bluebird fly up

Lizzie attended her first camp fire winging ceremony, "flying up" from kinder to first grade in her camp fire group. there were only four groups at this level so the ceremony was quick, fun and inspirational... loving this second time around

 

i have a coed group, sometimes a challenge, but well worth it when i see these two kids who are willing to link arms with no fuss...






(liz sports pink hair courtesy of the spring carnival today at school)






wo he lo! the next generation!

camp gvl, full on blizzard!!

a weekend full of visiting family members (we had like 20 people crammed into this tiny cabin)... brought a total blizzard our way.

 

 

i took a walk by myself to the lake today and just soaked up the chill, the mist, the fog...the silence



the sun and clouds reflecting on the lake






trying to hold on to that lovely walk while i plan for a seven-day-in-a-row workweek...

knotts berry farm

a quick trip to knotts berry farm, was proud i made it on a few of the roller coasters. the last time i did a really crazy roller coaster i became so sick i thought i would have to go home. it took hours to get over so i have been scared to even try for many years. i get car sick and sea sick easily (always have and so does lizzie) and have been working hard to not get sick on our cabin trips, mind over matter is most of it i find. there is something about motion sickness that sneaks up on you though, for me, if something is timed just right, whether it be the lighting or the movement or who knows, i get sick no matter what. there is no stopping it. sooooooo... i hope to keep working on getting better because that ghostrider was a fun ride!!!

 

 

some old fashioned fun at knotts, getting held up on the train (although some of the guests at knotts looked like they might fire back, yikes!)


















I think Knotts is a great alternative to Disneyland, although I do love Disneyland. It is cheaper and less crowded and has an old fashioned feel. great way to spend a day1

this and that

so, the deck at the cabin really gets a beating from the weather, we have refinished it twice in 5 years and it is in need of refinishing again. what a massive job it is too! chris decided to go up and do it himself last weekend and somehow managed to do it all by himself. 

 

 

before and after, what a difference!



i wasn't hip to the color the first time we did it this orangey/red but it has grown on me now. we are beginning to see things fall apart on the cabin and it is needing more attention (paint chipping, fixtures breaking etc etc) i am getting that nervous feeling that the honeymoon is over. but that's what home ownership gives ya! at this point, we will fix what we can and live with what we can't.


a few things i am liking at the moment: (not sure why i can't get paragraphs on typepad now...???)



two cool movies.

a cool house.

something to dream about.

another song to learn on guitar.

looking forward to a quieter weekend with only a few things to do, guitar lesson, picnic lunch with my parents and watching the girls ride their bikes, checking out a high school musical with friends. i have been busy adding extra work days to pay for all the fun summer camps i have lined up for the girls this year. they are both doing a month long academic camp at our local college ( i loved walking the campus as a kid, really inspired me and i ended up graduating from there with my bachelors degree), three different camp fire camps and lizzie will do a stint at ballet camp (emily had 4 years of ballet and liz has been begging to go....so we will give it a try!) not sure if we will get swim lessons in, i am such a fan of swim lessons...hmmm, gotta work on that one.

i am hoping for some long weekends up at the cabin, long bike rides and some beach days. yay summer!

here are a couple more grand council fire photos:



(singing "say when")



the processional



a really gorgeous stage this year! wo he lo!

gcf

a snapshot from grand council fire. this is the year end formal camp fire event to celebrate all the accomplishments each member and their group have made together. the wo he lo recipients (with loving speeches given by their family members) is the highlight for me. i hope to see a few of my girls (and boys now!) up there getting their medallion some day.

 

 

off with those training wheels

tpl

the potential lunatics are exactly the type of "thing" i am on the lookout for. that "something special thing" whether it be an author, book, skill, craft, topic or "whatever it is thing" that i can share with my camp fire groups. ever since i became a leader, i look at everything as "potential fodder" for a lesson, a meeting a ??? so, when i stumbled on to this band last year i instantly thought about how cool it could be to have our very own camp fire concert. well last weekend, thats exactly what we had! it goes even further, thanks to emma, i am taking guitar lessons and she inspired one of my camp fire kids (amber) to take lessons as well, directly from emma. during the show amber was called up to the stage to perform and she amazed us with a song she had written herself! emma also called the audience up to sing with her. at first just a few trickled up but then in a burst of energy, a dozen or so rushed the stage. emma made jokes, she played a great verson of the "circle game" song, she blended slow and fast songs. more than a few parents said, "wow! who is that kid! how old IS she again?" she's 14 and her brother is 11 and yes they are sooooo rockin cool! thank you TPL for making me look like the hip leader i think i am, ha ha!!

 

 

on a side note, this is my 800th post! egad!