Family fun Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Summer Recipes for Family Fun

July 5, 2014 By Deirdre

These wonderful summer recipes for family fun will be terrific to pull out when your children need something new to do. They would be great boredom busters or to explore during family time too. Each was shared on last week’s Sunday Showcase by some of you. Now all you have to decide is which summer recipes for fun your family would love to do.

Summer Recipes for Family Fun

Mini Monets and Mommies shared a really cool homemade glow in the dark paint. We are going to try it at my house.

Water shooter tie-dye outdoor fun was shared Fantastic Fun and Learning. The tie-dyed sheets they created would be great for picnics or outdoor story times.

Epic Fun for Kids has created a chocolate slime dough that they used to create a habitat from Star Wars. It look incredible!

Growing in God’s Grace had me craving homemade fudgecicles after reading their post. Be warned if you visit this post you will crave them too.

The Kid’s Activity Blog shared a recipe from their wonderful new book 101 Kids Activities That Are the Bestest, Funnest Ever!: The Entertainment Solution for Parents, Relatives & Babysitters!fizzy sidewalk paint that looks really wonderful. We have recently made sidewalk paint, but it didn’t fizz.

More Summer Recipes for Family Fun

JDaniel keeps asking them to make more confetti eggs with him. He really loves make them and throw them at his friends.

Sidewalk chalk has been another favorite at my house this summer. This post shares easy recipes for sidewalk chalk.

Brown cow floats are a hit with everyone. Actually if you don’t like brown cow floats you can make black cow, spotted cow, or orange cow floats instead.

The Sunday Showcase is hosted on the following blogs:

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas
Here Come the Girls
Inspiration Laboratories
JDaniel4′s Mom

We each feature different posts that have linked up, so be sure to check everyone out! We’ll also be pinning our favorites to our Pinterest board.

If you are here for the first time, please read this informational post for the full details. Here’s the short version – anything kid friendly and/or child centered is welcome! You are welcome to share more than one post, but we don’t accept links for giveaways, shops, or downloads for purchase, etc.

If you’re linking up, I encourage you to visit some of the other link-ups! Everyone appreciates comments, encouragement, feedback, etc.

*Please note that by linking up you are giving us permission to use a photo (with proper link to you!) in our featured section!

An InLinkz Link-up

Visiting the Georgia Aquarium and More

May 16, 2014 By Deirdre

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post.

When we were invited stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Downtown Atlanta for a night and to spend the next day exploring the Georgia Aquarium, we jumped at the chance. I have been dying to take JDaniel to the Georgia Aquarium since it first opened. We had decided to wait until he was old enough to appreciate it. After seeing how much children of all ages loved the aquarium, I think we could have taken him when he was much younger.

We headed down on a Friday from Greenville, South Carolina. It wasn’t that long of a trip and the traffic wasn’t bad all. We live not to far off Interstate 85 and Hilton Garden Inn Atlanta Downtown is right off of Interstate 85 which made is super easy to find.

After a quick dinner, JDaniel was dying to jump into one of the two pools at the Hilton Garden Inn. (He had all kinds of energy stored up from the car ride.) We took a few moments to look at the outdoor pool and its wonderful view of the Downtown Atlanta skyline. Then we headed into indoor pool located right next to the outdoor pool. JDaniel was thrilled to find that it had water dumping buckets. Can you guess who wanted one of those buckets to spill on me? Can you guess who was tall enough to lift the buckets to aid in dumping the water?

When we went back to our room after our swim, we noticed that we could look just across the street and see the Georgia Aquarium. It was so cool to know that it was just seconds away from us. All that we all needed to do was get a good night’s sleep.

After a wonderful night at the Hilton Garden Inn, we headed over to the Georgia Aquarium. The wonderful Bailey Rogers met us near the whale shark area to give us a behind the scene tour. What a treat is was to see the whale sharks circling rubber boats to be scoop fed! We were also able to see other marine animals come the edge of the pool to be fed when their assigned color was displayed. I didn’t realize that they could do that. What a lesson in patience they displayed! Each had to keep their eyes open and come when it was their turn.

We could have watched this all morning. It really was fascinating to see!

It was also fascinating to see the white beluga whales swimming at the top of their tank. They glided effortlessly through the water. JDaniel loved getting to touch some of the sea creatures in a tank area and watch the penguins while we were on the tour.

It was hard to leave Bailey behind after such a wonderful tour, but we needed to head down the main exhibit floor and explore. We all found it just as fascinating. The huge windows displaying the tanks gave us amazing views of all kinds of marine creatures. The layout of the Georgia Aquarium made it easy to flow from one exhibit to next just as the water flowed around the huge tanks.

After completing a few exhibits, JDaniel found an indoor climbing area and boat where we could pretend to be boat captains. I just love that the designers of the aquarium thought about including areas like this for children.

I think JDaniel’s favorite things about the Georgia Aquarium were the jellyfish and the free Dolphin Tales show. (The dolphin show is really amazing. It combines music, water acrobatics, and amazing lighting.) My husband’s favorite area was Sea Monsters Revealed Aquatic Bodies. The interiors of various plastinated sea creatures are on display in this exhibit . It was truly amazing to see how intricate each creature’s body was. I love getting to see the beluga whales and the penguins. Watching both behind the scene and in front of their huge tank areas was really wonderful.

Have you been thinking about going to the Georgia Aquarium? I want to let you know about a special Southern Hospitality Discount that just started at the Georgia Aquarium. Residents of Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama and Florida can receive discounted admission of $29.95 +tax when they show a valid ID verifying residency at the ticket window only. This special deal will run June 13th.

A Couple of Georgia Aquarium Visit Hints:

The cafeteria serves delicious food, but it is expensive. My husband and JDaniel didn’t eat a big breakfast at the hotel and were starving by lunch time. I ate a huge breakfast at the Hilton Garden Inn and wasn’t hungry at lunch time. Eating a large breakfast or having a snack in Centennial Park right across the street from the Georgia Aquarium may curb the need for a large meal.
Head to the Aquarium early. We were able to move easily see the animals before a lot of families had arrived by arriving early.
Pick up your Dolphin Tales tickets early and plan your visits to the exhibits around your show time.

If you do decide to make the trip to the Georgia Aquarium, my family and I would definitely recommend that you stay at the Hilton Garden Inn. We loved its proximity to the aquarium and to Centennial Park! There were also a number of restaurants in walking distance at a variety of price points for dinner.

Disclaimer: Our hotel stay along with our tickets to the Georgia Aquarium were all given to us in exchange for my writing this post.

Nothing Could Be Finer Than An Afternoon in Carolina

February 22, 2012 By Deirdre

Last weekend was a mixture of wonderful sunshine and a bit of cold rain. While we wish the cold rain had been snow, we loved the days of sunshine that allowed us to be outside in light fleeces and long-sleeved shirts.

My husband and I sat and watched JDaniel try to catch pretend butterflies as well as swing around just enjoying the feeling of the soft breeze through the net. There is something magical about watching your child spin in sunbeams.

It was grand to sit on a sun-warmed driveway and watch your son find such joy. It is moments like this that make me reflect on how big he is getting and how he is aging right before your eyes. It is as if each spin moves him one step forward in time.

When the net is tucked away, it becomes time to aid JDaniel in the gathering of sticks for his beaver dam and find hiding places that will keep the big beaver (my husband) from depositing them in the woods. It had been a while since we had gathered sticks. There were many to pick up from under the great beach trees and carry to safety. Gathering sticks is something so simple and yet fills him with such a sense of accomplishment and the bushes with stacks of twigs. Thankfully the big beaver returns them to the woods often.

Following the branch collecting, we finally held our heart hunt. JDaniel and I had both been sick earlier in the week and the hunt had to be delayed. I don’t know who was more excited about finding chocolates in the hearts JDaniel or my husband. They both love chocolate.

What do you do to top an afternoon of stick gathering, butterfly catching, and heart hunting? You are left with sweeping the yard. Yes, our yard in the front has now been well swept as has the curb. There wasn’t much to sweep in the grass this time of year.

After having very little fly up from the ground when JDaniel was sweeping the grass, he decided he would fly himself. What fun it was to watch him zoom from the front yard to the backyard! It made me want to grab a broom from the garage and fly around the yard myself.

We have been blessed with many warm days this winter that I haven’t captured in pictures. I am so glad that I was able to capture this wonderful afternoon. It was definitely one to remember.

This post is linked to Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday and Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop.

Read.Explore.Learn.- Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’

November 18, 2011 By Deirdre

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie into children’s books. I look forward to seeing the ways you have learned with and explored books.

Steps:

- Link your activity below.

- Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. the badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.

- Please try to visit at least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.

- If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.

My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:

Thanksgiving at the Tappletons’ by Eileen Spinelli reminds me of some the interesting things that can happen when you try to make a Thanksgiving dinner.

What could happen?

The turkey could slip out the door.

The bakery could be out of pies when you finally get in line.

The salad could be used to feed a pet.

The potatoes could be splattered all over the kitchen.

You could end up with a house filled with people expecting a meal.

They could end up being fed odd and ends from the kitchen.

That could be what happened at the Tappletons’.

This wonderful family of foxes learns through it all that family and not food is what is most important.

What did we do?

Crafts

We made two turkey crafts together. They ended up being so cute.