Summer Vacations!

Tis the time of year for vacations! Do you have any planned?? I have been surfing, from my couch, online, about some really great vacation spots. We won't be doing any vacationing this year, but it's always good to have ideas for years to come. There are so many places to go for summer trips, it's hard to just choose one. Where ever we decide to go next year, I want it to make sure the kids get some culture and learn some of that location's history.

Since we are staying home this summer, we have tons of summer activities and learning planned. Below are some of the crafts and such we will be doing over the next few months :) If you have any ideas or tips, please send them our way :)

A few of these ideas are from Lori over at Moms by Heart. She has a whole segment done of "Staycations", and I love pretty much all of them :)

Recycled Crayons

From Kinderpendant 

My oldest's first year of school was this last fall, and he came home with a ton of crayons broke and wore to a nub. This is a great idea and super fun for the kids. These she made with a pretzel mold, but you can use just about any mold you want. 

See the step-by-step directions HERE

Make your own Gak

From Make It- Love It

Who doesn't like sticky, gooey goodness???

See the step-by-step directions HERE

Sandpaper Art

From Moms by Heart

This looks like so much fun, I will have to find someone who actually owns an iron still :)

See the step-by-step directions HERE

There is a few to get you started! As I find more, I will post them, or if I get creative on my own (LOL) I will share those, too. 

Saturday Project...FINISHED!

This is my bench :) and was my Saturday project. My poor old bench has seen better days. It was given to me by my Mom and Dad in 2002, as a house warming/birthday gift. My husband and I had just moved into our first place of our own. It then was moved to the house we bought and then to Nebraska for two years and then back here to Colorado. Unfortunately it has spent it's life exposed to the elements. Nine years ago, I promised myself I would put a finish on it. That promise came true Saturday :) The process of taking all the pieces off, sanding them and staining, took me pretty much ALL day. And with some saw dust in my eyes, stainer in my hair and several splinters later, it's back together and looks great! I am feeling the soreness of all that sanding today and insult to injury, mother nature decided to SNOW last night. Let's hope the stain was totally dry before it did that and ruined all my hard work. Summer can not come fast enough. And my kids are super excited that they can now crawl up on my bench and not get slivers. I am proud of myself for finally getting this project done AND for doing it all for under $25!