We were so excited to babysit Charlie (9) & Lizzy (7) for a week while their parents were on vacation. We had so much planned for them and kept them very busy. So much planned that we were not able to do everything on the list, but we did most of it.
Of course the kids LOVE Vovo’s crafts and they are always excited to see what I have for them. These space ships were created from The Laughing Cow cheese cartons, popsicle sticks served as the landing legs, and the martians were created using wine corks. Add some color and decorating and you have a cool space ship.
The “Crafts” and “Things To Do & Places To Go” sheets were on the refrigerator. Every time the kids completed a craft or did something on the list, they either put their initials or a sticker next to it. By the end of the week almost every box was filled in. At the end of the week I sadly forgot to take a picture of the completed lists… they were really cute. You can always click on any photo to enlarge it.
I prepped some of the craft projects prior to the kids arrival. Our large kitchen island served as their work space.
These kids are really good at checkers. Lizzy kicked my butt a couple of times.
I saw something on line where kids could make a custom soft cover book for their parents. There were caricatures and you could add your face to those caricatures. The books started at $25 each. Well, I said I can do that for free!! I got cartoon images from the internet, printed out different faces of Charlie, Lizzy, and their parents. I cut out construction paper and punched the side so the journal/book could be secured with yarn. The kids added several activities to their book, such as skating, bowling, soccer, baseball, beach, etc. They added their verbiage to each page, i.e. “I like to find sea shells”, “I love roller skating “. Enlarge the photos so you can see the writing.
We wore out the kids. This is what they looked like every night… LOL
I took the kids to a store called ReCreate. It’s a super cool store where companies (or anyone for that matter) donate items they no longer need or would throw away. They have anything and everything from plastic, foam, egg cartons, tiles, carpet, paper, ribbon, fabric, milk cartons… the list goes on and on. You pay $7 per hour per kid and they have access to tons of things to create whatever they want. Lizzy chose to make a tiger… Look how cute it turned out! Charlie created a boot… but he’s a little camera shy these days.
This was our entry hall for a week. Not always this neat, but at least we knew where the shoes were.
We have 2 of these cubby holes in our kitchen and all of our grandkids love these crawl spaces. It makes a great hiding place for Hide & Go Seek.
These jet packs were made from 2 liter soda bottles. They turned out cute and so much fun for kids. They painted and decorated them, then glued in the “fire” cut out from colored paper. The backing that the bottles attached to was just cardboard that can be painted. String was added to the cardboard that served as the shoulder straps.
Always a good time at their favorite park, McBean Park
Pirate ships made out of egg cartons, skewers for the masts and colored paper for the sails.
Just some of their craft creations
I created this chart on a poster board so the kids could keep track of our daily activities and show it to their parents. Click on the photo so you can see how busy we were and how they spelled some of the words… LOL
Pizza and movie night – YEAH!!!
Here we are at Michael’s doing crafts. They have what’s called “Passport to Imagination” classes for kids. They made 3 crafts that day and this one was a treasure chest map which of course leads to the chest of gold. The crumpled up paper is for effect to make it look old. 
The Sacramento Zoo was a big hit with the kids.
This ant eater was HUGE !!
These are the stuffed animals they chose from the gift shop.
We wore them out again!
Baking cookies is always fun and better yet is eating them… ALL OF THEM!! 
Splash Dogs is a jumping competition for dogs and the event travels all over the U.S. Almost every year it comes to Folsom and we love to attend. The dog owners toss a training dummy off the dock and the dog runs and jumps into the water to retrieve it. The length of the jump is recorded and the dog that jumps the farthest wins.
If you stand in the just the right place… you will get wet, which of course is lots of fun! 
On the way back home, I saw this big bounce house area in a field next to a church. I said let’s stop to check it out and see how much it cost. The church said God loves everyone and you are welcome to join us. They had really cool Christian music playing too. The kids really enjoyed this unexpected activity.
It was hot out there, so to cool off we had to get some ice cream. 
I took them to SkyZone for an hour of trampoline, and yes, I jumped too. That jumping really wears you out… especially with these old knees… LOL
We took them to 2 different pools a couple of times. It was hot and a nice way to cool off.
We also went to Wake Island. It’s a big bounce house on water and needless to say this activity was at the top of the “Fun” list. Again, I was right there with them having FUN.
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