Summer is quickly trucking along. The weather here hasn’t spiked into the 100s for as many days just yet so the heat hasn’t been too unbearable. I know in other parts of the country the heat has definitely been hot, hot, hot! Here in the ImPerfect Ari household, we have been finding ways to keep cool, keep learning, celebrate and enjoy summer amidst football camp and summer school. Here are some things we’ve tried so far in case you need some summer inspiration……
The local library always does a summer reading program and this year is no exception although it’s a little different this year than it was last year or the year before. Of course, the country is still recovering from COVID so the library isn’t working 100% the way it was pre-COVID but they are still doing a summer reading program in our area and are using an app for families to use to keep track of their books. Once everyone has read their books (5 for the summer) they can go and pick up a new book in person from the library’s book fair. Every city’s library is different, so just take a look at your local library and see how they’re doing summer reading this year.
I subscribe to KIDBOX for my daughter. I used to get KIDBOXes for my boys too but they have grown out of kid sizes now and so I no longer get them for my boys. We have tried a few different kid’s clothing subscriptions just to get unique items (not from our local Target, Kohl’s or Old Navy so they have a few pieces that everyone else in our town doesn’t have too). We have all decided that we like KIDBOX best because they have name brand items which means it’s quality pieces that are well made and they come at much cheaper prices from a company that gives clothing back to those in need with every box purchased. In the summer box my daughter received, she got a Summer time Bingo sheet that I copied for all the kids in the house so they can try and complete each task to get a black out. Once they complete it, they will get a reward (We’re still debating what this reward should be…..Boba?……Starbucks?…….Steak N Shake?……..A trip to a water park?…….). I will share a photo of my kid’s Bingo card here and you can decide if you want to use it as is or change a few boxes to fit your family.
We celebrated another June birthday this month and he chose this cake for his birthday (See photo below). I found the recipe here. I didn’t make it 5 layers though. I just did 2 white cake layers and 1 brownie layer between the cake layers since it would just be us 5 eating this cake and that is already a lot! I also didn’t add all 8 cups of powdered sugar to the buttercream frosting. I stopped at 5 cups because I felt that was definitely sweet enough for our taste buds. Altogether this is a very rich and decadent cake. We can only handle thin slices of this at a time! So thankful for my daughter who helped me cream the butter and crush the Oreos for the frosting. This cake was definitely a process and took me 2 days to finish! It was definitely worth it though.
If you’re looking for some cool treats to make, we found this Unicorn sweet treats set at Sam’s Club. It came with some recipes for frozen treats. We’ve tried the Lemon drop ice pop recipe and the frozen chocolate bar recipe so far. The lemon drop one was quite tart. I let my one year old try it and the little sour face she made was priceless! I wish I had caught that face on camera…..lol. Here are the recipes here if you want to try them without having to buy the cool ice pop kit.
Lemon Drop Ice Pop: Combine 3/4 cup water, 1/2 cup lemon juice and 1/4 cup honey and whisk. Place 3to 5 blueberries in each ice pop mold. Carefully pour lemon juice mixture into each ice pop mold. Place sticks in each ice pop mold. Place ice pops in freezer for about 6 hours or until completely frozen.
Frozen Chocolate Bar: Place 6oz of chocolate chips in blender. Whisk together 2 cups whole milk, 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 2 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 4 1/2 minutes or until it starts to boil. Using an oven mitt, remove bowl from microwave and pour it into blender with chocolate chips. Add 2 tsp of vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp of salt. Once chocolate chips have melted, blend mixture until combined and smooth. Carefully pour mixture into a silicone mold. Insert popsicle sticks. Place in freezer for 6 hours or until frozen.
We’ve been doing a lot of hiking around our area to keep in shape, get out doors and do some fun things that include our family fur baby. He enjoys them a lot but we make sure to get out and about for hikes early in the day to avoid getting him overheated and to avoid walking on surfaces that are too hot for his paws. Remember, if the ground is too hot for you to walk on bare foot, it will be too hot for your dog’s paws too.
I always like to incorporate learning throughout the summer to keep their brains working and to keep what they learned the past year fresh. We tried Adventure Academy for my 10 year old. We get a month for a free trial. So far, it seems there is very little learning going on and more time spent exploring the “campus” and adding things to her avatar. I’m not entirely sure if I want to pay for this monthly. I usually use Khan Academy which is free but my daughter wanted something different but I’m not quite convinced Adventure Academy is it.
I have always wished we could be a bilingual household but unfortunately neither my husband or I speak another language fluently. I have searched for so many resources online to help me with this dream of mine and there are so many both paid and free. This year, I decided to stick with Spanish since we live in SoCal and decided to find ways to incorporate it into our daily lives. We’ve watched some favorite cartoons in Spanish (We watched some Disney shows on Disney Plus which has an easy function to change the language and add subtitles). I also purchased the game Bananagrams in Spanish and found this adorable board book by Ditty Bird that sings lullabies in Spanish for my 1 year old. I loved this book so much, I’m going to buy more.
I was once a part of the MOM’s Club when my 3 oldest children were little and we were living in San Diego. We made so many wonderful memories with this group of women many of whom I still keep in contact with through Facebook and Instagram. Now, that I have another little one, I decided to join our local MOM’s Club again in hopes of finding her some new friends her age and to make new mommy friends with children her age especially since she’s a quarantine baby and has not yet met other babies her age. Mom’s club is an international organization with chapters worldwide! If you’re hoping to find some new mommy friends and go on adventures around your area with others who have children the same age as yours, check out MOMS Club | MOMS Offering Moms Support and see if there’s a chapter near you!
It’s officially the 4th of July weekend. We kicked it off in Escondido for their first Cruzin Grand night! It was absolutely amazing to be out in the cool evening air enjoying my kids and the awesome cars people had out. I also stopped by the Daydream shop in Escondido to take part in their 1 year anniversary celebration which I’m so grateful to have been a small part of (if you happen to go there, check out some of products there). We also had the opportunity to try out the deliciousness from Esco Gelato. We enjoyed some sweet and savory treats with their handmade gelato and paninis. The amazing thing about all of this is……there are 12 more Fridays of Cruzin grand in Escondido so there is ample opportunity to go check it out!
Some of my crafts on sale at Daydream! 
Awesome cars! 
The baby enjoyed the music and shiny cars 
If there is a line, it must be good!
Enjoy your holiday weekend and the 2nd half of your summer!
ImPerfect Ari 