Backyard Camping

 Grace sooooo wants to camp.

She loves sleeping in a tent and looking

up at the moon!

 So while she was here last month, we went

back yard camping.

It was during the Super Moon and

she saw a shooting star!

 We had Campfire Popcorn.

(Caramel Corn)

 We had campfire stories and listened to

music and we went to sleep!

 And both girls slept all night in the

tent and woke up to sunshine

with smiling faces!

 

HOME MADE Rainbow Cookie Dough Ice Cream

 Grace wanted to make

Rainbow Cookie Dough Ice Cream!

 I had a cookie dough mix in the pantry

so we stirred it up.

 We added cake coloring.

 And then we rolled the dough into

little dough balls.

Grace rolled purple balls.

Olivia rolled pink balls.

And I rolled green ones.

 I used an ice cream mix, but I wanted

a more cake batter like flavor, so I

added a box of vanilla pudding.

Plus 6 cups of whole milk

and a little vanilla.

 We put the dough balls in the freezer

and let the ice cream freeze until

it was milk shake thick.

 Then we added the cookie dough

and continued freezing.

 The ice cream turned pink and there

was more cookie dough in the top than

in the bottom, but it was still

a big hit!

 The girls loved it.

 Most of them required a

second helping.

 And there was plenty to go around!

We should definitely do this

more often!



SUMMER is for SWIMMING!

 And swimming is even more fun when

you have friends to swim with!

 Caelie brought her cousins over

and the girls had a great time!

 Grace & Caelie

Even Brilyn and Olivia got in

on the fun!

But - that made things a bit tough

on me. Olivia doesn't like floaties and wants to

be held and Brilyn needs caught when

she goes down the slide....

So, I'm thankful God gave me two

hands and arms.

One for holding.... and one for catching!

Floaties would make life so much easier.

I even tried "missing" Olivia once,

to convince her she needed one.

But - sinking in her opinion is still better

than wearing one. (it didn't bother her one bit)

Lessons in Nature

 Caelie and her cousins came over

to swim so Deuce showed them

how to hold the tarantula.

 They were all so very brave!

 Kids are normally brave unless they've

been taught to be fearful.

 When handled properly, a tarantula

is normally very docile... there really is

nothing to fear.

But - not all Mom's believe that! LOL

Gracie has no problems with big

hairy spiders, though.

And look at sweet Brilyn's

little hands..... she's trying to be my

helper by taking a picture.

Isn't that precious? 

 

Grace Masters The Water Slide

 Grace and Olivia stayed with me

for a few days in June and Grace

mastered the water slide while they

were here!

 She got braver every single day!

 By the time we took her home, she

was almost fearless!

 But - not quite fearless enough to

let go of that floatie!

 We had such a good time when

she was here.

 We tried to pack as much fun as we 

could into a few short days,

so I'm sure they went home

tired and cranky!

But - it was sooooo worth it!

 Just look at this girl!

 She's FLYING!

Flying to new heights at least!

I am so proud of her accomplishments

in the pool!

GOOD JOB, GRACIE!!!

An Animal Nature Hike

Grace wanted to go on an

"Animal Nature Hike"

so we went to the

Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge!

 We saw deer!

 The deer were my favorite animals

of the day!

 We found a Tarantula which

worked right into our recent

science studies! Grace befriended

him right away!

 She knows just how to hold him.

You have to GENTLY coax him onto your

hand. Grabbing him might scare

him and if he's scared he might bite!

 Only - I think HE might be a SHE!

This spider is much bigger than ours

at home!

 We saw Prairie Dogs!

 Prairie Dogs are really cute and Olivia

loved chasing them into their holes.

I'm sure if caught they would bite,

but I doubt we really have to worry much

about Olivia catching one.

And chasing them is so much fun!

 We found a hiking trail and hiked!

It started out wide, and smooth and easy!

 But it eventually became rocky and rough.

I was glad I dressed Olivia in jeans.

She was tough and hiked most of the

way without help.

 Grace liked the tougher areas of the trail,

but when it got really rough,

I carried Olivia!

 We saw a lizard!

This was Grace's favorite animal

of the day! She loved watching it and

even tried to catch it, but it was

too fast!

And we saw this big guy!

A buffalo!

This buffalo was standing right in front

of us scratching his bottom on a rock.

Grace tried telling him that it was not

proper to be doing that in front of GIRLS,

and Olivia just laughed and laughed.

Then we went to the Refuge Visitors Center,

and Olivia told everyone she saw about that

buffalo. She thought it was the funniest

thing she'd ever seen and she even

chose a toy buffalo from the

gift shop to remember it by!



Hands on Science Lesson..... Trantulas!

 This time of year Tarantulas are plentiful

in Oklahoma, so I thought we'd take the

opportunity to learn about them.

This is a Rose Haired Tarantula!

He's pretty fascinating! 

 Tarantula's are spiders.

Spiders have 8 legs and 2 body segments.

A spider's legs have 6 joints each.

Most spiders have eight eyes, but some have less.

Spiders also have these tiny little

leg-ish things called ‘pedipalps’ that are beside the fangs. 

They help to hold prey while the spider bites it.

Tarantula's require live food - like crickets.

Some spiders are poisonous and others

are not. Children should ask an

adult before touching a spider.

(since some spiders do bite)

Tarantula's are poisonous spiders,

but they rarely bite if handled properly.

They can also inject their hair into your

skin. This feels somewhat like a

fine splinter and can itch, but it's relatively

painless - and a warning that you might

be handling your spider a little

too rough. Our spider was relatively friendly

but Grace gave him a scare or two.

And I say "him" because I THINK he was

a boy. Boy Tarantula's are smaller than

girls as they only live for

5 years and girls live 15-20.

So... as far as Tarantula's go, it's a

Girl's World!