A Tie-Dyed Teepee for Two

We have friends from church, the Little's, that have been trying to eliminate a bamboo forest (literally), that the previous home owner planted in their newly purchased home.  So what to do with all this bamboo?! Why build a teepee of course!  The Little's not only had enough cut-down bamboo to build their own teepee, but enough for the boy scouts, as well as us Olsen's...and various other families too!  And we even grabbed enough bamboo to make two teepees!  Oh it's going to be a regular club house convention in our back yard!

I found a great website with all the "how to" for the teepee building materials and steps (http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2011/how-tuesday-backyard-teepee/), so we just needed to get rolling on the material collection.  We started getting everything together about a month ago, but just hadn't started on it yet due to various activities taking precedence.  Finally this past Friday and Saturday, I decided we were just going to take the time to get it done.  PLUS, my mom, "Nana Barbie", just got into town on Thursday for a quick visit, so we had her craftiness at our disposal as well! 

We whipped out the canvas and decided it needed a cute face lift before we strung it up on our bamboo poles.  How to make this teepee fun and artsy, knowing it will be out in the Virginia summer elements?  Tie-dye!  Then if it rains and the dye bleeds a little, it'll just add to the character of the teepee!  (*Though it has sprinkled since finishing this project on Saturday, and no bleeding has occurred, so I guess we'll see if it happens.*) So we rubber banded the canvas, used the dye squirt bottles (the girls LOVED this part), sprayed away, and began to watch the dye dry.

I began cleaning up when I realized, I should've been much MUCH more careful with this dye.  What was my first indicator?  Well...the girls.  They looked like flower-power children...and nothing was coming off.  Of course I've tie-dyed before, and of course we wore gloves then!  How did I make such a grave oversight?!  I'm going to blame it on my desire to get this teepee built, that impaired my judgment.  Ugh.  Lauren and Olivia were a mess! :(

Notice the blue spray dots.  Apparently Lauren was squirting herself in the face too!



After about 10 mins of soaking.  Still pretty much all there!

 

Regardless of her state of appearance, Olivia still managed to get Nana Barbie to pick her up and snuggle her.





 

So how did our tie-dying turn out (besides on our skin?!)  Well I think we did a pretty great job...and even the red checkered gingham I had to add to cover our over sized teepee completely seems to fit!  I'd say our teepee's style is hippy meets country girl.  A fun combination in my books!  And to make it even better, the teepee even fits Nate standing up!  And can comfortable fit about a dozen toddlers - woohoo! 

Pocahontas and her new hangout.

Closer view of the tie-dye and wooden stick closure.



A view of the first club house meeting, complete with chairs and members!

Another inside-teepee view of our sweet tie-dying skills

Also, the completed construction of our teepee has seem to raise the Olsen girls' "fun" status with our neighbor kids (They are like 6 and 9, so they really don't interact with our 2 1/2 and 1 1/2 year olds much-understandably).  Guess we can now do some practice camping in our back yard teepee to see if we are "there yet", in being able to actually take the girls camping.

The Yards Park - Round 2 *ding, ding*

The heat and humidity has begun full-force here in the D.C. metro area.  Today while at playgroup, the girls and I were freely and easily sweating just playing on the swings...and since when do swings induce any sort of sweat, especially by the pushee?! The answer is that it does not. Unless it's 86* outside with 61% humidity, and zero shade.  Needless to say that we were wilting like flowers in the midday sun, and most certainly needed a change in activity stat. 

 

Enter our friend Cheryl Kingsford, and her two girls, Hailey and Kate.  Cheryl is 8 1/2 months pregnant and therefore greatly motivated by any opportunity to keep cool in these temperatures (as is any pregnant woman-am I right?!).  I had asked my mom-friends earlier during playgroup if anyone had been to The Yards Park before.  Turns out that no one else had, so I told them about our jaunt down there during Memorial Day weekend and was looking forward to going back soon.  Cheryl then said, "Why don't we go to The Yards Park right now then?"  Why on earth didn't I think of that?!  So we left our wilting-pit of a playground and headed home to suit-up!  Cheryl and the girls met at our house and we drove on down to D.C. proper with little incident (I really need to figure out how to update my maps app on my phone. Stinkin' construction!).  Note to self: just follow the signs to The Navy Yard or the National's Stadium next time, as both are on either side of The Yards Park.

 

 

So we got there about high-noon, the perfect time to go play in some fountains--mom's included!  Then the girls caught sight of the wadding pool below the shooting fountains, complete with waterfall, and it was game on.  They scattered down the stairs like a herd of kittens on a hot-tin roof.  Cheryl was sans-stroller though, so she kept up with them on the "short-cut" route and performed some excellent crowd control on our four tots!

 

 

We then lunched "pool-side", well, technically, sitting on the submerged step in the wadding pool, but it worked out great!  Have I mentioned how much I love that we can play in these water features that most places/cities mark with "no playing" signs?!  Anyway, the kids sat and ate...took of playing with newly made friends...came back and snacked...wadded off again...snacked again...you get the picture.  Cheryl and I sat mid-pool to keep all kids within reach.  It was a great, cool afternoon!  

 

Olivia eating her coveted Pirate's Booty!

 


Olivia is a huge lap-sitting fan. So Cheryl was very sweet and accommodating
to actually hold Olivia, even though her lap was pretty much already taken
by Kingsford Baby #3!

Olivia is hot on Kate's trail, wanting to mimic her every move.

Lauren kept twirling on her hands, "Like a mermaid Moooommm!"

Olivia kept walking on her hands and tilting to her side to get her pigtails wet.

Lauren kept jumping like a frog and encouraging Olivia to follow suit.

Lauren and Kate playing frogs.

 

Olivia showing off that she can hold herself up behind her back, feet straight
out, like she's floating.

Olivia was crazy excited she could touch the bottom with her hands, and still
have her head above water.



One of the many, many snack breaks!

FHE-apalooza!

So we had the Lollapalooza of FHE's yesterday evening.  And when I say that, I mean we had singing, dancing, people running and hiding, people acting just this side of crazy, and even a poop in the bucket (say what?!)!  Everything you'd see at Lollapalooza right?!  Or so I'd imagine.  Nonetheless, what a very crazy afternoon/evening we had...

It all started off with the random poop in the bucket.  I'm telling you all about this because it's a milestone for our sweet Lauren.  Not the way I pictured it, but it is what it is.  So we had multiple (as in like four-five) flash rain storms yesterday.  Enough to keep you from going to the park, but not enough to keep you from your backyard.  So there we were, playing in the back yard.  The girls were playing with their water table and I was whacking down ivy and tree sprouts about 20 feet from our back door.  It went from a spotty sunny afternoon to a torrential down-pour in no less than 10 seconds.  By the time I literally put down the pruning shears and headed to the back door, approximately 5 feet from the water table where the girls were, I was soaked through to the skin.  Since our kitchen is right off the back door and it's tile, I decided I was going to strip the girls down to avoid a mess and slipping hazards if possible.  I took Lauren's clothes and diaper off first, then went to work on disrobing the howling Olivia.  The flash rain storm had her all out of sorts, which I get.  She's 20 months old and not used to the mood swings of mother nature yet.  At any rate, by the time I got her clothes and diaper off, the rain had lightened a little and Olivia had calmed down.  Just then, Lauren runs up to me and says, "Momma, I went poopy!"  What?!  At this point in time I had a flash of the Lysol wipes commercial on the TV, where the little boy makes the same exclamation to his mother; however, he pooped in the tub and not the toilet.  So where on earth did she poop, or did she even really poop?  So I said to Lauren while panning the patio for poop, "Where did you poop sissy?"  She replies with pride, "In my bucket mom!"  Just then I spot the bucket she's motioning to inside her playhouse, where she was sheltering while I was taking Olivia's clothes off.

Lauren's first sit-down poop

The scene of the pooping

Lauren was so proud of not pooping in her diaper.  If only I could've been equally ecstatic.

Nate got home just in time for me to borrow his iPhone to take pictures of the whole scene before we got flash rained on again.  He asked, "Are you really going to take a picture of the poop in the bucket?"  I said, "It's her first non-diaper, sitting position poop.  Of course I am!"  If only he/everyone knew how hard I've tried to persuade Lauren to use the big girl potty, he/everyone would be very understanding of this picture-worthy "progress", however misplaced it was!  Unfortunately I took too long in taking pictures though, so that when I got to taking care of the poop bucket, the humidity had already gotten to the poop and began wreaking.  Oh well, at least Nate was home to give the naked girls a bath while I got dinner on the table.

I love Olivia's many "cheese" faces!

After dinner, but before we had family home evening (FHE) the girls gave us a music moment.  Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.  Sure we'll take it as an opening song for FHE!

So for FHE, Nate taught the girls the story about the Miracle of the Gulls that took place in Salt Lake City, 1848.  Story line: swarms of insects (now termed "Mormon crickets") threatened to destroy the crops that would literally sustain life for thousands of pioneers.  However, legions of seagulls appeared to devour the insects, providing a life-saving service for the Mormon pioneers.  That story told, Nate then spread "insects" (teddy grahams, Snicker bits, vanilla puffs) on the floor of the living room and told the girls that they needed to be like the seagulls and eat the insects to help save the pioneers' crops.  It took them a second to get into it; but they did get into it!  Lauren even played through a nose injury sustained while doing a particularly deep and aggressive swoop for a teddy graham.

 

Nose injury just happened

Throbbing nose = sad face

Daddy found his inner seagull too! Much to the girls chagrin!

Olivia let Lauren play the gull role while she played the candy-napper role!



This daddy seagull is so fun to feed!

Sugar rush is kicking in!!!





Then to run the sugar out of the girls before bed time, Nate kicked off a rigorous game of hide-&-seek.  Much to our surprise, Olivia wanted to be "it", and even counted to 10 all by herself!  I was shocked that she could do it without Lauren or one of us talking her through it.  But luckily she did it multiple times, enough for me to actually catch it on video.  So here's Olivia's first time counting to 10, unassisted!  As for understanding how to play hide-&-seek, well, we're going to have to work on it! :0P

Temple Time & Burke Lake Park

Yesterday Nate and I were able to go and do a session for our first time in the Washington D.C. Temple.   Man, what a beautiful temple!  By far the largest temple I've ever been in before.  So large that there were numerous times we were concerned that we were lost or heading in the wrong direction, only to find a temple worker waiting around the next bend in the hallway to direct us.  Regardless of our "waywardness" in the temple itself, it was certainly great to be there to get away from the calamity of life.  To get a refreshed perspective on what's important and feel the love of our Heavenly Father... Mission accomplished! As the spirit at the temple yesterday was overflowing. We Olsen's felt greatly refreshed and more at peace with the happenings of life after leaving the temple.  We are recommitting to get one of us to the temple monthly, even if it means we do so separately.

So where do we head to after this wonderful temple experience?! To pick up the Calamity Twins from our dear friends, the Finnegan's.  Then after a quick lunch and nap time at home, we headed outdoors to "spend" some little people energy (i.e. wear out these Olsen Irish twins!).  What better place to use up some energy than at a new, never experienced before park?!  Some girlfriends from playgroup told me about Burke Lake Park in Burke, Virginia.  Highlights of the park being: a carousel, a train, an ultimate Frisbee course, and a mini-golf course!  After a 25 minute car-ride, these girls were stoked to get out and play...uh, kind of?!

Lauren refused to nap at home when Olivia did,
so she napped on the car ride over. Popsicle stick and all.

Olivia is less than impressed on the car ride.

We bought tickets for the train and carousel as soon as we got there, but apparently we just weren't moving fast enough for these girls.  Olivia picked no less than 15 different seats/train carts to sit in while waiting for the train to leave the station.  She was moving around so much, that she caused Nate and Lauren to lose their seats to oncoming passengers and all four of us ended jammed into a cart meant for two.  Poor Nate's knees took the brunt of Olivia's wild ways. :/

Olivia is searching for her next cart to explore, while Lauren and Daddy say "cheeeeeeese"!

Olivia disembarking the train cart, first of fifty or so times



Olivia found her next cart...for about 10 seconds

Not even Lauren could tame this crazy girl...
Olivia's middle name "Wild" couldn't fit her
any better than right now!

The content passengers before they got seat-jacked while trying to corral Olivia.

After the train ride, we headed directly to the carousel to wait in line.  It appeared that they weren't operating the train/carousel simultaneously, so if we didn't get on this go-round, it might take about 20 minutes until we got another chance. 

What great little girls waiting in line for their turns

Nate rode the carousel with the girls, both of which seemed to enjoy their rides.  Lauren was a bit more hands-in-the-air, whooping out loud impressed.  While sweet Olivia maintained two hands on the pole, binkie firmly in mouth, smiling and swinging her feet.

 


This picture makes them look like they're streaking by at a
high speed, when in fact my iPhone camera just must have
that slow of a shutter speed.

Here you see Olivia trying to go back for seconds. Not a chance with a dad that has a wingspan like that!

After the carousel ride we went to the playground located about 30 yards west of the carousel.  Not a huge play area, but it didn't seem to matter as there were kids-galore.  Lauren and Olivia were captivated by people/kid watching at first, but then they got down and dirty (figuratively and literally) with the mulch/slides/monkey bars.  These two are hilarious in their love for the monkey bars.  They obviously can't do them on their own, but they love it when you hold the bottom of their feet and keep them elevated enough to go from bar-to-bar.  They have the hand work to be good monkeys; however, their wingspan and height need to improve...by about 5-7 years! ;0P

Notice the stick Olivia is clutching.  She went into the forest and
found it herself...then proceeded to walk the play area with it. 
I'm sure she made more than one parent nervous with it, this parent included.

After about 40 minutes in the playground area Lauren was wondering off, looking for some food because she "want breakfast mom!"  Breakfast is what Lauren calls every meal, so we knew she was now hungry for dinner.  Lucky for us, this great park was located only 3.5 miles from Café Rio, where we were able to partake in some delicious sweet pork salads, homemade tortillas, and queso.  Yumm-O!  What a day!