A Swing and a Miss

So the moment you've all been waiting for!

The unmolding of the paper bowl!

This is for the Salvager Challenge: Make Art Out of Recycled Materials.

The bottom of the bowl - cute little bottom, no? 

It'll be perfect once unmolded!

I can visualize it holding keys by the front door!

And there's the bowl that's being used as the mold.

Should be easy enough to pry out.

Okay, not super easy.

But this sharp knife should do the trick.

We don't want to ruin the bowl though!

It took so long to make! 

@!&$* this isn't as easy as I thought!

We've tried a sharp knife, we've tried a mallet. Nothing!

Why won't this thing come off?

It's been 30 minutes and it's a no-go.

Okay, we'll try these dinner knives!

Maybe if we stick them in, we can gently loosen it. 

It looks like we're summoning a demon here. 

An hour later...

Plan B (no, we've gone way past Plan B).

Cut it off - we'll make a smaller bowl, but it'll be okay.

Right? It'll be okay? 

This is h#ll.
Pretty sure Dante wrote about this in "The Inferno." 

This is a disaster. A total disaster. 

This frigging thing didn't even want to come off the bowl!
There was no hope in saving it.

I just want it off at this point!

FML. Just FML.

We should have used Vaseline or cooking spray or something.

Why isn't there a "DIY FAIL" challenge? We'd totally win. 

Let's move onto the next project, shall we?

As you may recall, we made firestarters the other day using wax (melted candles), dryer lint, pencil shavings, and matches stuffed into egg cartons. This is for the "Yeti" challenge. 

The firestarters looked like this. 

Cute, huh?

Well since the bottom of our grill rusted (more FML), we turned the top of the grill over and used that along with sticks. Sophisticated. 

Here goes nothing!

Woohoo! It's working! It's really working!

Nice, daddy and mommy, but I'd rather be playing with Doggy in the dark

so I can trip, get hurt, and cry. Is that cool with you? 

Thumbs-up! We did it!

Liam looks like he's in a trance.

Fires will do that to you.

Goofy kid! Just don't fall into the fire!

Look at that fire go!

Camping trips will never be the same!

We always struggle making campfires,

but pop a couple of these in your pack and you're good!

Can I play with Doggy already?

She looks like she's getting in trouble without me! 

Creepy picture! This should be the cover of my next horror book!

Another creepy picture. 

Why are kids so creepy?

So we did it! The firestarter worked! And the paper bowl.... didn't. We're soaking the pieces of the paper bowl in water to soften them so we can use them next time. That's the beauty of making paper pulp art: you can recycle your recycled paper! Next time we are DEFINITELY USING VASELINE. If we don't make another bowl, we'll do eggs. I have an idea for that involving plastic eggs. 

Until next time,

Mary 

A DIY Kind of Day

So I mentioned DIY... but what is it? It's a free website full of challenges for kids to do. They have many, many, many categories and multiple challenges within each category. If your child completes 3 challenges within a category, he/she earns a patch. 

Pixel art for Lego - he's earned his Lego Master patch!

The patches are $4 in the DIY store and you can buy big cardboard wall hangings to display the patches for $10 (we're buying one of these so I'll tell you more about it once we get it!) $4 seems steep, but the patches are well-made for the price and when you're completing challenges for several categories at once, it takes a while to earn each patch.

Delaware Water Gap - Pennsylvania side 

for the "Camping: Hike a Trail" challenge

More photos - you can add quite a few!

Show off to other users and show loved ones your portfolio!

Liam has earned a Lego Master patch (building a Lego scene, a Lego vehicle, and pixel art) and we are waiting for credit to be given to his third Chemistry challenge (making Gak, Oobleck, and an invisible message). Jon is a chemist so that has been particularly fun! 

Making Gak for Chemistry - the perfect sensory activity!

He wasn't so sure about it at first,

but once he realized it made farting sounds,

he was ALL ABOUT IT. 

In order to complete the challenge, you upload photos or pictures and the admins give your child credit. Sometimes it takes a while, but they have a LOT of users! On their website, you can add challenges to your "to-do" list, other users can comment and heart your child's challenges, and you can track your progress. It's a lot of fun! 

Liam's fossil collection for Paleontology 

Part of Liam's rock collection for Geology

Some challenges are way over my 7-year-old's head, but that's the beauty of it: the challenges range from easy to difficult so there is always something fun to do! And most of the challenges require very basic materials, sometimes things you'd have lying around the house. In addition to hiking, it's our favorite family adventure time. 

Travel: Climb a Mountain

Windbeam Mountain was perfect for this!

We didn't want to use the Delaware Water Gap hike twice.

That kind of felt like cheating! 

Today we didn't hike (my stomach was not up to it) so it was a total DIY day! Liam asked to do several challenges. I'm glad he's into it because he wasn't so much in the beginning. 

Here we go! 

CAMPING CHALLENGE: PURIFY WATER

Luckily we had our handy-dandy water filter that we take on every hiking trip. We hadn't used it yet so this was a perfect excuse to bust it out and try it!

Collecting some DIRTY GROSS water 

from the brook across the street

The water was freezing! Brrr

Just a boy and an icicle.

No big deal.

Licking the icicle

because why not? 

Now that's nasty. 

Perfect!

With all the accouterments

 

Pouring the DIRTY GROSS water 

into a funnel while Jon holds the purifier bag underneath

And out comes clean water - SCIENCE!

Side-by-side comparison.

Did we drink the clean water?

Why, yes,we did.

I hope to hell nobody has diarrhea or vomiting later....

Okay, onto the next challenge!

SALVAGER CHALLENGE: MAKE RECYCLED ART

For this one, we decided to make a paper bowl using junk mail, pureed with water and food coloring into a pulp, then applied to the back of a ceramic bowl (as a mold). Then, once it dries, Liam will paint it and we'll seal it with glue. 

Note: This challenge isn't finished so I'll post pics of the final product soon!

Junk mail... over 30 pounds of it!

We didn't use it all... more for next time!

We moved our messiness into the family room.

We used the Ninja food processor for this.

Junk mail + water

Needs more water!

Needs more food coloring!

Pushing down on the button and striking a pose for GQ

More power! 

Put your back into it!

Laughing his butt off.

It was loud and he didn't freak out - WIN!

Ah, the old monster face comes out

Imitating Gene Simmons 

His laughter is what we strive for!

Another monster face.

Scare the paper pulp into submission!

Oh sure, when he raises one eyebrow, he looks cool.

When I try to do it, I look constipated.

The pulp - we used blue and green dyes.

Looks kind of muddy, but it will lighten as it dries.

We're pushing it through this screen to get some of the water out.

At first he was NOT so sure, but then he ended up loving it!

Here he is, burying Jon's hand. 

Burying his own hand. 

We used this bowl as a mold. 

We packed it on thickly and I made a sort of bottom for it.

Well... it's the top here, but will be the bottom once we unmold it.

Now it'll go into the oven on low and we'll see how it turns out!

YETI CHALLENGE: FIRE STARTERS

Last night we started preparations for fire starters! And tonight we will try them out in the grill (the poor man's fire pit, but hey - whatever works).

Everything we need:

Egg carton, candles, pencil shavings, dryer lint, and matches.

Melting the candles in a double boiler - what color will it turn?

Getting there. 

After everything melted, we pulled out the wicks.

Stuffing the dryer lint and pencil shavings into the bottoms. 

After pouring the wax in, 

we started sticking the matches into the cooling wax.

Now to let it harden overnight!

It turned out a lovely shade of purple! 

I used a knife and cut them into individual fire starters.

Note: This challenge isn't finished so, in the next post, I'll include pics of the fire we (attempt to) create with these!

Ahhh, the antici......pation. Until next time!

Mary