Midway Through Mimi Camp

We are at the midway point of camp. I'm up early enough—before they wake up—to share a few things here that have kept us busy. I know if I don't post this now, I'll forget part of what we've been doing. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough planned for us to do. Now I'm worried we won't get it all done!

Sunday night they surprised me by making dinner. Daddy-O was the kitchen supervisor. They made party sandwiches, fruit kabobs and the big surprise was fancy pretzels. They dipped them into melted chocolate and white chocolate and covered the chocolate with sprinkles. Daddy-O melted the chocolates and they dipped and sprinkled. These pretzels were a major treat. We will do this again for sure.

 

Monday we had a friend come and show us how to weave a basket. She's taught many people over the years how to do this, including entire classes of third graders. (She was a third grade teacher.) I can't imagine how she does this en masse.

In the afternoon, the girls made fluffy cloud dough. This turned out to be great fun—if very messy fun. They stayed at it for over an hour. Here's the recipe for this crazy easy, inexpensive activity. Making two batches (one for each child) cost less than $5.

FLUFFY CLOUD DOUGH

2 heaping cups cornstarch

1 cup hair conditioner

Mix together in a large bowl with a spatula until you need to switch to squishing with your hands.

 And on Tuesday we finished the baskets with Mrs. Joanne's help. These are seriously gorgeous baskets!

Although we've had some rain each day, we've also had lovely cool, low humidity time for outdoor fun. We could not have ordered more perfect weather. So there has been lots of outside play.

It's been a camp tradition to open "the box" each morning at breakfast. The box contains something that will be one of our day's activities. Tuesday's box contained loopy yarn. And it was just before bedtime before we got a chance to work on this. You can google "loopy yarn" for videos that show how to do this easy finger knitting. You can find the loopy yarn at most craft/hobby stores.

Oh....and I nearly forgot! The girls made blueberry banana smoothies for their afternoon snack. They were delicious!

BLUEBERRY BANANA SMOOTHIE

3/4 cup frozen blueberries (or other berries)

1 banana, sliced in 1-inch pieces

1 cup blueberry yogurt

1 cup milk

whipped cream, optional

Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. 

If you will be having your grandchildren for a day, a week or even longer, I hope this will give you a few ideas of keeping the kiddos busy. Little Sister brought one of her cookbooks. That's where we found the recipes for the chocolate covered pretzels and the berry smoothie. So many kid-friendly recipes in it. 

  

Check back here later for the second half of Mimi Camp.