Our area of Pennsylvania has been HAMMERED with rain over the last couple of days. There is extensive flooding in parts of our county and in many of our surrounding counties as well. Here in Shippensburg, however, we have been spared from much of the devastation, thankfully. One of my church members reported measuring 11.75 inches of rain in his backyard over this last week!

Last night after dinner we decided to head out and enjoy some of the puddles left behind by yesterday’s rain showers. We had a blast.

Yesterday we visited one of my favorite outdoor stores, Gander Mountain on my day off. Outside they had a “bargain bin” and I picked up a three pack refill of something called, “Knot-A-Bag”. I’d never heard of it before, but it was only $1 and after reading the package I thought I could come up with something that would make this $1 purchase well worth it.

When Ella came home from school and Jess was working on dinner, I grabbed one of the refills and ran outside with both Ella and Ezra to try my hand at creating the biggest balloon any of us had ever seen. I unraveled about half of the refill and tied one end and then Ella helped me fill it by running around with the end open – I filled the rest with a few huffs that got me lightheaded, tied off the other end and voila we had a 15-foot balloon! I did the same with the other half and after Ezra punctured it, was even able to make two smaller ones, ripping out the portion that had holes and re-tying!

Here are some photos of the kids playing with their 33-cent balloons! (we still have TWO refills to this again – and I’m tempted to run back and see if Gander Mountain has any more left in their bargain bin!)

Full photoset of our balloon-flying adventure is here.

Want to try it for yourself? You can pick up a similar-style refill kit on Amazon for just $5.