Park Playdate and Bowling

(not together but in that order)

July 12, 2011... Years after leaving teaching it was nice to see some of my colleagues again.  I've missed them... and what a joy to meet some who now have new family members!  :)
We met at Highlands Park in Santa Cruz.  It was a hidden park and sooo nice!  We will be going back!
He climbed this in no time...

 See how far up he really is???!!!

 He, of course, had to show it was no problems for him to get up there in no time! ;)

 What a sight our picnic area was!

 Look at all the children!!!!

 My 3 are almost finished with their lunch...

 E:

 MG:

 and MD:

 Off to play!

It was a wonderful day.  The children played to their heart's content with old and new friends. I was thankful that Becky offered to drive.  Next time, I think I can do it by myself... unless I'm going with Becky... then maybe she will drive again! lol

July 14, 2011...
This bowling alley has offered free bowling to children during the summer.  Of course, I signed them up!  It took us awhile to get started but we finally made it there!  :)
Here they are... don't they look excited? (not really! lol)

 It's good to have friends to join you!

 He had a great time... but needs a lot of practice! ;)

 Today was his first time and he was nervous, but I think he will be more confident next time!

 Here they are supporting each other. :)

 MG showing E what to do:

What a great week... full of swim lessons, playing with friends, library visits, park play dates, reading, writing, and enjoying the cool weather!

MD wielding a blow torch???!

Yes, it's true... today they used a blow torch!
First they made meringue!  They separated the egg white from the egg yolk...

 

Then mixed it up with sugar (12 table spoons!)...

 Look at that!

 Then they were given a graham cracker with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  One was the control -- no meringue protection, the other was to be covered up with the meringue they just made (like an igloo, the assistant called it):

 Time for that blow torch I was talking about...  (insert nervous mommy here!).  They were to "burn" the meringue that covered the ice cream... and then they were to burn the ice cream itself.  They all did very well sharing the torch... disclaimer--  no child was harm during this activity!  They watched to see what had happened to the ice cream with the meringue coverage and what happened to the other with out coverage.

So the ice cream without protection melted very rapidly!  However, the scoop with the meringue coverage stayed the same!  Pretty cool, huh???  Made me think of some desserts I should make using ice cream, meringue and a blow torch!

After class we met up with some old friends... been so long since we all had a play date together.  And the boys were excited to use their new lunch boxes!  We are trying our best to purchase items that can be reused and will last awhile! SO far so good!

 He was tired even before he ate his lunch (pictured above).

 MD loved his sandwich... he built his own!

Our friends are silly!

But so are we!!!

We had a great afternoon!!!  We are looking forward to more summer play dates.. the weather is getting pretty hot around here!  Supposedly, today was in the 90s!

If you believe....

then they are real.  That's all I'm going to say!
She believes there are fairies out there...

January 14, 2011
So on a recent play date with a classmate, she and Joelle worked on a beautiful home for the fairies.  I provided them with a variety of materials and allowed them to do whatever they wanted.  They were able to do so much in the 2 hours that they were together!

 Then they found a place to put the fairy house... More like a fairy condo!

 Pretty elaborate, no?!

 Putting in her finally adjustments... sprinkling of gold coins, notepad for messages, and a marker.  They were very thorough!

 A picture with DJ (Brownie Girl scout mascot) because she had DJ for two weeks.  She wrote in her book that when she had DJ, they spent some time together making the fairy house:

 with DJ, their fairy house... and their peace signs!

And this cute little fella wanted in on the fairy house action.  He can't stand to be left out.  And with a smile like that, I probably would have built a fairy house for him on the spot if he had asked... luckily, he did not!  Big sis took this photo of him:

(BTW -- the fairies left a few gifts for her already!  It is so exciting to check and receive trinkets here and there!)