It’s great to be back…I missed you all!!!  My grandsons were staying with us for 10 days, 7 of those days were without their parents:)  These are some ways we kept them busy…We started at our Cape Cod cottage with what we call “Nina and Papa’s Fun Camp!”  They love swinging on our backyard gate…Aaden 8 1/2 yrs. and Parker 4 1/2 yrs.  Who cares if the gate breaks…Papa can always fix it🤣We were excited about visiting the  Whydah Pirate Museum in West Yarmouth, MA on The Cape…

The Whydah Gally went down in stormy seas off Wellfleet in 1717, killing nearly all its 150-person crew, including Bellamy, captain of the ship, and leaving its ill-gotten riches at the bottom of the ocean.  It was discovered in 1984 by Barry Clifford, an explorer who owns the pirate museum. “At this Museum you can see the world’s only pirate treasure together with such personal artifacts as weapons, jewelry and clothing-and decipher the untold secrets of pirates!”  It was fun and informative… It would have been better if they had real people dressed as pirates, interacting with the guests…  I think that adults and older children would enjoy it.

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And this is my famous scavenger hunt…the kids love it, because they get a prize at the end!!  In this case, I had to come up with a prize quickly, because I forgot the one I bought, at home??   This is so easy…I have them go into another room while I plan and write the hiding places for each clue…they get so excited, I can hear the squeals!!!  I have the clues all over the place, inside and outside, so they can get their energy out running around.

Here they are finding clues inside then finding clues outside….Aaden leads the way, but Parker is always close behind…

Then I have them coming back inside to look for a clue in the chandelier, of course they have to have a little jump on the bed…then outside where the fairy in my garden is holding a clue🏃🏻And then the prize, hidden in the kitchen!!!  Such fun and making great memories❤️And what they bought with their money… “Smashers”…they were hooked…  A red plastic ball that when you drop it, it breaks into 6 pieces and a collectible toy inside… I was the only one that could get the smashers back together again…lots of practice😳

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What would any visit to the Cape be without going to the beach…We had lots of beach time…And when Uncle JJ comes it’s even better and more fun!!!Eating is more fun with Uncle JJ too…

 

Sundae School on the Cape is a must for children and adults…we like the one in Dennisport, but there are other locations, they make their own delicious ice cream!!!

 

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This is a fun project I did with the boys…They were getting a yellow lab puppy, daddy picked her up the day before they went home…so they were super excited about that…we made pull toys for her…the boys slept with them for a few nights to get their scent on them!!!So easy to make and no sewing…

The kids looking through fabrics at Joann’s…and we chose a fleece because it’s thick and strong…we got a yard of each pattern, then all that’s needed is a tape measure and scissors…

Cut 3 strips 4″X36″ and tie a knot at the top…

I had the kids hold the knot while I braided…then tie a knot at the other end and there you have it…a pull toy for a puppy🐶

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Another fun place to bring children is your local library!!!  This is a blowing machine…put scarves in the bottom of the tube and they float up to the ceiling…the boys had a blast doing this!!!

This library has a lego play time and we were the only ones there…kids get to create their own lego design and bring it home!!!

But this one loves books and would rather read…right now his favorite books are Magic Tree House❤️

And just like she told me, my mom helped me babysit the boys😉…She surprised me by sitting on the floor to help them put together a floor puzzle…I was a little nervous about how she was going to get up, but she did it by herself…almost 99 yrs. young and strong💪

And then they’re off for home…and look who met them at the airport…and Raffa (named after the tennis player Rafael Nadal)playing with her new tug toy🐶 This is Raffa doing what I did after the kids left…with a full heart❤️