Rylie finished a week of drama camp through Legacy School of the Arts (where she takes dance and voice). The production was Honk!, Jr. The kids amaze me every year how much they can accomplish in just one week. This year's production was marvelous, as usual! Rylie played the part of "Barnacles" - a goose - and also played a toad in one scene. She had a full week of singing and dancing!
Josh has spent two weeks in July volunteering through YVC (Youth Volunteer Corps). The first week was at S.E.A.T - where they do equine therapy. The volunteers mulched trails, built fences and helped out around the barn. It was hot and stinky. He came home every day smelling like sweaty teenager and horse! But they worked hard and it was much appreciated. The final day, SEAT bought all the volunteers pizza for lunch.
The second week he volunteered at Kansas City Community Kitchen where 500 meals are served daily to those in need. The volunteers fix the meals, wash dishes, serve meals and help clean up afterward. It's been a good experience learning that not all life is like ours in Johnson County, KS.
After a summer full of sleep away camp, day camp at the nature center, art classes, and dance, voice and drama - we're all ready for a bit of a slowdown to the end of our summer. Fortunately, our fall activities don't begin til late September (except for dance/voice classes that start back up at the end of August) so we'll have a bit of a break from it all for awhile!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
Colorado Gold
Darren, Josh and Ellie got up super early on July 3 to head to CO for a family reunion. Their plane left at 6:30 AM so they left home about 4:30 AM for the airport! They had a wonderful time seeing family and doing fun things. On Saturday, after everyone else left, they took a side trip to Idaho Springs, CO about 30 min outside Denver. They went to the Argo Gold Mine. It was really interesting and they all had a great time. They saw a movie about the mine, saw the cars the miners rode in on, held a gold nugget that was worth $2500 (and Ellie said she held a "dinosaur turd" - no one's sure how they knew it was a dinosaur turd, but that's what the guide said it was...) Ellie could tell me how the mine came to be and about an accident with water filling the mine which shut down the mine for several years.
Oh, and they got to "pan" for gold. It was definitely something that was created so everyone would find something, but they got the idea of how panning for gold worked, and had a great day in the process. Josh sent me a video of the river right by the mine... turns out they had more business with white water rafters that day, than people visiting the actual mine. Fortunately, our crew stayed on dry land!
Oh, and they got to "pan" for gold. It was definitely something that was created so everyone would find something, but they got the idea of how panning for gold worked, and had a great day in the process. Josh sent me a video of the river right by the mine... turns out they had more business with white water rafters that day, than people visiting the actual mine. Fortunately, our crew stayed on dry land!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Circle of Life
We had an encounter with the circle of life today. Josh had spent the night with a friend and we went to pick him up. On the way home we stopped to take care of a library issue (we forgot to return some books and had a $58 fine! But that's another blog... all's well now ;-)). As we were heading back to the main road, we had to cut through a large parking lot. Out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw a mother duck and her ducklings go under a parked car. The car looked as if it had been parked there a long time...it was dented and looked undriveable. We watched them for a little bit to see if they were going to move on, and if so, we would try to keep them safe.
Actually, we called both Operation Wildlife and animal rescue to see if there was anything they could do - but both said leaving them alone was the right thing to do. If they started moving we could keep them safe by stopping traffic, but otherwise, the mother duck knew what she was doing.
Turns out, she definitely did. As we watched, a hawk came down and swooped something up with him. It wasn't a live duckling, but one that had probably been attacked just prior to us driving up and the mother shuttling her babies to safety. He flew off with the meal and perched on a nearby telephone pole. We kept watch, but the mother stayed safely under the car.
I did get out of the van and tried to locate a nest. I didn't ever find one, but there were some bushes next to the car that looked very dense, and could have had a nest down in there. Actually, that's right next to where the hawk got the duckling, and there were two others who didn't make it either right by the bush. We're guessing perhaps the nest was either in the bushes or nearby and she scooted the rest of the brood to safety.
It was a hard lesson on the circle of life, but as I pointed out, the hawk's baby needed to eat too... and that could be one of the reasons ducks have so many ducklings...not all will survive to adulthood. We ended up spending about an hour watching the ducks before I convinced the kids that they would be ok, that the mother knew what she was doing and wouldn't come out til it was safe.
When we got home, the girls looked out their bedroom window to check on the dove that is nesting on the branch right outside. There are two babies there that are providing hours of entertainment. Turns out, they seem to enjoy Rylie's singing. She's been practicing the music for her upcoming week of drama camp - they are doing Honk! Jr. (a version of the ugly duckling story). Whenever she sings they perk up and look her way ;-)
Actually, we called both Operation Wildlife and animal rescue to see if there was anything they could do - but both said leaving them alone was the right thing to do. If they started moving we could keep them safe by stopping traffic, but otherwise, the mother duck knew what she was doing.
Turns out, she definitely did. As we watched, a hawk came down and swooped something up with him. It wasn't a live duckling, but one that had probably been attacked just prior to us driving up and the mother shuttling her babies to safety. He flew off with the meal and perched on a nearby telephone pole. We kept watch, but the mother stayed safely under the car.
I did get out of the van and tried to locate a nest. I didn't ever find one, but there were some bushes next to the car that looked very dense, and could have had a nest down in there. Actually, that's right next to where the hawk got the duckling, and there were two others who didn't make it either right by the bush. We're guessing perhaps the nest was either in the bushes or nearby and she scooted the rest of the brood to safety.
It was a hard lesson on the circle of life, but as I pointed out, the hawk's baby needed to eat too... and that could be one of the reasons ducks have so many ducklings...not all will survive to adulthood. We ended up spending about an hour watching the ducks before I convinced the kids that they would be ok, that the mother knew what she was doing and wouldn't come out til it was safe.
When we got home, the girls looked out their bedroom window to check on the dove that is nesting on the branch right outside. There are two babies there that are providing hours of entertainment. Turns out, they seem to enjoy Rylie's singing. She's been practicing the music for her upcoming week of drama camp - they are doing Honk! Jr. (a version of the ugly duckling story). Whenever she sings they perk up and look her way ;-)
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