First day blowout, literally

Dino-Professor Isaac asked me a few months ago if we could make a volcano for his dinosaurs to play on and around. At the time I said sure, then promptly blew him off. He brought it up again on Sunday, and this time I didn't let him down. Thank you, eHow, for instructing me in the finer points of how to build a papier-mache volcano.

And so we built us a fine-lookin' volcano out of a plastic water bottle, a bunch of newspaper, tape, and paste. We let it dry out in the hot sun on the patio. Then last night before bed we mixed appropriate colors of poster paint and painted it with our fingers. I promised Isaac that we would make it erupt after his first day of preschool.

Then a good friend suggested we meet up at the orchard for a lunchtime playdate to celebrate the first day of school. How could we say no? I made sure to bring along our volcano and its accoutrements to keep my promise.





We had a great time dumping loads of vinegar and baking soda into the thing, so much so that it overflowed its container and got us all red with food coloring and runny poster paint. And while we're having such old-fashioned messy fun, why not top it off with the ultimate end-of-summer mess?