJ again.


That afternoon we made marshmallow "creations". The kids were most definitely creative... and there was lots of marshmallow eating also.











The kids really enjoyed themselves this week and I know Emma and Becca thought it was the best having their cousin here. There was lots of creative play going on and plenty of giggling over the past few days. In case you haven't seen enough, here's a few other things that went on this week...

An indoor "picnic"

Lots of reading

A 9am bike ride (before it got too hot!)

A riotous water balloon fight

Running in the sprinklers!

I'm burned out now doing so many summer activities (dare I say, a summer's worth in four days?!)... so the kids probably won't do anything fun for a week, while I recover. ;)