Helping at Hero Camp

The Hero Camp organizers invited parents to help out with some of the activities,

so I volunteered to help today.

My first assignment was to cut up tons of different apples for an apple-tasting activity.

I'm not much help when it comes to decorating,

but I'm a whiz at chopping apples because our family eats them so often.

We each have our talents.

Once everything was set up, I accompanied Anna's group of campers 

as they got a visit from Adam and Eve . . .

. . . learned about the creation and planted snapdragon seedlings . . .

. . . then heard a lesson about the Garden of Eden and the Fall.

Anna got to be one of the cherubim guarding the tree of life

(AKA an artificial Christmas tree with big marshmallows resting on its branches).

During the keynote message at the end,

Joy took it upon herself to guard the tree of life

from anyone who was tempted to eat an extra marshmallow.

Then all the kids headed out to the bounce house. 

Someone joked that the slide was symbolic of the Fall,

but I think the leaders just rented the bounce house for fun. :)

Hero Camp

 The Primary leaders at church decided to go big this year . . .

. . . and host an Old Testament-themed day camp

for the first week of summer.

The kids get to learn about Bible heroes like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

(and the Heavenly personage who saved them in the king's furnace).

They also got to work with a carpenter to build a miniature ark.

(Anna helped add the big dowels that the ropes are tied to.)

I think the rainbow balloon above the ark

was a nice touch.

Todd and Anna have really enjoyed the first couple days of camp

and are looking forward to the rest of it!

Doodles and Scout

For our FHE activity today . . .

. . . Joy chose to have us play the "Doodle Game"

where we each draw a squiggle on a piece of paper . . .

. . . then pass it to someone else to "finish" the drawing.

We ended up with a random assortment of things

like a turtle, a bass clef, a mountain range, 

and man with a magnificent mustache.

One of Daniel's "drawings" was a speech bubble

about how much he loves cats . . .

. . . like our friends' new kitten Scout,

who is one of the most adorable felines on the planet.

Summer Party

One of Todd's classmates who lives on our street . . .

. . . threw a beginning-of-summer party

for her friends and their families today.

The hula hoop game was fun . . .

. . . but our family spent most of our time at the foosball table.

Daniel couldn't be bothered to put down his seltzer for this match,

so he just worked all four knobs with one hand.

The crazy thing is that he won the match.

When the hosts fired up the karaoke machine,

Anna and her friend decided to sing "We Don't Talk about Bruno."

That's one of Daniel's favorite songs lately,

so he joined them on stage in time to nail Dolores' 

lightning-fast section of the song.

Window Shopping

 Last year, we discovered that we really like cheese.

This year, we've discovered we like window shopping.

It's fun to try on something that's your style . . .

. . . or even something totally isn't your style.

Cici likes looking through windows too,

but I'm not sure what she's shopping for.

Don't Stir-Fry Sunflowers

New Englanders tend to be frugal folks

who use something until they're done with it,

keep it around awhile longer just in case,

then put it out by the road to see if anyone else would like it.

I scored this big ceramic pot from a neighbor this week

and decided to fill it with some colorful herbs.

The pale flowers in front are an ornamental oregano

(who knew that was a thing?).

Seeing those beautiful plants outside my kitchen window

makes me happy.

I guess I'm in a gardening mood this week,

because I also pulled out this book about growing soil sprouts . . .

. . . and started a little indoor garden.

The seeds were all a bit old, so I wasn't sure how many would even sprout.

Everything except the broccoli seeds actually did pretty well.

I even put sunflower sprouts in our pad thai tonight.

I'm glad I snapped this picture before I stirred them around in the hot pan,

and they turned kind of brown and wilty.

Note to self: Use the sunflower sprouts as a fresh, crisp garnish next time.

Two Clap-Offs

Today was the last day of the school year,

and Anna's last day at the older elementary school.

Each school in our town holds a "clap-off" for their graduating class, 

so after the older kids got out of school, 

we headed over to Russell Street School to clap for Anna.

When she came outside, Anna was in such a hurry to catch up with her teacher

that she didn't even hear us cheering for her.

She saw us when she finished her lap around the rotary though.

Yay, Anna!

Daniel had a fun little reunion with his former fifth grade teacher . . .

. . . then we went to the younger elementary school

to wait for Todd's clap-off.

There he is!

It's hard to believe that in a few months

my baby is moving on to the big-kid elementary school,

and Anna will start middle school!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day!

It's nice to have a day that reminds us to appreciate our Daddy

who works hard to support our family

and who shares his love of music and games with us.

I gave him a treat and copper cup as Father's Day gifts this year.

He loves licorice, and he thinks it's cool that a metal cup 

makes milk seem extra cold when you drink it.

Daddy celebrated the Father's Day by writing sweet notes to his kids.

It was a really heartwarming surprise.

Today was also a nice time for me to remember my dad.

He was a fun guy who knew how to liven up any occasion . . .

. . . but he also knew how to take important things seriously

and share his faith with his family.

In short, he knew how to keep the main thing

the main thing. 

Phooey at the Festival

I like going on family outings, but for some reason

I don't like planning them.

That's why I love it when a local town plans a festival

and all we have to do is show up and do fun stuff . . .

. . . like enjoy strawberry shortcake 

and strawberry lemonade . . .

. . . see a karate demonstration . . .

. . . sniff every single candle in an artisan's booth . . .

. . . and watch a blacksmithing demonstration.

The blacksmith was kind of annoyed to finish his triangle

and discover that the angles weren't quite equal.

My favorite part of the whole festival

was hearing a blacksmith in a top hat say

"Phooey."

The blacksmith was Daddy and Daniel's favorite part of the outing too.

Neither of them had been very enthusiastic about going to the festival,

but long after the rest of the family was ready to leave,

they were still happily watching the blacksmith

pound hot metal into interesting shapes.