MUUSA

The Buffaloe family spent the last week near Potosi, Missouri at the YMCA Trout Lodge. We went to MUUSA, which stands for "Midwest Unitarian Universalist Summer Assembly."

We stopped at a Mexican restaurant just outside of Linn, Missouri on the way down. Amelie is showing off her cast for her broken wrist (which unfortunately meant she couldn't swim in the lake).

Amelie did get stand on a turtle sculpture, though. She also got to sit under numerous trees, which is a favorite activity of hers.

We all took a boat ride around the lake. It was called a "boat float" because they gave us root beer floats beforehand.

The kids are standing in a loft area overlooking the dining hall. The lodge served three semi-healthy buffet meals a day.

Amelie and Sam took a kayak out for a ride. One of those balconies on the top floor of the lodge that can be seen in the first photo was ours.

We enjoyed taking a few selfies from our balcony.

James got to swim in the lake at least 8 times. He enjoyed splashing around in the water and going down the water slide. Amelie made numerous sand castles and tried catching fish in a bucket (and claims to have been successful twice).

Amelie and James enjoyed getting candy a couple of times from a store at the lodge. James is concentrating here on a sour straw.

Amelie made a good friend in her class named Wesley (the one with the hat). He came all the way from Utah to attend the camp.

On our last day there, Amelie and James got to race remote control cars around a dirt track.

James is walking down a ramp in front of the arts and craft center. We painted numerous ceramic animals there.

One of the highlights of the camp was getting to take various workshops. The kids were in their own classes during the day, and Leah was in the nursery. Each morning, Crystal got to take a tai chi class, while Sam got to take a class on making mandalas and painting wooden pallets. Sam made this wooden pallet to put on the play house.

Sam and Crystal also took an acrylic paint class together. Crystal made one abstract painting using ink on yupo paper.

She made another painting using acrylics and fiber paste for added texture.

Crystal also painted a picture of the apple tree outside of our house.

Here's the original picture for comparison.

Sam painted a bridge from our neighborhood park.

Here's the original for his painting.

We didn't always have a camera with us, so many of our best memories weren't captured on film. Some highlights include Sam playing a well-received drum solo on his new slap-top cajon at one of the nightly coffee houses, Crystal and Amelie learning a Sufi dance, the kids attending a nightly reading of a Harry Potter chapter, and the kids drawing about a hundred pictures in our two-story hotel room.

Overall, the kids had a great time, and they've asked to go back next year (when hopefully Amelie can do some actual swimming).