Camp S'more gets dirty......

One of our Favorite weeks of the year is here! CAMP S'more! We don't do a whole lot of Girl Scout stuff but we love our one week of camp a summer. I volunteer as the nurse, and the kids all have a blast as campers ( including Hulk). This years theme was DIRTY JOBS and it was sooooo much fun.

The Daisies started the week making any farms, which they loved. over the week all the Daisies and Brownies earned their Insect badges.

 Ying and Yang were Juniors this year which meant all kinds of new adventures. 1st night sleeping over at camp and old enough to do archery which was a big hit!!!! The girls were in different units to give themselves a break from each other. They got dirty this week with a plumber, bee keepers, chefs, and our own park Ranger. They still had plenty of time for swimming, canoeing, arts & crafts, Adventure course and camp games. Our Adventure Course team has a lot of fun with the " get dirty" part.... digging for bugs in slime anyone?

Our over night Adventure was a bit rougher than  most. The girls lost it when it came to bed time. They've never slept in a tent outside and the noises overwhelmed them. After their counsolers were unable to calm them down, Mom/Nurse got called in. Guess who got to sit/sleep in a camp chair in front of their tent? Here's hoping next year goes smoother.......

Yang  had a rough day after sleepover. She ended up with a migraine between heat,emotion and lack of sleep. So she had to report to the clinic. After some medication and a nap in the air conditioning she was feeling better and got put to work cleaning the clinic. Her migraines are getting to the point where I can tell real from I need attention.  She has certain tells when they are real that she's unaware of at this point. This one was defiantly real so she got some TLC from mom/nurse, otherwise I am kinda a hard nose at camp. Suck it up Buttercup..lol.

Ying fared better the next day... maybe it was the dirt pudding?

Hulk had a fabulous time. He got to move out of the preschool group and into the "Boys Unit". Some of the older guys have been coming to camp since they were Hulk's age as their sisters have grown up an Mom's volunteered and now are the counselors for the boys..  They get to do all the stuff the girls do like swimming, canoes, archery,etc. They have a lodge on the other side of camp from all the girls have a great time. Over the year the camp has collected lost of cool Lego sets, games, and Nerf guns that the boys  get too since they aren't working on badges and awards. They even took a field trip to a local rock climbing gym. Hulk and 2 other boys were too young to do the actual archery range, so we set up Nerf bows and  make targets for them off the side of the range so they wouldn't feel so left out.

Summer Time......

Summer Break is upon us... the weather is warm and sunny and we've been taking advantage. Playing in the creek. Chasing fish, frogs, and cousins. The girls have been spending some of the hotter afternoons helping Grandma with puzzles.

 We also dove into to summer swim team. The girls have been  swimming since March twice a week and its done great things for their concentration. The meets were LONG but fun. No one is going to the Olympics any time soon but its great exercise.

Calling the end a bit early.....

 We Finished China with no fanfare, but some takeout. No art projects. Life is getting in the way right now and I am truly worn out creatively. My father is very ill and requiring a lot of daily care, trips to the doctor,and other random interruptions. My mother has also had surgery twice the in past month. The weather is so nice the kids are itching to play. SO..... I am throwing my hands up in the air. We've called and end to ECC for our family. I have loved ECC but for us its time to move on and let go. I don't feel I can do it justice and I just don't have the energy to  "push through" and drag the kids on. This is the season of our life and I am at peace with it. 

 We will finish the required days this year with basics and a mini unit study of Washington D.C. in preparation for our trip in early May. We are using the Junior Ranger Packets from the National Parks Service to aid our study. I was amazed to find the kids could earn so many badges while we are there. We are starting with the National Mall and Monuments Parks. 

India

India has probably been our favorite country. We've watched a few Bollywood movies, really expended our palates, and had a lot of fun with our own "Holi" festival. We returned for our South Florida excursion somewhat refreshed and jump in. We cooked various Indian dishes for almost 2 weeks. Many we liked, others not so much but we did learn a lot of Vegetarian cooking. So of our favorites were Butter Chicken, Goobi Aloo, Kachumber salad, and coconut rice.

Chickpea Curry

 Th e most fun this we did is celebrate the 1st day of Spring with our own "Holi" Festival. In India they celebrate the end of the dry season on the 1 st day of Spring with Holi. Holi actauly means "fire" and in India huge bonfires burn symbolizes the burning away of the old to make way for the new. It rained here so no bonfire, but the day after the bonfires are burned is "the Day of Colors". It is the day when you can let you hair down in India and be silly ( kinda of like our April Fools). Huge gatherings occur where rice based color poweders and water are thrown and sprayed on anyone walking by as a blessing for the new year. Smearing someone in the brightest colors is showing love and your wishes for the greatest blessings on that person. So my kids really enjoyed being allowed to mess each other up.

We made our own "colors" Using cornstarch and gel food coloring. It takes a few days so you need to plan ahead... Make your own Holi colors

We started the day with trying our hands at Rangoli Art... it lasted 10 min max.....

Then it was time to spread the blessings of Springtime......

We also took a field trip to local India buffet for lunch where the kids proceeded to try a little bit of everything on the buffet. Hulk really like Tikki Masala. Ying and Yang liked these Zucchini fritters and Spicy/Sweet chicken. Grandma came along for the Adventures as Daddy had had enough Indian food....

So this has little to do really with India, but its more of a proud Mom moment.... Hulk has been a very different kid from my olders to teach. I didn't do home school K and 1 st with the girls. My girls could read and write before Kindergarten and sort of competed with each other to see who could do more. It just sort of happened. Hulk has needed a much more laid back approach to reading and writing. Its working but internally I have had to struggle with the need for him to " be further ahead". So when he showed me this I had my "ah ha" moment from the Lord that I am doing the right thing for his unique creation. This is his first real original writing. Four colors is a true triumph, but so is his first real sentence... God is real!

Resources for India:

Pintrest Pages with recipes and crafts: 

South Florida Expedition-Everglades and Biscayne National Parks+ JohnPennekamp Coral Reef State Park

We took  a week break from ECC to take a Road trip to South Florida. We had a family wedding to attend and decided to make it into an adventure. The week before we left the kids began to work on the Junior Ranger Packets from the South Florida National Parks which includes Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve. It took the whole week to adequately cover the material in the  entire packet and watch a few videos. After driving the entire distance of Atlanta to Miami in one day, we crashed at the hotel after working off some energy at the pool. The next day we headed off to the Everglades.  We attended a walk along the Anahinga trail with a Park Ranger who pointed out  various species of of plants and animals. The kids enjoyed and kept a running tally of the Alligators the saw (28 that day..lol). After the walk, we turned in the kids packets at the visitor center. The rangers asked them a few questions about what they had learned which the kids answered easily and they were sworn. It made their day when the Rangers announced their inductions over the PA system.

Ying in front of an impressive Strangler Fig tree.

Can you find the Gator?

A few Cormac hanging out with the kids

American Alligator

Newest Junior Rangers at the Royal Palms Visitor Center. Everglades National Park.

 Later in the afternoon, We visited Biscayne National Park which is just about 30 min from the Everglades. Most of Biscayne National Park is underwater. there is a small area with trails and a jetty but most of the park is the water around the coral reefs off shore and is only accessible by boat. Currently the park is not running boat tours, but hope to start them up soon. We were able to go on a hike with a Ranger and a representative from the the Audubon society along the canals just outside the park in search of the West Indian Manatee.  We are able to spot two hanging out near  the lock doors at the end of the Brevard canal. The kids were very impressed with these gentle giants and ad to see that the bigger of the two had had at least one run in with a propeller blade based on an old scar on the tail.

Western Manatee

After our hike we headed back to the visitors center to turn in our packets and answer some questions unquie to Biscayne National Park. The Rangers were very impressed by how much the kids really knew about the parks from the packets. It was a great day.

The next day we headed out to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo. We had hoped to go on a snorkeling tour that day but the weather did not cooperate. The winds were too high and the seas rough, so the kids played around with there snorkel in the protected back beach of the park. We only took this one pic because Mom and Dad had to get in on the snorkeling fun. The rest of the trip was family fun and wedding events, which included a tour of the farm the wedding was on.

Africa- pictures only

Sorry, I am behind in getting stuff posted with writing. I am just going to post the pics from these  countries right now and hopefully get to elaborate later.

Chalk Sunsets with African Animal Silhouettes.....

North African Carrot Soup.  Recipe 

This on got 6 thumbs up!

Making Kenyan Chapati ( a type of flat bread)

Sukuma Wiki w. Chapati. Umm... the bread was good. the kids were not fans of the rest especially the greens, Recipe

Pintrest Page for Africa: https://www.pinterest.com/lettinghimlead/mfw-ecc-africa/

Deutschland- Pictures only

Sorry, I am behind in getting stuff posted with writing. I am just going to post the pics from these  countries right now and hopefully get to elaborate later.