KY and TN Trip #1

We just returned from a long-planned, long-awaited camping trip with our good friends, Janet and Gavin, and their two little ones.  We went to Kentucky and Tennessee and had a great time seeing a new part of the country.  I am going to attempt to put some pictures and captions along with my daily camping log to make a bit of a journal of our trip.  

6/14- Camping at O'Bannon Woods State Park, Site 187.  Highly recommend this site- huge, lots of trees and picnic tables!  

6/15- Drove to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.  Very hot, and very fun.  Grilled pizza on the fire for dinner.

foal sculptures

Measuring how many hands tall they are

Driving a carriage

Enjoying the rocking horse in the kid's barn

We caught a grooming demonstration and the kids got to try it out.

Went for a horse-drawn trolley ride around the grounds

The hit of the day- pony rides on Gizmo and Twit

The boys waited patiently for their turn

6/16- Today we found a big stream with some shallow rapids and a deeper swimming hole with a rope swing.  Lots of fun!  We made foil dinners on the fire.

These kids LOVE the water

Fishing and throwing stones

It took teamwork to get the kids across the deep water to the rope swing

Caitlin swinging over the water

Making ice cream in the ice cream ball while camping on a hot day...

...best idea ever!

Repacking the car in the rain- just about the only rain we got on the whole trip!

Ice Cream!

Hello!  We are back from our travels (and the travels before that).  I have a lot of fun things to share here in the coming days, but I thought I would take the time to post one quick series of photos from our trip.  After a long hike through Mammoth Cave, we enjoyed some chocolate milkshakes.  Bea especially enjoyed it!

Camping at Rock Cut

Memorial Day Weekend marked our first camping trip of the season.  We were lucky enough to camp with my sister, her boyfriend, my parents (in their brand new trailer!) and my mom's parents.  How many kids can say they've camped with their great grandparents?!  The weather really ran the gamut...Friday night we were bundled up and snuggled through a very long and loud (but cool) thunderstorm.  By Sunday we were seeking shade and enjoying the teeny tiny wading pool...it was HOT.  I will admit that we took a half hour long driving tour of the state park with the air conditioning blasting after lunch.  We all agreed the best parts of the weekend were time with family.  Saturday morning we hung out in the trailer to escape the rain and got to play card games, make shadow hand puppets with our flashlight and tell stories together.  It was awesome and brought back lots of memories of rainy camping days with my family when I was little.  Our kids aren't quite old enough for Monopoly yet, but soon!  We can't wait to head out in a few weeks for another, longer trip to KY and TN.

Busy Bag Swap

I just had the pleasure of hosting a Busy Bag Swap- where everyone made 20 copies of  a preschool activity, and then we had a little party, swapped bags, and each went home with 20 activities for our kiddos. I thought you might like to see how I organized it.  Feel free to copy anything below, swap out dates and specifications and make it your own!

Here is how it works:

1) E-mail me by Saturday, June 2nd if you would like to participate in the swap.  I will send out a mass e-mail to everyone with the number of bags we will be making.  If you want to make multiple activities (and go home with two (or more) sets of bags that is fine- but be sure to let us know so we can make the correct number of bags.

2) Peruse my Busy Bag Pinterest Board, the Internet, your own brain...and decide which activity you will make.  Each bag should be the same, geared for a 2-5 year old, and should cost no more than $3 per bag to make.  E-mail the whole group with the activity you have chosen (provide a link or description so we can avoid duplicates).

3) Make the specified number of activity bags.  Put each activity into a gallon sized Ziploc slider bag (the zip top bags will not hold a piece of paper, the slider bags do, and are much easier for kids to open).  Include an 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper with the name of the activity and basic instructions.  Believe me on this one- the paper will help hold the bag up and make them much easier to store and use.  Humor my OCD tendencies here- the host I learned this from knew what she was talking about!

4) The swap will take place at my house.  If you cannot make the swap, just get your bags to me before the swap and pick up your swapped bags after the swap.  Bring: your Busy Bags in a bag, an empty laundry basket, a snack or drink to share.

5) If you are willing to make an extra bag, we are going to pass along a set of busy bags to a family with two little boys who are going through a hard time.

Please pass this along to anyone that you think may be interested.  We can have up to 20 participants- first come, first served.  I hope this will be a lot of fun and give all of us some great activities to pull out for our little ones.  Please let me know if I have forgotten any important information, or if you have ideas to improve the swap!

Looking forward to it,
Helen

Little Red Dress

 

 

This little red dress is one of my favorite Violet outfits ever.  I am thrilled that Beatrice is getting a chance to wear it as well.  There is something so sweet about a chubby baby in a red dress on green grass.  *melt*

**Violet is in the hat, Beatrice is in the bow.  I think they are starting to look less alike, but I realize that they still do look QUITE alike to the untrained eye!**

Mud Pie Kitchen

Few things are more fun than good old-fashioned mud pies.  We decided to make a mud pie kitchen in our back yard.  We took an old wooden plant stand and set it on top of two empty planters to make a counter (Violet tells me the space underneath is the oven).  We added some old, scratched up, but REAL pans from Great Gramma and Grampa, and lots of REAL utensils...the tongs being by far the favorite.  Sand from the sandbox, rocks from the patio, shells, dirt from the garden, water from the hose...what else could a kid need?!

Last Day

Preschool is out for the summer.  Oh how quickly the year has gone!

Someone has grown a bit since last August!

Violet had a wonderful year in her two year old class.  She adored her teachers, Miss Sue and Miss Kathy, her classmates, and loved all the great activities they did.  We are blessed with such a fabulous preschool and teacher who care so much for the kids!

Matias celebrated his last day with a Circus Party.  He will really miss Miss Annette and Miss Christine next year- he has had them for two years.  Luckily, we don't have to say goodbye because Violet will have them next year. Yea!  He will be moving on up to the PreK class.

We are looking forward to a summer filled with visiting, travel, picnics, playing outside and relaxing.  And come August, I am sure we will be more than ready to get back to school!