Cultural Exchange Package from Julie (Ohio)

Julie from Ohio was kind enough to send a package to the O(5) and E(1) (as a bonus since we aren't a part of her group). It is a wonderful package, and we are very thankful to Julie for her kindness!

Here's a picture of all of the loot! I love how Julie put the things in individual bags and labeled everything.








The girls are going to LOVE the glow sticks, and O will adore the postcard of the Amish children.


Julie included a craft which is a great idea!




Here is an excerpt from the letter. It's full of great information and pictures.




Julie included a map and coloring sheets (with permission from Erica).






I'm saving the cultural exchange packages to start giving the girls one a month after Christmas. They'll receive a map for Christmas along with a "subscription" to a monthly cultural exchange package. I think this package will be perfect for July when we celebrate July 4th!

Receiving this package from Ohio has gotten me excited about doing a USA exchange in the future! It will be so much fun to receive packages from the different states when we are studying USA geography!

Catching Up

Sorry about the lack of blog posts this weekend. We've been on vacation for the past 2 weeks, and I don't have any finished blog posts saved to post. The girls have been sick since we got home, and I have zero time or motivation to write new posts (although I have tons of things to write about). We didn't have a very good internet connection while on vacation, so I've been spending my minimal computer time uploading vacation pics to our private family blog.

To those of you who have emailed me within the last month, I'm sorry for my lack of response. The cultural exchange emails have gotten precedence, and I've not answered most other emails...there's just not enough time.

A lot of you have requested that I post pics of the cultural exchange box that I received, and Julie has given me permission to do so. Since, I'm not giving the girls the packages yet (it's a large part of their Christmas), I have to be sneaky about unpacking and photographing everything. I planned to do it while they napped this afternoon, but I fell asleep with them...maybe tomorrow :)

Here are some pics from our wonderful 2 weeks at the beach...

We always tie-dye while at the beach, and the girls are SO proud of their shirts!




My "old time" girl wore her mob cap on the beach. She so silly :)


2 girls and their kites. Getting both of their kites flying at the same time and running with them on the beach was one of my favorite moments.

I was very pleased with the pics from our beach photo shoot.






We went on kayaking adventures during our 1st beach week. At one point we were almost surrounded by a pod of dolphins. Lucky O(5) was even closer to them than we were, and she said that she loved seeing the calf with it's mama. She said she felt like she was in a dream. I loved hearing them blow...so cool.

Straws & Box Lid Marble Maze

My niece(7), O(5), E(1), and I made marble mazes using straws, box lids, and glue. This idea came from Family Fun Magazine (I LOVE that magazine!).

The girls cut the straws and glued them into the box lids to make the mazes. Super simple and fun (for some!).

My niece really enjoyed this activity, but O was not that interested. E(1), however, was VERY interested. She insisted that she make a "bahbble maze,too!," so she and I worked together to make one for her.

Here is my niece's maze.

O decided to take the easy way out and make a non-maze.


Here's the maze I made with E. I put down the glue, and she put the straws on the glue.

Wow!

I just received my first cultural exchange package from Julie from Ohio, and I am VERY impressed! Thanks, Julie! You did a great job, and your package is much better than the ones I'm planning! I'm going to have to work a little harder :)

Excavating Toys from Ice

Excavating small toys from ice is a yearly summer tradition at our house. This is at least the 3rd summer (maybe 4th) that we have done this very fun activity.

To do this activity, I gathered a bunch of small plastic toys and put them in a glass bowl. I filled the bowl with water and put it in the freezer. I forgot about it for about a month until one really hot day.



When I finally remembered the activity awaiting us in the freezer, I gathered the supplies needed...I put the bowl of ice and toys on a tray along with a hammer, salt, cup of water, water dropper, dull knife, etc.



The girls got to work immediately! They loved hitting the ice with the hammer. They poured a whole salt shaker worth of salt on the ice to help it melt, and they had fun dripping water onto the ice with the water dropper.




They enjoyed this activity so much that they immediately wanted to do it again. We put the toys back in the bowl, added water, and put it in the freezer. It was ready the next day, and they had a super time again. We are on vacation now, but I'm sure we'll do this activity several more times before summer's end.