A picture or two to tide you over

We just unloaded the camera recently and here's a couple pictures of the kids:


Stella in cloud camo:

Sammy won this stuffed gorilla at Valleyfair during a school trip. It was a ring toss and she got one ring on the post and missed the other two. She started to walk away, but the guy said, "You won!" She was at the park all day - until 4:30 pm. She won this at 9:30 am and had to lug it around the whole day. Fortunately, she was not lacking in Gorilla Babysitters to watch this when she went on rides. This now resides in the girls' room. Stella has made it into a climbing toy/slide/ladder. A monkey for the monkey.

July 4th Recap - Sammy's Gone to College

Well, we just had a relatively quiet weekend -

On the fourth - we just stayed close to home - lit off some small fireworks in the driveway.

Saturday, we had a retail day - we went to Ragstock, a used/vintage clothing store chain that I used to LOVE in high school. Sammy's feeling the Ragstock love now. I was a little dismayed to see a sundress I picked up at Penney's a couple of years ago going for $3.00. Oh well. Sammy got a velvet shift dress for $3.oo and a light jacket with guitars on it. I got a Blondie Tote Bag, that is so fricking awesome.


I actually had noticed it a couple months ago, but thought that $15 was too much. When I went back, I saw it was on sale for 50% off! Score! Later we went to Cost Plus World Market, were I got a picnic basket I've been coveting for a while and also got a picnic kit that I thought was a good deal at $14.99, but was also 50% off. Score again!

Sammy Goes to Camp

Today, we got Sammy ready for her camp. She's staying all this week at a local university at a Science and Technology camp for girls. It's free! Everything is included: tuition, materials, room/board/snacks. It's limited to 40 girls a session. All girls have just completed 6th grade. Sammy was on the waiting list, and a girl dropped out so she was moved up.

We dropped her off in her dorm (not air conditioned - ouch) and got her set up. Then we went to the orientation meeting where they talked a little more about the program. They have a theme song they played for us: "Power Tools are a Girl's Best Friend."

Here's a little blurb on the camp:

• An opportunity for girls to learn more about what engineers do:
  Outstanding instructors with extensive backgrounds in engineering, technology and science, teach the workshops
• A one-week introduction to the world of technology and engineering.
• A camping experience at the Campus of the University
• A hands-on experience with high-tech equipment and processes

It's designed to catch girls at that age to get them interested in Sci/Tech careers. Very chick empowering. They do camp related things, like swimming and karaoke and movie night. They also take Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Ecology. There's a class called "MacGyver," which sounds so much fun! They have animation labs, they create their own websites. And the highlight of the week is airplane building. They create the parts and assemble a RC plane. I saw some pictures and it looks like they're about 3 feet long. Wednesday night we meet them at a fly field and watch them fly their planes. (Jilly, I keep thinking about you with this!)

Sammy's excited. I'm excited that she has this opportunity. I want her to know that she can do anything that she wants to do!