Today was so much fun splashing around in the wading pool and running through the water fall as well as the water fountain. Many of our campers that are new this week had never been there before so it was a blast to introduce them to it!
There is always a band on Wednesday's and today was Cazhmiere...a very talented band that plays top 40 hits from the last 40 years. We danced to Lady Gaga, Michael Jackson, Katy Perry, Van Halen and so many more...I will try and post a video of the kids learning how to do "The Bird" with one of the lead singers. The band loved having our campers there and enjoyed interacting with them!
Ugh, won't let me upload the video...maybe I can try it on FB... :(
After the concert we swam a little more and then headed back to camp...much slower than when we headed TO the pool! Lots of tired kids again today! Only two more days of camp!! This experience has gone so fast!! It seemed like 6 weeks was going to last forever and I would have all kinds of time to see everything...WRONG!! I am a bit in panic mode as there are still several things I wanna go see!
The good thing about staying at work late is that I don't have to be there until 8:30...although I got there early today because I wanted to stop at Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts when I got off the train at Eastern Market. The commute didn't take as long as I thought so I was a little earlier than planned...worked out well because Tony had to go home and pick up some stuff he had forgotten and I had already left the house when he realized it.
Today we took the campers on a bus trip to the Smithsonian's American History Museum. We took them to the "Spark Lab"...a great hands on science center designed just for children! We divided our group in half and I took one group to another hands on area while Mr. Barry stayed with the other group in the Spark Lab. The children and I had a blast doing all kinds of hands on stuff...we tried to build a tower on a wobbly table top...it taught us about balancing all sides of our tower on the table. We also got to play with big pinwheels and fans...we could change the direction of the fans and watch how it effected our fast or slow our pinwheels went. Lots of fun stuff to keep us busy!
We had a picnic on the big veranda outside the museum. We love picnics, especially when there are pretty flowers to look at and benches to jump off of when we are done eating!
When we got on the bus home it was pretty full so I had four little campers hanging onto my legs...two on each leg, one on the front and one on the back of each. Much easier for them to keep their balance rather than hold onto the bar on the back of the chairs :) Other passengers are amazed at how well 25 kids can behave on the bus...we really do have such a great group of campers who just know what they need to do! Passengers on the bus love to ask our kids questions about our adventures each day...they get the biggest kick out of them!
Before we headed back to site we headed over to Turtle Park to play some more...so much fun to listen to them shrieking with excitement about being chased or chasing us! Lots of tired children go home each day.
After work I was welcomed home by 3 happy children...Meren was especially excited...it makes me laugh because they are with me all day...I guess having me home I turn into Cousin Jes (which is what they call me, and I LOVE it!!) instead of Miss Jes...the one who makes Julian and Meren rest instead of play outside with the older kids! Meren had to show me her flips she can do...where she gets down on all fours and then sticks one of her feet in the air. So funny, she really thinks she is something else being able to that...so filled with talent she is ;)
When they were headed up to take a bath I went to Potter's house for a visit...at this point I don't think they would have even known I was gone...they had been playing in the backyard with the ducks. They all know I really don't like being down there by those BIRDS!!
When I got home I started catching up on this blog...now it is after midnight and this adventurer is going to bed...tomorrow is our swimming adventure at Yard's Park :)
Today was our first day of camp at our new location. It isn't actually a new location, it was where camp was held last year. Adventure Camp was technically supposed to be done on Friday, but because Tony had several requests about extending it and Barry and I would both be here this week he called his contacts and got us this location just for this week.
We have a whole bunch of new campers and some of our old friends...what a great mix! We took a walking trip to Garfield Park. This park has some fantastic rope towers to climb, rope bridges to run across, lots of fun stuff...slides swings etc! We played hard all morning so we had a picnic lunch at the park.
Just a short distance from the park are a couple horse stables. Tony knows the owner so he made some phone calls and got it approved for us to go and visit. The children loved putting grass through the fence and feeding the horse. I guess there is supposed to be two but only the white one came out to visit us.
On our way home we stopped and played at Turtle Park. I am not sure if that is the official name for park but it has a huge cement turtle for climbing on, over and under, so hence the name. Turtle Park also has some great jungle gym equipment to play on as well as a large grassy area where the boys could run and play spy. Lots of giggle and squeals must equal a successful day right?!?!
Because Barry, Tony and I are the only staff this week I am staying on site until 6:30 when aftercare is over. It is so much fun to see the parents and share with them the fun things there children did that day. It is also kind of strange to be getting home after 7:00...the location is on the SE side of DC so I take the train and walk the 6 blocks home each night. Much different than getting done between 2:30 and 3:30 and only having to walk 5 blocks home in the afternoon. I won't be doing the cooking this week :)
Sunday was a great sight seeing day! We went to the Capitol building...although the visitors' center was closed :( We went through the Botanical Gardens...Amazing and then headed over to the Air and Space Museum...I could spend days in there reading about everything...sensory overload happened quickly because I knew there was no way I would remember all the facts and historical tidbits i as reading about!! I am hoping to get back there and go through Einstein's Planetarium before I leave...you have to pay for a ticket and I didn't feel like i had enough time to get my money's worth so hopefully I will have another opportunity!
Before we left the National Mall, Barry and I were discussing whether or not we wanted to hang out until dark to see the monuments at night...we decided to head home instead and if we had enough energy we would hop back on the Metro train and see them. That didn't happen...when we got home we started playing with Barnaby, Julian and Meren.
We had a marshmallow roast and found a big, huge garden spider in one of the bushes. Tony looked it up on Wickipedia to find out what kind it was and we discovered they are harmless to humans so Barns grabbed my camera and we went down to take pictures. Julian was amazed at how close I would get and shocked that I would touch it and the web. I asked Julian if he wanted to touch it and his response was a shocking "You will teach me how to touch it?!?!?!...you are the bravest person I know!" Hahahaha so darn funny! He reluctantly held out his hand and grabbed the web...what a brave little boy. The spider quickly disappeared and that was the end of our spider fun! I grabbed my camera and video taped him telling me about his spider adventure and now have proof that, at least for a short time, I was the bravest person he knows! I told Tony I would be playing that video at his high school graduation party!
Saturday I slept in and then headed to Eastern Market to cash my check and pick up some produce. Barry came along for the adventure...he is such a patient man! We went to Java Port City for a cup of coffee and some lunch and ran into Jack and Allison, a couple of our campers and their dad. Dad and mom used to work up in the Boundary Waters back in the day so it is fun to talk about MN with him. It was good to see all three of them one last time and get extra big squeezes from them again. :)
I had a blast looking at all the produce at the Farmer's Market section of Eastern Market...it costs a little more than safeway, but it is local, fresh and delicious. Picked up some sweet corn, bell peppers (who knew they had purple bell peppers, had to get one just for it's color!!) and other veggies to possibly make kabobs with. That never happened but we did eat the corn and it was delish!! The peppers will be used sometime this week!!
I got home in time to take a quick rest and head over to Potter's house...Potter had an extra ticket for the Arena Theatre's play previews, where they do a scene, song etc from each of their upcoming performances. What a gorgeous theatre with so many talented actors and actresses! After that we headed to Union Station to take advantage of Happy Hour at B. Smith's restaurant and bar...what a classy place! When I asked Tobin, the bartender, if I could get some olives for my beer they came on a carved bamboo skewer in a fancy glass. No plastic swords and shot glasses here!! We ordered a couple appetizers...one was Thai Chicken Wings...and instead of a handi wipe that come in a little packet that you tear open we were given a coffee/tea cup with a linen napkin rolled up and hot water poured over it...huh, who knew!?! It was like washing our fingers with a warm wash cloth instead of a fake lemon smelling piece of paper towel :)
We headed to Maryland to go to Target...Potter loves their book selection. So much fun at Target...even bought myself a pair of pants that is two sizes SMALLER than the size I wore when I got out here! Now to just keep losing the weight...and I was worried about all the hard work I had put into the Litchfield Lite going down the tubes. Haha, just come to DC and you will sweat and walk it off in no time!!
It is a sad face day because it is the last day I will see so many of the campers!!
We took a bus ride to Watkins pool and playground...what a fantastic place!! The children had so much fun swimming...what a bunch of fish!! One of their favorite games to play was hanging on Ms. Jes and having her drag them around the pool! So many giggles so it never got tiring! One of our 3 year old boys hung on to my arm so tightly that whenever I went under he did too. I would quickly jump up out of the water and he would be frantically wiping his face and then say "I'm OK, let's do it again!!" So cute...I am going to miss them so much, but the memories I have made with them will live in my heart forever!!
We had a picnic lunch on the playground and played some more...they would have stayed there all day if the decision was up to them, but alas, we had to head back to camp and get ready for our ice cream party to wrap up our camp season.
I had outside playground duty again...it was so much fun reminiscing with Ms. Angela and Ms. Morning about our summer adventures! The children wanted my camera again...of course I couldn't say no. What great little photographers some of them are!! Makes me smile just remembering some of the cute pics they took for me!! I am hoping to create and upload a Snapfish account or something similar so all the staff can upload their pics (we all took bunches each day to send to Tony to put in the daily email) and all the families can see them. Lots of cute pics that never got sent in the emails but would be fun for everyone to have access to.
So many parents showed up for our ice cream party...one family even brought several different cakes, red velvet, chocolate-chocolate and a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting...YUMMY!!
It was good to visit with all the parents...share some fun memories of their children and it made my heart so happy to hear the fun things they had to say about the memories their children made with me. One little camper, Teddy (who will be president, or at least one heck of an attorney) won me over my first day there...and continued to warm my heart each day!! Every day on his walk over he had to bring me something, an acorn, a leaf, a neat piece of broken glass etc. Such a cutie-patutie!! His moms were so complimentary to me as well and were so thankful for the love and care I put into all the children each day and made it fun for them, Teddy would tell them stories about our day each night and always included Miss Jes :) Teddy and his moms were heading on vacation to their beach house after camp that day and so he gave me a big hug and I told him I was going back to Minnesota so I wouldn't see them again until next summer...he didn't really grasp the concept and his reply was "Will you bring me back a Minnesota Ginger Ale?!?!" Hahahaha, too cute! I told them they should come to MN so I can take them fishing on a frozen lake...teddy didn't think this was a very good idea because "even Miss Jes, you can't walk on a lake, even though you can do lots of stuff for me" aaah, heart you!!
After lots of hugs were given to lots of campers and their parents it was time for me to leave because I could tell my dam of tears was ready to overflow...not a pretty sight for anyone to see. I quietly slipped away and headed home to take it all in!!
This day was probably one of the best of my summer! We started out taking our campers to Eastern Market to listen to John Henry perform. What a fantastic concert he puts on!! The children had an absolute blast!! He had them rowing boats, running around like wild animals, doing fist pumps while singing a song about Washington DC...super cute and I wish I would have been able to video tape them!
After the concert we walked over to Lincoln Park and had a picnic with our lunches. We played on both playgrounds and got so much of our energy out. Mr. Barry had some of the campers climbing trees, some were playing spy and sniper, running all over saving the world. Needless to say, when we got back to camp there were lots of tired campers!!
I had playground duty for the afternoon and had a blast with the campers! I had my camera with so they wanted to take pictures with it. I wrapped the cord around their little wrists and let 'em go. Each time it was time to switch they would come back to me and I would transfer the camera from one friend to another...this went on for over an hour! Lots of fun pictures for me to look at that evening on my way to Fairfax to see Joe.
When I got to Fairfax Joe and I headed out of town...he was taking me to see a mountain sunset!! YYIIPPEEEE! I hadn't seen an actual sunset or a sunrise since leaving Minnesota...too many buildings on Capitol Hill! The views were amazing...I posted lots of pics on my facebook page. We even saw a pair of black bears. They were about 10 yards off the road, up the bank so Joe stopped the car and grabbed my camera to take some pics. He had to climb up the hill to get the pics...while I stayed back by the car ready to jump in it in case the Momma Bear came back. The moon was also rising so I got several great shots of that too!Definitely worth the drive...over an hour each way! Truly blessed to have such a great group of friends now in the DC area that are willing to go out of there way to show me a great time!
Oh, man...I am typing this on August 16th so I am trying hard to remember what we did almost a week ago :)
We took the campers to Yard's Park...we had been there several times before and the children always have a blast!! They love splashing around and it is a great peace of mind knowing that no part of it is over their heads. There is a band in the old abandoned parking garage each Wednesday so it is always fun for the kids to dance and enjoy the music if they don't wanna swim :) It is so much fun sitting down and having a picnic while we are there too!
Before we left, Mrs. Potter, our retired teacher friend, stopped by the park with some frozen blueberries for all of our camper friends. They enjoyed the yummy snack...she is so much fun when she visits, the kids enjoy her so much! :)
More water fun was had in the sprinklers out on the playground when we got back to Miner...a fun day with great weather!!
We took our campers to the Arboretum...they always have so much fun there. We looked at the koi fish and then we headed up to the capitol pillars where there is a fountain, a waterfall/river thing that leads to an infinity/reflection pool. The children had so much fun playing in the water! We headed back towards the main part of the Arboretum and looked at some of the bonsai trees in the Chinese garden part.
The clouds started rolling in and getting darker so we headed back to the bus stop and got to camp before the rain started. All the walking and playing made the children tired so we had quite a few resters that afternoon.
After work I headed to Fairfax. Joe brought me to the NRA to see the Museum in his building. So impressive! Lots of unique guns of all kinds...some famous and some just plain interesting. I had 10 minutes to tour the entire museum before it closed so Joe gave me the super quick tour...I was trying to listen while I was trying to take pictures. I'll do my best to remember what he said.
The first gallery you enter is the The Robert E. Peterson gallery. Mr. Peterson left the museum his entire collection of firearms and they replicated his personal library as the gallery for the museum so it is like you are actually in his home looking at his collection. This guy had guns that had been owned by JFK, Annie Oakley and some other famous people that I can't remember that Joe told me. There had to be over a 200 guns in just his collection though!
They also had on display the history of firearms and the history of guns that were failures as well as those that are still popular and available today. One of the neatest guns there was a handgun that was carried by an NYPD officer on 9/11. It was recovered and the officer's family donated it to the NRA...at least I think that is how they got it...remember I was busy taking pictures while he was talking and breezing his way through the museum.
One of the other sections that I remember looking at was the exhibit on guns in Hollywood. They had a vast array of guns used in movies and TV from John Wayne and Magnum P.I.
The museum was closing but before we left he took me up a couple floors to a hallway that has a bunch of deer mounts with some of the most impressive racks. One of them is from Wright County, MN! All the racks are replicas of just the antlers and can be removed because they are on a rotation...the deer heads stay there, they just switch the antlers out and change the information card. They looked real enough to me!
So I am writing this a week later...on August 14th. I'll see how well my memory serves me, I'm thinking I won't remember all the funny little details that made up each day, but I will try!
A day off from work...our numbers are low this week so each full timer was asked to take one day off. Cousin Barry and I both picked today. We decided to do the tourist thing and go to the Arlington National Cemetery. AMAZING!!! We weren't very far into our walk when we noticed a handful of soldiers standing on top of a hill...they weren't at attention, just standing there...I was curious so we headed on the road that we thought would lead us up there. As we came around a bend we saw a band in formation leading a funeral procession. Wow, talk about goosebumps! There was a soldier standing at the intersection and we couldn't go straight or to the right (where the soldiers were up on the hill) so we stood there and watched the band march and turn the corner. Complete silence except for their shoes hitting the pavement in perfect timing! I stood there with my hand on my heart praying for those grieving their loved one. We were asked to back up about 50 feet as the remaining procession came closer. We realized it was the casket draped on the back of a shiny black trailer being drawn by a team of horses, all with soldiers on top of them. The family walked in silence behind the casket...more goosebumps!!
As we walked away and begin looking at the monuments and graves we heard the band begin to play "God Bless America". We were at the top of a hill and when I looked back I saw the lone trumpeter that was going to be playing taps. He hadn't even started playing and I started tearing up! Once he started playing I had tears streaming down my face...so moving watching a soldier play taps for another fallen soldier!
We continued to walk and look around. One of the things I noticed was that on each tombstone was a cross near the top, some had circles around and some did not. I asked one of the soldiers walking around what it meant and he didn't know...I need to google it I guess. OK, I googled it and found this link to the Arlington Cemetery's Page that explains all the different crosses...guess I didn't look very close to notice all the differences just that some had circles around and some did not. Click on the link, it is very informative!
We also visited the Women in Military Center...what a fanstastic little treasure! Explained what women did overseas and back home as they were serving our country. They had uniforms and hand books and all kinds of things on display. I will have to upload photos soon.
Because I had the day off I could head to Fairfax sooner than normal and Joe could pick me up from the train station right when he got off work at 4:00 instead of having to drive all the way home, only to turn around and pick me up a little while later.
He and his daughter, Kerri and I walked/hiked around Burke Lake, a gorgeous wooded area where we saw deer and bugs and random huge mushrooms. I was glad it was shaded by so many trees as it was still hot and sunny out and I had been in the sun walking around in the humidity all day. I doubt I will ever get used to the humidity down here!!
We went to this fantastic frozen yogurt place called Josie's...you pick the size container you want (they are very similar to the containers you get from the deli at the grocery store) and serve yourself from a plethera of flavors...I picked Mountain Strawberry, Pina Colada and Pinapple Mango...then you can add whatever toppings you want, fresh fruit, candy, nuts, chocolate chunks etc...you get the picture. Then you set it on a scale and you pay by how much your container weighs. Very delicious!
Once we left Josie's Kerri wanted to grab some McDonald's just a couple stores down. Sidenote: It is still weird to me that they have McDonald's in the middle of strip malls down here...back in MN they are usually by themselves...once in awhile they are connected to a gas station/truck stop but rarely! Ok, anyway, Kerri went into McDonald's and Joe and I waited outside and ate our yogurt. I realized the tree across the road, about 20 yards away, was full of birds...I am talking about at least 75-100 birds. Yes they were small sparrow type birds, but birds with beaks nonetheless. Gave me the willies, as many of you know how much I hate birds to the point of being scared of them! Ha, Joe noticed my weariness and said he was going to get the car. Now you are thinking "How nice of him!" right. WRONG, he wanted to get the car so he could park it under the tree and make me walk under all of those scary birds to get into the car. I begged him not to do it and told him I was going to go with him...that stopped him because he didn't want Kerri left alone.
I thought I had won the battle, but oh, no he doesn't give up and I should have realized he had a plan B racing through his brain. LOL. Kerri came out and sat down and started eating her food and Joe, acting like a caring father, asked Kerri if she wanted him go and get the car. Of course she said yes...I tried to quickly explain to her why he didn't need to get it he took off running across the parking lot to grab the car. Yep, he parked it right under the tree and had me walk under it to get in...oh, but the door had locked somehow so I had to stand out there a little bit longer. UGH! He explained that he had created a 12 step program to help me overcome my fear of birds and that was step 1. Haha, I can laugh about it now, but at the time my heart was racing I was so afraid! I survived and the rest of the night he didn't try anymore of his therapy tricks!
Mr. Julian and I started off our day bright and early, 6:20 is early for a Saturday morning! I had gotten up to use the bathroom and planned on going back to bed when I heard Julian talking at his sister. I peeked in the bedroom to find him poking his sister on all of her limbs etc. We decided a bowl of cereal with some fresh peaches would be a great breakfast. Then we snuggled into my bed where he watched a show on the computer while I read.
It was nice to have some company this morning...it is my Grandpa Stoffers birthday and I miss him so much! It is also my cousin Hannah's 1st birthday and my Grandma is out in Honolulu spending it with my Uncle Eric and Aunt Lori and Jacob and Hannah...i can't imagine she would want to be anywhere else on this day!
Barnaby joined us on my bed after a little bit and just as the show ended my computer battery died so I sent them downstairs. I read for a little while longer and then my room started to heat up when the sun shone in through the windows. I headed downstairs to accomplish some work on my computer...once it was plugged into the wall.
After lots of email deleting and replying I started cropping and deleting some of the 499 pics I have taken at the musuems the last couple week-ends. Finally finished that task and am uploading them as I type.
Everybody is home and Jenny is spending the afternoon and I think the evening with us as well...been a lot of energy and chaos but so much fun! Too hot to do much outside...let me rephrase that...too HUMID to do anything. Dew points are in the high 70's last time I checked. I feel like I can't possibly drink enough water to keep up with how much I am sweating out just sitting at the table typing and cropping!! Ugh.
We have had the clouds get thicker, heard some thunder but not much rain at all. I would love a long and steady thunderstorm tonight!
Speaking of tonight I should go and turn on my AC in my bedroom so it gets comfortable up there when I go to bed.
Have a wonderful week!!!
So cousin Barry and I decided to head over to "The Mall" and visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Lots of fantastic things to see! Animals, skeletons of every thing imaginable, jewels (THE HOPE DIAMOND), rocks and minerals that were so intriguing and beautiful!, bugs ( I held the biggest, coolest cockroach...it was almost as big as my palm)...
the two places we didn't look at were the butterfly area and the bird section.
We also watched the Imax movie about Tornadoes...LOVED IT! I have always been enthralled by thunderstorms and tornadoes!
After some ice cream (espresso for Barry and peanut butter ripple for me) we headed over to the American History Museum...I was so excited to see Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers and the huge American Flag that inspired our National Anthem to be written! Oh, and Julia Child's kitchen! Lots and lots of pictures were taken...check out my facebook albums! Barry headed to Tony's for supper...I stayed at the museum because I had eaten the second half of my sandwich from lunch with my ice cream and wasn't hungry at all.
When I got home 2 fantastic things happened 1. Tony had saved me one of each of the yummy crab and seafood ravioli things and some yummy sauted mushrooms. 2. Jilly Bean sent me a great card where she promised me the that if there was only one cupcake in the world she would let me have it :) :) Oh how I miss my MN friends!
The rest of my evening I spent on the phone with Joe when he was done with work and then with Bean back in MN (gotta love the time difference!!). Let me just give you a brief synopsis of part of my convo with Joe...when I asked what we were going to do on Sunday he informed me that he really wanted to do this 18 mile hiking trail...one where you get dropped off at the beginning and someone has to pick you up at the end or drop your car off there for you. Not only did he want to hike it but he also wanted to run part of it. HA i said, there will be no us doing that, just a Joe...I walk all week with 30-40 children I really didn't want to do it on my day off as well. I told him I was thinking that going to a local Virginia winery for a free wine tasting event sounded like a fantastic way to spend our Sunday...stay tuned for Sunday's blog to see what the outcome was...
Our Friday at Adventure Camp had us going to Kingman Island again. They always have so much fun there!! This time we were on top of the "Mountain" the children were exploring "ancient Chinese ruins"...according to 4 year old Julian, that is what we discovered anyway. One of the kids pointed up to a tree and said something about big, green eggs being in the tree. I looked at what he was pointing at and discovered that the big, green eggs were actually hedgeballs! Those weird, rough brain textured balls that repel spiders...which we pay a couple bucks for in the store. I will definitely be hiking back there to pick a bunch and ship back to MN!
Joe had Friday night off so I after work I headed over to Fairfax on the Metro train. As you all have read, the Metro and I are not getting along the best! As we were getting closer to Fairfax the train started acting up...lo and behold we ended up stuck in the middle of nowhere for about 20 minutes...we offloaded at West Falls Church and waited there for the backup train. Long story short, we missed happy hour :( I told Joe to head back to the bar and get another beer because I had no idea how long we were going to be but he decided to sit in the car and talk to his brother John...finally I got there and we headed to Hard Times Cafe and Cue for some wings and beer (with olives). The wings are grilled and delicious! I had teriyaki and also tried one of Joe's Chili with Lime...both very yummy!
We decided to head to Champs and watch the MN Twins play...I haven't watched them since I got out here!! On our way Joe decided I should meet his sister. [sidenote: I told Joe that he was in charge of making all the decisions for us that night because I was sick of being in charge and being the boss of 40 campers every day all day and I really wanted him to be the boss of me so I didn't have to make any decisions ;) ] Instead of going to Champs we headed over to his sister and brother-in-laws. What a blast they are! We stayed there the rest of the evening and had a couple drinks and fantastic conversation. They are both from Minnesota so it was fun to talk about places and have them know where we were talking about...and they have the best sense of humor, lots of ribbing among all of us!
On my train ride home we had a stall as well so my 50 minute train ride lasted a little over an hour...but alas I made it home, turned on my AC and went to bed. :)
Our adventure today was a trek to Eastern Market to hear Mr. Skip in concert! What a great performer for children! Most of the kids had a blast. A handful of the older boys were not so impressed and just sat and talked and watch the rest of us dance and sing. I can't really blame them as it was geared towards preschoolers. After our concert we headed to Lincoln Park for a picnic. After lunch we headed back to school because the Performing Arts camp that is at the same school as ours (Miner Elementary) was holding a performance for us in the afternoon!!
I am not sure how the performance went as I was done working at 1:30 because we were overstaffed for the number of children...I got laundry done had a rest. Great way to spend my Thursday afternoon. No children tonight so Tony said not to make any supper...life is very relaxing for this overheated minnesota girl right now!
I am looking forward to a fun filled weekend with some sight seeing adventures taking place...I will keep you posted and hopefully it won't take me so long to blog next time!
Quick prayer request for a dear family friend, Will who is losing his battle to cancer as we speak. Will and his wife, Ruth, lived half a block away from us and their 3 children, Michael, Melanie and Brian and my brothers and I all played together growing up! Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers as they send their husband, father and grandfather off to be with the Lord. Thank you and God's blessings on your weekend!! :)
So today the weather was supposed to be rainy/stormy most of the day...so we cancelled our trip to Yard's Park for swimming and the concert.
Oh what to do with children all morning inside our borrowed classroom all day?!?! What did my mom do for me and my brothers when we were little and cooped up inside? Made a FORT!! I created 2 forts with a couple of the children's nap blankets or sheets. They had the best time!! Only 5 kids fit in each fort so we had to go in shifts. I told each group they could make it what ever they wanted it to be. It was so funny to find out what their imaginations came up with...a zoo, an orphanage, a police station, a dance place, a hotel, a camping tent and a veterinary clinic.
It didn't rain all morning so I didn't have 30 ninjas in my room at one time...they were excited to go to the other playground and play where the "big kids" get to play during the school year. There is also a garden back there full of sunflowers that the children investigated. Once the afternoon came then the rain came also...oh, well who knew! Even though we didn't go on an adventure I think the children enjoyed our day of playing at "home" as they called it! :)
After work I came home and got ready to head to Fairfax, Virginia to meet Joe for pizza. Sidenote: Joe is my friend Jessi's good friend from high school in Minnesota. He works for the NRA and he and his daughter have lived out here for about 10 years. I had met him once before about 10 years ago.
I walked to the train station and although I had deleted his text message telling me which orange line to take I felt confident that I remembered which one and hopped on. I texted him when we made it to the Chevellry stop. He immediately called me and said I was headed the wrong direction!! Ugh, I got off on the next stop and backtracked...my 45 minute ride just turned into a little over an hour! The benefit of riding it so far out of DC the wrong way was the train was virtually vacant so I had a seat the whole way...not true had I gone the right way first!
We went out for pizza and then went to a couple different bars and had a beer. It was very fun to hang out with another Minnesotan and visit. A great night, maybe the best one so far! Hopefully we can hang out again...fun to hang out with people I don't see all day everyday! I love my cousins to death but we are together so much it kinda takes the fun out of hanging out in the evenings!
Got home about midnight and went to bed...
Today was our big trip to the Smithsonian Zoo! It is a long bus ride so we ate our lunches as soon as we got there...the squirrels and birds loved us because we left so many crumbs behind for them to eat :) We all know how much I love birds near me!! NOT! Luckily we had to eat and run because we only had an hour to before we had to get back on the bus and make it back by 3:00.
The Purple Turtles got to see some neat things...the elephants, the panda bear, the brown bear sloth, the cheetah and a couple other animals in some glass displays. Their favorites were the panda bear and watching someone put money in the souvenir penny machine and watching how the penny got squashed and dropped down for them to take. Amazing!! Hahaha it was too cute to see their huge eyes watch the levers and wheels turn.
Most of our campers fell asleep on the bus ride home...great day for a nap, especially because we didn't get back to camp in time for most of them to take a nap. :)
When I got home from work that day I was exhausted!! After supper was prepared and eaten I just had to go upstairs and read in my room...my body was done being hot! I was sleeping by 8:30...woke up to go to the bathroom and was certain is was almost time for me to be awake, but alas it was just after midnight!! whoohoo! a whole 6 and half more hours of sleep! Life is good!
I can't believe August is here already! We took the campers to the Arboretum. They have so much fun looking at the koi fish...some of them are HUGE...2 feet in length from head to tail tip I am sure, others are the size of my palm. Once we were done with our water break and koi watching we broke up into our groups...this week my group has decided to call itself the purple turtles. We ventured into the Bonsai gardens...those trees are amazing! Some are hundreds of years old!! The children think it is great to count the trunks of the "mini trees". However, I am pretty sure the highlight of our visit was when the caretaker help up his watering hose and let the children run through it! What a wonderful older gentleman...you could just tell he found such joy in watching and listening to the childrens laughter and comments about his beloved trees!!
We also went over the bridge that housed the Cicada Killer Wasp nest...they were flying all over! I am sure my bloodpressure was near stroke status even though I knew that none of them had stingers because they were all males as the female had laid her eggs already and I assume she died. Terrifying for me but the children loved running and darting away from them! UGH!
The weather has finally dropped into the low to mid 90's so it is much more bearable now...it even gets down into the low 80's at night! Now if the humidity would drop it would be great.
Hope you all had a most magnificent Monday!!
So I haven't blogged since last Saturday...I'm not sure if I will remember all the details about earlier this week, but I'll give it my best.
Sunday...mmm, Barry and I ate lunch at Zest, a restaurant that is owned by a family whose sons go to Adventure Camp with us. Delish! Had a tasty, albeit spicy, bloody mary with my grilled chicken ciabbata sandwich...which reminds me I need to find out how to make citrus mayo or if it is something I can just buy, but it certainly made the sandwich that much better!!
After breakfast we decided to go to the Spy Museum. $20 and 2 hours later we were both glad we went but it certainly wasn't what we expected. A lot of waiting in lines and then once you are in it is a dark maze of items and pics...entails a lot of reading, not so little kid friendly. It was interesting to see the items that spies used back in the day as well as how many, roughly, spies there are in the world. Lots of info on espionage and spies that have gotten caught...and things they do to fit in so they don't get caught.
After buying some souvenirs and trinkets in the gift shop we headed across the street to the Smithsonian Portrait and Art Museum.
I am not sure how many pics I took but it had to be close to 100! It was really neat to see pics in person that you see in movies and advertising. I am SO THANKFUL for this opportunity to not have to cram it all in to one or even two weeks but I have almost 7 to meander through the Smithsonian museums at a pace that allows me to take it all in.
We left the Smithsonian around 7:00 and headed back to Eastern Market to grab some supper. We decided on Subway...cheap and yummy. The Subway in Eastern Market is super tiny and instead of booths or tables it has a couple counters you can lean on and eat. We opted out of that and headed across the street to eat on a park bench...felt good to sit down!!!
I got home and was wiped out so off to bed I went :)
