Summer Camps!

I was very excited and a little nervous about the summer and what the kids and I were going to do All day Every day, so I signed Grace up for a few camps that I thought she would like  (actually I signed her up for five camps, I guess I was really nervous).

So far she's been to three of the camps

1. Space camp
2. Bugs, Bats and Worms camp
3. Explorers camp  

I think she enjoyed them all, but she said Space camp was the best (that's the one she also did with a friend).   We still have soccer camp and Zoo camp (the one she is most excited about).

At Space camp she learned about the solar system and got to go into the planetarium, which she loved.

On the last day of Space camp she got to shoot off a bottle rocket that she made.  Parents were encouraged to come and watch the launch.  I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but it was actually pretty impressive.  Here's a short YouTube video of the launch.

http://youtu.be/GtCqqbeyYpA

Bugs, Bats and Worms camp and Explorers camp were mostly about catching bugs and going on nature walks.  She loved catching bugs outside, but wasn't crazy about the long walks.   She definitely looked like a nature girl in her REI hat, boots and butterfly net!  Everyday after camp she would take Jake into the backyard and teach him about catching bugs.

4th of July 2013

We spent another 4th of July in Kansas.  The weather was wonderful, surprisingly not too hot!  The 14 hour drive, while very long, was not terrible.  Our strategy for the long drive was to put the kids all the way in the back of the van with their movies, I sat in the middle with my book and all the food and Matt drives while listening to books on tape.  We stayed a night on the road each way and everything worked out pretty well.  The kids had a lot of fun swimming, fishing, riding 4-wheelers, doing fireworks and playing with cousins, dogs, toys and grandparents.  What more could a kid ask for?

Jake loved seeing all the trucks (real and toys).  He even got to ride in the truck without his carseat (on a dirt road).  Grace loved playing with all the dogs (7 different dogs on our trip) and lighting fireworks. A highlight for Grace was going to be sleeping in the backyard in the bed of the truck with her older cousins (it was supposed to be a tent, but that was forgotten).  I wasn't too sure about this idea, but they tend do things in Kansas I probably wouldn't let them do anywhere else.  She ended up coming inside at 10pm because there was some talk about how "black holes in space could suck up the earth and shred it to pieces."  In hindsight, probably not a good idea.  Other than Grace nightmares, we had a great trip.  

Sleeping at the Zoo

Grace's Girl Scout troop decided to go to an overnight camp at the zoo with the money they earned from selling girl scout cookies.  The camp lasted from 7pm Friday until 10am Saturday morning.  All the Moms went too, but the zoo employees take care of everything.  We got to sleep in a "tent", make smores, paint an african mask, go on a night hike with night vision goggles, and of course learn about some animals.  The girls even got to pet a rhinoceros.  Everyone had a great time!

Swimmer of the Week!!

Grace joined the neighborhood swim team this summer.  It's six weeks of practices everyday at 8am for 45 minutes and swim meets with other neighborhood teams on Tuesdays and Thursdays.   Our main goal in signing her up was for her to learn to swim.  We told her she didn't have to swim in a meet if she didn't want to, which she definitely did not.  She really likes the practices and has a few friends on the team.

One of the downsides of her joining is that I have to volunteer for different jobs at the meets (like cleanup, timer, concessions, etc.).  The meets are pretty big events and last almost 3 hours.  Our team is one of the biggest with 130 kids!

Grace is probably one of the worst swimmers in the 7-8's age group and I think the only one to not swim at a meet.  We went and watched one meet, skipped the others and then one of her coaches and I were finally able to talk her into swimming one event, the 25 meter backstroke.

She was pretty nervous.  She was in a heat with two other girls from her team.    I didn't think there was much chance of her winning and we talked about just wanting her to finish and make it across the pool.  She surprised me and won the very close heat (not the whole event), but she got a ribbon for "Heat Winner".  I think the coaches were really happy for her and voted her "Swimmer of the Week" and put a sign in our front yard!

Click here to see the race!
http://youtu.be/VJsf-bCmMds