Monday, July 18, 2011

How I'm Spending Summer Vacation

Another fabulous third grade teacher, Jodi from Clutter-Free Classroom, is doing a fun little writing "assignment" this week, in which bloggers are responding to a topic she posts (kind of like those 45 minute timed writes we give monthly to our students!). Hope this gives you a tiny peek into my world! I'm going to include photos, just because I like to add a little flair.

Before summer vacation started, I made a list, with Ben's help (he's my almost six year old son), of a bunch of places to go and things to do. Otherwise, we would spend way too much time watching TV in our PJs. So, the first thing we ended up doing was making dino eggs. Ben loved it!





We've visited our local parks (but ugh....it's sooo hot!):

We've spent time at the beach with buddies:

Ben has started tennis lessons, and he is actually getting pretty good!


We've had fun at the Children's Museum with friends:




My husband and I went to the NASCAR Coke Zero 400 in Daytona:

We set off fireworks for July 4th:


Ben and Eva both took swimming lessons:

We went to the "Twilight Swim" at our local pool and Ben was not afraid of the high dive:

We've done "science experiments":


We went to the aquarium:




And we went to the zoo:




This week is going to be pretty low-key, and I have a couple trainings next week (I try not to do too many out of the house trainings - three this summer, but I do a TON of professional reading over the summer). I am hoping to get into my classroom next week to get a little head start on getting things ready for the new year. The week before teachers go back to school, we are taking a mini-vacation over to Disney. We're only planning to do one theme park and then hang out at the hotel for a day to relax and enjoy the last little bit of summer.

Hope everyone else is having a fabulous vacation!

6 comments:

  1. Just discovered your blog! Those dino eggs look fun to make. What's in them?

    Marlene

    I Heart Teaching Elementary

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  2. My son loved the dino eggs and they were very fun. The look on his face when he broke open the first egg was priceless, especially since he was the one who made them...he knew exactly what was inside but was perfectly thrilled!

    Anyhoo, here's what you'll need:
    1 c flour
    1 c coffee grounds (used)
    1/2 c salt
    1/4 c sand
    3/4 c water
    a bunch of little plastic dinos

    1. Mix dry ingredients together.
    2. Slowly add water until the mixture is kind of doughy.
    3. You might need to add more flour/sand for the right consistency.
    4. Shape the dough around your mini dinos so they aren't showing.
    5. Let dry out for a couple of day, or if you just can't wait, place on a cookie sheet and bake at 150 degrees for about 20 minutes. Check them and if they need more hardening time, set the timer for another 10 minutes or so.

    This recipe will make about 6 medium sized eggs. You can see from the baking picture that one of our dinos was awfully awkwardly shaped and took a lot of mold!

    Have fun, and thanks for commenting! : )

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  3. Looks like you have had a fun summer! Enjoy the rest of your break.

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  4. I've finally found the way to the comments. You've been extremely busy, keeping Ben and Eva engaged all summer with all the fun things they'll remember always.

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  5. So glad I happened upon your blog. You have some great things to share. I am now a follower.

    http://ericashep.blogspot.com

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  6. You have a beautiful family, and it looks like you had a wonderful summer! I thought you ATE the dinosaur eggs (glad you listed the ingredients-I thought it was something with oreos:)

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