cousin sleepover- love how they're all snuggled together!
My dad is a pack rat and likes to hang on to things "just in case". Case in point: he has a 12" disk drive and a disk that will fit it. We always give my dad a hard time about it, so when we were visiting, he dug out the disk to show the grandkids.
A, N, and Sunshine with the mythical 12" disk
The girls tried to catch a chicken, but I don't think they were successful. They had fun trying though.
discussing strategy while peering in the chicken coop
working together to try to corner a chicken
Sunshine trying to bribe a chicken with a handful of chicken feed
Opa had the boys (Mr M and my brother-in-law R included) clean up old hammer heads and then clean up some old hammer handles. They matched up handles and heads and then attached them to make useable hammers. They even engraved their names on the hammer heads :)
Mr M watching, S looking at something else, B cutting his handle to fit the head, Opa looking at something else
Mr M checking the fit of his handle and hammer head
After they finished their hammers, they sorted through old lead pieces and melted some down to make bullets.
While the boys (who are older than the girls, so this division of activities was age-based, rather than sex-based) were doing those activities, the girls were making things with Oma.
They made bracelets out of fish hooks and beads (remember making those as a kid?).
the finished products
Then they rolled beeswax candles and made Father's Day cards for their daddies.
My sister brought a reverse tie-dye activity that they tried to do quick before we left. It didn't turn out quite like she expected, so no finished pictures of those. The bleach ate holes in the shirts before the color was bleached out.
My sister and her family were able to stay longer than we could, so her girls also got to dip paraffin candles and my sister added some flowers to make them pretty. I still need to do this with Sunshine.
In the evening, after all these activities, we took the kids shooting. The little girls each got 3 shots on Opa's .22 (and Sunshine got to take a couple shots on Grandma's .22 that Papa had brought). I shot Grandma's .22 and our handgun and then my sister shot the .22. We knew the girls wouldn't be able to sit through everyone shooting, so we went before the boys and then my sister and I took them back to our parent's house. After we left, the boys got to shoot various guns. The boys got to shoot the bullets they made, which they thought was pretty cool.
S showing the bullets he made to the girls
Opa giving the safety briefing and explaining all the rules
Sunshine has seen pink .22s at Cabela's and wallyworld (and wants one), but this was her first time actually shooting. She, N, and A (also their first time) did really well. They listened to instructions, didn't mess around, and enjoyed it all. They didn't hit anything, but that wasn't the point of the exercise :)
helping Sunshine line everything up and hold the rifle properly
Sunshine shooting
showing off her brass
the girls all showing their brass
I think I was in college the first time I shot a .22, so these kiddos have quite a headstart on me. I think teaching them to be respectful, safe, and confident around guns is a good thing. They're much less likely to do something stupid. And if they decide they want to go hunting when they're a little older, they'll feel a lot more confident than I did when I went a few years ago.
The kiddos had a fun day making memories with their grandparents and each other and hopefully we'll be able to do it again one of these days. Living so far apart does make it a little difficult to plan these types of activities.
So fun to see your parents! What fun activities for the kids!
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