Gummy Worms

...and the fun after bubbles continued!  We made some homemade gummy worms with jello, gelatin and Kool aid!

 We put the straws in a dish, poured in the boiling mixture, set some knives on them to hold them down and put them in the fridge to harden.  When done they just pealed right out of the dish.

Here's what the straws looked like once we peeled them out of the rest of the mixture. 

 We figured out that we needed to leave them out to soften a bit and then we had to roll them out individually with a rolling pin.  TOO MUCH WORK but fun memory!

Zoe and I had fun together and lots of laughs!

 We tried to make them look more real and gross. :)

 MMmmmm, want a snack?!

 We also made a batch with a different recipe which only used water and jello.  These melted far too easily but were quite good!

 Now to try them out!  

 Yes, we feed our son WORMS!!!

 I couldn't pick just one.  And no, he didn't eat all of them!  :)  We shared! :)

He would have LIKED to eat them all himself though! :)

Yep, a FUN FUN day with cousins!!!

Bubble Fun

Zoe and Joshua came over for a day, so we planned some fun things to do together! 

 First, we made some bubble wands and blowers as well as a bubble mixture.  It's not the ultimate, since we didn't have glycerin, but it still worked pretty good. 

 I thought the wands even looked pretty neat.

 As you can see, the lack of Caleb in the pictures shows that he gave up pretty quickly.  I think Matt and I had the most fun.

 Maybe Zoe too! 

 Joshua really wanted a big one but it was a little too hard for him.

Lake with Mom and Dad

Once again, Matt had to work in the evening while Mom and Dad were here, so we made sure to head to the lake in the morning so we'd all have time together.  It's been so hot lately that it worked out just fine to leave soon after lunch in the heat of the day...and nap time. 

 Mom and Dad blew up the air mattresses while Matt entertained. lol

 It's super fun for me to see these pictures with Caleb doing things that were some of my favorite memories growing up each summer!

 He had a great time! 

 I especially love this one.  It reminds me of pictures from growing up with my family on the water!

 Happiness for me! Family together on the water in the sun! 

 Little break for Grandpa and Caleb on the beach....laughing and fun included!

 More water, although Celeb enjoyed the mattress more than the water this time.  I have a feeling that next year he'll be swimming more.

Drying off for lunch time.  

 Once we said goodbye to Matt we enjoyed the water a bit more before heading home.  Grandpa's little buddy!

But Mommy still gets some quality time too!  :)

Such a great time together....along with all the other people on the lake.  And, yes, it seems like a river because it's long and narrow but it IS a lake! Can't wait to go again!  We're dreaming of camping with our whole family next summer.

2nd 4th of July

Since Matt didn't get to join the fun on the actual 4th, we saved the sparklers and special dessert that I made mom for the next night when he got home from work.  

Yum...homemade mini chocolate chip cheesecakes with cookie bottom!

We first broke out the red, white and blue glow sticks!  Caleb loved them and turned them into police attire.

 We tried out the sparklers, which we quickly realized were not made for two year olds. I remember the ones with long sticks and these were quite short, hard to light and dropped embers and soot all over.  Boo!

 Caleb and I did just one and then moved on.  He tried another again later with Matt and the stupid thing sent an ember backwards onto his arm and burnt him.  Yeah, pretty lame first experience.  Poor boy.

 At least we had other fun things to do.

More pop-its...from a sitting position even!  He's a real pro!  

 And DADDY!!! He entertained us all with a sparkler show complete with the national anthem!

 Smiles again! 

 And Grandma entertained us with her creative use of glow sticks!

Another fabulous night with family!