MAD Camp 2010 : GO!

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2

Last week was Music and Drama Camp at church. It is always a highlight of the summer for Ka'iulani. And this year was no exception. I saw her laughing with one of the pastors on the way out the door as I picked her up one afternoon, and I asked her what they were talking about it. She told me he had asked her which camp she liked better, his camp or CYT. And while she absolutely loved both, she told him that she really loved the one at her home church :-)
 Singing in the choir.


 


 The youngest group of kids in drama did a skit where they did a Bible Times and Modern Times contrast of the the story of Jonah. They called it Jonah and Joe. Alyssa was a flight attendant in the modern day sketch involving Joe. All the drama scripts were written during the week with the input of the kids' ideas. I thought that was really neat. The teen drama group did an amazing job!

One of the things I appreciate so much about our church is that it is not just a place for the kids to go to be ministered to {although this is a huge and invaluable part of the church!}, but it's also about giving the kids a ministry of their own. Whether it is through a ministry of donating items to people in need during VBS, or a more visible ministry where the children are actually in front of the church performing, the kids are given a platform to share what God has meant in their young lives, and it's such a great thing to see. And it gives the children a great chance to see how they have made a real difference to people. I say this with some measure of caution as I think it's important to note that it's not about saying what our church does well, or even just highlighting the talents of the kids and their teachers. It's about being grateful to the people in the church who invest so much in developing the young people of our church in whatever area of gifting they have, and most of all, pointing to God with their work, so that He may be glorified in it all.

That is what the theme of the week: GO! was all about. Showing the kids that because they are "surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses," people who care about them growing in their Christian life, there is nothing that should stop them from sharing the message of Jesus and impacting the people around them.

Sweet Applewood Festival

Every summer our town has a small fair called Sweet Applewood Festival, named after the bacon that is made here. We only live about 3 blocks away from the park that holds the festival and the live music fills our house for the weekend each summer, but despite that, this was only our 2nd time going to the fest.

My parents and I took the girls. Dave had to wait at the house for someone who was coming by to buy our broken snow blower. As we left the house, I was thinking how looking up our driveway gave the appearance of at least one of us being rather confused. A hot summer day and the snow blower was sitting front and center.
 




















And this was just the little dragon coaster. We couldn't believe they still wanted to ride this one, but they had a blast. Click on the photo to see funny, excited faces.


 Carousel sweetie. She loves naming all the horses as we go on the ride. Names like Sassa and Zazzu.


 And this game started a spending spree on carnival games... I think both of our parents have usually been the ones who have indulged the girls requests to play such expensive, hard to actually win games. But look how happy she is ~ she won an inflatable squeaky sledge hammer for this one, and a unicorn she named Blue Sky later in the day.


 Sweet Applewood's version of one of Kahiwa's favorite rides, The Scrambler. They called it The Sizzler here.


 Phew, all that spinning is done!


 The swings. I think the ride operator fell asleep while running this one. The girls were up there for several minutes.


 More games, more happy faces.


 The girls with their prizes, Alyssa's: Apple Spice and Tangie {short for Tangerine}, Emma's: Steve and Boo.


 A girl who takes her driving rides seriously. In the pic on the top right where you can't see her, she's ducking down to avoid an asteroid collision. That was my dad's guess.

Thank you so much to Grandpa and Grandma who treated the girls to such a fun day at the festival!! They loved it so much!

The Paine Center

In keeping with our summer of family field trips, yesterday we spent a beautiful day in Osh Kosh at the Paine Art Center and Gardens. We went there in December to see The Nutcracker in the Castle. You can see our last visit to the Paine by clicking here.



One thing we were able to do today that we didn't see at Christmas time was the lower level Family Discovery Area.
Emma loved drawing in the rectangles of this poster (top photo above) to create a scene. We have seen these things at other museums, we had just never taken the time to try it out before. I forget what they are called, but once her scene was drawn {she drew dirt and a seed, then rain and sun, followed by a growing flower} we put it in the circular thing behind her and spun it to see the sequence of events. It was really cool. She also enjoyed the model of the castle where she got to design how the landscaping could look.


Rebekah enjoyed tea time at the fancy table. A favorite game for her.


Ka'iulani loved the easel and mirror set up for her to draw a self portrait. She took her time and worked carefully, I thought her picture came out cute.


You may remember from our Nutcracker visit that photography is not allowed inside the mansion. The castle is awesome, my dad and the girls were finding secret doors to closets and cabinets hidden in the wood work of the walls, and the girls were peeking in the key holes of locked doors and they could actually see light and canvases and rugs behind the doors. It seemed there were hidden treasures everywhere, but unfortunately the family area is the only indoor place where photos can be taken. Outside in the gardens was a completely different story though, we took lots of pictures...









To me it looks like she has a secret to tell in this picture.








We took a few family pictures which was so nice. Although I take tons of pictures of the girls, Dave and I rarely get into the photos unless we are on vacation or celebrating a special occasion :-)



 


Didn't the pics of my parents and the girls come out nicely?


And even more rare, a photo of just the two of us.


In the afternoon we stumbled upon Lake Winnebago where we had a picnic lunch. They have a nice park there with a train and a couple of kiddie rides and a free zoo. My mom has all those pics on her camera though, so maybe there's a part 2 to this post :-) It was a great family field trip.

an afternoon at the lake and a friday playdate

Yesterday afternoon I took Emma and Rebekah to the lake. I was not being a very fun mom as I wouldn't let them get in the water. When we had those huge rains/flooding there was quite a bit of sewage that MMSD had to dump into the lake. The green signs were up indicating that the water was safe for swimming, but I know how Rebekah rarely keeps her mouth shut while in the water and Emma has a permanent smile that she just can't shake :-) , so the thought of the sewage lake water going into their mouths was a little too much for me. I'm not sure how many of the germs I actually spared them since I did grab a few buckets full of water to wet the sand so they could make a castle.
 Doesn't the lake look so pretty and blue and inviting? I probably had no reason for concern, I guess I would rather be safe than pukey {or worse}!


 Rebekah kept herself occupied making feet prints in the sand and Emma started working on a stick and rock sculpture. At first she couldn't get the rocks to balance on the sticks she had stuck into the sand.


 But a little determination goes a long way ~ Got it!!


 



And then today, Emma's friend Halle spent the day with us.
 




















Here the girls are making homemade playdough. We made playdough once when Emma and Halle were about 3 years old, and now it's something Halle asks to do just about every time she comes over. It had been a while so I was happy to take out the ingredients, even after they all three decided they needed to make different colors.


 The girls had also convinced me to buy these insanely HUGE marshmallows at Woodman's on our way back from picking Halle up in the morning. I don't even know how I was talked into this purchase, they are gross! The picture doesn't give a realistic view of how huge they actually are ~ and the pink ones are strawberry flavored. They enjoyed eating them, but I am confident they are the worst snack ever.

I always tell our girls what a sweet guest Halle is, and how I hope they are the same way when they visit friends' houses. She thanked me repeatedly throughout the day, and after thanking me for playing a board game with them, she told Emma this was the best day ever. Disgusting marshmallow snacks and all, she's still willing to play at our house.


I didn't make them sit at the table for the entire playdate :-). We went to the park too...
 


 Goggles Girl.


 By the time we brought Halle home in the evening they were all 4 {we had picked Alyssa up from church by this point} bargaining with me for a sleepover. All kinds of creative scenarios were being thrown from the backseat of the van.

When you're seven, there's no greater happiness than a friend you just can't get enough of!!

CYT's Disney On Broadway

The same week that Rebekah had ballet, Alyssa and Emma went to Christian Youth Theater's Disney on Broadway Camp. It was a lot of fun for the girls to have some friends there that they already knew from our church, and also have the chance to meet a lot of new friends too.
 The girls with their friends Nate and Rachel. They had fun themed activities for the kids all week, this day was dress up as a Disney character. Emma wanted to be Nemo, and Alyssa was one of Tinker Bell's fairy friends. Rachel was Snow White and we can't remember what Nate was, the girls thought he was a detective.


 Emma won 3rd place for her Nemo costume :-)


 They started each day with a game of freeze dance and a parade to show all the costumes of the day. All the kids cheered wildly throughout.


 And on team color spirit day, Ka'iulani won 1st place for her green team attire. Here she is being interviewed about her outfit selection.


At the end of the week they had a showcase where the children sang about 8 Disney songs from different movies. The choreography was really cute and funny, and the girls loved it.



 Kahiwa has already been asking if she can come back to CYT camp next summer. She loved all the songs and the dancing, even though it seemed a little hard on her healing ankle. Even now, about two and a half weeks after taking the cast off, riding her bike and scooter seems a lot easier for her than jumping and spinning does. She didn't complain about it at all, but I could tell it was at least a little sore.


 




















Alyssa said her favorite thing about CYT was singing the She's in Love song. She love, love, loved {!!} her solo and the dance that went with that song. She loved all the dancing, I think.

splish splash

Yesterday I took the two little girls to a nearby splash pad to cool off in the afternoon. Alyssa was busy with Fine Arts at church. It was a hot day, so of course, the tiny place was crowded, but the girls had tons of fun.
 




















The girls played together so sweetly. I love those times!!


 Simple summer pleasures. Just doesn't get any better!


 Tired little fish.

Rebekah Goes to Dancing School

Rebekah had a little Ballet Camp this week, and she loved it!
 She packed a tiny purse everyday, all the important stuff inside ~ chapstick, a toy cell phone, and $5. No idea where she came up with the money :-)


Several photos from the week follow. I was the paparazzi mom sitting in the back of class everyday ~ a little embarrassing but it's alright, hopefully she appreciates the pics when she's older, I love seeing them now.
 


 She was a funny mix of serious moments where she seemed to be in deep dance concentration mode, and other times she was just plain silly, laughing, and slipping and sliding all over the dance floor.


 


 She loved looking at herself in the mirror as they tippy toe walked down the floor.


 


This video borders on the longish side, I didn't have a ton of time to trim it down any further. There's a few funny moments about 30 seconds in where she gets a piece of hair stuck in her mouth, as she got it out she catches me in the mirror watching her and starts giving me the sweet eyes.
She's been singing that I Love My Dancing School song all week.

Thank you so much to my mom who express mailed up a pair of ballet slippers early in the week when we couldn't find a pair here that fit her. The missing pair mysteriously turned up later in the week. She favored Grandma's pair, but did have times that she preferred to be barefoot ~ imagine that, Rebekah not leaving shoes on her feet. Thank you, Grandma!!