Summer Fun Playdate

Yesterday, we got to have a summer fun playdate (and thanks to being a Kmart Playplace Showcase Blogger on Mom Endeavors--we had some really cool new toys for it)! It was a blast and Andrew was thrilled to have some of his best little friends over!

With it being an outdoor/summer-fun theme, we opted for a morning playdate with a start time of 9:00am. This was good for the heat and for sun exposure. And, yes, even in super hot Phoenix, we were all able to stay outside rather comfortably (thankfully, our backyard has lots of morning shade & we have a large covered patio with misters!)

When each little guest arrived, they got some bubbles, bubble wands, and some cute animal squirters we found at Kmart (froggies for the girls and sharks for the boys!).

With new toys in hand, the kiddos all headed over to the new kiddie pool & sprinklers! The water toys were definitely a big hit! In addition to the animal squirters, they especially enjoyed the "squirters" (I don't like calling them water guns)!! 

We even made a water-play craft: Sponge splash balls! (Full tutorial here!) Here are (almost) all the kiddos showing off their creations!

They were so eager to go try them out and had so much fun learning how the balls worked by soaking up water! There's a good science lesson to be had there too! :)

There was plenty of other outdoor fun to be had though too--baseball, soccer, bikes, sand, and slides! Even the babies got involved! :)

Here's a highlight of some of our favorite new playdate toys:

We got something especially for Eli too! The Little Tikes 3-in-1 Trike! This may just be my favorite of all the things we got! We've tried out a lot of trikes and this is by far the best I've seen for the littlest guys (and super nice for parents too with the push handle)! You can see that Eli approves! :)

After all that playing, an early lunch was definitely in order. We had some fun dinosaur chicken nuggets, chips, veggies & dip, and some watermelon served up on cute animal plates!

With it being Luke's actual birthday, after lunch and a little more playtime, we ended our playdate with a fun little ice cream creation party! The kids really enjoyed making their special party clown treats!.

It's definitely clear that they enjoyed themselves immensely and even Eli got his own special treat :) Mmm.....

What a great day!