Summer Bucket List #27- Eat Cookies for Dinner

The cookie frenzy went so fast that I hardly got any pictures!  Prince Charming would also like to share that cooking cookies on a broiler pan isn't very helpful.  Uhm.... yeah.

Anyhow... cookies for dinner.  Doesn't this buy me some brownie points with the kids for quite some time. Cause cookies for dinner shouldn't be a regular thing!

Summer Bucket List #26= Slip-N-Slide

I have some vague recollections of a banana-yellow slip and slide as a kid.  Funny thing was that my kids had no idea what to do with it.  It took some coaxing and encouragement for them to take a running start and fling their bodies down and S...L....I....D...E!   Maybe tomorrow! 

Summer Bucket List #25- Silly String Part 2

Summer Bucket list #25
We just had to do silly string again.  So we actually had it posted on the list as Part II.

This time, we managed to wrangle daddy into our shenanigans.  He works for a living... while we often adventure without him.  I often joke that we would never get to do anything if we had to wait around for him.  But, it is important to to include him as much as we possibly can.

This time in stead of one measly can of silly string... everybody had one. There is just never enough silly string....

Summer Bucket List #24 and Happy Birthday Colorado!

Happy 136th birthday, Colorado!

Given that this blog is mainly devoted to exploring and savoring the awesome state of Colorado, it is only fitting that we celebrate it!  So we headed off to the New Colorado History Museum.  Summer Bucket List Item # 24.... Check!!!  And it was a free day!

 Here's a shout out to the awesome balloon lady, making awesome balloon creations. 

Suzallonz

 They had a mining area.  Of course, with Colorado's history. My favorite was the miner's lunch box.  It was ingenious and better than the Tiffin Boxes that I am such a fan of.

 Always a favorite in our family to find vintage BSA stuff.

 The biggest hit was Lego-rado (Colorado built in legos).

 There was several groups invited to perform.  We only caught the Native American one. 

I am not sure how we managed to be so Coloradoan today.  On Monday, I was looking at our Bucket list... pondering on what would be easy to do.  I went to the website of the History Colorado Center 
and low and behold Aug 1st was not only Colorado's 136th Birthday but also a free day there. 

Honestly, I thought it would be bigger. But what they had there was pretty good.  Happy Birthday Colorado!

Summer Bucket List #23- Play in the rain

It rained quite a bit while we were camping at Rocky Mountain National Park.  It gave plenty of time for the kids to play in the rain.  It gave them a chance to try out their survival tent that Boy Scout A wanted to try his hand.  He tried various shelters with a tarp and a rope.  I managed to snap this shot just as the rain was slowing down.

 

His determination to "Be Prepared" is contagious as is the need to be prepared with Pine Cone Grenades on standby....

 

Scout Tutorial: Making Tin Foil Dinners/Summer Bucket List # 20

With every good camp out... their is camp food. We just got back from a Girl Scout Campout.  The boys came along as what else are they to do when their mom is a Girl Scout Leader.  Boy Scout A decided that he would do a Foil Dinner tutorial for you...  This just happens to be one of our Summer Bucket List Items.

So first... he laid out two sheets of foil going opposite directions.  One horizontal and one vertical. He then laid his meat... we often choose boneless meats for easy cooking.  For this one, it is chicken tenderloin.  We have done cube steak, fajita meat (with fajita veggies and seasonings). Use your imagination.  Only this time the camp kitchen was without any seasonings.  Though we did conjure up some honey mustard using our sandwich honey and yellow mustard... but even with out the basic salt and pepper it was good. We added some veggies.  In this case, we added baby carrots, potatoes and onion.

Pull the wrap together nice and tight...

Boy Scout A recommends that you scrunch the sides into handles for easy fire retrieval.  All this time we had been just wrapping them up.  But this little trick of his (he says he read it in Boy's Life) was quite handy and will be the standard wrap of the future for this family.

Well this is where it gets sketchy folks... We don't time it.  Just try and get your pieces uniform (veggies) and when it starts to smell good... cause your hungry after all that hiking and camping activities... pull it out and see if the meat is thoroughly cooked and the veggies are fork tender.  Though I don't mind my carrots being on the crunchy side.

When it's done, unwrap and enjoy.    We plop the whole foil package on a mess plate, eat it, throw the foil away and the plate is likely to be clean or easily washed.

What's your favorite camp food?

Summer Bucket List # 19- Back to the Future Marathon

I have two more of these bucekts... FULL of Apricots

Well... since yesterday we were blessed with an abundance of Apricots, it is only natural that today... since we have a boat load to process, we decided that today was a good day to tackle that bucket list item.  And the work of apricots gets done.  I love these movies.  I love apricot nectar.  So we will get some apricots de-pitted and the pot will be bubbling away this afternoon.  The kids are already planning on making Apricot Nectar popsicles. 

Summer Bucket List # 18- Hike Roxborough State Park

 

Summer Bucket List # 18- Hike Roxborough State Park.

I love how every state park I have visited here in Colorado seems to be unique and has its own gifts to offer.  I think I have been to only about 6 or 7 of them so far in Colorado, but they have each been an enjoyable experience with their one unique attributes.  Roxborough State Park is beautiful.  Despite the dry conditions in the state right now, it was very dense and lush.  I hope that doesn't mean it will be in flames soon.  There is a lot of interesting underbrush.  It would be nice to spend some time there identifying plants there.
The red rocks there are beautiful and I enjoy spending time looking at them.  We went this last Saturday with Mr. J's Wolf Den.  We spent some time prior to entering the trail to talk about Leave No Trace Ethics and did a quick bag check while talking about the types of items all hikers should take on a hike.
I took my favorite trail for scouts there.  Right of the bat was a good patch of Poison Ivy.  I don't think it is enough to just show the boys a picture and lamely recite, "Leaves of Three, Leave them Be."  But I like things to be hands on... well in this case... eyes on only!  We worked on some other plant and tree identification and some other items in the Wolf Scout Handbook.

Hiking with 7 or 8 year olds requires some patience, though I didn't get to use most of my "tools"on this outing as my older scout didn't feel good suddenly and we only went half way on the trail.  Opting to take the easier path back and not climb up one of the trails leading up onto one of the mesas.  Here, I will share some with you.  It seems to work so far after the last several years of scout hikes and family hikes.

Food... always pack food.  Of course that is one of the essential hiking items, but hiking with young kids or novice kid hikers is like going on a long car ride.  Having certain activities to do at specific points along the trail is a great incentive for kids (and me) to keep going. Telling things like, "We are going to stop and have that Jerky break at the next marker" or "We'll put in some EmergC Drink powder into your water bottle when we get around that bend."   Since I like to have each kid have their own maps in their pack of the trails and areas we are in, sometimes we mark their break points marked. At these break points we take water breaks, snack breaks (and for outings I like to bring a little something special since we aren't likely to pay the high prices of snacks and food at anywhere we go.  It helps to  not feel deprived, in my opinion.) With my own kids, I usually have a riveting book we are reading and we stop and I read to them awhile, we may work on our nature journals, play a game, and with my scouts we may stop and work on a scout related achievement.  Regardless there are plenty of things to do and things to look forward to. My own kids are well enough accustomed to large amounts of time in the outdoors and camping that they manage fine with out lots of prodding, but they hold me to the snack breaks.  They are smart kids.  I think the biggest tip is to go into the hike with a patient mindset.  You'll get to the end when you get there.  I let my kids dictate the pace and I am prepared with plenty to help inspire them to keep going.

What are some of you favorite ways to encourage kids to keep going on hikes?

On a side note... this is my 100th post!!  Yeah Me!