I love all these activities, except now that I am also a mom, our summer schedule looks a lot different.  Mainly, I don't go on as many (or any) trips and the evening activities are relegated by their start time vs. Gia's bedtime. I don't mind this at all for the most part (though I am really sad I'm not going to CIY in Holland, MI next week. The weather will be so beauitful!) but it does make for some long weeks of just me & Gia hanging out. I don't know what its like for any of you other moms out there, but the hours between 3 pm and 6 pm seem to be the most difficult, especially when I know Sean won't be coming home.  Its the hottest part of the day, I'm usually worn out by then (even after naptime!) and my creativity for creating something fun is desperately waning. My default is to go shopping but I always wind up spending money, which, obviously is not so good.

So the first week Sean was at Junior High camp, Gia and I went to the Dollar Store. (Yay for an activity we could do between 3 and 6!!) I was on the look-out for any handful of things that I could pull out of the closet when I was at the end of my activity rope and couldn't stand another episode of Dora or Super Why. I spent about $16 total and got enough items that I hope will keep us busy when the long, hot days call for some indoor fun. (The $16 does include a flower mylar balloon for Gia and a package of Smarties for me.)  A few days ago, I pulled out the first of our Dollar Store Summer Fun items, and it was really a great time!

Dollar Store Items:

• Package of hot-wheels type cars (3 for $1)
• One roll of masking tape ($1... self explanatory on the price, right?)

To moms of boys, this is probably nothing new. But Gia hasn't really played much with cars except for when we're at friends' houses. She always loves it and likes to make "tracks" for her cars with the bristle blocks she got for Christmas. The masking tape didn't stick extremely well to the carpet, but the roll of painter's tape I was originally going to buy was about 1/4 the size of the masking tape.  As we played on, this track grew and grew... it eventually went under the slide and had several intersections. That's the great part about using this tape... just tear out the section where you want the new track to go! Bonus points: Gia loved pulling up the tape when it was time to clean up!!