{"id":1107,"date":"2012-06-11T22:20:40","date_gmt":"2012-06-12T03:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/?p=1107"},"modified":"2012-06-20T21:10:21","modified_gmt":"2012-06-21T02:10:21","slug":"summer-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2012\/06\/summer-fun.html","title":{"rendered":"Summer Fun!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The kids are definitely enjoying their summer vacation so far! \u00a0Apparently Jacob was working extra-hard this school year because I hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time. \u00a0School and baseball just wore him out, I guess. \u00a0They’re enjoying sleeping late, staying up late at night and not having to get dressed until lunchtime. \u00a0Oh, the summer life!<\/p>\n

Since school ended last Thursday, the kids have been doing little else besides playing games, riding their bikes and playing catch in the backyard.<\/p>\n

Sadly, our area was hit with that Gulf Coast deluge of rain over the weekend so we were quite literally stuck in the house all weekend<\/a>. \u00a0Our rain gauge is broken, but I’d estimate around 8-10″ of rain at our house all weekend. \u00a0We have good drainage so our house and our property was okay.<\/p>\n

While under our virtual house-arrest, the boys got along GREAT and Dave and I could catch up on several household tasks. \u00a0We had visited Target on Friday and let the kids choose one video game and one board\/card game each. \u00a0We enjoyed all of that and then some: Uno, Phase-10, Rummikub, chess, Monopoly, Guitar Hero and even our new “Go” board game<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I also helped out with this week’s Cub Scout Day Camp<\/a>. \u00a0Even though my boys can’t go (because of our upcoming Road Trip), I had received a request to help out with some craft preparations. \u00a0I offered my assistance and I received a task that was PERFECT for this past rainy weekend: FiMo clay<\/a> Star Wars action figures. \u00a0You press the clay into the molds, then bake a pan full of them at 230F for 30 minutes to harder. \u00a0They are to be used in snow globes (Hoth?) that will be made with baby food jars.<\/p>\n

Here is a picture of what I was working on. \u00a0Cute, aren’t they? \u00a0They weren’t easy but with the rainy weather, we had all the time in the world! \u00a0I had to make 150 of these.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Of the dozen-or-so characters to choose from, there are the only ones that will fit through the mouth of a classic baby food jar. These were among the best of the batch. Most of the Yodas looks more like Gizmo from "Gremlins", and most of the Obi Wans and Chewies had no discernable faces. The molds for these were made by "Kenner" years ago. I tried to find a link to the mold product but can't find any.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

We're placing bets about which young Cub Scout will be attempting to consume these chocolate-brown clay Chewies. Luckily FiMo is non-toxic.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

After 3 days straight of no plans, today we had some plans. \u00a0We took a risk that the weather would clear up by lunchtime: Sandra and I headed back up to Molino<\/a> — this time with all our kids — to that same blueberry farm we visited 1 1\/2 weeks ago. \u00a0We had planned to visit Cambridge Farms in Milton<\/a> but they’re closed on Mondays.<\/p>\n

I picked enough berries to take up to our relatives during our road trip this weekend. \u00a0After picking berries, we enjoyed lunch at Olive Garden and then headed back home where the kids played for a bit before parting ways.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tomorrow is my official “get ready for our road trip” day: packing, cleaning, getting a food plan together for our travels and arranging care for our Howie.<\/p>\n

Tonight I had the boys choose their books and DVDs for the trip. \u00a0I laid out the blueberries to dry (they were still very wet from all the rains) and made up a quick cobbler for dessert.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Before I packed up the berries for transport up to PA, I wanted to dry them out some. Old and blue-colored beach towels are perfect for this. You're looking at 11 lbs. of blueberries. Which at $0.75 per pound = $8.25 worth of berries! What a fantastic bargain!<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

This is Pioneer Woman's cobber #1 recipe: http:\/\/thepioneerwoman.com\/cooking\/2007\/08\/the_great_cobbl\/<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The kids are definitely enjoying their summer vacation so far! \u00a0Apparently Jacob was working extra-hard this school year because I hadn’t seen him this happy in a long time. \u00a0School and baseball just wore him out, I guess. \u00a0They’re enjoying sleeping late, staying up late at night and not having to get dressed until lunchtime. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,175,163,37,38],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ycQ0-hR","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":358,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2009\/06\/road-trip-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":0},"title":"ROAD TRIP!","date":"12 June 09","format":false,"excerpt":"Tomorrow morning we leave on vacation.\"Whoo hoo! It's about friggin' time! You haven't really had a real vacation in a couple years, have you?\"No, I guess not. We had that fabulous trip to Fort Fisher\/Kure Beach, NC back in July 2007. That was a really fun time, the most relaxed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"family\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":637,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/08\/florida-discoveries-16-follow-that-bird-help-me-identify-a-bird.html","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":1},"title":"Florida Discoveries 16: Follow That Bird! Help Me Identify a Bird….","date":"25 August 11","format":false,"excerpt":"That beautiful garden from last March-May? \u00a0All but dead. \u00a0The insane heat, plus the lack of rain earlier this summer made it tough to maintain after our vacation. \u00a0Between the tomato hornworms, blossom end rot and other crap, I just said \"forget it\". \u00a0It was too hot to even stand\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"bird watching\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-_Vcd9KLVJfw\/Th44L0gi1JI\/AAAAAAABX_M\/eMXq7yH-wl4\/s640\/IMG_9066.JPG?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2008\/05\/drilling-with-a-kid-dave-and-jake-are-on-their-dream-train-vacation.html","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":2},"title":"Drilling With a Kid! Dave and Jake are on their Dream Train Vacation!","date":"04 May 08","format":false,"excerpt":"Greetings from South Carolina again!For the first time, I brought Timmy with me on a drill weekend to South Carolina.Dave and Jacob are with a group of Pennsy N-Scale Model Railroaders in Central PA, folks he's had many conversations with via his Railwire discussion group. In fact, here's a post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"air force reserves\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2149,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/06\/house-shopping-in-colorado.html","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":3},"title":"House Shopping in Colorado","date":"07 June 13","format":false,"excerpt":"It was a tough decision, but we decided to bring the whole family on this particular househunting trip. We found a gap in the boys' baseball schedule in early May that would allow us to take a long weekend and fly the family to Colorado; we would all shop for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"colorado\"","img":{"alt_text":"The kids were 4 months and 2 years old the last time they had to do this.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/DSC_2653-1024x678.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2632,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2013\/10\/colorado-discoveries-14-farish-recreation-area-near-woodland-park-co.html","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":4},"title":"Colorado Discoveries 14: Farish Recreation Area near Woodland Park, CO","date":"04 October 13","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know about you guys, but fall is officially here! Heck, let's just call it winter! We awoke this morning to rain while the temperature continued to fall below freezing. The water droplets FROZE to the car...which made getting the kids to school this morning difficult. (Yes, I drove\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"air force academy\"","img":{"alt_text":"That is the WEST side of Pike's Peak behind us. We have a view of the east face from our house.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/IMG_7564-1024x768.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":646,"url":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/2011\/09\/milspouse-friday-fill-in-57.html","url_meta":{"origin":1107,"position":5},"title":"MilSpouse Friday Fill-in #57","date":"09 September 11","format":false,"excerpt":"I haven't done too much blogging this past week, things were crazy with Dave having a medical procedure last Friday. \u00a0Then we were stuck in the house for 3 days straight as tropical storm conditions and tornado warnings dominated the Florida Panhandle. \u00a0It was challenging keeping the kids entertained, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"crocheting\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/wifeofasailor.files.wordpress.com\/2010\/06\/milspouse-friday-fill-in.jpg?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1107"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1114,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1107\/revisions\/1114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thevollmerfamily.com\/MajorMom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}