87 Days of Summer Vacation-- Days 1-5

We're big fans of Phineas and Ferb around here.  The boys discovered it on Netflix and they're not the only ones who love it-- Chris and I get a huge kick out of this clever kids show, too.  The first line of the title sequence goes, "There's one-hundred-and-four days of summer vacation..." and the boys and I are feeling a little gypped that we've only got 87.  That 87 includes the last day of school (the first official day of summer, starting at 2:21 pm) and weekends. 

Since we're trying to jam all the fun we can into those 87 days, my goal is to take at least one picture each day and make a summer scrapbook.  If you are into scrapping or photography, you've probably heard of Project 365, where you take a photo a day for a year.  I'm not quite at that point myself, but I think Project 87 is a good start, don't you?  And there's nothing like a scrapbook to remind you how much fun you had!  :)

Day 1-- June 3rd:  The last day of school/ First day of summer.  I picked the kids up from school and we went to Baskin Robbins where we enjoyed tasty kid's cones while we looked at the end-of-year reports.  I'm happy to say that both boys really improved from the beginning of the year to the end, and that they are both well above average.  Of course, I don't need a school report to tell me that! 

Chris and I thought it would be a fun tradition to have a backyard campout on the last day of school, but when we were talking about it, we must have forgotten that we live in Idaho, where it regularly snows in June.  Last year the boys ended up camping in my parents' shop, and this year, we set up the tent in the basement.  Instead of falling asleep watching the stars, the boys had Toy Story 3 and the dimmer switch on the lamp.  The backyard campout may have to wait for better weather, but I think the fun sleeping arrangement tradition is here to stay!

Day 2-- June 4:  I have big plans for running this summer.  No more 13-milers, though, you can be sure about that!  Still, I plan to run a couple of 5Ks, a 5-mile leg in a relay, and hopefully a 10K at the end of the summer.  I'm also taking a running class at the gym, so I'm hoping my times and endurance will get better as the summer progresses.

My first official run of the summer was the Melaleuca 5K on Saturday.  I ran with my mom and some of our great friends from our ward and neighborhood, which was so fun.  Running with people really makes a difference.

In mid-May, our church group had a 5K fun run and my time was not great, so I was very happy that I came in at 5 minutes faster than that previous time.  Not a personal best, but still, I am pleased with how it turned out.  My one goal was to run (jog) the entire time, and I did.  Hooray!  My friend won an iPod, too, which is pretty darn awesome-- maybe some of that luck will rub off on me for our next race!

Day 3-- June 5:  I decided to just to un-do all of that good calorie burning by making a delicious, completely un-nutritious dessert on Sunday.  I think we're calling it "Strawberries and Cream Pie" and the recipe was given to me by my friend Jeanette.  It's light, summery, and decadent-- perfect for a Sunday afternoon!  I'll post the recipe on Culinary Collie Sue in the next day or so.  In the meantime, you can drool over this picture...

Day 4-- June 6:  I've been watching my sister's four kids three days this week, so we've had kind of a crazy week.  Gordon had his first tee ball game (Go Yankees!-- they're ADORABLE) but I didn't feel like I could take my eyes off of the other six kids for too long and decided to leave the camera at home.  Luckily, we have several more games and I'll have fewer little bodies in my responsibility next week.  Gord played pretty well and afterward commented, "Now I remember this game!" and played even better on Wednesday. 

Late Monday night, Thomas came downstairs with a little problem-- he'd been chewing on this little scarf that belongs in a magic kit and got it stuck on his braces.  It was easy enough to pull off, but I thought it made a pretty funny picture.  Apparently in addition to taffy and chewy caramels, he should also avoid chewing on magic scarves.

Day 5-- June 7:  In typical Idaho fashion, Tuesday was cold and rainy, so we had to stay inside for most of the day.  Luckily, I had a backup plan:  Spore Creatures.

We have this funny computer game called Spore that the kids just love-- you create your own weird monster thing and make it dance and move.  I thought it would be fun to make our own 3-D Spore Creatures with play-doh and the boys agreed.  They invited some friends and we got to work.
 

Next time, I think I'll go right for the modeling clay.  Play-doh doesn't stick as well and we had to use wooden skewers to help the limbs stay stiff.  As the creatures have dried, some of their extremities have fallen off.  Oh well, live and learn.  The boys LOVED this rainy-day project, so I am sure we'll try it again.

Tom's Creature:  

And Gord's (love the title):

 

Most of Neil's ended up in little bits on the floor, then into the garbage when I swept.  He still had fun and I am pretty sure he didn't eat any.

That's it for the first five days-- I have more pictures to share, and I'll post a link to my scrap pages when I'm done in case you want to see how our summer scrapbook is coming along.  Good times!