I looked at them naked except for their underwear as they took turns clawing at each other while fighting over a bean bag chair. I knew I had to take action, and it had to be now.
“Hey, do you want to do something fun?” I asked energetically.
Ali allowed herself to be kicked off the bean bag chair and hopped up, eyes wide in anticipation. She was always up for an adventure. Erin ignored me, now sprawling in the coveted spot.
I pulled out a bag of colored marshmallows and held them up. Erin took a break from celebrating a rare victory over the bean bag to fixate on the treats. Mirroring her stare at the bag was my husband, who seemed to have temporarily been pulled out of the trance induced by his laptop game. I now had their undivided attention.
I divvied out the toothpicks and marshmallows at the table and demonstrated to the kids how to put them together. Ali immediately started making a chain of marshmallow-toothpick-marshmallow-toothpick. Erin put a marshmallow on a toothpick,ate it, then repeated.
My husband and I, on the other hand, are pros at this. I started building a bridge, explaining that I was using triangles to make it structurally sound. My husband pointed out that circles are actually the most structurally sound, but that triangles are easier to make and are also very strong. He had some weird lattice structure growing in front of him. I’m glad he finally found a way to use what he learned in all those mechanical engineering classes in college…
Ali then looked at our three-dimensional structures, and it clicked. She turned her chain into an oval and called it a pond. Then she started building a triangular structure on the side of it. “For the horses,” she said. Of course.
Erin looked at our three-dimensional structures, then at her empty toothpick, picked up a pink marshmallow and said “PINK!” Then she picked up a yellow marshmallow and said “LELLOW!” Finally, she picked up a greenish marshmallow and said “BLUE!” Close enough…
My bridge was done. Well, done as it could be. Toothpicks aren’t always the right length, so it zig-zags a bit. My husband had built some sort of geometric abomination that he was a little too proud of.
“Look, I made a space ship!” He said, making a rocket sound. Then he picked it up and pointed out the docking station he built that it can rest on. Not bad!
Ali only heard “station” and said hers was now train tracks, and the horses help get coal for the trains. She then started shoving as many marshmallows as would fit on a toothpick so she could to build a coal pile. Ingenious!
It was time for pictures to document the start of the summer activities. My husband and I beamed proudly behind our creations. Erin turned her back to me and let me take a picture of her toothpick pile, and Ali continued to fiddle with her creation and refused a photo until lunch was ready; at which point, she finally gave a big proud smile presenting her work to the camera.
The first activity was definitely a success, and there were plenty more marshmallows and toothpicks to do it again. Best $3 I’ve spent in a while.
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