Independence Day

So the Independence Day Festival this year was fun. Second year in a row that my Girl Scouts had a booth at the Independence Day Festival. We ran three games, from 4-10. And earned a little bit of money in the process.



Then Bret showed up so we could all watch the fire works together.



Brenda's friends showed up and it was a party. Our town puts on a great firework display. It is the highlight of the night.



When we came home we lit off some sparklers and made it a complete day.

While They Were Away

So Marley and I had a nice quiet week together. We cooked together. We played. We watched tv and went to the pool.



And toward the end of the week we remodeled the girls room. We painted, redecorated, and added a bed so Marley could be one of the girls that belong in the girls' room too. She has slept in there ever since.

Off to Camp

And so my girls went to camp. Bret's camp was "You Can't Do That At Camp" camp, where she stayed up late, slept in, Toilet Papered other people's tents, made marshmallow guns, practiced their archery skills and lots of other fun camp activities. Brenda's camp was Adventure Camp where she went rock climbing, did a zip line, low ropes, canoed down the Little Miami River, learned to stamp leather, made stuff out of duck tape, etc. They both had a week of fun with new friends. Brenda slept in a tree house with her friends, Bret in a tent. They lived out in the wild world with latrines and cookouts. Neither one of them wanted to leave when it was time. But it was eventually time.



We picked them up and headed over to Uncle Scott's house (he lives near camp) for a little bit of fishing before we headed home. A great end of a magical week for the girls.

Camping Pillows

Brenda saw this from her friend's sister and wanted to have one too. So Brenda and Bret made some of their own before they headed to Girl Scout camp this summer. I bought two bandanas for each girls. I cut lines into the edges of each bandana and they tied the lines together, stuffed the inside and closed up the last few lines. Voila, they had their own bandana pillows. A big hit.

A Half-Price Book Worth Its Money

So Half Price Books had a summer reading program going on for the kiddos. If they read 15 min a day for 5 days and filled out the reading card, each child would get a three dollar certificate for the store. We went a few times and picked out books.



One time, Bret really wanted this book about slumber parties. Until she saw what was in my hands. A 400 page book filled with women posed in their underwear. Why were there 400 pages of women posed in their underwear?



So the girls could design clothes to put on them. They all enjoyed the book so much that I went back and purchased the other book of the same kind. What girl doesn't like to design clothing? I don't know, I am sure there are plenty. But not in my house. Our best book find of the summer!!

*Editor's Note*

I usually refer to "the girls" as Brenda and Bret. And Marley is separate. I noticed I have done that a couple times already. So just a FYI. "The girls" doesn't include Marley for some reason. My brain separates her from the girls. Maybe because she will always be the baby. :-) In spite of the fact that she has transitioned this summer into her own bed.

The End of Dance

At the same time period as swim team was going on, so were Marley's dance lessons. Our community public school PTA runs a dance center during the school year. $75-$100 for 9 months of tap, jazz, ballet, and sometimes hip hop lessons. Then there is a recital at the end. Amazingly great deal for dance lessons. Not like I am prepping my girls for careers in the Chicago Ballet or anything so for that fab price my girls get together with friends once a week to get some basic lessons in dance. Well there were six week summer clinics this year.

Since the girls were both at camp two of the weeks, I signed only Lily up for her first ever dance classes in tap and ballet. Lily's good friend Lillie was there with her which was great. Lillie's sisters are in swim team. So for the last couple years Lily and Lillie played together at the swim meets. This was a chance for them to be together for something else. Maybe they will dance together again this fall...



So Tuesday while I was sitting in a tent with the swim team, Lily was dancing on the small dance floor/stage for all the parents (for us of course that was Big Bret) in her last performance of the summer. *Chuckle*

Falling Behind - Stingrays Are Number One!!

Yes I know I am falling behind. It has been a month. So I am back with somewhat of a pause in my life. A month or so of swim team... It is a week long committment. MWF we practice from 9-10 or 10-11. T TH we compete against the other teams.



A swim meet goes something like this... Maybe my girls will swim a relay medley #5. Then they might swim two or three events like 25 meter free style, breast stroke, fly, and/or back stroke. So those events for my girls have usually been number 27, 47, 57ish. Then they might end with a freestyle relay. Relays are 4 kids one at a time tagging the side as the next one swims off across the pool. (In case you aren't into swimming and don't know what a swim meet entails. I didn't my first year.) We will arrive at 5:30 to stretch and warm up in the pool. So the meet will take from 6:30 to 9ish. Most of the meet is spent NOT swimming obviously. There will be maybe 71 or so events. Each event might have one two or three "heats" usually where new groups of kids will swim the same event.




Parents are asked to work at least 2 home meets as timers, runners who take the time to the computer people, ribbons (the people who put the stickers on the 1st 2nd and 3rd place ribbons), food bar, etc.



Then there is championships. This lasts two days. The first day we will get there at 7am for warmups. The 12 and under girls, and 8 and under boys swim first. The older kids get there ready to swim by 3:30 and they swim until 8 or 9. Then the second day is relays. Also anyone who was the top in any event will come back and compete again. We start the second day at 12ish and spend the rest of the day there. Again, each child might be in 3-4 events the whole championship. So for instance our second day my girls swam event 5 one was heat 1 and one was heat 2. Their next event was 67. So we sat around in the Stingray tent for hours until it was time to swim again. To give you an idea, I knitted most of a sweater in two days. I don't mind. I don't suggest it for the short tempered. Bret will go to the meets, but NEVER to the championships. Too many people, too many kids, too much chaos and noise for him. It is best to know your limits before you go into a thing like this.



Why do we do this? First of all I should say I told myself after the years of hockey, and all the money we poured into that, I would never allow that craziness to happen again. This sport costs us $20 a season per kids. We get 5 months of training, during the meets the kids spend hours hanging out with friends cheering them on and having a great group time. It is all about the team. And they LOVE to do it. This was Marley's first year on the team and she has been so excited to be part of the team!



We will do it again next year I am sure. We regained our number one status in our division again. Yay Stingrays!