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Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Adventure

in Life + Motherhood on October 9, 2018

As many of you already know, we took a family vacation to the pacific northwest last month. It was an incredible 10-day getaway – and one where I decided to unplug from social media (and the blog) to really relax and recharge…and soak up loads of quality time with my family. We had such a wonderful time exploring together and creating a multitude of memories. Now that we’ve settled back into our normal routine, and I’ve had a chance to go through a myriad of vacation photos, we wanted to share Our Olympic National Park Adventure with all of you!

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our trip actually started in Seattle, where we spent a few days visiting friends and family. We took a ride on Seattle’s Great Wheel, explored all the wonders at the Pacific Science Center, and played at Marymoor Park! We made sure to stop for an incredibly scrumptious breakfast at the Rusty Pelican Cafe, in Edmonds, before boarding our ferry to Kingston.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

The ferry ride was short (and a bit windy on the outdoor decks) but it was a brand new experience for our little nugget. She thought it was super cool that we were able to drive our car right onto the “boat” alongside a hundred other vehicles. From Kingston, we made our way up to Port Angeles, where we stayed in the cute and cozy Seashell CottageΒ (Side Note: The flowers in Port Angeles were AMAZING)! It was the perfect home-base for our first few days exploring the northern regions of Olympic National Park.


Our Olympic National Park Adventure

Lake CrescentΒ β€’ Sol Duc FallsΒ β€’ Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

We thoroughly enjoyed our drive along Highway 101 on our first morning in the park. The increased precipitation in the pacific northwest keeps everything a vibrant green…though we were delighted to find the occasional patch of fall-colored trees. As we approached Lake Crescent it started to rain, and a rainbow magically appeared over the lake! It was beautiful. We obviously had to pull over to snap a few photos…and let our little nugget marvel at one of her favorite things! Once we had stated all the colors of the rainbow (a few times over) we made our way up Sol Duc Hot Springs Road, to the Sol Duc Falls trailhead.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

With our four-year-old in tow (and no hiking backpack to carry her in when she grew tired) we made sure to select shorter hiking excursions. The hike to Sol Duc Falls is an easy 1.6 miles, round-trip. The trail winds its way through incredibly tall trees and lush vegetation…but the stunning falls are by far the main attraction! I’ve always loved the sound of cascading water…it’s incredibly relaxing and rejuvenating. I could have stayed there all day.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Luckily, we had another relaxing activity planned…a soak and swim at the Sol Duc Hot Springs! I failed to snap any photos of the actual hot springs…since I dared not take my camera out by the water. πŸ™‚ The resort boasts three mineral hot spring soaking pools and one freshwater pool, all surrounded by lush forest. We soaked in the hot water and even took the occasional, but oh so chilly, plunge into the 66Β° freshwater pool. Brrrr!

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

After our soak/swim we planned to head back to Lake Crescent to do another short hike to Marymere Falls (a hike that was highly recommended by tons of former Seashell Cottage guests). Unfortunately, our plans were derailed by a gigantic tree that had fallen across the road…the only road in or out of the Sol Duc area. People gathered to gawk at the downed tree, and to take bets on how long it would be before the road was cleared. Luckily, we were right by another point of interest…the Salmon Cascades (and luckier still was the fact that there was a bathroom at this location). We took it upon ourselves to take the extra time to explore, and even though it was too early in the season for the salmon to be swimming up river, it was still an incredibly beautiful area. We wandered around for awhile, but when the light drizzle of rain turned into a heavy downpour, we hopped back into our rental car and waited…and waited…and waited.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Three hours (three chainsaws, and one front-end loader) later, we were finally free! Needless to say, we did not make it to Marymere Falls that afternoon. By the time we got back to Highway 101, it was past our dinnertime. We ordered a pizza to pickup back in Port Angeles, and called it a day.

Hurricane Ridge

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

The next morning we made our way up to Hurricane Ridge, where we were treated to incredible panoramic views of the Olympic Mountains! It was much chillier…but we bundled up in our winter hats and set off along the Cirque Rim trail, where we gazed down at Port Angeles, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Victoria, British Columbia. From the Cirque Rim trail, we connected to the High Ridge trail (and also popped up to Sunrise Point, for more stunning views). We rounded out our hike with a stroll along the Big Meadow trail, which led us back to the warmth of the visitor center.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

The highlights were definitely the amazing views of the park’s mountainous region (glaciers included), the hot chocolate at the visitor center, and the rare opportunity to witness the relocation of mountain goats via helicopter! Our little nugget’s favorite part…hiking in the clouds (which she called dragon’s breath) and driving through the various tunnels leading to and from Hurricane Ridge. πŸ™‚

Rialto BeachΒ β€’ Second BeachΒ β€’ Ruby BeachΒ β€’ Kalaloch

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

We departed Port Angeles early the next morning and headed west to the beaches of Olympic National Park. Our day began at Rialto Beach, at the end of Mora Road. We were immediately greeted by layer upon layer of driftwood, which we carefully navigated, until we set foot on the amazing array of pebbles that line the upper stretch of beach. We happened to arrive right at low tide, hoping for some excellent tide pool activity…but there were zero tide pools along Rialto Beach. After marveling at the beautiful views, waves, and seastacks, we decided to head over to Second Beach with the hopes of discovering some abundant tide pool activity.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Second Beach did not disappoint. We found numerous sea anemones, a couple of starfish, a moon jellyfish, thousands of mussels and clams, and plenty of empty crab shells. Second beach was much sandier than Rialto Beach, though they were both equally inundated with driftwood.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

After our morning of hiking and exploring, we decided to stop for a picnic lunch by the harbor in La Push. And with our bodies refueled, we were ready for our next beach adventure…at Ruby Beach! If I had to pick my favorite beach in Olympic National Park, it would most definitely be Ruby Beach. It was just so incredibly beautiful and picturesque. We spent a large chunk of our afternoon exploring and relaxing at this popular spot. We skipped stones, stacked stones, sat on the driftwood and watched the waves roll in, and marveled at a lone surfer. Our little nugget even stripped down to splash around in one of the shallow sandy pools.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

After saying our goodbyes to Ruby Beach, we headed south to Kalaloch. We took a short stroll down to the beach (from the Kalaloch campground) to admire the Tree of Life (aka the Tree Root Cave). We had never seen a living, thriving tree with all of its roots completely exposed…let alone one hanging in mid-air! It’s a sight worth seeing. The sandy beach is also pretty amazing. We found plenty more crab shells, as well as another moon jellyfish.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

We had debated sticking around the Kalaloch area to witness an ocean sunset, but after our full day of beach exploration, we were all completely exhausted. We decided to head further south to the Quinault River Inn, in Amanda Park, where we stayed for two nights.

Quinault Rain Forest β€’ Lake Quinault β€’ Lake Quinault Lodge

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

When we were planning our trip, the very first thing on our list of must-do’s was to see the rain forests…and hunt for banana slugs. We knew in advance that the entire Hoh Rain Forest area would be closed during our visit..a pre-scheduled park closure. So, we decided to spend our last full day exploring the wonders of the Quinault Rain Forest, in the southern region of the park.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Hiking around the beautiful, lush rain forest that surrounds Lake Quinault was definitely a highlight of our trip. There were banana slugs everywhere we looked…each one completely different than the last. There was every shape and color of mushroom imaginable. Ferns and clovers covered the entire forest floor, and moss dangled from every tree branch.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

We began our adventure hiking the easy 1/2 mile loop of the Quinault Rain Forest Nature Trail, on the south side of Lake Quinault. From there we headed to the south-shore ranger station, where we set off on the 1-1/2 mile Falls Creek Loop trail. The trail ends right across the street from the incredibly quaint and picturesque Lake Quinault Lodge. We enjoyed lunch at the lodge restaurant…after warming up by the large crackling fire in the lobby. After lunch, we roamed around the lodge’s beautiful grounds, and down to the lake, before heading back to the ranger station.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Since our little nugget was getting a bit sleepy, we decided to take the scenic loop drive around the lake. We made a pit-stop at the gorgeous Merriman Falls, and then continued on toward the north shore. We were informed that lots of Roosevelt Elk inhabit the area, though we never came across any. We did see a few grazing deer though. We ended our day hiking the short 1/2 mile Maple Glade Rain Forest Trail, before heading back to the inn for the night.

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

Our final Olympic National Park adventure consisted of a visit to the world’s largest Sitka Spruce tree, located on the south shore of Lake Quinault. The massive tree stands 191 feet tall, is 17 feet in diameter, and an enormous 55 feet in circumference! After standing in awe for several minutes, we strolled back to our car and began our drive back to Seattle.


Our Olympic National Park Family Adventure Β© Capturing Parenthood

We had such a great time exploring the wonders of Olympic National Park. It truly is a remarkable place…nearly a million acres housing vastly different ecosystems – from glacier-capped mountains, to temperate rain forests, to thriving coastline – it’s a place where you can go and see it all! And we’re already itching to go back!

START SPREADING THE NEWS!

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Hello! Nice to meet you!

Welcome to the Capturing Parenthood blog! I'm Stacey...wife and first-time parent, former full-time working mom, turned stay-at-home mom. Join me as I capture and share my thoughts and experiences on this crazy adventure we call parenthood! Click here to learn more about me!

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Ok...@artwithmrs.e Haunted House project is hands- Ok...@artwithmrs.e Haunted House project is hands-down the best Halloween-themed art project out there! πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ
We had a blast creating haunted houses for homeschool art this month! 🧑
...
We followed Kaitlyn's extremely helpful Haunted House Drawing Guide (you can find it over on her Teachers Pay Teachers account) and completed the project over the course of 3 lessons.
...
During our first lesson, we sketched our houses in pencil, and added some eerie exterior landscaping. πŸͺ¦πŸ¦‡
We popped in a few spooky characters (ghosts, spiders, pumpkins, and a vampire). πŸ‘»πŸ•·πŸŽƒπŸ§›
And then we traced over our pencil lines with black Sharpie.
...
During our next lesson, we used a coloring technique that we learned from Kristian @friendsartlab ❀️ We colored our pictures with oil pastels...and then painted over the top of the oil pastels with baby oil...it causes the oil pastels to bleed and blend together! 🀩
...
During our final lesson...we added more spooky characters to the inside of our house...that can peek out behind the doors and windows. πŸ’€πŸ§™β€β™€οΈπŸ‘»
To do this...I used an X-acto knife and carefully cut around the outside edges of the doors/windows (leaving the hinge sides intact so that they could fold open and closed).
We placed yellow construction paper in the background...and added witches, ghosts, skeletons, a mummy, and a Frankenstein! 😍
This step made our haunted houses really come to life...and we just can't thank Kaitlyn @artwithmrs.e enough for sharing this awesome lesson and drawing guide! THE ABSOLUTE BEST! ❀️❀️❀️
...
It was very evident how much our daughter loved this project...as we worked through each step...but the thing that solidified just how much she enjoyed it was - one weekend morning I walked downstairs to find her and her dad sitting at the table - and she was very excitedly teaching him how to draw his own haunted house - while she drew a few more herself (scroll to the last picture in the carousel)! πŸ₯°
...
#hauntedhouse #hauntedhouses #hauntedhousedrawing #directeddrawing #spookyart #halloween #happyhalloween #halloweenart #halloweenfun #elementaryart #homeschoolart #homeschool #homeschoolfun #capturingparenthood
I decided that these six little pumpkins needed a I decided that these six little pumpkins needed a permanent place on our feed...because WE GREW THEM OURSELVES!!! πŸŽƒ
That's right...first-time pumpkin-growers over here...and it was all actually a bit of a surprise. πŸ˜ƒ
...
You see, when we went to prep our garden beds this spring, we noticed a plant that had already started growing. We assumed it was a cucumber plant, since it was in the same place we had cucumbers last year.
We left it alone and planted a couple of other cucumber plants nearby. πŸ₯’
At first, the leaves on our mystery plant looked very similar to the leaves on our other cucumber plants.
But a couple of weeks later the plant had grown A LOT bigger. It was now obvious that it was not a cucumber plant. But what was it? πŸ€·β€β™€οΈ
...
And that's when it suddenly dawned on these exhausted parents, that our daughter had spontaneously tossed seeds from her pumpkin (last Halloween), into the garden bed. πŸ€¦β€β™€οΈ The mystery was finally solved...and by the looks of the large golden flowers that were emerging all over the vines...we figured we might have a few pumpkins come fall! πŸ™ŒπŸŽƒπŸ™Œ
...
It was so much fun to watch the pumpkin plant grow! 🀩 We had to cut down the wire on one side of our garden bed to let the vines out...and they ended up growing 6-10 feet long in both directions! 😳 It was crazy!
They put out the most gorgeous flowers...that the bees absolutely loved! 🧑 And soon enough, we spotted a few round gourds growing at the base of some of the flowers. They grew quickly...and then turned a beautiful shade of orange! 😍
...
Needless to say, we are now officially pumpkin-growing people! πŸ˜‚ My husband can't wait to plant more next year...and he's already looking in to different varieties - hoping to grow some larger jack-o-lantern style ones next season! πŸŽƒ
…
#pumpkins #growingpumpkins #ourpumpkinpatch #homegrownpumpkins #homegrown #homegarden #pumpkingrowing #gardening #fallharvest #happyhalloween #timetocarvesomepumpkins #gardensurprises #gardenfun #capturingparenthood
Free the Frankensteins from the Frozen Rainbow Bra Free the Frankensteins from the Frozen Rainbow Brain! 😬🌈🧠
…
Yesterday, we shared how we made this colorful, frozen rainbow brain - full of Frankenstein mini erasers…and today we wanted to show you what became of our beautiful brain! πŸ˜ƒ
…
We popped it out onto a tray, grabbed a shaker of salt, a bottle of warm water (colored red for added effect), and some tongs.
And then it was time to Free the Frankensteins (our daughter coined the phrase)! πŸ˜‰
…
This spooky activity provides chilly sensory play, motor skills practice, and scientific exploration (salt and warm water speed-up the melting process)! πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ
As an added bonus…you also get some color-mixing! And the addition of the salt makes it extra sparkly too! 😍🀩😍
…
Eventually, all you’re left with is some mini erasers floating in a pool of colorful water…and a happy kid! ❀️❀️❀️
…
#frozenbrain #rainbowbrain #frozenrainbowbrain #brains #freethefrankensteins #halloween #happyhalloween #halloweenactivities #halloweenactivitiesforkids #halloweensensoryplay #sensoryplay #sensoryexploration #motorskills #motorskillsdevelopment #scienceforkids #kidscience #funactivities #funactivitiesforkids #halloweenfun #capturingparenthood
We are definitely getting into the fall and Hallow We are definitely getting into the fall and Halloween spirit...so during a recent homeschool art session, we decided to make some air-dry clay pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns! πŸŽƒπŸŽƒπŸŽƒ
...
Back in 2019, Lauralee @2art.chambers shared several colorful, air-dry clay pumpkins that her students made...and after rediscovering the saved post, I decided that it would be a perfect October art lesson for us too! 🧑
...
We used various colors of air-dry clay, and rolled each color into whatever pumpkin shape we wanted...and then we added our lines/indentations using the side of a credit card. πŸ’³ The stems are just small, broken pieces of old crayons (another genius idea from Lauralee). πŸ– And we topped our stems with pieces of pipe cleaner, to create the little curly cues. 😍
...
Once we had our pumpkins...we decided to change things up a bit, and grabbed our stash of googly eyes. πŸ‘€ (Most of) our fall pumpkins then transformed into Halloween jack-o-lanterns! πŸŽƒ
We pressed the googly eyes into the clay, and we used a few small tools (that came with our box of air-dry clay) to add their mouths. πŸ˜ƒ
...
And now we have a cute and colorful crew of clay pumpkins adorning our mantle! πŸŽƒπŸ§‘πŸŽƒ
...
#pumpkins #jackolanterns #claypumpkins #airdryclay #airdryclaycreation #airdryclayart #airdryclaypumpkins #elementaryart #fallartprojects #fallartprojectsforkids #halloweenart #halloweenartprojects #halloweenartprojectsforkids #homeschool #homeschoolart #homeschoolfun #halloween #happyhalloween #capturingparenthood
Andrew from @elementaryarts shared a patterned, bl Andrew from @elementaryarts shared a patterned, block letter name project a couple of weeks ago (I'll share the post in stories today), and I immediately added it to our list of art projects to do this year! 😍
But we decided to switch things up a little bit! Instead of using our names, we each picked a color that we like...wrote the name of the color in block letters on our paper...and created our color patterns using at least two different shades of our chosen color. πŸ–
...
This colorful project ended up being a lot of fun, and also very relaxing...as we all quietly focused, and zoned in on adding the color patterns around all of our letters. It was actually a bit hypnotizing! 🀩
...
Needless to say, we are really happy with the way our block letter color project turned out! πŸ™Œ We even had a special guest who wanted to join in on this art project! ❀️
...
P.S. We also used Andrew’s free TPT handout on how to make block letters! The bundle includes bubble letters, cursive letters, graffiti letters, and more! πŸ‘
…
#blockletters #blocklettering #colors #color #colorful #artproject #artforkids #kidart #elementaryart #artactivity #artactivities #artactivitiesforkids #colorfun #homeschool #homeschoolart #homeschoolfun #capturingparenthood
We created self-portraits for our first art projec We created self-portraits for our first art project of our homeschool year...and we are pretty obsessed with them! 🀩✏️🀩
...
I love the idea of doing a self-portrait project at the beginning of the year, and then again at the end of the year...so that we can see how much we've grown and changed.
...
We used Kaitlyn's @artwithmrs.e Simple Self-Portrait Drawing Guide and it was so incredibly helpful (especially for this new homeschool teacher who wouldn't necessarily list drawing as one of her stronger suits). πŸ˜‰
We actually purchased her entire Guided Drawing Bundle (over on Teachers Pay Teachers) and we highly recommend it! πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ
...
We looked through the self-portrait drawing guide to get different ideas for our eyes, nose, mouth, and hair. πŸ‘€πŸ‘ƒπŸ‘„
...
Now...if you caught our stories earlier this week, you know that our daughter recently made a pretty big change to her hair (that included a partial side-shave and bob-length cut - she also dyed it blue). πŸ’‡β€β™€οΈ
She was used to drawing pictures of herself with her long, blonde locks...and her new hairstyle proved rather difficult. But she persevered, and ended up with a self-portrait that she was truly proud of! πŸ₯°
...
When we were finished drawing our likenesses, we decided to cut them out and create a special background to glue them onto. I went with random black and white designs...and our nugget decided to draw various things that she loves (her family, winter, candy, books, dolphins...and more)! ❀️
...
It was such a fun project...and I can't wait to see what our self-portraits look like at the end of our school year! πŸ˜ƒ
...
#selfportrait #selfportraits #homeschool #homeschoolart #elementaryart #artactivities #artactivitiesforkids #artforkids #kidart #homeschoolfun #capturingparenthood
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Ok...@artwithmrs.e Haunted House project is hands- Ok...@artwithmrs.e Haunted House project is hands-down the best Halloween-themed art project out there! πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ
We had a blast creating haunted houses for homeschool art this month! 🧑
...
We followed Kaitlyn's extremely helpful Haunted House Drawing Guide (you can find it over on her Teachers Pay Teachers account) and completed the project over the course of 3 lessons.
...
During our first lesson, we sketched our houses in pencil, and added some eerie exterior landscaping. πŸͺ¦πŸ¦‡
We popped in a few spooky characters (ghosts, spiders, pumpkins, and a vampire). πŸ‘»πŸ•·πŸŽƒπŸ§›
And then we traced over our pencil lines with black Sharpie.
...
During our next lesson, we used a coloring technique that we learned from Kristian @friendsartlab ❀️ We colored our pictures with oil pastels...and then painted over the top of the oil pastels with baby oil...it causes the oil pastels to bleed and blend together! 🀩
...
During our final lesson...we added more spooky characters to the inside of our house...that can peek out behind the doors and windows. πŸ’€πŸ§™β€β™€οΈπŸ‘»
To do this...I used an X-acto knife and carefully cut around the outside edges of the doors/windows (leaving the hinge sides intact so that they could fold open and closed).
We placed yellow construction paper in the background...and added witches, ghosts, skeletons, a mummy, and a Frankenstein! 😍
This step made our haunted houses really come to life...and we just can't thank Kaitlyn @artwithmrs.e enough for sharing this awesome lesson and drawing guide! THE ABSOLUTE BEST! ❀️❀️❀️
...
It was very evident how much our daughter loved this project...as we worked through each step...but the thing that solidified just how much she enjoyed it was - one weekend morning I walked downstairs to find her and her dad sitting at the table - and she was very excitedly teaching him how to draw his own haunted house - while she drew a few more herself (scroll to the last picture in the carousel)! πŸ₯°
...
#hauntedhouse #hauntedhouses #hauntedhousedrawing #directeddrawing #spookyart #halloween #happyhalloween #halloweenart #halloweenfun #elementaryart #homeschoolart #homeschool #homeschoolfun #capturingparenthood
I decided that these six little pumpkins needed a I decided that these six little pumpkins needed a permanent place on our feed...because WE GREW THEM OURSELVES!!! πŸŽƒ
That's right...first-time pumpkin-growers over here...and it was all actually a bit of a surprise. πŸ˜ƒ
...
You see, when we went to prep our garden beds this spring, we noticed a plant that had already started growing. We assumed it was a cucumber plant, since it was in the same place we had cucumbers last year.
We left it alone and planted a couple of other cucumber plants nearby. πŸ₯’
At first, the leaves on our mystery plant looked very similar to the leaves on our other cucumber plants.
But a couple of weeks later the plant had grown A LOT bigger. It was now obvious that it was not a cucumber plant. But what was it? πŸ€·β€β™€οΈ
...
And that's when it suddenly dawned on these exhausted parents, that our daughter had spontaneously tossed seeds from her pumpkin (last Halloween), into the garden bed. πŸ€¦β€β™€οΈ The mystery was finally solved...and by the looks of the large golden flowers that were emerging all over the vines...we figured we might have a few pumpkins come fall! πŸ™ŒπŸŽƒπŸ™Œ
...
It was so much fun to watch the pumpkin plant grow! 🀩 We had to cut down the wire on one side of our garden bed to let the vines out...and they ended up growing 6-10 feet long in both directions! 😳 It was crazy!
They put out the most gorgeous flowers...that the bees absolutely loved! 🧑 And soon enough, we spotted a few round gourds growing at the base of some of the flowers. They grew quickly...and then turned a beautiful shade of orange! 😍
...
Needless to say, we are now officially pumpkin-growing people! πŸ˜‚ My husband can't wait to plant more next year...and he's already looking in to different varieties - hoping to grow some larger jack-o-lantern style ones next season! πŸŽƒ
…
#pumpkins #growingpumpkins #ourpumpkinpatch #homegrownpumpkins #homegrown #homegarden #pumpkingrowing #gardening #fallharvest #happyhalloween #timetocarvesomepumpkins #gardensurprises #gardenfun #capturingparenthood
Free the Frankensteins from the Frozen Rainbow Bra Free the Frankensteins from the Frozen Rainbow Brain! 😬🌈🧠
…
Yesterday, we shared how we made this colorful, frozen rainbow brain - full of Frankenstein mini erasers…and today we wanted to show you what became of our beautiful brain! πŸ˜ƒ
…
We popped it out onto a tray, grabbed a shaker of salt, a bottle of warm water (colored red for added effect), and some tongs.
And then it was time to Free the Frankensteins (our daughter coined the phrase)! πŸ˜‰
…
This spooky activity provides chilly sensory play, motor skills practice, and scientific exploration (salt and warm water speed-up the melting process)! πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ
As an added bonus…you also get some color-mixing! And the addition of the salt makes it extra sparkly too! 😍🀩😍
…
Eventually, all you’re left with is some mini erasers floating in a pool of colorful water…and a happy kid! ❀️❀️❀️
…
#frozenbrain #rainbowbrain #frozenrainbowbrain #brains #freethefrankensteins #halloween #happyhalloween #halloweenactivities #halloweenactivitiesforkids #halloweensensoryplay #sensoryplay #sensoryexploration #motorskills #motorskillsdevelopment #scienceforkids #kidscience #funactivities #funactivitiesforkids #halloweenfun #capturingparenthood
We are definitely getting into the fall and Hallow We are definitely getting into the fall and Halloween spirit...so during a recent homeschool art session, we decided to make some air-dry clay pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns! πŸŽƒπŸŽƒπŸŽƒ
...
Back in 2019, Lauralee @2art.chambers shared several colorful, air-dry clay pumpkins that her students made...and after rediscovering the saved post, I decided that it would be a perfect October art lesson for us too! 🧑
...
We used various colors of air-dry clay, and rolled each color into whatever pumpkin shape we wanted...and then we added our lines/indentations using the side of a credit card. πŸ’³ The stems are just small, broken pieces of old crayons (another genius idea from Lauralee). πŸ– And we topped our stems with pieces of pipe cleaner, to create the little curly cues. 😍
...
Once we had our pumpkins...we decided to change things up a bit, and grabbed our stash of googly eyes. πŸ‘€ (Most of) our fall pumpkins then transformed into Halloween jack-o-lanterns! πŸŽƒ
We pressed the googly eyes into the clay, and we used a few small tools (that came with our box of air-dry clay) to add their mouths. πŸ˜ƒ
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And now we have a cute and colorful crew of clay pumpkins adorning our mantle! πŸŽƒπŸ§‘πŸŽƒ
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#pumpkins #jackolanterns #claypumpkins #airdryclay #airdryclaycreation #airdryclayart #airdryclaypumpkins #elementaryart #fallartprojects #fallartprojectsforkids #halloweenart #halloweenartprojects #halloweenartprojectsforkids #homeschool #homeschoolart #homeschoolfun #halloween #happyhalloween #capturingparenthood
Andrew from @elementaryarts shared a patterned, bl Andrew from @elementaryarts shared a patterned, block letter name project a couple of weeks ago (I'll share the post in stories today), and I immediately added it to our list of art projects to do this year! 😍
But we decided to switch things up a little bit! Instead of using our names, we each picked a color that we like...wrote the name of the color in block letters on our paper...and created our color patterns using at least two different shades of our chosen color. πŸ–
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This colorful project ended up being a lot of fun, and also very relaxing...as we all quietly focused, and zoned in on adding the color patterns around all of our letters. It was actually a bit hypnotizing! 🀩
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Needless to say, we are really happy with the way our block letter color project turned out! πŸ™Œ We even had a special guest who wanted to join in on this art project! ❀️
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P.S. We also used Andrew’s free TPT handout on how to make block letters! The bundle includes bubble letters, cursive letters, graffiti letters, and more! πŸ‘
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#blockletters #blocklettering #colors #color #colorful #artproject #artforkids #kidart #elementaryart #artactivity #artactivities #artactivitiesforkids #colorfun #homeschool #homeschoolart #homeschoolfun #capturingparenthood
We created self-portraits for our first art projec We created self-portraits for our first art project of our homeschool year...and we are pretty obsessed with them! 🀩✏️🀩
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I love the idea of doing a self-portrait project at the beginning of the year, and then again at the end of the year...so that we can see how much we've grown and changed.
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We used Kaitlyn's @artwithmrs.e Simple Self-Portrait Drawing Guide and it was so incredibly helpful (especially for this new homeschool teacher who wouldn't necessarily list drawing as one of her stronger suits). πŸ˜‰
We actually purchased her entire Guided Drawing Bundle (over on Teachers Pay Teachers) and we highly recommend it! πŸ™ŒπŸ™ŒπŸ™Œ
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We looked through the self-portrait drawing guide to get different ideas for our eyes, nose, mouth, and hair. πŸ‘€πŸ‘ƒπŸ‘„
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Now...if you caught our stories earlier this week, you know that our daughter recently made a pretty big change to her hair (that included a partial side-shave and bob-length cut - she also dyed it blue). πŸ’‡β€β™€οΈ
She was used to drawing pictures of herself with her long, blonde locks...and her new hairstyle proved rather difficult. But she persevered, and ended up with a self-portrait that she was truly proud of! πŸ₯°
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When we were finished drawing our likenesses, we decided to cut them out and create a special background to glue them onto. I went with random black and white designs...and our nugget decided to draw various things that she loves (her family, winter, candy, books, dolphins...and more)! ❀️
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It was such a fun project...and I can't wait to see what our self-portraits look like at the end of our school year! πŸ˜ƒ
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#selfportrait #selfportraits #homeschool #homeschoolart #elementaryart #artactivities #artactivitiesforkids #artforkids #kidart #homeschoolfun #capturingparenthood
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