Hey, Everybody!

Happy Mothers’ Day! Mothers across the world are honored on this day for their graceful selflessness and undying love and support. Last year I told you the reason why mothers are honored so and gave a brief history of this holiday, whereas today, I’m going to give you five ways you can honor your moms!1.) Design your own maze, word search, word jumbles or other fun paper and pen games.
Lots of Moms enjoy putting their brains to these fun, little recreational activities. They’re easy entertainment and a fun diversion. And Word Searches can be easy to design if you have some graph paper handy. Just scrawl your motherly-themed words into an allotted ‘board’ and then fill in the remaining grid squares with random letters! I used to make them all the time when I was little.

2.) Make your own card and/or Mother Coupon.
Making your own card is easy! Just fold a normal 8.5” x 11” piece of paper and voila—you have a front, an inside, and a back: a card! Write your mother a little message to express your love and gratitude to her. You can even go the extra mile and give your mom a coupon that offers her uninterrupted, quiet time, a dinner you prepared, a solid housecleaning done by yourself, or some other nice service.

3.) Draw a picture for your mother.
A picture says a thousand words and, often times, the thought of this gift alone is enough to put a tear or two in your mom’s eyes.

4.) Write your mother a poem.
You can always put your rhyming skills to action and write a Mother’s Day Poem. Express your appreciation in verse if you’re a poet and you know it.

5.) Build your mother a craft
Lastly, nothing says ‘Happy Mother’s Day’ like the well-executed result of a creative arts and crafts project that you make. There are a bunch of great ideas out there. I found this one.

Check it out and make something nice for your mom today! Happy Mother’s Day and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Outdoors Boys and Girls!

It may be the dead of winter, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t venture outside! In fact, I encourage it. You’ll find that outdoor exercise is even more advantageous and invigorating in this cold, winter season. Today I’m going to give you some good ideas for wintertime activities so you can get your body going in the fresh, wintry air.

There are excellent options of things to do outside when the world is covered in a blanket of snow and the temperature drops until water turns into ice. With the fun you’re sure to have during these activities, you’ll warm up from the inside out in no time.

1.) Sledding. Sledding is a great thrill in winter. Feel the cold air rush past your face as you race down a hill of white. You can head out to a hill on your own or with a group of friends—so long as you bring a sled along, it’s sure to be a blast! And, of course, hauling your sled all the way back up a hill in the snow is taxing and is what gets you your exercise.

2.) Snowshoeing. Get your blood pumping with a brisk constitutional through a wintry landscape. Snowshoeing is great for keeping your feet—and thus, you—comfortable when trekking through a stretch of freshly fallen snow. By increasing the surface area that your feet cover, snowshoes will allow you to stay above the snow and walk on top of it. I recently posted about the health benefits of hiking, as well.

3.) Ice Skating. Sure, you can always go to an indoor rink, but, for maximum enjoyment, I would recommend taking your skating trip outside. This is a great way to spend a winter afternoon and can deliver some great exercise. Just ask the Peanuts crew!

So don’t let cabin fever settle in at your house this winter. Get out there in the great, white outdoors and get your body movin’! And, as always, thanks for reading!

- John

Hey, Holidayers!

Last week, I talked a lot about all of the different holidays that people celebrate throughout the month of December. There’s a bunch! Today is yet another one (a holiday of a much smaller scale, but still, a holiday nonetheless): National Christmas Card Day. This is the day for getting your cards in the mail so they reach their destination on time.

The name of this day may make a point to specify ‘CHRISTMAS’ cards, but really, you can send any card for any holiday that you want. Anyway, what I want to talk about today isn’t which holiday your greeting card refers to; what I want to talk about is the importance of sending a physical card in the first place and why it’s different than sending an E-card or some social media exchange.

As I had mentioned on this Sunday’s Blog post for Letter Writing Day, “In a world where communication is dominated by phone conversations, electronic messages, and social media posts, receiving an actual, handwritten letter sent through the United States Postal Service means more than ever!”

I think a similar sentiment can be applied to holiday greeting cards. When people receive a real, tangible item in the mail, it means so much more to them than some flashy, digital animation that dances and scrolls across the screen.

Most people have spots in their homes where they keep greeting cards that they’ve received in the mail—this time of year especially. They keep them on the mantel, on a mail counter in the kitchen, on a desk in the home office. Holiday greeting cards aren’t just received, read over, and pitched. They’re put on display where they deliver holiday joy, not just for the moment of arrival and a quick read, but joy that lasts the season!

From Everything Summer Camp, Happy Holidays to one and all!

- John

Hello, Readers!

Many of you probably already know, today is Veterans Day. What is it that we’re celebrating on Veterans Day? We show our appreciation for those who have served their country in the armed services. We call those people veterans. Everything Summer Camp extends immense gratitude to those who have fought for our freedom.

Veterans Day, while an important holiday to celebrate, can be a difficult day to approach. It depends on whether you know any veterans, whether they’re still alive or not, who they are to you if you do know any. Based on those factors (and some others yet), you can decide what the best way for you and your family is to honor veterans on this day.

I’ve put together some tips and ideas of ways that you can honor veterans you know (or even ones that you don’t know) in case you could use some help.

1.) Wearing a remembrance poppy or a yellow ribbon is a simple, great way to quietly show your support for veterans. Whether you wear your remembrance piece at school, out around town, or at home, this is an excellent way to honor veterans.

2.) Arts and crafts are a great way to involve kids in activities for Veterans Day. A simple card that you and your kids constructed is more than enough to put a smile on a veteran’s face. If you’d like to try your hand at something a little more involved, you can find some good, patriotic ideas for crafts like a bald eagle wreath, or red, white, and blue paper candles.

3.) Get permission from your kid’s teacher at school to invite a veteran to be a guest speaker. This is easy if you know one, but, even if you don’t, you can find lots of veterans who work at VA facilities who would be glad to have the opportunity to talk to a classroom full of today’s youth.

4.) In general, be sure to honor veterans, not just today, but all throughout the year. You can thank them with a simple note, a tasty treat, or a warm hug.

Happy Veterans Day and thanks for reading.

- John

Hey, Halloweeners!

Like so many things in life, Halloween comes only once a year, so when it comes you want to make sure you get it right. There’s typically a lot of stuff to purchase and prepare in the time before an approaching holiday such as Halloween. One of the big preparations for Halloween is your costume. Everybody dresses up for Halloween!
I hope that, at this point, you all know what you’ll be going as! But it’s okay if you haven’t yet. Maybe you just can’t decide who you’d rather be between Dracula and Bigfoot OR a witch and a fairy. It’s an important decision to make and there are so many options you have at your disposal. So I thought I could share with you my compilation of this year’s most popular characters to dress up as.

Of course, it’s always safe to dress up as a traditional ghost or mummy, but that’s not what’s winning the popularity contests nowadays. According to my understanding of what’s cool with the kids these days, there are ten characters you can certainly expect to see out on the streets during your neighborhood’s Trick-or-Treat hours this year:

Disney’s ‘Frozen’ has become an immediate classic and begs to live on in Halloween costuming. Characters like Olaf, Elsa, and Anna are sure to be coming to your door.Another certainty is Maleficent, the evil faerie from the 1959 classic, ‘Sleeping Beauty’. This character’s reprise is due to the recent release of Disney’s ‘Maleficent’ in which Angelina Jolie plays the villainous lead role.

Obviously, there are four of them, but they all look…pretty much the same, so I’m only counting the Ninja Turtles as one. Whether you go with Leonardo, Donatello, Rafael, or Mikey, the turtles are bound to be a very popular costume this year.

With the television series ‘Gotham’ grabbing people’s attention along with the highly-anticipated 2016 release of ‘Batman v.s. Superman’, villains and heroes from these comics are gaining popularity. I predict you’ll see lots of girls dressed as Catwoman, Poison Ivy, or Wonder Woman (who’s also in the ‘Batman v.s. Superman’ movie). 

And you know you’re going to see plenty of Superman and Batman costumes!

Maybe this gave you the idea you were looking for, or at least got you thinking if you still need a costume. Good luck to you from Everything Summer Camp and thanks for reading!

- John