Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Juicy sno cones and Shaving Cream fights!


The boys have been filling our Summer Board with stickers all summer long! A LOT of our summertime activities include WATER.  Water fun is a summer staple.  Most of my most-treasured summer memories involve fresh water, whether it was water-skiing straight through it on the lake or simply drinking it straight out of the hose.


Two of my favorite water games we did this summer are:

1) a CLASSIC TRADITION, the slip n slide 

AND 

2) something NEW AND CRAZY, a shaving cream fight. 


I was inspired to play with shaving cream after thinking about how our little people often get scolded for making giant messes or creating disasters.  How fun would it be to suddenly make it "OKAY" to make a crazy mess and to openly discover with no inhibitions? 

When Cameron was a baby, I walked into his room one day to see that it had snowed in the entire room.  The changing table, toys, carpets, pillows were dusted with baby powder snow.  I'm not the only one, right?  Another time when Kotah was a toddler I walked into his room to discover that he grabbed the baby shampoo out of the bathtub and decided to wash his stuffed animal on the carpet in his bedroom.  He used over half the bottle.  Did you know that a pool of shampoo on carpet    NEVER    COMES    OUT?  I was one livid mama, scrubbing, and saying words that sweet new mamas shouldn't say, and scrubbing some more. 

Little kids are curious, adorably curious.  They embrace the spirit of fresh discovery without fear of consequence and without boundaries.  To celebrate that, I thought it would be fun to change it up and make the OFF LIMITS suddenly ACCEPTABLE for one summer day.


So I armed them each with a can of shaving cream...


And we took this mess OUTSIDE.


I was instantly intrigued as I observed their individual personalities burst out when I first let them loose with the shaving cream.  They are each so uniquely different and that delights my heart.  Cameron walked straight to the grass and did exactly as I first suggested, following the directions for this fun time: he made lines of shaving cream down his limbs.  Dakotah immediately went to town, covering his entire body, hair included, and Titus calmly found a quiet corner and made rock cupcakes.  These brief minutes were my favorite part of this day! I was able to watch their personalities and appreciate each of them!



After a few minutes, they started to really dig the idea of making an intentional mess...













"look at us Mama! Come give us love!" 




Ok, 
officially made an intentional disaster,
 time for the water...





And they smelled amazing 
from head to toe 
the REST of the day!



 The other favorite water game they did this summer was some slippin and sliding at our neighbor's house!






















Before I wrap this up, I wanted to share an easy change to make to the traditional sno cones.  I thought of trying this LAST summer but ran out of time but thankfully we tried it THIS year and it rocks!  When making sno cones, use 100% juice concentrate INSTEAD of the sno cone syrup.  It is super fresh and delicious! 


The boys have spent some treasured days at my parent's house this summer.  They love to grab their towels and swimsuits and pile on over to "Grandma's house".  She always, ALWAYS makes their visit extra special.  On her kitchen island is usually a treat, an activity, or a surprise!  She always has it displayed in an exciting way.  On this day, she had sno cone supplies ready to go in the special spot.



She crushed iced and we simply added juice concentrate over the cones.


 We used 100% grape juice, but I think orange juice would be so pretty and pineapple orange would taste amazing! We want to try other flavors next time.


Cozy front porch rocker, check.  Oversized red wagon, check.  Pool of water, check.  Treats made by Grandma, check.  They have everything they desire at their Grandma and Grandpa's house!



A shaving cream mess,
slip and slide memories,
and juicy sno cones at Grandma's house.

Summer 2012 done right! 



What is your favorite WATER memory of the summertime?
  
I want to discover more ideas to add
 to our summer lists for upcoming years. 

I have a facebook page finally:




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7 comments:

caveman said...

I want to slip and slide. That looks so fun! Thank you for making our sons lives literally picture perfect. They will treasure these summer memories for the rest of their lives.

Red Couch Recipes said...

Your boys had so much fun, and I Do know that shampoo on carpet and it never comes out and it attracks dirt forever! My favorite summertime memory is swimming endlessly. What a grea idea to use 100 percent juice in snow cones. Joni

Sunshine said...

I LOVE it when the grand-boys come over. They are always full of energy, sweet love, and smiles. They are truly the icing on the cake!!! What amazes me, is that with all their summer activities they remain so grateful. It makes me want to have snow cones every day just to collect their hugs, smiles and thank-you's.

Jane said...

Your photos and words bring back so many memories!!! And "events" like this build so many memories for your boys. Love your mom's sno cone idea. It's been added to my "grandma fun list".

We've had our share of shaving cream fights around here(these actually started with Marty and me...the first year of our marriage!). When the boys were old enough to join in, we switched to whipped cream...doesn't hurt the eyes as much...and it tastes delicious!To celebrate (?) the first day of school, we'd have WHIPPED CREAM fights...with all the neighborhood kids...followed by the traditional hose down. The last day of school was set aside for JELLO fights. My friend and I would sterilize galvanized garbage cans and fill them with soft set jello and ice...donated by lots of parents! Using small paper cups, the kids would scoop that cold, sticky, jello from the cans and the "fights" began. We did this at the park, next to the school...The school janitors got into the fray by providing the hoses and water...It became a tradition for many years!

Jenny said...

What fantastic ideas Lisa!

You should teach a class to mothers and Grandmothers on summer survival without spending a fortune!

Miriam@BeBookBound said...

Your photos are so great! Did your grass survive the shaving cream? It looks like so much fun. I know some boys who are going to love this idea :) Thanks! Found you at BeDifferentActNormal :)

Elise Engh said...

How fun! What great ideas for boys. Thanks for the tip about the snow cones. I will be using juice concentrate next time for sure.