Around Here

Collin and Reagan have had something fun going on every day of summer vacation so far.  Ahhh, to be a kid!  

Reagan swam at Courtney's house.

 Collin and Reagan both went fishing with Alex and James.  Reagan caught a HUGE fish.

 Landon and Karlie both slept over.  The boys slept in the basement, and the girls had the upstairs.

On the 4th of July, Tom ran in the town race.

 The rest of us hung out at Grandma's house to cheer on Tom and the other runners.  While we waited, this crew played games like Red Light, Green Light and Simon Says.

As soon as the race ended, the rain began.  It poured all day and night.

Luckily, the 5th of July was a beautiful day.  We went to two parties - Katie and Mike Quinn's graduation party and Joe Silvia's 4th of July bash.

I didn't take any pictures at the Quinns' party, but I do have a short video of Reagan doing her very first flips off the diving board into their pool.

I didn't really take many pictures at Joe's party either, but I did get pictures of Kate there with her first sparklers.

Kate was SO very excited about this purple glow bracelet.

I felt so bad for her this morning when she woke up all excited to wear her bracelet again.  She insisted I was giving her the wrong bracelet because it wasn't glowing.

Speaking of glowing, Collin hung out in the bouncy house with a bunch of kids and they were all glowing in the dark.  It was kind of cool!

As usual, Joe had an amazing fireworks display.  They were better than some of the "legit" fireworks displays we have attended.

It amazes me that fireworks like this are sold to the general public, even if you do have to buy them in New Hampshire (the "Live Free or Die" state).

The kids had a GREAT time at both parties!  This is how they looked when we got home:

Erupting Ice Chalk

I found the erupting ice chalk recipe on Pinterest and thought it looked like fun.  I mixed one quarter cup of baking soda, one quarter cup of cornstarch, and one half cup of water and then scooped that into ice cube trays (both regular and the cute silicone design trays).  I added liquid watercolors to the trays, and then froze them.

 They looked very cool.

 I followed the directions for the chalk, and hosed the driveway just like the blogger that posted the recipe, but the chalk didn't really work for drawing/writing.  It just didn't show up.  I went back to the site and noticed that her driveway is light gray which is probably why the chalk worked for her and not for us.  That's okay though because the best thing about this chalk is definitely squirting vinegar onto the ice chalk pieces and watching it fizz.

Charles W. Morgan Whaling Ship

 The Charles W. Morgan (America's last surviving whaleship) returned to New Bedford (the city of its "birth" in 1841) for a short visit June 28 through July 6.  Collin, Reagan, Kate and I met Papa and Grandma there this morning to go on board and check it out.

One interesting fact I read about the Morgan is that it took nine months and $52,000 for the ship to be built in 1841, but more than five years and $7.5 million dollars to restore the ship!

 You can't help but notice the cramped quarters on this boat.  I felt claustrophobic on the tour; I cannot imagine living on such a boat with a crew and all that went along with whaling.

One of the volunteers on the Morgan asked if anyone knew why the table had those pieces of wood on top.  Sure enough, Collin had the answer; they keep the dishes from sliding around too much.

After touring the ship, we entered a tent full of activities for the children.  All three of them enjoyed this!  The tent was not crowded, so we were really able to enjoy everything offered.

 The coolest craft was the "scrimshaw".  They were given skewers and small bars of soap, and they scratched designs onto the soap with the skewers.  Then, black shoe polish was rubbed over the designs to create the appearance of scrimshaw!

Kate's scrimshaw is on the upper left, and the other three are labeled.  Very cool!

Reagan made every craft possible.  Kate and Collin made a few.

 One of the volunteers told the kids she would give them bracelets if they could throw the "harpoon" into one of the circles.  Collin and Reagan both did this standing behind the line, but Kate just walked right up to the game board and pushed the harpoon through the circle.  Everyone thought this was funny, and she earned a bracelet.

Around Here

Reagan performed in her year end gymnastics show last Friday night.

She did a great job.  All of her hard work has really paid off, especially on bars.  Her favorite event is floor, and that seems to be her strength right now.  She struggled with bars for a while, but she worked and worked and worked at it, and now she is doing really well!  I am SO impressed with her determination and dedication to this sport.  Here is a video of her on the bars:

On Saturday morning, Collin, Reagan, Kate and I woke up early and drove to Mystic, Connecticut to meet up with Auntie Karen and Uncle Mark at the Mystic Aquarium.

We all enjoyed the aquarium.  Kate squealed with excitement when she saw the Beluga whales.

It was very cute.

The girls both enjoyed the touch tanks, and Reagan fed a stingray.

Just like last year, we spent some time in the bird house feeding the birds.

We had our first trip to Grandpa's pool this week.  I'm hoping to go at least once a week.  Kate held on to me most of the time; I'm hoping that she will be a bit more independent in the pool by the end of the summer!

U is for Umbrella

Kate likes to do alphabet printables now.

 I had no idea Kate could draw such straight lines.  I was so impressed!

 I helped Kate make this umbrellas craft.

 It reminds me of my favorite page from Yellow Umbrella by Jae Siu Loo.

Kate has really enjoyed this book.  I always know she likes a book when she takes it to bed with her.  The very cool thing about this book is that it is wordless and the pictures do an amazing job telling the story.  The even cooler thing is that this book comes with a CD of music that makes the book an even more enjoyable experience.

I had planned on making rain with the hose if need be, but there was no need.  The weather cooperated and gave us a little rain so that Kate could use an umbrella!

To finish U for Umbrella, Reagan, Kate and I made lemonade and we added little umbrellas to all of the glasses.