Day is Done, Gone the Sun...

The end of this week definitely came with an exclamation point! Bella and I were a part of Twilight girl scout camp Monday-Thursday. It runs each day from 1:30pm-8pm and I have been volunteering as a unit lead for Bella's group for the last 3 years. The theme this year was "Cruise Around the World" with stops in LA, Hawaii, Cabo San Lucas, and Anchorage. The weather played its part well for the camp as it was about 90 degrees and high humidity each day, but cooled down to around 80 degrees for our last stop in Alaska. Fitting...

Our unit this year was nicknamed, Octopus. They were a great group of girls! I was the only unit lead (adult leader), but I had 4 very helpful caddies (Cadettes and senior girl scouts) to help me out. Our group had 12 girls all going into 3rd grade. It was nice for Bella to see some diversity in our troop this year. One little girl had hearing aids and another girl had two braces on her legs to prevent toe walking. I know that Bella often feels like she is the only one that is different and has extra equipment, so it is nice when she encounters other kids with some level of differences too.

The week was filled with lots of learning. Each day has its own craft, sport/dance, snack, and special interest topic.

In LA, the girls learned about photography, played volleyball, made a beach bag and ate candy sushi.

In Hawaii, it was all about the Hula, volcanoes, Hawaiian pizza, and painting orchids.

In our stop to Cabo, we learned some self defense, drank smoothies, relaxed with yoga and made a memory book to house pictures from our week at camp.

Finally in Alaska we tried our hand at slingshots (the older campers used BB guns), cooked with a dutch oven, carved soap, and heard about gold prospectors.

Each day we also had plenty of time for dinner, swimming and learning girl scout camp songs. Bella brought the song book home with her and I have been lucky enough to continue hearing all of the songs. I'm not sure how to break it to her that after camp all the songs should be put away until next year to make them extra special, kind of like Xmas songs. Well at least that's what I'm going to say to her after my Advil supply runs out!

All the activities were very well thought out. Each year our Twilight camp wins a lot of awards for its creativity and I'm sure this year will be no different...

Well it's Over Now, Go on and Take a Bow...

With Harry off at church camp, I thought I would be free of the "will he, won't he" talk of Brett Favre's impending future/retirement from the Minnesota Vikings. How wrong I was. Rumors swirled everywhere today that he would be retiring for the 3rd time from the NFL. Brett must have really felt upstaged by LeBron James a few weeks ago and began to plot on how he could divert the media attention back to him. Most Minnesotans' feelings can be summed up today with one of two popular sayings. You are either in the the "Third times a charm" camp or the "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I don't think so..." Okay so the second saying might not be exactly as you have heard it before, but it sure fits! That camp appears to be in the majority at this point.



Don't get me wrong, I have really enjoyed the Favre/Vikings era. It has come with heart pounding moments that make you clutch your chest in joy as well as sorrow. So the Vikings didn't go to the Superbowl which was a huge bummer, but without him they weren't really even playoff contenders. I guess that after watching the NFC championship game (that resembled the original Rocky movie more than a football game) my faith in Favre's abilities began to wane. I mean, he is 40 after all and the rest of the players are about 1/2 his age.



I really hope Harry has already heard the news up at camp. I don't want to be the one to tell him. I think he will take the news pretty hard.



Oh well, I guess we will wait for Favre's official announcement in the next few days... Then we can start counting the days until the buy week when he will come back in a media blaze of glory saving the Vikings from their 1-3 start and preparing to defeat his previous teammates on the Jets.

I guess we won't really know for awhile...

Say a Little Prayer For Me...

Ahh...Summer in Minnesota. There are certain things you can always count on: corn on the cob, thunderstorms, high humidity, mosquitoes and vacation bible school!

This week our church celebrated Baobab Blast. Becca and Harry joined a new program called LIT which stood for Leaders in Training. They helped in different areas including songs, games and working in a classroom. Becca worked with Kindergartners and Harry worked with 4 year olds. Harry loved that the kids bonded to him. He is really good with small children (minus his sister) and will make a great babysitter some day. He just has to find that balance of playing with the kids and watching out for their safety.

Bella enjoyed her 2nd grade class for bible school and all of the activities and crafts they did. She did take issue with the fact that they called her class "2nd grade" when clearly she was a third grader now. They based the classes on the grade you had just finished. She reported to me that several of her classmates were also unhappy with the "2nd grade" title.

I helped out with snacks and registration this year. I have done several different areas over the years including drama, classroom teacher, and storytelling. Next year I will help with the mystery bus as Bella will be old enough to go on it. The mystery is like the pinnacle for vacation bible school. Kids that have completed 3rd and 4th grade go on a bus all day to different "surprise" activities (only the parents know where they are headed) to learn about bible lessons. Can't wait!

What would the week be without some sort of crisis? Yesterday, I received a call about 1pm saying that Harry had hit his head at vacation bible school and it was bleeding badly. When I arrived, the bleeding was under control, but his hair was soaked in blood. He had been playing on the floor during lunch and had somehow banged his head on the base of the couch in the youth room. Needless to say, the "play" was probably beyond the scope of what was allowed. Off we went to the urgent care. The Dr. at urgent care was very nice. He told Harry everything he was going to do before he did it so he knew what to expect. He even gave Harry the option of staples or stitches for his cut. The cut was not very deep, but about 1 inch long. I guess on the scalp they have to use stitches to close up the wound because it won't close on its own very well and with the oil in the scalp, the wound would likely become infected. Anyway, Harry opted for the stitches instead of the staples and he wanted to go back to vacation bible school to finish up the day. I suspect it was to show off his stitches...

Up next week: Girl Scout Camp!

Smells Like Teen Spirit...

So with Erick out of town for 2 weeks, I faced another weekend of being home with the kids and wondering what to do with them. What better way to spend a Sunday than going to visit my old college and see a Corpse Flower? None that I could think of anyway.

For those of you who might be unaware of what a corpse flower is (as I was up until 2 days ago), it is a rare plant that originates in Sumatra. Gustavus Adolphus College got some seeds for the plant back in 1993 and planted them. The plant (nicknamed Perry) first flowered in 2007 and was over 5 feet tall. This time it stood over 6 feet 8 inches tall. Truly reminded me of Seymore from "Little Shop of Horrors."

Perry's flower opened on Thursday night and on Friday the smell was described like "a decaying corpse" (hence the name corpse flower). By Saturday the docents at the college said it smelled like an outhouse or a very dirty porta-potty. When we visited on Sunday it smelled like somebody really needed to take out the garbage. It was plenty strong for me! I really don't think I would have done well smelling the scent on the prior days.

The third picture shows where they cut a piece of Perry to show the male flowers inside and the pollen. Corpse flowers are pollinated by flies and sweat bees that enjoy its pungent odor.

We were told that Como Conservatory might have a corpse flower bloom in the next year or two. I'm not sure if we'll go or not. It might be a nice "one and done" experience...

Riding Solo...

Bella's big summer vacation did not end with the cabin this year. She was lucky enough to go back to Chicago and spend some time with her Aunts, Uncles, Grandma, and cousin! She had a great time visiting Sears Tower, riding the L, and walking around Navy Pier. She even managed to fit in a shopping trip to Macy's. You can see her sundress purchase in the picture. That girl loves to shop! On the way back to Minnesota she rode the Amtrak train with her Grandmother!

I was really happy she had such a good time, but I am not going to lie, it was hard to have her gone. Perhaps it is because she is the "baby" of the family, perhaps it is because she adds so much to our family... I don't know, but it was tough without her. Due to Bella's extra equipment she has to travel with ( batteries, charger, dry and store machine for her implants) it is always a little more involved in sending her off. I certainly don't do it as much as I did with the other kids at her age. Yet I know it is very important for her to establish independence. Little trips like this are good for both of us!

Maybe in a year or two I will be ready to send her to camp...

Oh, I wish I didn't have to go home...

Back from the cabin and in the midst of putting everything away! It was wonderful weather and lots of fun was had by all.

Here are the top highlights from the trip:

1) Watching Becca sneak up on Harry while he was swimming on a raft, humming the Pink Panther theme. I think she meant for it to be the Jaws theme...

2) Bella walking around a store for 20 minutes deciding what to buy with her money. After much thought, she bought a cat mood ring. She said, "Mom, you can use this in the morning before homeschool to see what kind of mood I'm in. It will tell you if I am tired, hungry, or full of energy!" I think she might think the ring has more power than it really does...

3) Erick became the kyacking king at the cabin. He challanged many family members to race him across the lake (understand that Agate is a small lake) and he won some of the time...

4) Harry swimming across the lake (I told you it was small) for the first time. The lake might be pretty small (maybe 3/4 of a mile across), but I'm pretty sure I couldn't do it and I am MUCH older than 11! Good job, Harry!

5) Becca and a short lived summer crush on a boy at the cabin. Gee, I can hardly wait for high school and all of the fun that will hold...

Already looking forward to next year's trip back to the cabin...

Vacation...Had to Get Away...

I am always amazed how much effort and time it takes getting ready for vacation. Packing, cleaning, organizing, the work goes up until the minute you leave. Even then I don't think it's really done, you just give up because you've run out of time. If you don't leave then, you'll miss your entire vacation because you were busy getting ready for it...





We leave for the cabin in two days and I am far from ready. I should be doing something right now, but it can wait a little longer.




Harry now has his braces. I've been trying to capture a picture, but he is not cooperating. I'll update when I have one ready. They've been on two days and the pain hasn't been terrible. I think his high level of adrenlin helped him through some of the discomfort. Seriously, I have never seen anyone so exicted to have metal brackets and colored rubber bands put on their teeth! Well, for the price, I'm glad his level of excitement is high!





Becca is back from her trip to Philmont for Venturing. I think she had a good time and met a lot of people, but she could have lived without the "hardcore camping" aspect of the trip. The holes for toilets and the constant dehydrated food were highlights she could have lived without. I don't blame her. I have never claimed to be a "camper". Sleeping on the ground in the great outdoors is not something I enjoy. Becca also had to use "bear bags" due to the bears in the area. They even saw one pretty close to their camp. I think the experience is something Becca will remember forever and she is proud that she completed it. It was a lot of hiking!



Looking forward to the upcoming week of peace and relaxation!