Boy Fun

My nephew and my mom came up for the weekend, so Ike had been saving some of his better boy ideas for when they arrived.  One of the best ones was Coke and Mentos.  This is a classic mess that all kids love, especially boys.  Just plop in four Mentos and run.  Ike could explain the whole removal of carbonation, but why?  It's just plain, old fun.

Budding Artists

 Mix together: 1.) one of those hot, boring summer days, 2.) tons of nearly empty paint cans, 3.) an old, sheet and create . . .

a Jackson Pollock-ish original.  We studied some of his paintings and watched a couple YouTube videos of Pollock at work.  The kids loved splashing together a piece of art with plastic spoons, toothbrushes, and paintbrushes. We stretched it over a homemade frame and hung it in the front room.  It adds a touch of class to the forelorn front room.

NC Vacation

 It was a long drive to the mountains, but well worth it.  We hiked to the highest peak this side of the Mississippi, Mt. Mitchell.   It was a difficult 2 1/2 mile hike up (and then 2 1/2 miles back down). I was super proud of my four peas.  They were a little floored when we hit the top of the trail to find a parking lot.  I quote, "Jeez, Mom!  We could have drove up here!  My legs feel like they were hit with a bag of hammers."  The next day we did a bit more hiking to some of the amazing waterfalls that Pisgah National Forest has to offer -- beautiful. 

We spent another day at the Biltmore, where it rained (and rained and rained).  Can you believe the opulence of such a place?  We couldn't get over the fact that kids actually lived there.  It seemed too musuem-like to fathom someone spilling juice on the couch or writing on the walls.

The rain followed us for the next two days.  We literally drove through three states of rain, but as soon as we got an hour into the Indiana border it all evaporated. I tried to drag it with us!  We wrapped up the vacation with a day at Holiday World.  I was dreading this day -- not a huge fan of amusement parks.  However, this has to be the nicest, cleanest amusement park I've ever been to.  The water park was amazing, and it had some of the biggest, longest, craziest roller coasters we've ever rode.

Tie-dye July

It's kind of a bummer of a 4th around here.  Our favorite fireworks show got cancelled.  It's hotter than Hades.  What do you do with this kind of day?  Tie-dye.  Why not?  Everyone made their own groovy shirt to wear on vacation next week.  Oh, yeah.  We are turning into that family.  You know the one.  Minivan and matching shirts.