Leah Says

Leah, out of nowhere: I have never sawn a unicorn in real life. 
Me: I don't think there are unicorns in real life.
Leah: Yes, there are.
Me: ...
Leah: I've only sawn horses before. 
Me: ...
Leah: Unicorns are a type of horse.


Leah, eating crinkle-cut french fries: These fries are so fancy. 
James: No, they're not. 
Leah: YES THEY ARE. 
James: ...
Leah: Just look at them! 

Tree Climber

 Leah is a tree climber. (Little trees, at least.) This is at Bethel park: 

Can you spot the Leah? (This is in our apple tree.) 

And a nicer photo of Leah in our little apple tree, by Sam. No fruit this year, disappointingly. 

She learned how to climb the big tire at Bethel park this year, too, though it's easier without shoes on. 

A different day at the same park, making a funny face: 

Diving & Swimsuits

 Amelie has been practicing diving! Such a fun milestone: 

Aunt Barb (the swimmer!) showed her how. 

Leah showing off in her swimsuit & sunglasses: 

Oh look, there's James in the background. 

Horse Camp

Amelie and James just finished up a week of horse camp at Sunny Oak Farm. I was trying to figure out what they could do this summer, and decided that it was relatively easy to stay 6 feet away outdoors on a horse. We snagged the last 2 spots in this camp after the place Amelie had her birthday party was all full for the summer. Also, all the campers were sibling groups, which I thought was neat. Here's Amelie and James and Rosie, the owner, in the background.

James on the last day/horse show for parents:

 Leah was not nearly as into the last-day horse show as she was running up and down the ramp, so she and I took a break and wandered over to another part of the property. I liked that this bench had horses on it. James joined us after his group was done and took this picture:

Amelie and Pepto.

James and Pokey:

They sent a whole envelope full of photos home, which I thought was nice & I especially liked this one since Amelie and James are both in it.

Amelie learned many horse facts and would like to go back next year. James said his favorite part was swimming. I liked that they had kids who'd attended camp for the last several years come back and be helpers.

 More photos from the last day/horse show:

They also brought home this darling craft project. They worked on it quite a while! Their first day home, they told me that they'd cleaned horseshoes for arts and crafts. When I picked them up the second day, I saw that they'd spray painted the aforementioned horseshoes, and then I guess they glued the pictures in and strung them up with ribbon. Now we just need to decide on where to hang them for good luck.

Butterfly Bench

 Amelie did a "stream scientists" class yesterday at Flat Branch park where they tested the water in four places for Ph and temperature (and several other things that I can't remember) and then did a little stream cleanup. It ended up just being her and one other girl, but she had a good time. Afterward, James and Leah wanted to play at the little park there and run through the sprinklers - you can tell James's sweats are wet. I convinced them to take a picture on the butterfly bench, but I couldn't convince them to play it straight.

4th of July 2021

We celebrated Independence Day by going to an outdoor potluck hosted by friends from church. We all also got to meet baby Maggie for the first time! Now that she's nearly one and walking and everything. Leah was particularly enamored. 

It was very, very hot, but decently nice in the shade. Of course, the kids were running all around out of the shade. I think they look quite nice, if somewhat sweaty and squinty, in their red-white-and-blue outfits. 

Amelie got a hunk of bark stuck in her toe while climbing a tree that required some minor first aid. (Not pictured.) James ate several kinds of desserts. We also got to see and pet their very tame chickens. I lost track of Amelie momentarily, but she was just in the chicken coop. 

We wanted to watch the big municipal display like always, but there were several challenges. Not the least is our dog, whose baseline neuroses were all on full alert due to the random firecrackers being set off in the neighborhood and more of us being gone at the same time since Uncle Joe and Aunt Jen were visiting. So I decided we'd bring him with us, and if he flipped out, I'd go back and do crisis intervention with him in the van. I didn't know how he'd do at the display, but I knew he'd be totally miserable at home alone. 

Sam's priorities were someplace that wouldn't be too crowded and most importantly, that would have little traffic and be easy to get out of quickly once the show was over. After much careful study, he decided upon the little park by our church and it turned out to be a good fit. There were more people there than I thought - still not a ton like normal at Flat Branch -  and a lot of folks were set up in the elementary school parking lot/playground across the street, but it was still easy to keep a good distance away from folks and we could see about 80% of the fireworks. It was a huge show, so 80% was still very impressive. 

It's hard to get a good picture at dusk: 

I think it's funny that I'm the one who moved and blurred this one. Spark thoroughly enjoyed himself and behaved like a normal, good dog! The fireworks didn't seem to bother him at all, just the kid who careened into our space (and even that was fine). 

I'm sure they got lots of bug bites in exchange for the better view lying on the grass. 

Here's what some of the earlier, lower fireworks were like just over the trees. The later ones were up higher in the sky. 

Belated End of Year Projects Post

I never made a post about the kids' end-of-year projects. Then I ran across James's teacher's Twitter feed the other day and it reminded me of it. I'm not on Twitter & didn't realize she had one, I don't think. (I might have to make another post of pictures of James from school last semester.) 

It's a Ridgeway tradition to make t-shirts with the pictures the kids draw of their research animals. James is on the far left: 

Here's the cover of his report: 

And one of the pages: 

"Oh Baby
Blobfish lay 2,000 eggs at a time, sometimes 100,000! Blob fish give birth once. Sad warning. There are only 420 Blobfish left because only 1-2 survive." 

Sam made a video of James giving his presentation. 

Amelie's end-of-year project was on the Hacker Trail. She's originally picked the Cahokia mounds, but found out later that it had to be something they'd studied during the year, which Sam kept griping was not very "individually guided education" of them. 

After much procrastination, she made a diorama of a wagon train. Leah kept playing with the pieces. The wagons are toothpaste boxes, toilet paper rolls, felt, and toothpicks. 

And she made a display with a map, facts, and photos/drawings: 

 I was able to watch her presentation from work while on a break. 

Go Kart Racing and Mini Golf

Amelie had her last girl scout meeting of the year - and only the 2nd one in person. Their troop leader was a rockstar in coordinating all the patches and activities from home. They did a go-kart racing party to celebrate. I had to work so Sam dropped her off, and it was out at Midway, so he stayed with the other kids and played mini-golf with them while they waited on Amelie's bunch. 

Leah looks like she's wielding the golf club as a weapon. 

James got a hole-in-one! 

Leah cried a tiny bit when the ball went in the final hole and disappeared. James informs me that there were no windmills. 

And here's Amelie out on the track: 

Sam compiled a video. Blogger's changed how these get embedded so I hope this works: