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    This weekend, my husband and I and a couple of our kids are going camping.  Our family has always enjoyed camping in the great outdoors!  It is a great way to get out of the Phoenix heat! Later this month, I am going to our church's girl's camp again, so camping is really on my mind.  
    With summer here and parent's looking for ways to entertain kids, Backyard Camping can be a great way to do something fun without having to spend money on gas, but still helping the kids spend time out of doors.  Plus, there is the added benefit of being close to a clean bathroom! 
​      Camping in the heat of the city, you ask?  Well, that can be a problem in some places, (like Phoenix),  but there are some ways to help with that! So, for this Fun Friday, here are our best ideas for a fun ​Backyard Camping Night! 

Set up, Timing and Preparation:

• Set the tent up in the cooler hours of the morning and leave the doors and windows open to let the air flow through it, but leave the screens closed to keep out any bugs or critters . (This tent has the easiest set up ever.  It is like opening an umbrella!) If possible, set it up in a shady area to keep the tent from becoming an oven inside.   Get the kids involved with the set up!  It will be a good skill for them to learn.  But, I would recommend not allowing play in the tent until it is time to camp, which should be in the evening when the sun has gone down and the temperature is cooler. 
• Decide what you want to eat! You can't camp without s'mores!  We have ideas below for that.  Decide if it is cool enough in the evening to have a fire in your fire pit, or if you want to barbecue or just order pizza. Don't forget to plan for the camping breakfast in the morning! 
• Pull out the sleeping bags or light blankets and pillows to use in the tent.  Also, flashlights and a lantern. Be sure you have enough batteries.  If you get these mini flashlights, each kid can have their own color! You can put glow sticks in jars to make colorful lanterns!  Let the kids wear glow sticks as well! 

Food Suggestions:

If you live where it is cool enough in the evening to actually have a fire pit fire, you can do a variety of things:  

• foil dinners (wrap a burger patty, some potatoes, onions and cream of mushroom soup in foil and cook in the coals.)
• roasting hot dogs ona stick
• dutch oven stew and/or cobbler
• Stuff 'em Sticks
• S'mores 

If you live in Phoenix, or somewhere else where it is  too hot for a fire at night, you can do this:

• Make a small tabletop pit with food safe Sterno, like we did for Alicia's wedding reception,  to make s'mores or stuff 'ems. If you don't know what Stuff 'em Sticks are, click the link and see where I told you all about them. 
• Have Snow Cones! (I told about making your own syrup here!) or Popsicles.
• Have a long sub sandwich or make your own sandwiches. 
• Order Pizza
• Make ice cream! Or buy it and have ice cream sundaes! 

For breakfast in the morning, there are some great options:

• Tang!  This is our camping drink.  We don't have it any other time but when we are camping.
• Little individual boxes of cereal that are perforated to make their own bowl so you can pour in the milk.  Once again, only when we camped. 
• Oatmeal packets
• fresh fruit
• If it is cool in the morning where you live, hot cocoa! (packets or bombs!)
• Pancakes, bacon and eggs!  I love cooking those on my cast iron griddle over the fire when we camp, but it also works stove top or on the camping stove! 
• breakfast burritos is a go-to for many people. 

 Ways to Be Cool:

• If you have a pool or a wading pool, pretend it is a mountain lake and take an evening swim! 
• If you have a trampoline, put the sprinkler under it and everyone can get wet on it.  Just don't send wet bodies into the tent or sleeping bags. Sit out in the camp chairs to dry off a bit.
• Have a squirt gun fight at the beginning of the evening! 
• You can always use an extension cord and set up a fan to get some air flow in the tent. 
• Sleep with only the screens closed to get ventilation.

Camp Out Activities:

There are so many fun things to do when camping, whether you are in the woods or on a backyard camp out.  Here are a few of our favorites:

• Take out the telescope and do some star gazing! ​ 
• Instead of a hike, you could create a scavenger hunt for the kids to participate in where they will find a surprise, like the squirt guns for the squirt gun fight! When you hide them, make sure that they are "loaded" and ready to go! 
• Tell spooky stories!  We have some favorites that we always tell.  Some of them are from the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark that we have had forever.  It has now been made into a movie that is scheduled to be released in August.  I watched the trailer.  It looks much more frightening than is sounded in the book, but Maddy said she always thought those stories were terrifying.  So, know your kids and what they can take. 
• Play flashlight tag, or even laser tag if you have a set. 
• Dollar Tree has glow in the dark beach balls that would be fun on a dark night! 
• If you live where there are fireflies, catch some and make a temporary lantern. 
• Play Hide and Go Seek or Starlight Moonlight. 
• Sing campfire songs! If someone plays the guitar, even better! 

   Backyard camping is an activity the whole family can enjoy together, or just let the kids sleep on their own after the night's activities! Mom and Dad are right inside if they get scared! So is the bathroom! (Make sure they use it before they settle down for the night!) The memories you make with them will last a lifetime! 

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!
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Slightly less than 40 years ago, when I was just a newlywed and my husband was in the army, we were living in Montery, CA because my husband was learning Russian at the Presidio there. One day we were in the grocery store and he saw one of his classmates, Dennis and he introduced me to him. Dennis' wife was in a different aisle at the moment, but then she came around and saw us and asked me if I knew where the "Fluffa Nutta" was. Her name was Kelly, and she and her husband are from Massachusetts. They had very strong accents that I had no experience with and I couldn't understand a word she said! Eventually I learned that she was looking for a product called Marshmallow Fluff that is very common on the East coast but pretty much unheard of in the West. In the West, we have marshmallow cream, which is less fluffy and more runny than Fluff. They use Fluff for many things in the East, one of those things is the "Fluffernutter," (pronounced "fluffa nutta") a sandwich made with peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff. If you are able to shop in a military commissary, you may be able to find it. Dennis and Kelly, who have remained dear friends of ours over the past 40 years since that day, have been so kind to send me Fluff from to time.
Now, fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when I was shopping at an Asian Supermarket which actually carries foods from many countries. I found some big cookies from Germany, which I purchased for nostalgic reasons. They looked like those marshmallow cookies covered with chocolate that you can buy anywhere, only much taller. Then, when I bit into one, I realized it wasn't a firm marshmallow inside the cookie, but some really light marshmallow fluff! Well, that reminded me of Kelly and the way she introduced me to "Fluffernutter " sandwiches and I thought, I could make cookies like these except add peanut butter and call them Fluffernutter Bites! And that, dear readers, is how these bites were born! Thanks Kelly!

    Unfortunately, I didn't have any Fluff when I made these.  I had to use marshmallow cream.  But, I know that if you use Fluff, they will be even better. Click on the pictures to see what I did. Once again I used my Hot Cocoa Bomb molds. You can find the molds here. 

Ingredients and Supplies:

• Brownie Pop mold. (WE call it a Hot Cocoa Bomb mold.)
• 12 oz. bag chocolate chips.  (I used semi-sweet, but milk chocolate or dark chocolate will work. 1 bag will make 16 bites.)
• Something to melt your chocolate in.  (I use a double boiler. Am I the only one who uses a double boiler anymore?)
• 1 container Marshmallow Cream or Marshmallow Fluff.
• 1 box Vanilla Wafers
• Peanut Butter (I used crunchy for added crunch, but creamy would also work.)

Fluffernutter Bites Tips:

• Make sure that they freeze hard and only take out one tray at a time so they don't start melting before you dip them in the chocolate. 
• I didn't put chocolate in the bomb molds like I do Hot Cocoa Bombs because I didn't want the chocolate to be too thick .  But, dipping them is kind of messy, so it might be worth a try. Refer to how I make Cocoa Bombs to see what I mean. 
• Keep the bombs in the fridge to keep the marshmallow cream from leaking. I don't think the Fluff will leak as bad, I will have to test that eventually. 

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated for purchases made through those links at no additional cost to you. All views expressed are my own. Thank you for your support!

    Summer is here and coping with kids and heat sometimes requires some creative thinking and helpful gadgets!  Every so often, in our day to day lives we come across gadgets that we realize we are relying on almost everyday and really don't want to do without.  I was thinking about what those gadgets are for me right now and I asked the girls what their favorite gadgets are as well.  Here is a list of things you may come to find will make your life easier! 
     Back when we were doing Friday Faves, we did a similar post. It is funny to look back and see how the list has changed.  Of course, we aren't limiting ourselves to just kitchen gadgets this time. 

PIttsburgh 7/8" Spring Clamp Set:  My husband and I were in Harbor Freight and I saw these little clamps.  I knew they would be perfect for all of the summer snack bags, etc, that I need to close up.  If you have a Harbor Freight near you, they were only $1.99 there, for a set of 6.  They close tightly and are so cute!  

Oster Bread Maker:  Alicia loves this bread maker.  She says that it mixes up the perfect pizza dough for her every time! 

Kitchen Aid Food Processor:  Along with her bread machine, Alicia loves her food processor.  She says she makes tomato sauce in her food processor with canned whole tomatoes, garlic, onions and spices.  Then she keeps it in a container in her fridge and uses it throughout the week! Perfect for the pizza sauce!  (I love my food processor too, which is this one.)

OXO Salad Spinner:  Salads are a big part of the menu in the summer months.  This gadget, the salad spinner, comes in handy when you want your oil based dressings to stick to the salad.  Lindsey loves it.  (They are pretty fun to spin!  Get your kids involved!)

Pampered Chef Ice Cream Scoop:  Another thing that gets used a lot in the summer is the ice cream scoop.  I just purchased the Pampered Chef scoop this year.  I don't know how I lived with any other scoop.  It cuts through had ice cream really easily and makes nice scoops. It is easy to grip and has a great look as the cherry on top.  It may seem pricey for an ice cream scoop, but I am not regretting it! 

Air Fryer:  Lindsey loves her air fryer! Especially since her husband likes to cook in it, too!  It is a great way to have fried food without the oil and extra fat in your diet. You can even bake a cake in it, so no heating up the oven and your kitchen! 

Himalayan Rock Salt Night Light:  Like I said, we aren't just sticking to kitchen gadgets!  Maddy loves her salt night light so much that she got one for me! These night lights glow beautifully and they are natural air purifiers! Even though it gets dark later in the summer, Maddy works late much of the time and this beautiful light is welcoming when she gets home. 

    What gadgets are you loving right now?  Let us know in the comments!  Some of these could even make nice Father's Day gifts! ( A little set of clamps, or the air fryer?  How about the ice cream scoop along with his favorite flavor of ice cream?) We would love to see your ideas.