Cute Kid Pix September 2020

Here's some more pictures that didn't make their own blog post...

We went out to lunch one Saturday and went searching for geocaches in the neighborhood. Across from the restaurants is a business park that was deserted on the weekend. The business park had two fun caches. The first is Some Bunny Loves You Too, the name being a reference to the container. In the interests of not spoiling anything, we didn't take a picture of the container. We did take a shot of the kids searching for the cache.

Come here, bunny!

In the midst of the office buildings is a fun little pond with some dear deer sculptures.

A fun spot to walk around

The second cache, third little pig, was in a spot without any pigs in it! We figured out the situation quickly, resulting in another quick find.

Near the right spot

During a picnic with friends at Centennial Park, we found Eloise's Pond, a cache just off the trail that goes all the way around Centennial Lake. The pond is a separate body of water on the other side of the path. The cache owner wrote on the cache post that there's no real evidence for the pond's name other than a pin on Google Maps. The park has no signs or other indicators.

The cache is in there somewhere

Eloise's Pond...or is it?

After visiting the Underground Railroad Experience Trail, we went to Scoop and Paddles, which sadly is not a pub. Happily, it is an ice cream shop in Clarksville, part of the Common Kitchen. We had some nice and refreshing treats. 

The Common Kitchen

A choice of cones

We enjoyed the ice cream so much, we forgot to take pictures. It was delicious and well worth visiting.

The Anne Arundel County Library is currently offering curbside service. They also offered a free craft which we gratefully accepted. We put together our own Going on a Bear Hunt map!

Going on a Bear Hunt craft

While shopping for some camping gear, I found the Toys for Us, Toys for Them cache. The title refers to a store that is no longer in the shopping center thanks to it going out of business. The cache is still there.

The cache is in there somewhere

Minecraft Camp 2020

This summer, we've done a few "at home" summer camps where I did most of the camp counselor work. One day, I jokingly suggested that we should have a Minecraft camp where I was the camper and the kids were the camp counselors. They took me seriously and set about designing a camp with all the usual activities--snacks, crafts, videos, games, etc. They even made a sign for the garage door when I came back from an errand.

The door sign

As usual, the snacks were the most exciting and most photogenic part of the camp. The first day we made shortbread cookies since they use (mostly) ingredients found in Minecraft--sugar, flour, butter. We might have lost a few hearts taking the hot cookies off the cookie sheet but it was worth it.

Fresh from the oven

Finished product

Another popular food item in Minecraft is bread. We had one of the bread mix jars from an earlier Vacation Bible School. It was easy to bake as some small and delicious loaves.

Raw dough

We let these cool a bit before removing them

The crafting part of the camp involved creating and stocking a "hidey hole" in the basement. In Minecraft, it's important to have a shelter, especially at night when hostile mobs (that's mobile creatures, not large groups of pitchfork-wielding villagers) spawn and attack. We used the natural features of the landscape to make a small cave.

Putting a roof over our cave

One day we made a door for the entrance. Here's a view into the hidey hole from the door.

A comfy spot

We made a crafting table which enables players to make more complicated items. Items like a chest to store valuables or excess stuff without leaving clutter all over the hidey hole.

Crafting table and chest

We even made a bed, another important item in Minecraft. When your character dies, it respawns at its start location unless the character has slept in a bed. Then the bed is the respawn point. If you get killed in the middle of the night in the middle of who knows where, it's much better to respawn into a hidey hole than into a different outdoors area which probably has hostile mobs running around too.

The bed was not to scale for us but a stuffed animal lucked out.

A bed

We made pictures to brighten up the inside of the temporary home, though they both have hostile mobs, so how cheery can they be?

Creeper,  marker on paper (2020) by my daughter

Fighting a Creeper, colored pencil on paper (2020) by me

The hole was big enough for the kids to hang out in it, which they did.

A good spot to relax

Admiring the art

The camp was fun for children and adults alike. They managed to get me addicted to the game, which is a big win for them.

2020 At-Home Vacation Bible School

We did two at-home bible schools this summer. The one with our parish was called a "Vacation Bible Camp," and had the Mystery of the Mass as its theme. We enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot about the Eucharist and our church (it's always cool to see inside the sacristy!). For pictures, mostly we took photos of snack time. The snacks often included a crafting element. The first one we took pictures of was making a fruit-kabob. I am not sure what the connection was to the theme.

Ready to skewer

Adding items carefully

A happy success

A dangerous success

Even more dangerous (or maybe he's just conducting)

Another happy customer

The next day, we made french fries into people. I didn't know you could buy french fries that had happy faces and did not shop appropriately. We were creative and substituted cookies. My youngest used a marshmallow for the head and a Nutter Butter for the body. We broke a second Nutter Butter in four pieces to make arms and legs.

A fun creation

The kids made a mobile, the sort that hangs above an infant's crib. This one was (naturally) Jesus-themed. We decided to hang the mobiles from the ceiling fan to see what happened.



Another craft had my children cutting, coloring, and gluing together some Eucharistic pictures.

Working together

Eucharistic awesomeness!

Very artfully done

The other Vacation Bible School was hosted by a nearby parish and touted as a "Stay-cation Bible School." We picked up some supplies from the church and did another round of daily videos and activities at home.

This VBS had a train theme, so the food had a transportation theme.

Traffic light rice crispy treat

Railroad crossing sign

Making a railroad track

Making a train 

The games included one where the child had to reach down and move the cardboard they used as stepping stones. Crossing the room (getting to the cross) was fun enough to do several times.

Almost there

A tossing game didn't fit the theme so well but was a lot of fun.

Dad tossing

Son tossing

A happy competitor

The VBS had a lot more activities and videos, including music videos with choreography. I did the choreography too, so there's no pictures or videos of us.

Both VBSs were fun, though not as fun as being at the church with a bunch of other people. Hopefully next year?

Last Preschool Activities at the Library

Here's a last set of pre-school activities from our now-scholar.

Our local library had story time was about vehicles. The craft involved decorating a balloon. Fortunately, this balloon was easy to decorate.

Using a stamper to color in the balloon

Finished product

Another library visit had my littlest one making an ice cream cone puppet. He made it with strawberry ice cream and a strawberry cone, because a strawberry cone would have less sugar and be healthier. At least, according to him.

Strawberrying the puppet

Finished product

The next week, the word of the week was "feelings." What better way to express your feelings than with an emoji-creating craft?

Coloring

Happy face

Silly face

We did what was my son's final preschool activity at the library. The program was called "Kindergarten, Here We Come!" and featured stories and songs about starting school. The best part of the program was trying out a school bus!

Waiting in a line (sort of) for the bus

The bus driver had a lot of good safety advice for the kids and my son was so happy to finally get on a school bus. Both the librarian and the school bus driver told the kids that the bus wasn't going to go anywhere.

Almost there!

Using the railing as requested

Into a great adventure

Back in the library, the last part of the story time was collecting a special pencil for all the kindergarteners to be.

Got a green one!

The library is sure to have other fun adventures for us in the future! The school adventure has already started...

Getting ready at home

Getting on the bus

In the classroom!