End of Summer Round Up

It's back to school and back to work season for FFM and me. We started mid-August and spent the last few weeks of summer vacation relaxing and fitting in a few last adventures and field trips.

We went to see the Chihuly exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Twice. In one week. We'd probably have gone a few more times if school hadn't gotten in the way.

 Cousin Katie came to visit and kindly brought her lovely parents along with her. FFM is so in love with Katie that he almost can't stand it. As she grows up she just gets to be more and more fun. These two kiddos have an abundance of personality on their own, you can imagine what it's like when they team up.

 We spent a few days up in the mountains and got to see the super moon rise over the peaks.

 I refinished a crummy old dresser that's been sitting in a closet for years with my newly acquired decoupage skills. You can fall asleep dreaming of Beaver Creek and Vail trails you'll ski the next morning.

 Granny Annie drove us up to the top of Mt. Evans (highest paved road in North America you guys!) with our pals the Rushers. The weather was perfect and I stood at 14,265 feet and there wasn't a lick of wind. You could see a hundred miles in each direction, it was a postcard perfect day.

 Travis mentioned we'd been in our house for nearly 5 years and I realized that the rug under the dining table that I bought at a consignment shop as a stop gap measure had been on the floor for nearly 5 years. I never liked the rug very much, so set forth to find a replacement. My mom recently put carpet squares in her basement and we liked the idea of being able to replace a square when it gets dirty/stained/worn out. Travis flexed his design muscles and came up with a layout we really like. Putting it down was trickier than we expected, one of the color/pile choices we made wasn't the best for beginners.

 The first day of school came and went. I'm back in my role in the office and FFM started 2nd grade. He's got a great teacher with a teaching style that suits him very well. Two weeks in and it's already a totally different year than last year. He requested a giant laundry list of activities but after lots of family and parent discussion we're sticking with piano and swimming for the most part. We agreed he could add in 4-6 week classes periodically, and right now he's taking a hip hop dance class that makes him so happy his smile looks like it's going to swallow his head.

 We did some camping this summer and realized our tent wasn't going to fit all three of us for much longer. We have a pretty good sized tent and Travis just fits lengthwise. Our strategy was to pile all our gear below F's feet since there wasn't really any room by my feet or T's feet. Not only is F's gear getting bigger, but the space below his feet is getting smaller! We looked briefly at giant 6+ man tents and then spent an afternoon looking at campers. We were unimpressed until we found our perfect camping solution. The size, beds, and floor plan sang to all of us and the next thing we knew we were the proud owners of a brand new pop up camper.

 Turns out we all still like to feel like we're in a tent, the hard side campers didn't hold any appeal for us. It's awfully nice to be able to stand up to get dressed and to have amenities like cubbies for clothes instead of giant piles at F's feet. We took it up to a campground about an hour away and did a test run. FFM is so enamored that he'll rope you in and tell you all about the finer points of our camper just like a mini salesperson. Our neighbors all deserve medals for their gallantry while listening to his running narrative.

It's finally FOOTBALL SEASON! We kept all our preseason tickets this year and took FFM to the games. He's turned into a rabid fan and has a good grasp of basic rules and the flow of the game. He hollered more than anyone in our section and is campaigning to go to some regular season games, too.

Go Broncos!

 Our neighbor's peach tree survived the last frosts this spring and is producing some of the best peaches ever. Travis has been eating them and canning them as fast as he can. He remarked that they are so big this year he's getting about 1 peach per jar.

 After a successful and better than expected GI procedure I was cleared for activity just in time for Labor Day weekend. We joined my Mom and Eric at Dinosaur National Monument. My Mom and I were the only ones that had been before long, long ago. After sleeping most of two days I was feeling good and we did lots of hiking. Normally this time of year we'd expect high 90-100F days. Our temps hovered in the low to mid 70s. Such luck!

Hiking to petroglyphs.

 Hiking the box canyons.

 Sunset from our campsite.

 Travis asked about scenic trips nearby and we spent half a day at Fantasy Canyon. Strange and bizarre rock weathering so far off the beaten path you can still walk right up and touch them.

It's back to work and school for all of us tomorrow. Tuesday is hip hop dance class day!

Summer Science -- Elephant Toothpaste!

It's our almost-weekly summer science day! Today we talked chemistry and reactions. What happens when you mix things together? We did some basic balancing of our chemical reaction (lots of sketching of what atoms go where) and figured out we'd end up with some water and some O2 gas at the end. The water got foamy with the help of some added dish soap and the released O2. We had enough supplies to run the experiment several times and both kiddos had a blast dumping in the catalyst and playing with the foam. The kids thought the name "Elephant Toothpaste" wasn't the best fit, it's not minty or pasty, but if you're looking for this experiment that's how to find it online.

After their ceramics class at the local rec center the kids were on a crafty kick so we FINALLY got around to making the jet packs they've been wishing for all summer. Jet packs have been a crucial part of outdoor play ever since Emma showed up years ago with a jet pack made of a pizza box with duct tape straps. The official jetpacks are much, much cooler! There were a fair number of steps I had to do for them, like the spray painting and measuring the straps, but they worked hard on the flames and helping to put it all together.

2L pop bottles, silver spray paint, felt, cardboard, and straps. 

 They are already negotiating on whether they are space cadets or space explorers. The space explorer is going to teach the space cadet at space school until they are ready to become a full fledged explorer.

Almost Weekly Science and Crafts

Before the holiday weekend the kiddos opted to do some crafts and activities instead of a new science project. First up, Sharpie Tie Dye.

We used several patriotic colors and the kiddos drew "fireworks" on the front of their shirts. We stuck a piece of cardboard inside so the colors wouldn't run through. We quickly learned that lots of small dots work better than large colors splotches. I sprayed/dropped rubbing alcohol on them to make them bleed, and then ironed over with a cloth to help set the colors. F had so much blue on his that it did bleed a little, but not enough to blur the designs. I washed them once in warm water with vinegar to make sure they wouldn't bleed too much and the kids wore them almost immediately.

One of the things I loved as a kid was building forts out of blankets, sheets, and couch cushions. My mother frowned upon this practice, I think because we tore apart beds and couches to make the forts. FFM hasn't really gotten into the whole fort thing yet, so to spur his creative juices T and I put together a fort kit and gave it to him for his birthday. I made a medium sized drawstring fabric bag and put: 2 full + sheets, small clamps, clothespins, rope, stretchy rope, flashlights, and a string of LED lights. It took about 7.2 seconds for the kids to figure out what I was doing before they took over and I was relegated to reaching things too high for them.

View from outside, the light blue thing on the lower right is tunnel fort access.

 FFM hauled floor pillows from his bedroom and they read by flashlight and twinkly star light.

Summer "Science" #3

Last week's science day was interrupted by a dentist appointment so we kept it short and simple.

It all started when FFM got a new bike accessory...

and while it's heaps 'o fun it takes A LOT of chalk. And of course it takes it's own special size of chalk. We looked up some homemade chalk recipes online and started saving paper tubes for molds. On project day the weather was a bit blustery so we took our project to the laundry room in case it got messy.

 First we lined the tubes with squares of wax paper. This is supposed to make it easier to get the finished chalk sticks out.

 Then we mixed plaster of paris with tempera paints and some water until it was smooth and easy to pour.

 Finally, the only part that got a little tricky, we poured into our molds that we'd set up on a cookie sheet lined with foil for easy clean up. Since we mixed in an old bowl that didn't have a lip it was challenging pouring into the tops of the tubes.

We're still waiting for it to dry, the plaster/chalk set very quickly but we can tell that it isn't all the way cured because some of the paper tubes are damp at the bottom. I'd guess another day or two and they'll be all set to strap into the Chalktrail and color up the streets around our house.

Summer Science #2

At the end of last summer both F and I felt like we'd frittered our summer away. We did lots of fun camps, but somehow never got around to doing all the fun excursions, experiments, and exciting things we thought we'd get squeezed in to our short three month break. This year I MADE A PLAN (who's laughing at the freaky planner?). We've got a summer bucket list and F and pal Emma both asked if we could do some experiments. I browsed the web and some of my old camp/school planning workbooks. I knew I'd get hung up trying to get all over town for supplies, so I took my list of projects and spent half an hour on amazon gathering all the supplies we'd need.

Last week we did the mentos/diet coke experiment. Kiddos learned that the CO2 in the soda interacts with the "dimples, like on a golf ball" that are found on mentos, causing the "explosion." We compared A&W root beer and Diet Coke and determined they're both fun to blow up.

This week we're learning about fluorescence and the light spectrum. We talked about infrared light and ultraviolet light and the light we can see and the light we can't see. We didn't get much deeper than that, but we sure had a good time with glow water.

We grew some water beads, a control group in plain water and our test group in glow water.

For the glow water recipe, and a whole list of other fun recipes, click here

First we made a sign with a yellow highlighter and a yellow marker. We talked about how the highlighter glows or, fluoresces, in the black light but the marker just looks black because it's not reflecting the yellow we normally see in the visible spectrum. our beads, using regular water in the while bowls and glow water in the blue bowls. Then we made our glow beads using regular water and plain water. The kids wrote their hypothesis on which ones might glow under the glow light.

 It took a couple hours for our beads to soak up all the water, and then we headed to the basement!

 They had a great time trying to figure out what color the beads were in regular vs. black light. We turned on the lights to check it out. Same handful of beads, both times.

 I have a feeling there might be drips of glow water all over the basement now. The kids splashed around for a while, I'm thinking we should save the water and make some glowing Ooblek next.

Halloween Project '12

I am resigning myself to the fact that Halloween costumes will never be simple as I anticipate they will be.

November 1, 2011- "Mom, I want to be a mummy next year for Halloween!"  Cool. A piece of cake.  FFM was consistent and told me for months (I guess some kids are planners and think about costumes year round) that he wanted to be a mummy.  End of summer arrives.  Suddenly the whole costume idea changes.  No more mummy, it's Jake the Pirate.  Now, if I have to manufacture any part of a costume I need a looooooooooooong lead time.  I am not a zippy seamstress. I need like weeks.  Or months.  Just in case it takes a try or two.  Or three.

Jake is a licensed Disney character.  Easy costume methinks! Simply order one from Disney and be done!  Even better, this summer a Disney store opened in our nearby mall.  Super.  I rang them up and asked 1) if they would be recieveing Jake costumes and 2) When they would arrive and 3)What sizes they would get.

Yes, they were in, and biggest was 5T.

Uh oh.  FFM hasn't been a 5T for a while. Now, it's a costume, so maybe I could squeeze him into it and not worry about it being too short if it got me out of constructing one from scratch.  Short OK.  Not going all the way around, whole 'nother ball of wax. grrrrrrrr

So the premade costume idea didn't pan out so I came home and googled and checked Pinterest for ideas.  I am not alone.  The vast knowledge of the internet yielded instructions for a homemade costume.  I'm cobbling together several patterns, mainly with the help of this one from Between the Toys and another from Lu Bird Baby.

My mission, now that I have chosen to accept it, is to turn this:

into this:

Note: Mr. Detail pointed out that the shiny gray fabric we picked is NOT the right color but it passed his approval anyway.

Pinterest Project

I enjoy Pinterest.  It clicks with my style of visual organization and I like stashing project ideas for later.  Like most people I have way more ideas than I have time to follow through on but I do manage to do a few of my Pinterest projects and this latest is one of my favorites.

Our 30 year old house came equipped with 30 year old shiny brass hardware.  All of the light fixtures, towel bars, and even the floor registers have been updated, but the door hardware screams early 1980s.  Hello Pinterest idea.  I stumbled across this idea and there are about a million websites that give you specific instructions but I'll tell you what I did to change shiny brass to a more updated look.

 First I took all the hardware off, including the latch and strike plates.  Hinges will come later, I only had so much stamina.  I cleaned them all with TSP so that the paint would stick really well.  Travis picked up some primer and spray paint for me on one of his regular Home Depot trips.  Even though the paint said it had primer our past experience tells us things last longer and have a smoother finish with a real coat of primer under them.

Then I sprayed and sprayed and sprayed.  I should have worn a mask.  Some pieces needed to be flipped for even coverage and to make sure all visible parts were covered.  The tp rolls helped me get the undersides of the knobs.  24 hours after the last coat we put it all back up.

The color paint we used was Rustoleum oil rubbed bronze.  I ended up using just more than 1 can for 2+ coats on all the interior hardware in a 2 story house.  It's great!  For less than $20 and an easy few hours of work (more in waiting to dry time - I waited at least 1 hour between each coat) we have all new hardware.

What's next?  Maybe this!

glitterize your shoes!