Summer Art Camp - week1

For our first week in our summer Day Camp, I decided to go easy on the kids and started with a very easy project: feathered pencils. All they had to do was stick feathers and ribbons onto the tip of the pencil where the eraser used to be. This proved to be quite simple, even for R. The only tricky part was trying not to get scorched by the hot glue gun.

Day 2 was just a continuation of painting, finishing their undone work. Day 3 was baking day. I had them help me make vegan brownies with swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Vegan, of course, since all three kids have a multititude of allergies. I just love that there are so many variations on how to make cupcakes now, that even those with egg allergies can, well, have their cake and eat it, too. Don't let the epicurean-sounding frosting fool you, it's very easy to make! The kids took turns packing the brown sugar, sifting the flour, and beating the frosting to stiff peaks. Of course, everybody's hands got dirtied (and licked!) from decorating all those cupcakes. We made all sorts - bugs, butterflies, monograms, and my personal fave - swirls!

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On Thursday, I decided to wake up early, ahead of everybody. This was going to be picnic day and I was feeling very nigella lawson-esque and wanted to personally prepare all the food that we were going to bring. So the whole morning was spent doing just that, with the kids helping when they got up. We made stuffed mushrooms and spinach-artichoke dip with garlic toasted baguette. We got to the picnic field at just the perfect time. The kids were all well-rested after their nap. The afternoon sun was just about to set, and the wind was just right to do some kite-flying. My sis in-law, her husband and their li'l girl joined us for some afternoon fun in the sun.

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Day 5 was the usual painting day for us. Day 6 was the highly anticipated Pampanga Food Trip. This is the family's first outing of the gustatory kind, and since we are a family who loves to eat, this trip is a most awaited event. Click here to read more about the food trip. Just thinking about it compels my mind to make me type down Mangan tamu! Manyaman ini!