Things To Do While Camping In The Rain

Being stuck under a pavilion (which is open on three sides) during a flash flood warning can leave you damp and bored. However, after watching the teens, tweens, and kids who were with us on this campout try to outrun their boredom, I've come up with a pretty good list of ways to entertain yourself if you ever find yourself in this situation:

First of all, take pictures of fire. Not just one or two pictures. LOTS of pictures. Fire looks different every time you photograph it, so don't stop snapping those photos for a minute. Actually this one can be done when it's not flooding as well, if the number of fire photos I have ever since Emily learned to use a camera is any indication.

Play board games and card games. Change all the rules to make it more interesting.

When you hear the sound of a hatchet hitting wood, sit up and stare (with your mouth hanging open) the entire time the wood is being chopped.

Imagine what it would be like to be the one holding the hatchet.

Drool a little.

Try to climb up in the rafters.

Try to climb the walls.

Forget that younger kids are watching.

Forget that they will try to imitate you.

Forget that they will have to be rescued when they can't get back down.

Get into the most difficult spot you possibly can.

Scare the crap out of your mother.

Dust off the entire top of the rafters with your shirt.

And most importantly.....play in the rain.

Comments

Mammogram

I'm having my annual mammogram today. I always hear about how painful they are, but honestly, I've never thought they are that bad. Not the most comfortable, but not painful either. Every time I have a mammogram, I'm reminded of this story. It won the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition and I still get a kick out of it every time I read it. So I'm posting it here today for your reading pleasure: Erma Bombeck Writing Competition 1st place in Humor Category Winner Leigh Anne Jasheway of Eugene, Oregon "The First Time's Always the Worst" The first mammogram is the worst. Especially when the machine catches on fire. That's what happened to me. The technician, Gail, positioned me exactly as she wanted me (think a really complicated game of Twister - right hand on the blue, left shoulder on the yellow, right breast as far away as humanly possible from the rest of your body). Then she clamped the machine down so tight, I think my breast actually turned inside o...

Queen Emma's Summer Palace

We recently visited Queen Emma's Summer Palace in Honolulu. If you are expecting a "palace", you will be disappointed. It's a nice house but not particularly palatial . If you think of it as Queen Emma's Summer Cottage, you'll enjoy it more because it will meet your expectations. Queen Emma was the wife of King Kamehameha IV. Their only child, Prince Albert, died at age four, and King Kamehameha IV died a year later. It's a sad story. The home was used by the royal family in the mid-1800's. Today it holds artifacts from that time period. Some of the furnishings and memorabilia actually belonged to Queen Emma. Unfortunately, no photography is allowed inside, so I didn't take any pictures. I did, however, find some images on the internet which I am copying here. Don't sue me, please. I did try to buy postcards in the gift shop, but they didn't have any. This photo is of the parlor. Queen Emma acquired this baby grand piano later ...

Cookie Map of Egypt

Katie is studying ancient Egyptian history right now and in the interest of making it more "hands-on" for her, we've joined a co-op at our church. We've been part of the co-op for a long time, but we've not done history with them until now. I was in charge of this week's craft project so I had all the kids make maps of ancient Egypt out of cookie dough. Katie and I made one at home for practice, then we made one again at co-op so the pictures look different as I used some photographs from each session. Each child started out with one full tube of sugar cookie dough. They pressed each one out into a 10x6 inch rectangle as if it were clay or play dough. We used toothpicks to outline where we wanted land formations to be. Then we outlined the Mediterranean Sea with a blue gel. And filled it in with blue icing. We used Twizzlers to outline the Red Sea. Although the Red Sea isn't actually red, there is a seasonal algae there which is red in color. I thought the...

Mama On The Move

Search This Blog