Waterblob fun

I came across a blog post for individual waterblobs the other day and since we have yet to find to buy with a pool, I decided to try my hand at a simple DIY project. I used this person's instructions, except I left a small opening for my hose instead of having to cut into the plastic http://www.viralnova.com/homemade-water-blob/.  We debated on making individual blobs, one massive blob 12x25 (the entire box of plastic), or 2 12x12 blobs. After much debate the kids decided to try one 12x12 to see if it would even work, so we still have 12x25 feet of plastic to play with!

Since I already had parchment paper, an iron, and an ironing board at home (funny cause I don't iron!) we only needed to purchase duck tape and plastic!

Day 1 - Turkey sat and played on the blob while the other kids just pushed around the edges to slosh the water. We ended up with quite a few small leaks the first day. I believe I just had a few sections that weren't fused all the way and a few areas where the edge of the seam developed small leaks with the weight of the water.

Day 2 - No pictures, thankfully. I turned on the sprinkler and laid on the blob...all by myself, while the kids stayed inside ALL.DAY.LONG!

Day 3 - We repositioned the blob to a less slanted part of the yard. The kids filled it up WAY TOO full, the recommendations we saw were 8-12 inches of water.  Jayson didn't realize his kicking had punctured huge holes into the top, which oddly enough hardly any water spilled out (you may see white duck tape in the pictures, these were our patch jobs). The kids also tried my sprinkler technique, which they loved!

If you look between Jarom's arms you will see one of our large holes

Water blob plus sprinkler equals a great way to cool off!

Day 4 - 5 Blob pretty much is deflated due to holes/ tears, so now we will take our huge piece of plastic to make a slip-n-slide, after the landscapers come.

Last weekend together....for the summer

Last night at home (Saturday) and they chose to play video games! What else is new!!! But at least they spent it together and even Bre got into some of the dancing (hopefully I will be able to upload the videos at another time!)

Our last day together, Sunday, and we were able to stop and pick up Jordyn so she could spend at least one day with all of us this summer. We decided to take the kids to the beach to allow all the kids who have been at our house to get some sun, they only saw about 5 days of sun the entire summer.

And of course the only picture I get of MyKayla my finger is in the way

Sand chair

Monkey see, monkey do

Glow in the dark bowling

As our summer starts to come to a close we decided we'd some at home glow in the dark bowling. With a quick trip to the dollar store to grab some bracelet glow sticks, and rounding up as many left over 2-liter bottles from my up-cycle gardening projects we created a mini-bowling pin set (6 pins). We tried out a few balls to determine if we'd have to change our 2-liters to water bottles, but quickly discovered that if we used one of our old soccer balls (size 4) and filled the bottles about 1/3-1/2 full all the kids could get enough force behind the ball to knock over the pins, lucky for us one of our old soccer balls was a glow in the dark ball too!

We first attempted to set up our bowling lane in the backyard on the grass, but quickly determined that we were spending more time trying to get our 'pins' to balance instead of actually bowling, so we moved our game to the front yard. After several ideas on where to set up our bowling lane, we chose to use our sidewalk from the driveway to our front door to help eliminated all the 'chasing' of the ball that everyone would have to do. We had 3 extra 2-liters, that we used to mark lines for the kids to throw from. The downfall to night time activities is trying to get pictures of kids in the dark.

Worst part of creating your own bowling, is having to set up the pins manually each time!

MyKayla attempting a strike

Our pins and ball

A day at a natural springs waterhole

This is our last full weekend with the majority of the Brady Bunch kids (Jordyn still hasn't been able to visit with us this summer) and it just happens to be a non-rainy weekend (probably the very first and only one) so Eric thought it would be fun to take the kids to a springs water hole in Marianna Florida. Since this was a last minute trip we didn't leave our house until 11 and with the hour drive we arrived just after noon. The Blue Springs Recreation Area has many activities to keep the kids active for an entire day (or more) including the water hole with a swim area, diving board, slide and docks, as well as paddle boats, canoes, kayaks, scuba diving, play ground, and a beach volleyball court. If you'd like to check them out more click here to visit their site.

I will be the first to admit I failed as mom/ photographer today, I even took my camera (but left it in the car) and only took a few snap shots on my cell phone from my chair! Yep that's right I didn't even get up and walk around with the kids to take pictures or video of them or the beautiful scenery! I thought about it, but I couldn't pry myself out of my chair (yep all day) to do it, so here are my few shots from my chair along with some photos I found on the internet!

Kayla on the diving board

Joey on the diving board...well mid air

Jayson taking a break from playing in the water

My view...my iPhone camera does not do this place justice!

The kids were playing with a beach ball and two little kids joined them. Shortly after this picture the kids were invited to play beach volleyball with two guys who rented a ball for the afternoon. Their team actually won every game they played!

Diving board and docks

It's too HOT!!!!

For almost the entire summer give or take 8 days we have had nothing but pouring down rain, okay more like flooding rain, lightening and thunder storms. Today is the 4th day out of the entire month of July we have sun (and yes it is supposed to be the last day of sun for the month). We have gotten over 18 inches of rain in just July alone (and it's only the 26th) and last month I believe we averaged about the same amount, if not more.

All the kids, with the exception of Joey who had a baseball game first thing this morning have been hanging out inside for the majority of the day, so at 1:30 I told them to all get out...literally! I didn't care what they did, except play basketball because I have a broken window close to where the hoop sits, but they had to get out and I would let them know when they could come back in (with the exception of water and bathroom breaks).

Jarom and MyKayla decided to try out hitting a wiffle ball with the tennis rackets and Joey and Jayson practicing hitting and pitching, thankfully we have a large enough yard there was rarely any interference between their activities and my attempt of laying out to get a little sun! This lasted about an hour and then the complaints started..."It's TOO HOTTTT!!!!!"

The solution...a hose, a few attempts with two sprinkler heads, the yard, and the trampoline!

Sprinkler #1, which eventually got broken...oops

Sprinkler #1 jimmy rigged under the trampoline

Trying to figure out if sprinkler #2 can work hooked to the trampoline

Best solution, hook it to the opening while everyone takes turns jumping

It's no fun waiting for your turn to jump, even if you are the one who just finished!

Whoo hoo it's finally Jarom's turn!

17 days of rain out of 19...what to do???

The kids are so sick of the rain, and being trapped inside the house. Too be honest I am sick of them being inside too as all they seem to do is watch TV or play video games all day and all night long.

So we are off to the closest indoor pool, which only charges $1 per person for a 5 hour swim session. Usually during storms the kids don't want to go swimming as the pool has huge metal doors which means that during these storms the pool has the possibility of closing, but today they were so bored they were willing to take the risk. I have come down with an amazing summer cold so I agree to drop off Joey, Jarom, MyKayla, and Jayson at the pool and return about 4:45pm to pick them up.

After dropping them off Bre and I hang out in the upstairs viewing area to make sure they get situated with their belongings in the pool area and that someone is keeping an eye on Jayson.

Jayson hanging out in the shallower area while the older kids have a bit of fun in the deep end before I leave

Goggle adjustment

Trying to figure out if Jayson can hang out in the deep end or who is going to take the first 'shift' hanging out with him in the shallow end

'Not it!' just kidding, all of them decided to move to the shallow end with Jayson as the deep end was pretty busy

Just another day with Nerf guns

But this time Eric had to get involved!