Permit Driver

 Amelie passed her permit test! First try!

She was not prepared for the questions about her height, weight, eye color, and zip code, however! To be fair, those were not in the book!

We drove very, very slowly around the middle school parking lot!

And then, a couple of weeks later, the real permit came in the mail (not just the paper copy): 

Glasses!

 Jim got glasses. He picked these out, out of all the possible frames: 

He kept saying things like, "WOW." "I can see!" "It's really blurry without these," "That's, like, so much better," and "I can read that over there!!" and then "Why are you laughing at me??" 

First Day of School 2025

 Happy first day of school, everyone!

Amelie's a sophomore at Hickman. She gets to sleep in a whole hour later than the other kids. And, miracle of miracles, the bus was exactly on time today (for the ride to school). 

Jim is in the 7th grade at Jeff Middle. 

Leah's in 3rd grade with Ms. Bashem again at Ridgeway (unit C!) She's the only kid who was VERY PARTICULAR about her first day outfit. I did (cruelly) prevent her from wearing a pony tail of fake purple hair. Maybe later this week! Ha!

Sam got up at the crack of dawn & bought fresh donuts for breakfast. 

Here's to a good year!

Swift Nature Camp

Like I said before, we did a whole lotta camp this summer! Jim especially! He spent 3 weeks at Swift Nature Camp in Wisconsin. They also did the photo uploads so we could somewhat stalk him on Facebook & he sent 2 letters home (& I think one more to Nana Jana). 

He flew on an airplane for the first time to get there: 

                                                                                           

There was a pig named Bubba who ate the leftover food scraps from the mess hall: 

This was from polar bear swim - Jim says it was very cold when they swam in the morning - though it doesn't seem very polar bearish to me in late July!

I asked what was under Jim's shirt & he said it was a pillow for a skit for vespers. They were doing the Lorax & were the big backs who speak for the trees.  

Jim, wearing a flannel shirt & swim trunks. (Apparently we forgot to pack his second pair of swim trunks so he just had the one pair.) 

Jim was on the vespers committee. "The trees are elders, we must respect them." 

Clowning club: 

"This is probably some kind of game. We did a lot of like, camp games." 

This was when a guy came to the camp & talked about animals. He had a lot of turtles. 

Board games club: 

You had to push the ball with your nose: 

This was at the nature center - learning about ornithology. 

They canoed over to the island on the last day: 

This was at opening campfire. I asked why Jim was wearing the skeleton hoodie & he said it was cold.  

It looks like Jim has an escort of armed guards: 

Gaga ball: 

More Gaga ball: 

On the right: 

On the left: 

Sam had big car trouble on the way up to get Jim, so I had to rescue him! It was nice to be able to go pick Jim up together and see his cabin and some of the camp, though. 

Camp Wakonda 2025

We did a whole lotta camp this summer. 

Sam took Jim & Leah down to Camp Wakonda (about 1/2 an hour west of Springfield) - it was Jim's 4th year coming to Wakonda & his 6th and final week of sleepaway camp this summer. Leah had been anxiously, eagerly, excitedly awaiting her turn to go away for a week and this was it! Amelie decided she'd rather bum around at home & revel in having no little siblings instead. Even though she had fun last year! (Link to last year.) 

The camp very helpfully posts pictures each day so that we can stalk the children. The kids were in different age groups & I think they do a lot of stuff with their cabin, but they still did see each other sometimes at meals they said - and we got this one photo of them together at the pool. (Pics in reverse order!) 

Gaga ball? 

Lake day: 

Hoe down: 

More square dancing: 

Playing a game during cowboy dinner - when they cooked their meal outside on the campfire. Leah said she had Mac & cheese & I asked how on earth they made Mac & cheese over the fire & she says there was a choice of what they wanted & they wrapped up the food in foil & put it in the coals. 

Jim in the middle of the pack: 

Leah making a fun pose - all the way on the left: 

They could choose different clubs to do each day the night before. Leah said her favorite part of camp was the clubs & her favorite club was junior lifeguarding. Here they are headed out to junior lifeguarding club: 

Headed to music club - they practiced the songs that they sang at the closing campfire & then at the closing ceremony when the parents came to pick them up: 

One of the junior counselors & one of the counselor-counselors (according to Leah): 

It seems Leah managed to put both legs in one side of her romper: 

This was the opening campfire - she says she doesn't remember what she was volunteering for here!

Leah had 10 girls in her cabin, but one went home before the week was over. 

Where are Jim's shoes? 

I asked Leah if she ever got homesick & she said no & that she definitely wants to go back again next year. 

Here's the video they played at the closing ceremony - Jim's lighting the campfire: