When’s the last time you and your kids had some good, messy fun together? Set aside an afternoon for the entire family to wear their oldest, grubbiest clothes and get down and dirty!

Build a sand castle

Although the beach obviously is the ideal location for this activity, it can be done in your backyard sandbox. Be sure to add water to help mold the structure of the castle. Ask your little one to help by grabbing the wet sand and squishing it with their hands. For a fun finishing touch, decorate your castle with any leftover ribbon, flags, or toys you don’t mind getting dirty.

Make a mud pie

Plan to get sand and mud all over your clothes before this task is complete! The perfect location to build your mud pies is your sandbox. Have a few mud toys on hand like rakes, shovels, and buckets. Simply add water to the sand or dirt in your chosen area, starting with a little water and adding more as needed. When your masterpieces are complete, have the kids round up all the toys for a good rinse. Then, spray each family member with the hose before heading inside to carefully strip clothes and soak in a warm bubble bath.

Fingerpaint

Cover an outdoor bench or table with a cut up trash bag before starting. Then, place rolls of construction paper over the table and tape them down. Make your own fingerpaint with sugar, cornstarch, liquid dishwashing soap, and food coloring, or mix it up by using chocolate pudding instead!

Egg toss

Pair off your family for a traditional favorite. Give each pair an egg, and have the teams stand across from their partner in two straight lines. Start at about four feet apart. Have your leader announce when it’s time to toss. If the egg breaks, that team is out until the next round. If it doesn’t break, one partner takes a step back. Continue until only one pair remains standing with an uncracked egg. WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER!

Water balloon fight

I mean, we love it at camp… might as well do it at home, too! For a (dirty) twist on your typical water balloon fight, fill the balloons with condiments before adding water. Try squeezing ketchup, mustard, and chocolate syrup in each balloon. Set the balloons in several kiddie pools, and let the games begin!

Have a burlap sack race

Find a park or large field for the perfect potato sack race. For younger children, allow both feet inside the sack or pillowcase. Teens and tweens can pair up with another child by placing one foot each inside the sack. Be prepared for grass stains after this high energy, hilarious game!

** Found all this great information on Pinterest from http://www.sheknows.com/channels/parenting **

We hope you all have a fabulous weekend! God bless and enjoy every moment!

How did Beth and Sara spend their Monday at the Vista Camps office, you ask?

 

We cut out over 400 hands, wrote every single camper and counselors’ name on them (on their tribe colors, I might add) and made a 10 foot Christmas tree out of them!

New Campers are on white and pink. Counselors are on blue and orange.

Working at my dream job is just so stressful. HA!

So for the contest…. whoever SHARES this picture between now and Thursday morning at 10:00am will be entered into a drawing for a $50 gift-certificate to the Vista Store! We will draw for the winner at 10:01 and announce ASAP. Good luck and Happy Sharing!

By the way, if you find your name on the tree, tag yourself… or just tag a hand in your tribe color bc  EVERYONE enrolled for next summer is on there! 🙂

From the kitchen of Sara Kendrick….

Several years ago, a sweet friend of mine (Ashley @ Icing and Aprons) shared a delicious and easy recipe with me that has become one of my all time favorite holiday treats! The Chocolate Covered Marshmallow/Pretzel/Sprinkles/Graham Cracker/Melt In Your Mouth/Amazingnous.  Try putting THAT on a label when you pass them out at Christmas!

We’ve made date nights out of making them, kid fun-nights making them, made them for Christmas gifts from the Vista Camps’ Office, made them for no reason at all except for to devour them hours later… (hours might be an exaggeration)… They are EASY, you can make them for any holiday with custom sprinkles, and they are OH so yummy!

 

So… Here is what you need.

Large Rod Pretzels… like these

Jumbo Marshmallows

Hershey’s Chocolate bars or any flavor of icing that you want to use

Crushed Graham Crackers with sprinkles mixed in for color

 

It helps with the mess if you first tape down some parchment paper onto the counter. You’ll use this area to put the finished product to cool. Mix your graham cracker crumbs and some pretty sprinkles into a bowl and set aside. Then, stick 1 or 2 jumbo marshmallows onto one end of a pretzel rod. Some will rip in half and I’m sorry, but, you will have to just eat those. 🙂  Once you have all of the marshmallows on the pretzels, you need to melt your chocolate or icing, whichever you are using. The original recipe called for Hershey’s Chocolate bars, but my sweet husband, Sean, kept eating them so we had to move on to the leftover vanilla icing we had in the fridge from some cupcakes I made for Cameron’s school. If you use the microwave for melting, try 30 seconds at first, stir, and heat in 15 second intervals until it is super soft. You don’t want it liquid-y, just melted enough to stick to the marshmallows. You then twist and roll and use a spoon if you need to – to cover the marshmallows with the melted icing. Once it is totally covered with yummy icing/chocolate, roll this sticky mess into the graham cracker + sprinkles mix. This is so much fun for the kids to do! Once covered, you just lay them out on the parchment paper to cool, or if you are impatient like I am… you stick them in the fridge on a cookie sheet and get to enjoy them faster! The icing hardens and you get this yummy harder shell with the sprinkles and graham crackers and then this amazing soft sugar rush in the middle. Can you tell I love these things? YUMM! Maybe we could make them in JFF this summer.

Do yall have a favorite treat that is also fun to make with the kids? Please share! And if you try this pretzel treat, send us pictures! We’d love to see what you come up with.

Have a FANTASTIC FRIDAY and enjoy every single moment! We love you guys!

Finished project

 

 

Tis’ the season for a little bit of fun!  Honestly if your holidays are like mine, I’m sure fun isn’t exactly the word you would use, it’s a little more like chaos.  The best way to combat chaos is taking time for your family.  We love Christmas lighting! Get in your pajamas, pack some milk and cookies and pile in the car.  We turn the air conditioning down for a fun winter effect (that you rarely get in Texas).  Put on some of your favorite Christmas carols and then go in search of the best Christmas light displays in your town.   It gives you a chance to talk and the little ones usually fall asleep on the way home.

 

Beth Rumbo

Sierra Vista Director

 

I just received a forwarded e-mail from my mom and laughed so hard, so I wanted to share it with you. I wish I had written all of the hilarious things that my children have said over the years. Those things that you look at your husband and just crack up about, repeating the phrase at all the perfect times. Little family inside jokes. Love it! What are some funny things that your kids have said? (Or your friends.. I have a best friend who has had some of the BEST one-liners, bless her heart.) Share them in the comments so we can all giggle with ya.

So, here you go… funny things that some sweet kids have said…

JACK (age 3) was watching his  Mom breast-feeding his new baby sister… After a while he asked: ‘Mom why have you got two? Is one for hot and one for cold milk?’

STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom good night. ‘I love you so much that when you die I’m going
to bury you outside my bedroom window.’
BRITTANY (age 4) had an ear ache and wanted a pain killer. She tried in vain to take the lid off
the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her Mom explained it was a child-proof cap and she’d have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: ‘How does it know it’s me?’

SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. ‘Please don’t give me this juice
again,’ she said, ‘It makes my teeth cough…’

DJ (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: ‘How much do I cost?’

CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking
worried when his Mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, ‘I don’t know what’ll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in it?’

MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without
taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: ‘Why is he whispering in her mouth?’

TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they
met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for a while and then asked, ‘Why doesn’t your skin fit your face?’

JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: ‘The man named Lot was warned
to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt.’ Concerned, James asked: ‘What happened to the flea?’

 

HA! Have a WONDERFUL day and be sure to enjoy every single moment of it. Life is too short! Merry 21 days before Christmas!!!

Love, Sara