This week is all about the month of August, our last month of summer before the girls started school full time.
Arts and Crafts
Since we were back home in Accra for the whole month of August, I needed to constantly find things to do with the girls to keep them entertained. It’s not as easy to find outside things to do because 1. Everything here costs money and 2. It’s quite a hassle to get the girls ready to go out the door and bring everything we may need. So, most of our days were spent doing various arts and craft ideas that I had found on Pinterest. Pinterest is really my savior when it comes to stuff for the girls. I’ve found so many different activities to do with them, different hairstyles to try, even different recipes to make: either healthy or sweet treats to try. We started the month with a nice little craft that involved two of the craft items I was able to bring back from the states: pipe cleaners and beads. I have found pipe cleaners here before, but I had extras left over from Sara Gail’s Power Ranger costume. And as far as beads go, they do have some beautiful beads here that the girls love to make necklaces out of, but I was really happy to introduce them to the beads that I grew up with. I used to make dozens of beaded lizards when I was younger, and I found the perfect rainbow box of beads for a really good price! So, our first arts and craft project: homemade bubble wands! I even made some homemade bubbles to go with it, and the girls absolutely loved them! Not only was this activity great for their fine motor skills (with threading the beads on the pipe cleaners) and letting their artistic imaginations run wild, it was also a great opportunity to go outside for a bit and chase bubbles around the back yard!
Next, we did more of a science experiment. We took 6 different glasses filled with water. In three of the glasses, we added food coloring in the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. Then we put two paper towels in each of the glasses, one connecting to each of the glasses next to it. The goal of the experiment was to have the colored water “crawl” up the paper towels into the corresponding plain water glasses to create the secondary colors by combining the primary colors. Unfortunately, the colored water wasn’t able to “crawl” all the way up and into the neighboring glasses. But, we still learned an important concept in scientific experiments: not all experiments work! We’ll have to try it again another time and change our method to see if we get the right result!
After this experiment, we tried one that was a bit more successful, some squirming worms. The girls each had a stick and some pieces of paper towels. They colored on the paper towels with some markers, then rolled them up on the sticks and squished the paper towel together tight. Once they all looked like little worms, they each took a syringe and added little drops of water onto each worm, and each time we dropped the water on it, it looked like the worm was wiggling and squirming around. The girls definitely had fun with this activity too, and it took me back to my days playing this game with straws as a little kid with my brothers whenever we were sitting around at a restaurant waiting for our food.
The next activity was some more color fun. It was hard to get the girls to be patient and listen to instructions on this one, but once they did, they had a blast. First, I cut up little pieces of paper towels and colored them with little squares in each of the three primary colors. The girls each had a pile of these squares with each of the three colors, and a container of plain water. Then they performed the experiment by putting two different color squares into the container at once to see what color they made by combining them. This experiment did work a lot better than the walking water one, and the girls had a lot more fun!
Then we tried another activity that I’ve tried before in the past, but I can never quite get right. I’ve seen videos of this activity both on YouTube and from teachers at their school. Supposedly, if you take a glass container and write a design on it with a white board marker, then you fill the container with water, you should be able to make your design lift off the glass seamlessly and move it around on the surface of the water. Once you’ve done that, you can even put your skin over the design and have a little temporary tattoo. So, I tried this a few times, but I was never able to get the design off the surface of the glass intact. Sara Gail tried for a temporary tattoo, but it just didn’t look right. It was still fun trying it out though.
Our next activity is one of the girls favorites now: salt dough! It’s a really simple concept and the girls absolutely love it! You just combine flour, salt, and water to create a dough. Then, once you have all your shapes, you can bake it in the oven and paint the shapes the following day. We did it once for ourselves and then once when we had friends coming over so they could have fun painting too. Sara Gail even said that it was the best day ever when she was painting her salt dough. It’s an easy activity for a day spent at home, and it’s tons of fun!
Next, we did a more educational art activity. First, I wrote out all the letters of the alphabet in three different colors, both capital and lower case for Sara Gail and only lower case for Abigail. Then, they were each given paint in the three different colors and three Q-tips. They then traced each letter with the appropriate Q-tips. It was good practice for both of them and still painting fun for them too!
After the tracing work, I had some more painting fun lined up. It was theoretically supposed to be less messy and it was another idea I got from Pinterest. I gave each of the girls a piece of paper and covered it with dots of two colors of paint that they chose themselves. Then I covered each paper with plastic wrap and taped it to the table. They were then able to swirl the paint around any which way they wanted without the paint getting on them or anything else! I probably should have used a lighter paint because this one was a bit too thick and warped the paper when it dried, but they girls still had a great time making their artistic creations!
The next activity I had was with markers instead of paint, although it ended up being just as messy. The girls each made their own puzzles out of popsicle sticks. I lined up ten popsicle sticks and then taped them together. The girls then drew whatever they wanted on their popsicle sticks and once I took the tape off, I labeled them from 1 to 10. So now they have their very own puzzles that they created themselves!
Finally, I gave the girls some time to just do some good old-fashioned painting. First, with some special canvases that I had bought, and then with some regular, plain paper. Both the girls are really tapping into their creative side and are being quite the little artists. Sara Gail especially embraces her love of art and sits down to create any chance she gets!
Play Time
Of course, we didn’t only stay inside and do crafts for the whole of our summer break at home. I tried to take the girls out as much as I could and squeezed in a play date with friends at least once a week. We went to a new playground, at least new to us, with our South African friends. It is a bit further from the house, so it’s probably not somewhere that I will take them regularly, but it was new and different for this time. It was a huge outdoor space, covered so that it doesn’t get too hot, and there were a bunch of bouncy castles and slides! There were also a couple wooden jungle-gym sets all throughout and the girls loved it!
Sara Gail did happen to injure herself, though, fairly early on by jumping off one of the slides. It wasn’t a major injury, but enough to make her limp the rest of the playdate. There were also a few little coin operated rides for the kids. We put those off until the very end so they didn’t repeatedly ask for coins throughout. It turns out they weren’t all that exciting though.
It was still a fun day out of the house and the girls enjoyed being with their friends for a while. On the way home, as we were sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic (the main reason I won’t come by this playground often!) Abigail just casually mentions that she sees a monkey. I was a bit fed up in the traffic so I turned and said “Abigail, there are no monkeys here in Accra.” Then, low and behold, I turned to the side of the road, and there, chained to a fence, is a monkey! I had to admit I was wrong and Abigail was right. I still don’t know what it was doing there, but we did in fact see a monkey that day!
The girls also had plenty of time to play outside and inside our house too. The neighborhood kids absolutely loved our homemade bubble wands and bubbles!
And the girls still had fun inside coming up with elaborate games to play, from reading time, to working in a library, to setting up a classroom in the kitchen, the girls continue to amaze me with their imaginative games!
This month the girls even got to go shopping with me and had lots of fun helping me out in the store with their very own carts.
All that play tuckered them out, at times, but it kept us busy and happy while Varun was working, or traveling.
And of course no month would be complete without some play time in our community pool. My girls are just little fishies in the water! Now Abigail has become a strong enough swimmer that I don’t even need to go in the water with her! These girls just grow up too fast, but I love having a front row seat to the show!
Gymnastics
Sara Gail is jumping right back into the gymnastics classes after being away for a few weeks. I know I keep saying the same thing over and over again, but every month it is true: Sara Gail loves gymnastics! Any chance she gets, even in the house, she will do a cartwheel or try for a handstand. All those months of watching TV twisting and turning like a pretzel on the couch are still being put to good use on the mat. All I can do, though, is hope to find her a class or team once we’re back in Houston that will allow her to learn the bar and balance beam routines too.
Swimming
This month, swimming is changing a bit for the girls. While I did love the lessons they took at the activity center for the past year, they’ve both plateaued in their lessons there. Neither is really able to advance anymore unless they are in more of a group setting. So, for Abigail, she will be starting lessons at the school once they become available and I won’t be taking her to any swimming lessons outside of school time. Sara Gail has started lessons with the coach of a local team here. The team ranges in age from 5 or 6 years-old up to 18 years-old. They train in an Olympic-size pool (50 meters) 3-4 times a week. But, to start with, the coach wants to perfect a few of her strokes and techniques before she can start practicing with the team. So, for now, Sara Gail has one-on-one training with the coach, and Abigail gets time to play in the little mini pool that is at the same location. It is perfect for her because it’s not too deep that she can’t walk on her own, but deep enough for her to still get some decent swimming practice. The facility is for the military members and families, but they open it up for public use as well, with a fee of course. It has tennis courts, basketball courts, and a decent gym. Overall, I think it will be a good change for all of us, and the girls just love the pools!
Food
Being back home in Accra meant that my vacation out of the kitchen was over and it was time to go back to work cooking up delicious and nutritious meals for the girls and the whole family. As usual, it varies from treats like popcorn and cheeseburgers, to Indian meals, and sauteed veggies, beans, and meat for myself and the girls.
I, myself, am trying to start the day with a local grapefruit and green tea, at least, and have some meat and veggies or just a simple veggie soup for lunch.
Since I haven’t updated you all in a while on my shopping routine, I thought it’d be nice to include some pictures of where and how I get my produce and meat these days. I haven’t been going to the big Makola market since before the pandemic hit. Abigail was just getting too big to be carried on my back, and then after COVID arrived, I’ve been too nervous to go back. It’s not that I don’t like the market, but I know that there is no such thing as social distancing down there and I’m fairly certain that few to no people will be wearing masks, or at least not wearing them properly. And I’m doubtful many have been vaccinated either. I would love to go back one day, and it will be much easier to go without either of the girls tagging along with me, but I’d rather wait until I know more of the population have been vaccinated and the infection rates for COVID have gone down. For now, I get my produce from a stand across from one of the bigger supermarkets in town. I did go here when we first arrived, but the first few times I came, they definitely overcharged me. Now, I know how much these vegetables should cost, and I know which ladies will give me the best prices. So, I feel confident coming here every week and I know the ladies well at this point.
As for meat, I get my pork from a specific grocery store. Once you find pork you like, it’s best to stick to the same place. A lot of these grocery stores are run by Lebanese families, some of whom are Muslims, so they don’t sell the pork in the stores. As for the rest of my meat, meaning beef and lamb – yes, lamb is fairly affordable here if you know where and how to get it – I get across from my produce stand at one of the bigger chain stores in town. I used to get it from a French butcher in a different grocery store, but he got stuck in France once COVID arrived here and I don’t think he has come back since. So, I usually order my ground beef at this counter. I always order a chunk of fresh beef and ask them to “mince” it for me. It’s a trick I learned early on because you never know how long the ground beef has been sitting out behind the counter. I also order my lamb minced, and I use lamb instead of ground turkey here, because, sadly, ground turkey is just nonexistent here.
Well, that’s it for the month of August. We ended the month with Varun traveling to EG once again and the girls and I highly anticipating the first day of school! I’ll end this week’s post with a few pictures of a back road to a back road. You’ve got to love the roads here in Accra!
Come back next week to see the girls start school for another year!
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