Our Not So Bummer Summer!

We have had a full week of summer vacation and I can't believe everything we have done already!  Granted, we counted and while Phineas and Ferb tell us there are 104 days of summer vacation - we only have 74!  Not that many when you make a huge list of everything you want to accomplish.  Then throw in swim team which has daily practice and 2-3 meets a week and the time flies!

My 5 and almost 7 year old are very visual and want to SEE that they have actually been doing a lot of things.  So I decided to make a chalk board sign to list and mark off our summer fun activities.

Awhile back I had picked up a can of chalkboard spray paint on sale and was waiting for the right project to use it.  Then it hit me, our Summer Fun List!  Perfect!  Of course, I did not have an appropriate size piece of wood in the garage so I headed to Home Depot. 

I immediately went to the back to check out the "cull lumber" bin.  Cull lumber is cut-offs of boards that a customer does not want.  The best part - they are 51 cents a piece at our store - no matter the size.  You often need to inspect these boards as they may be warped, have a lot of knots or other flaws.  But generally speaking, you can find some great bargains. 

On this particular day, I found a beautiful piece of culled 1x12 that was 35" long - perfect for our Summer Fun chalkboard.  Another thing to note, they generally spray paint the end of the lumber to designate it as culled.  This was fine since I was planning to paint it anyway.

I love a project that ends up to be under $7 - chalkboard paint $4.97, board $.51 and colored chalk 1.99.

I took my list that I had put together and started to write them on the board.  As you can see, we have already checked off a number of items.

Here are a few pictures of some of our fun.  Most of this happened in just one day of "staying home".  I actually love a day when we can just hang out inside, avoid the insane desert heat here in Arizona and have some good old fashion creative play fun!

What have you been doing this summer?

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Midwestern Girl DIY