Where's My List?: Impromptu getaways and science experiments! (picture heavy post)

It's been a fun couple of days here. But, of course, "fun" in this house...in AZ summers....translates into needing A LOT of sunscreen. I really should have bought stock in sunscreen companies when marrying Mike. I should have known that his genes would lead to a family of fair-skinned children, but.....hindsight is always 20/20, right?

Anywho, after our bazillionth time of applying sunscreen to my three rascals, I decided to do a little bit of schooling at the same time. (Yay for homeschooling flexibility!!) There were, of course, hopes that maybe this would help the rascals understand just why Mom makes them go through the torture that is a sunscreen application so many times throughout the day. This wasn't a totally altruistic move on my part, I will admit!

I pulled out some sheets of construction paper, a plastic bowl full of our favourite sunscreen, and some paintbrushes and let them draw whatever design they wanted on the construction paper with the paintbrushes - - applying sunscreen to the paper in the process.

The little boys didn't quite understand the directions to make sure the sunscreen was rubbed "in" to the paper, and had a few more puddles of sunscreen than I would have liked, but it worked. We took their artwork (after discussing the vibrancy of the colours of paper), taped it up outside (I love the person who invented duct tape, by the way), and left for the afternoon. The papers sat out in the sun for about 4 hours.....and the sun here is HOT.

It was dark when we came back home, but I pulled the papers inside for our initial inspection. Other than the extra globs of sunscreen that dried a gross yellow on the little boys' pages, they noticed the changes on the paper right away. Wherever the sunscreen was absorbed into the paper, the colour remained vibrant. The part left unprotected in our desert sun? The colour was quite faded. Right away, the boys recognized the protective nature of the sunscreen we put on our skin.

I have big hopes that this will stick in their brains and make future sunscreen applications MUCH easier and less "whine-y." A girl can dream, right?

Some pictures from our experiment:

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Our fun science experiment preceded an impromptu getaway. We'd planned on going to a friend's birthday party, but unfortunately, the birthday girl was sick and it had to be postponed. With nothing to do now, and Mike having the weekend off, we thought we'd surprise the rascals with a fun little getaway. Originally, we'd planned on just doing something fun during the day (bowling, movie, etc), but then we found a great deal online for Squaw Peak. So, we told the boys to go and pack their overnight bags (what they chose to bring was HILARIOUS), and climb into the car. The resort was close enough to home that we didn't have to worry about boarding the dogs, so once the car was loaded, we were off!

It was a great weekend - sun (yay for sunscreen experiments!!), lots of swimming, movies, ice cream, and hotel room picnics. We spent a lot of time laughing and splashing....and all collapsed into bed that night! All that fun really can tire a person out!! (Even Mike and I, who had brought along our precious Oberon to drink once the kiddos fell asleep ended up falling asleep while trying to read on the couch on Saturday evening. No Oberon for us! haha)

We purposefully unplugged for the weekend, and it was a great decision. All 5 of us had a great time - definitely take advantage of the summer deals, if you're local!

As you can see from the pictures (which were taken with my phone - sorry!! I didn't want to lug a camera around all weekend), it was hard to capture the fun! Too much to actually experience and enjoy - you guys will have to just trust me on that! Here are some shots that I did manage to catch from the weekend....