4th of July

I always forget how much fun the 4th of July is. It usually creeps up on us before we even think about making any plans. Honestly though, that is when we seem to have the most fun.  The one thing we knew we were going to do was watch the Gahanna 4th of July parade that morning.  The parade is something we try to never miss but this year's was extra special because Ethan was going to be in it!  Ethan's Cub Scout troop enters a float in the parade every year but this was Ethan's first time participating.  He was excited and so was I.

                                     

The downside of being in the parade is you have to be there waaaaaaaay before the parade starts. The upside to being there so early is that I got us a great spot. The Gahanna parade is a small town thing but it sure does bring out a lot of people so it was nice that I got us a great spot and Joe could show up with Eli closer to the start time and we didn't have to worry about not being able to see everything or dealing with Eli having a meltdown which would have been inevitable had we made him sit there for an hour before it even started.  The weather wasn't blistering hot (like it was last year), Eli sat nicely and our troop's float won 2nd place!!

Later that afternoon, we took the kids to a festival to watch the fireworks. Of course Eli found the fire trucks and crawled right up into the seat.

Gotta love glow sticks!!  They kept the kids busy while we waited for the sun to set and the show to start.

2014 marks the first year Eli got to see fireworks and after the first few minutes, he fell in love with them proudly exclaiming "boom, boom" at the top of his lungs.  It was such a fun day!

Soda Explosion!

I'm always on the look out for fun new things to do with the boys. I turned to good ole' Pinterest for some ideas on experiments to try. As with most boys, Ethan is fascinated with anything that explodes, fizzes or pops. Oh, and the messier the better.  I, however, am fascinated with things that are inexpensive and not so messy. I came across Soda Explosion and thought it would be perfect for us.  All we needed was a 2 liter of Diet Coke (apparently diet works better for this experiment) and a pack of mint Mentos candy. The soda was on sale 3 for $4 so I bought 6. The 6 pack of Mentos was also a better deal than buying them individually.

We headed to the backyard and got started. I originally was under the impression that an entire roll of Mentos was needed in one 2 liter for there to be a decent size explosion but 3 or 4 works well. Also, it's quite difficult to successfully empty an entire roll of candy into the 2 liter before it starts to erupt.

Ethan really enjoyed this experiment while Eli was bored with it after the first two.  I had fun watching Ethan and some of the neighborhood kids have fun with it.

Glow Putt - A Fun Rainy Day Activity

With all the rain we've been having lately, the boys and I were in search of something fun to do indoors. Ethan has been wanting to play miniature golf for some time now which made me think of Glow Putt in Gahanna.  I drive by this place all the time and each time I think to myself "we need to check that place out".  So I called my sister and invited her and her boys to join us. A couple hours later we were on our way to play some glow in the dark mini golf! This turned out to be a really fun activity for the boys. Inside is decorated with an African Safari theme with large glowing pictures of elephants, snakes and other wildlife.

 Everything and I do mean everything glows in the dark. From the score sheet to the golf balls. It only cost $5 per child for 18 holes.
They even have party rooms which I'll have to remember when Ethan's birthday rolls back around.

We had the whole place to ourselves for most of the time which was nice considering Eli did not stop running from one end of the place to the other.

Glow putt is a great rainy day activity and I'm sure we'll visit again!


Glow Putt
161 Granville St.
Gahanna, Ohio
www.glowputtohio.com