Circus Camp

Danny got to go to circus camp for the first time in July. It was two glorious weeks of tightrope-walking, unicycle-riding, trapeze-hanging, balancing, juggling fun. The children also learn some gags and stage presence required to entertain their audience! At the end of the session family and friends are invited to watch a show put on by the kids. Wonderful!


This is Danny being resuscitated by all of the kids coming out of the jam box (a 4ftx4ftx3ft box they stuff anywhere from 15-20 kids in!).

Danny with his fearless leader, Greg May (former Ringling Bros. circus performer).

Summer Fun Part 2 (The Projects Edition)

Screen time is limited to 1 1/2 hours per day during summer, so although we are home most days, the kids aren't hooked up to the screens very much! The kids LOVE projects that we can do together. Here are a couple of projects that have kept us busy in the last two weeks.

1. We made bubble gum (with the help from this kit, purchased at A.C. Moore with coupon). Annelise made mint and Danny made sour watermelon. We have enough to make another two or three batches!



2. We assembled a cardboard treehouse and painted it with watercolor paints. (Here is the kit. I got a Family Finds deal at this store last spring and ended up getting significant $$$ marked off!) The kids use their playmobil and lego figures to play in it. LOTS of fun!




That is enough for one post, but there are a lot more projects we've done in the last couple of weeks! I'll share more later.

Summer Fun Part 1

School is out, and I've known for several months that THIS summer would look different than most.

The usual summer involves us catching a plane for some exotic location (Hawaii, California and Oregon are the normal) the day after school gets out. We vacate Maryland for four to five weeks and then come home in time for the kids to participate in the last two weeks of summer camp. And then it is back to school and work for me and the kids!

This year Danny is on the swim team (more on that in another post). The season lasts from June 18th to July 23rd, and I knew that Danny would want to participate to the fullest. So travel gets switched to the last 3 weeks of summer and the children and I are faced with 6 weeks of summer vacation at home (the kids will be attending one two-week session of summer camp in that time).

Extra planning is required for me to be prepared to offer the kids summer entertainment, much needed downtime and a mother who isn't going bonkers! Because I am usually at work and the kids are at school, we are not used to spending a lot of time together during the days.

The day after school got out the kids and I did some work that would help guide us through the next six weeks: the lists and the snack tubs!

We made two lists: "Summer Plans" (a wishlist of summer fun, big and small ideas welcome!) and "What to do When Bored" list.

I notice that on weekends when the kids are home, they tend to graze and want me to prepare snacks and food for them ALL THE TIME. To avoid their constant "Can I have a .....?" we put these tubs together. Each tub contains 14 packaged treats, something they normally don't get in school lunches (it IS summer after all, and I want them to have some fun!). There are things like granola bars and fruit rolls, plus some special things like chips and candy. The snacks can be eaten in one day (neither have attempted that, thank goodness!) or over the course of the week. When they are gone, they will have to wait until a new batch on Sunday! The children ALWAYS have fresh fruit and carrot sticks available to them as well.


The first two weeks of summer have been great, and both of these things have given us some direction!