I know that you have all been on pins and needles waiting, waiting, waiting to see what little craft I came up with for the grand kiddos to do while at Bear Lake for our family reunion.  Well, folks, here it is.

Announcing: Bud and Betty our Bear Lake Buddies!

(I felt so proud of myself for coming up with such a clever name for this activity. That was one of the reasons I stayed up so late the other night making my samples.)

Aren’t they just the cat’s meow? (I’m assuming you can tell which is Betty and which is Bud . . .)

I knew that the grandchildren would not be able to add the pipe cleaner arms nor the yarn hair. Oh, well.  In fact, they didn’t even draw the faces.  (I did.)

Here’s how the buddies looked at the lake.  They are hovering around a yellow cow sand toy.

At times, we chilled out in the shade.

At times, we played in the water. (Well, not grandma. She barely took off her fleece jacket . . . ) Sad to say, that is NOT our boat in the background.

Only one grandchild had the interest to make edible sparklers with grandma. But that was okay. All the more for us to eat. (We DID share with others. Honestly.)  I love edible crafts because you don’t leave any evidence behind as to just how craft-challenged you are.

Only two grandchildren could stand still long enough in front of their art show display for their picture to be taken.  The grandchildren (with a little help from their parents) colored pages from a coloring book, made butterflies out of coffee filters, and made a very simplified version of a ladybug. (Natalie is eating an edible sparkler.)

What fun things are you planning for your family reunion?

We’re off to Bear Lake for our annual family reunion. The lake sits on the Utah/Idaho border.

Lake = water.

Weather forecast = rain.

Rain = more water.

Saturday’s temperature is supposed to be 77 degrees.  That’s not quite warm enough for me to get into the water.  But, I can play at the lake’s edge with the grandchildren which is fine with me.

Because I’ll be gone, I’m re-posting some water activities that I shared last summer.  I hope you have fun doing them with your grandchildren.  (And, I hope the weather is warmer where you are so that you will enjoy getting wet!)

Flotsam and Jetsam
We all know that flotsam and jetsam refers to stuff floating in water.  Right?  Good.  So, the idea behind this activity is to get a Ping-Pong ball to float in a plastic cup.

Divide your grandchildren into pairs.  Give one grandchild an empty plastic cup with a Ping-Pong ball inside.  She is now known as the “Great Cup Holder.”  Give the other grandchild a spray bottle filled with water.  This grandchild is the “Sharp Shootin’ Squirter.” Have them stand six feet apart.

On ‘go,’ the Sharp Shootin’ Squirters try to squirt enough water into their partner’s cup so that the Ping-Pong ball floats.  The first team to get their ball to float is the winner.  Then, switch so that the Great Cup Holder becomes the Sharp Shootin’ Squirter and the sprayer turns into the cup holder.  Again, see which team can be the first to get their Ping-Pong ball to float.

There’s only one rule:  if the team members get closer than six feet, they have to dump out the water in their cup and start over.  (You might want to have a large bucket for easy refilling of the sprayers.)

You might want to have a squirt bottle for every grandchild.  Before the activity, they can draw designs on the bottles using markers.  Then, they can take the squirt bottle home with them — or keep them at grandma’s house for their next visit.

Gentle Jumping
Drag out your long jump rope and paper cups for this activity.  Your grandchildren will take turns turning the rope for the other jumpers.  Each grandchild is given a cup full of water.  The object is for each one to run in, jump six times, and run out without spilling water from her cup.  The one with the most water left in her cup is the winner.

Soggy Jogging
Divide your grandchildren into two teams.  Give each team an old pair of loose fitting sweat pants and a bucket of water.  Place a lawn chair for each team about 15-20 feet away from the starting line.

On ‘go,’ the first person dunks the sweat pants in the bucket of water and puts them on.  She runs down to the lawn chair and once around it and back to her team.  She takes off the sweatpants and gives them to the next person in line.

The next person dunks the sweatpants in the water, puts them on, runs down and around the chair and back.  The winning team is the one who finishes first.

Water Ball
This game is easier to do with just 2 grandchildren — or you and one grandchild.

You’ll need several water balloons, a plastic bat, and a bucket full of water.  Decide who is the pitcher and who is the batter.

The batter stands by the bucket of water.  The pitcher stands several feet away with four water balloons.  The pitcher tries to toss a water balloon into the bucket of water.  The batter ‘defends’ the bucket by hitting and breaking the water balloon so it doesn’t land in the bucket.  The pitcher scores one point for every balloon that successfully lands in the bucket.

Switch positions.  The new pitcher (who has four water balloons) tries to throw the balloons into the bucket while the new batter tries to hit the balloons so they don’t land in the bucket.  Continue playing until you run out of water balloons or interest wanes.

This will be me.

Tomorrow.

At work.

Right now, it is past my bedtime.  And what am I doing?  Having a blast!  I’m getting ready for our little family reunion that we will be having this week-end.

I thought that I would gather the items necessary for a little craft activity.  (Pray tell, just how crafty will our little  one year old granddaughter and our 1 and 1/2 year old grandson be, eh?)

Then, I thought of another easy crafty activity.  I gathered the materials for that.

Then, I went through the crafty stuff that I had organized a while back and put into neat plastic containers.  I was amazed at just how much junk stuff I had.

I was about ready to stop when, shazam!  (To quote Gomer Pile from the Andy Griffith TV show back in the early 60s.) I had an idea!  What a great idea.  It excited me.  So much, that I decided that I had to make a sample so our grandchildren could see the sample at our reunion. And of course I had to make it right now.  Tonight.  I couldn’t do it tomorrow.  That just wouldn’t do.

It’s not really an original idea.  I’ve seen something like this before.  But it is way simplified — and rather goofy since my crafting ability is as skillful as a rhinoceros.  Wait.  Not quite that skillful.

I took a picture of what I made.  But, I don’t want any family member getting a sneak preview of it before our reunion.  So, I’ll post the picture next week.  (And I’ll probably feel so embarrassed at how juvenile it is . . . But I love the name that I came up with to describe what I made.)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.  It is now much later past my bed time.  I will probably have a hard time staying awake at work.

Will I care?  Not really.  It has been worth it because I’ve had so much fun making  —- oops!  I almost slipped and said what I did.  Ha!  I caught myself just in time.