I See London, I See France, I See Captain Underpants

See that belly? It's the result of the 16 pounds (about 7.25 kg) of candy my son and daughter brought home Halloween night. OK, her belly isn't really stuffed with chocolate, but the kids did bring home 16 pounds of candy - and we only trick-or-treated through a small part of our neighborhood. Believe it or not, one of my students managed to haul home 30 pounds (about 13.5 kg.) (I asked the kids to collect data on their candy so we could work on mean, median, mode and range. Averages are more meaningful to kids when they use data that is important to them. But I digress...)

While the Captain Underpants books may not be among my favorites, my daughter adores them.  She's only in second grade, but she has read them all. When she told me she wanted to be Captain Underpants for Halloween, I honestly had no idea how I was going to pull it off. I mean, we live in Northern Michigan, so going out in undies or even a swim suit wasn't really an option. So, I started searching and managed to find this "skin suit" on line. It wasn't quite right, but after pricing materials at the fabric store, I realized it was my best bet so I broke down and bought it. Be aware that at the store I linked to above, the child size medium suit was large enough to fit me, which ended up being OK since we were enlarging her tummy, but otherwise it would have been way too big. 

After removing the face piece, the gloves and the feet from the suit, I tightened up and shortened the legs and the arms. It fit fine and it was stretchy enough that even with the gigantic tummy K could wear long johns underneath to keep warm. (Luckily her rain gear also fit.) All Captain Underpants needed was new undies, a cape, a bald cape, stuffing for that belly, and she was good to go.

We knew we were onto something when strangers started coming up to us the day we trick-or-treated through town asking to take K's picture.

Of course she needed a treat bag, too. Just like I did for her brother, I found a graphic on line, reversed it, and ironed it on. The graphic is below just in case you might want to make a tote for your favorite little superhero. Now I'm hoping that we have "dress as a character from a book" day during March is Reading Month this year, because I'm certain K will want to wear this again.

Right click to download the full-size image.

Captain Underpants TM by Dav Pilkey.
All rights reserved.

Guess Who?

I have several big Dr. Who fans living in  my house, so I wasn't surprised when my son announced, back in August, that he wanted to be Dr. Who for Halloween. Specifically the Eleventh Doctor. 

The geek in me was thrilled and I thought, "Cool, that's a pretty simple costume to put together," and I started looking for a child size eight  tweed blazer at my favorite thrift shops. I found lots of navy blazers with brass buttons, but nothing even remotely tweedy. By mid-September I still hadn't found one so I had to go to plan B...

I found a machine washable jacket for next to nothing,

and used this pattern to make a lovely coat for my little Doctor. I'm glad the blazer I found was a lady's size 18; if it had been any smaller, a few of the pattern pieces wouldn't have fit. If you ever need to make a blazer for your son, I highly recommend this pattern. The directions were quite clear and, even with deconstructing the other blazer, I managed to finish it in one day (although since it's a Halloween costume, I did leave off the welt pockets.)

The best part of S wanting to be Dr. Who was he decided he had to grow out his hair. Back in August, S had a buzz cut - a very short buzz cut. But once he chose to be Dr. Who, he started to grow it out so he could have that little swoop of hair in the front - just like "the real Doctor." Every now and again he would ask me to style it, just to see if it had grown out enough.

If you've been around here for a while, you're probably surprised to see my son's face smiling back at you today. I started blogging in 2008 - back when my son was three and my daughter was two. At the time, it didn't feel right to put their faces out there. These days, both of the kids have been asking me if I will stop "cutting off" their faces in my pictures. So, after a discussion with my husband, and since they are a little older I've  decided to ease off my "no faces" rule.

I always try to make my kiddos treat bags that coordinate with their costumes. (Plus, later on they make a great storage bag.) Dr. Who needed a bag with a little bit of British flair and a Tardis (the time travel machine the Doctor travels in.)

It was easy to make with iron-on transfers. Luckily, I remembered to reverse the images first! I sized each one to print out on a standard size piece of  transfer paper.

If you have a notion to make one, I've included the reversed images below. They're big (about 8 in by 10 in) so only a portion will show in the post, but you'll get the full-size images if you right click and download them. I just inserted each one into a Word document and printed them out.

I was glad I made the blazer a tad on the big side since it poured here on Halloween. Luckily it fit over my son's rain gear...

Keep Calm original art here
Tardis original art here

Mackinac Moment

We were treated to a beautiful rainbow the other day just before school started. I've got to say, my classroom probably has the best view of any schoolroom in the entire state of Michigan!

Fall

Fall on Mackinac is, by far, my favorite time of year. Things are quieting down, the air has that wonderful wet leafy smell, and the trees are absolutely gorgeous. Not to mention that fall is the only time of year that Mackinac Island is warmer than the mainland. All that water has been heating up all summer and now Lake Huron gives us beautiful "Indian summer" days. Though not today, definitely not; it was downright frigid this morning. But, while several towns near us got their first snow, we didn't get as much as a flake.

I was a busy little beaver this past weekend - feverishly working on Halloween costumes. My son's is finished and I'm about 80% through my daughter's - I just need to alter her "nude suit." (Don't worry - I'll share soon.) What have you been doing with your time?

Minecraft Cake Pops

Since my last attempt at cake pops didn't turn out so well, I thought I needed to give them another try. This year my son requested a Minecraft party (he's kind of obsessed these days) so I thought I could make cake pops in the shape of the blocks from the game. Luckily, we tend to plan these things early, so when I saw these molds at Meijer back in August, I bought three of them for $1.00 each. They were perfect - each little side of the cubes was about an inch (about 2.5 centimeters) long.

I followed one of the many cake pop tutorials out there and just made cube-shaped pops using the molds instead of rolling the dough into balls.  I squished as much dough as I could into the molds, too; I wanted the pops to be really dense. I was glad I bough three of them; I had one sit out and thaw for a few minutes, one fill, and one to sit in the freezer. It would have taken much longer if I'd only bought one. And, since they were so cheap, it wasn't a big deal.

I dipped the  pops into white candy melts, this time using the brand sold at Hobby Lobby instead of Wilton. I did not have a good experience with Wilton last time. I also melted them in the microwave rather than using the double boiler. I'm not sure if the difference was the chocolate or my newly improved mad-cake-poppin skills, but either way, they turned out so much better this time.

After dipping them in the white chocolate, I sprinkled the sides with brown decorating sugar and the tops with green so they would resemble a grass block.. They weren't perfect, but my son's second and third grade class didn't seem to mind.

I made sure to save one for myself. Quality control you know, they looked like grass blocks but I needed to make sure they were fit for the kids to eat.

It's a good thing there weren't a bunch of them left over - they were that good. The creaminess of the candy coating with the crunchy sugar was delicious!

Chippewa Falls

Our next stop on Allen's Waterfall Tour was Chippewa Falls. The Trans-Canadian Highway crosses right over the Chippewa River, so the falls are visible from the road. And, they were totally worth our time to stop and explore. 

The rocks in this part of Canada are mainly granite - much of it being a beautiful orangey-red color. It's amazing to me that the rocks are so different from the gray limestone of the Straits of Mackinac - just an hour or two south. 

  The trails along the side of the falls were absolutely breathtaking; like something out of a movie. Plus, it was sprinkling the afternoon we were there, so everything had an greenish ethereal glow.

 

The falls were lovely as well. I had fun playing with the shutter speed on my camera.

In a few spots we were able to walk out into the rocks. My daughter was very frustrated that we wouldn't let her swim, but was happier when her father walked her out into some of the slower moving water. Luckily she didn't see the folks jumping off rocks into one of the pools upstream. We wondered how they knew how deep it was. At each of the falls we visited there were signs warning visitors about how quickly the flow rates of the falls can change. Apparently, many of the falls are used by hydro-electric plants to generate electricity, and if they open up the gates, the amount of water flowing over that falls can increase dramatically in the blink of an eye.

Such a beautiful spot... 

Ours to Discover

The license plates in Ontario, Canada say, "Yours to Discover," and that's just what we did this Labor Day weekend.  The Provence of Ontario is about four times bigger than the state of Michigan, so while we really only got to discover one tiny corner of it, we loved what we saw.  Allen made sure to point out the geography of the Eastern Upper Peninsula to the kids as we drove through so they could better appreciate the different geography they'd see in Canada. (Yeah, I know... we're geeky.)

We spent the night in the Canadian Soo so we could get an early start on Saturday morning. Our first stop was Kinsman Park just a few miles away from our hotel. The park is home to miles of hiking / ski trails and a beautiful waterfall.

The falls were magnificent.

We hiked right along side them.

In a few spots the river widened into small pools.

We didn't even think about stopping for a swim!

 

Down below Crystal Falls, the river opens up

into a small lake. 

Of course, the great frog hunt began,

though they stopped long enough to enjoy the teeter totters. (Sadly most parks we've visited in the US have removed them. Bummer - they're so good for teaching physics.)

We ate breakfast in the back of the van, used the outhouse, and then headed on our way - wondering where Allen was taking us next. He completely organized this trip - from the itinerary to the reservations and meals.

Band Aide?

I went up to my bathroom the other day and discovered this on the floor in front of the closet. It struck me as odd because I am the only one in the house who would have need of that box, and I knew I hadn't left it on the floor.

When I went outside to water my flowers I noticed my son's leg:

When I asked him about it he explained that he'd scraped his leg and the regular sized band aides weren't big enough so he needed to get out one of the really big ones.

He had a friend over so I  waited until his buddy left to explain that they weren't actually band aides...

Mackinac Moment

Out under the Mighty Mac...

Excursion: Castle Rock Ponds

My family is bound to love  a place where ponds, frogs,

and fish can be found.

My husband especially loves Castle Rock Ponds because it is off the beaten path so we rarely if ever see other people while we're there. Plus it is so close to home it's perfect for an afternoon getaway.

Art Rocks the Boat

With so many public schools across the nation cutting art and music programs, I am so glad that the Mackinac Island Public School isn't one of them.  Sure, the budget has been reduced, but my children (soon to be second and third graders) both participate in art and music. Which, by the way, they love! Miss M, who teaches the art and music classes at our school, is amazing - both of my children regularly come home very excited to tell me about the current art project, or singing one of the songs from the upcoming music program. In fact, I had heard quite enough of "Polar Puppy living at the North Pole. Santa's best friend living at the North Pole." Over and over again last Christmas. My old college roommates are laughing at this point insisting that it's Karma for me torturing them by playing the same Barenaked Ladies songs over and over again, but I digress...

One of the great things about Mackinac Island is the Mackinac Arts Council. Not only do they offer weekly movies and live concerts throughout the summer, but they work to raise money to supplement the budget at our school to insure that art and music classes for island kids continue. This year, one of the fundraising events was Art Rocks the Boat.

Just imagine a floating cocktail party aboard an Arnold Line "traditional ferry". There was food, drinks, and lots of great conversation. Supporting the arts was never so much fun...

Maze of Mirrors: A Special Treat

The Maze of Mirrors is fairly new on Mackinac. I can't remember exactly when they opened, but ever since it opened the kids have really wanted to visit. Much to their dismay, I've not been willing to pay the entrance fee (which I thought was $8.00 each ) for just a few minutes of fun. It seemed a bit pricey to me - I mean I'd pay that much for a two hour movie. Well, yesterday, I caved...

The kids have been diligently working on GRASP all summer; GRASP is the summer school program offered by our school. As a parent I wanted to avoid the summer learning loss that I see in many of my students, so I've enrolled my two in  the program each year. Anyway, they both worked so hard this summer - mostly without complaint, so I wanted to do something special as a reward. (And as a motivator, since GRASP will be on the agenda again next summer.) I suggested going out for ice cream, but S and K had other plans. They both immediately asked, "Can we go to the Maze of Mirrors?  Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease?"

How could I refuse?

When we got there I was pleasantly surprised; I expected to have to shell out twenty-four bucks for the three of us to get in, but they had reduced the price to $5.00 each.  S and K loved it! We had a great time - especially when they managed to discover "the fun room."

Nothing like crazy carnival mirrors give you a serious case of the giggles. We had a great time at the Maze of Mirrors. It really is quite well done. It truly is a maze - you've got to walk with your hands out in front of you to avoid walking head first into a mirrored wall. The kids really enjoyed the 20 minutes we spent inside. If you're on Mackinac Island with kids, you may want to take some time to get lost inside...

Mackinac Moment

Tonight we rode home in the rain after dinner with friends. If we're lucky, it will rain all night and then be beautiful again tomorrow. That would make my garden very happy...