Water Balloons

Last week, one of my favorite bloggers (Dawn Meehan) posted a link to the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry for their Summer Brain Games.  Now, it's no secret that I am a nerd...married to a nerd...raising 4 more so this was right up our alley!  The second week (we skipped the first one) was about a simple machine (lever) and using it to launch water balloons by assembling a catapult.  My parents hooked us up with the second galloon jug (because I only have one milk drinker and we didn't wanna wait) and Mr. MOTH and I gathered all of the other supplies the night before.  Click this link to get the directions.  Or sign up and do the rest of them along with us.  Next week is bottle rockets.  WOOT!

First we assembled our materials and followed the directions (there may have been a few minutes spent chasing a certain 3-year-old around while she ran off with, oh, I dunno, ALL OF IT).

 Then everyone got a turn to launch a balloon:

 And then some enemy artillery came in and, well, we need to regroup our forces:

 Because I am not one to be deterred by something like that, I was prepared to use Plan B for the next day(which was to have a water balloon battle the following day when the temps were higher).  In case you were wondering, this is what 150 (or so) water balloons look like:

 I got this idea from the most recent Family Fun magazine.  I "hid" the balloons around the yard similar to how the neighbor girls hide the Easter eggs.  Each kid got a bucket with the understanding that once the balloons had all been gathered they could hit whomever they wished (including me) with their ammo.  I'm not stupid.  I left about 50 balloons in the sink for MY ammo.

 The "hunt" begins!  These three shot out into the yard in search of the treasure...

 ...and they ran right past these ones!  My Baby Girl, she's smart!

Now, at this point, you're going to have to use your imagination because I wasn't about to allow them to throw water balloons at me while I held my beloved camera.  Yes, it's a point-and-shoot but it's all I've got and I CANNOT live without it.  I was shocked that they ALL enjoyed this.  With a 6-year age-range it's not always easy to find something that everyone likes.  It took me all morning to (stealthily) fill and hide the balloons.  It took 25 minutes for this whole scene to play itself out.  There was only one major meltdown (Oldest Boy COULD NOT get the balloons to break when he hit someone with them.  They just bounced right off and broke on the ground.  Let me just say that I know FOR CERTAIN that he was throwing them hard enough.  I have no idea what was up.).  This is definitely a must-do for next summer and possibly again this year.  Water balloons are cheap.  Making my kids squeal with glee is absolutely PRICELESS.