Elise, a teenager

 Sometimes Elise gets really cool birthdays. For instance, this year we were traveling in Virginia and arrived home the day before her 13th. Not one to waste an opportunity, she decided that our beach day in Virginia would be an ideal time to pre-celebrate her birthday. And why not? I wrapped up a new beach aquarium to bring along as a gift, and off we went. (Note: this is her second time receiving a new beach aquarium on a beach vacation as an early birthday gift. It just works.)

The beach aquarium, on
vacation.

Amazing trip aside, a birthday at the beach is pretty ideal. She filled her aquarium with critters and then shells, swam until she was too battered to stay out anymore, and enjoyed a Twinkie which, apparently, at least one of my children never remembered having, ever (bad mom? Or good mom? You decide...). Back at the condo/timeshare, we celebrated with ice-cream. 

But her real birthday, over a month ago now, was also a lovely day. Coinciding with the first full day back from our trip meant that it was an easy decision to cancel school for Elise, Naomi (except math), and, well, not really for Kalina--sorry, Hon. 

Making chocolate raspberry
cheesecake in her new
shirt from Kalina!

Elise further made things easy by making her own birthday cheesecakes while I worked on unpacking and laundry. Bless you, Elise! What a great way to spend your 13th! Naomi helped wherever she could, making sure Elise was happy, doing her own laundry, and self-entertaining. Kalina did school, poor girl.

And of course there were presents! The day before, Elise had voiced sweet, mild, considerate, polite, carefully worded Elise-like concern that before we left on our trip, the present table had looked a little scarce (but it did have a few gifts ready to go!!! In my defense!). Would she have a big birthday just like her sisters?

Even if it killed us.

Naomi likes to do elaborate
bows. Using cat figurines, for
instance. 

A quick trip to the grocery store after arriving home Sunday evening, a decorating session later that evening, efficient present-wrapping techniques, a little scooting of still-unpacked bags around corners and out of sight, and by bedtime it totally looked like a birthday. A 13th one, in fact.

And fortunately, Elise seems to bring her own party wherever she goes at times. So never mind that the rest of us were all running a little lower than usual on party spirit, Elise had  delightful day.

Her first gift was a shirt from Kalina (see photo), that ironically we'd purchased even before Elise started her crayfish census of the stream. For a win!

Naomi gave her a cat treat cookbook that she's already dug into, producing lovely little muffins that the cats, of course, ignored. But we'll try again!

She also unwrapped a game or two, and a couple books throughout the day (a textbook dedicated to plankton! She might finally get her questions answered--or, more likely, come up with new ones), in addition to a digital microscope and an actually warm, nice sleeping bag. See, Child? We didn't forget you! Later Elise declared she got good presents--maybe one of her best birthdays ever. 

That evening, Grandpa and Marianne helped us celebrate with a trip to IHOP. The girls and I split a few things, and it turns out that with all those fancy pancakes, we totally didn't need the cheesecake.

But we tried it anyway, and each ate our requisite two bites. An even bigger challenge was lighting all the candles--which spelled Happy Birthday (see how there are exactly 13? Perfect!), but were so tiny that by the time the last one was lit, the first one had burned all the way through. To make it even more fun, they scattered wax when blown. Lots of laughs!

And so Elise celebrated turning 13. Yay!

But wait... we weren't going to let her 13th go by without a big bash with her friends! Before the trip she'd spelled out a few things she wanted to do at her party (namely campfire, treats, and friends), and she was content to wait until an undisclosed date to celebrate since we had not only our big trip, but also our AHG camping trip and an AHG sleep-under-the-stars astronomy night to keep us busy and replete with campfires/treats.

And then the best thing happened--Elise, so busy planning the AHG campout as part of her leadership position--seemed to have forgotten that we hadn't planned her party yet! 

A new planktology
textbook, tor the girl who
thought she knew
everything.

Which meant we were in the ideal situation to surprise her. And so we did. ALL of her friends planned to come, including a few sisters of friends that she enjoys too. Kalina had the brilliant idea of planning minute-to-win-it games, which Elise loves, and she prepared the materials. I planned the food (pizza + s'mores) and made sure the house was ready for guests, and Naomi helped me shop for decorations and prizes for the games. Matt chopped wood and ferried Elise away an hour before her guests were to arrive. 

Which was a good thing, because I was about ready to burst with the secret, having had to constantly remind myself, "Nope, can't say that," over and over again. Elise, for her part, seemed antsy all day, asking to make brownies and for a trip to a not-so-local state park on Saturday.

Despite my slicing myself with a letter opener looking through a drawer for batteries, Naomi, Kalina, and I were just putting on the finishing touches when the guests started arriving. Eventually, we shoed everyone outside and into hiding places almost in time for Elise to arrive home. 

As it was, even though our "surprise!" was a bit less coordinated than it could've been, she was super surprised and super overjoyed to see all her friends in her yard, ready for an evening of fun. We did it!

Matt rushed off to get pizza (which was delayed 15 minutes) while everyone chatted and caught up--a few of her friends hadn't seen each other in a while. We ate, started a fire, and then tried to keep everyone out of the fire while we played games.

As it turns out, the games were crazy, but I suppose I should've expected nothing less from a group of 13-ish-year-olds. They moved Oreos from their foreheads to their mouths, using nothing but facial movements, they moved cotton balls using only the Vaseline we put on their noses, they ate graham crackers hanging from strings, they guessed the number of items in boxes without looking, and they threw cheese puffs at teammates wearing shaving-creamed garbage bags to see who could get the most to stick. It was epic. It was a bit terrifying. It was just perfect.

The prizes were spot-on (yay, I picked prizes for teens!), the s'mores were delicious, if rushed, and no one got hurt, just a bit scared once. Elise opened her gifts, most of which showed lots of personality, and the parents arrived. And our girl glowed.

To be clear, Naomi and Kalina both commented that they would not like a surprise party, but they both really enjoyed helping with Elise's. We should do this every year, right?

Maybe not. But we're all glad that Elise was completely celebrated at 13!

___________________________________________________________

Elise at 13 is growing into a lovely, discerning, tuned-in, and conscientious girl. In fact, she's about as discerning and conscientious as you can be while continuing to be and have a lot of fun.  There might be times when she leans more toward one side than the other, but overall she makes it work.

She's learned the value of asking the words, "How can I help?" during stressful times, and has proven herself very helpful indeed (see cheesecake statement above). She enjoys the challenge of relieving burdens, and aims to be trusted and relied upon.

Continuing in her love of the outdoors, Elise planned our AHG campout, and still tries to sneak outside between school subjects so she can check for baby snapping turtles in the stream. Sometimes you just can't turn that off. She caught quite a few turtles last spring, and released them, only to find some of them again later. One hung around for quite a while, and she found him almost daily for a week or two. Later, she found a small population of crayfish in the stream and spent time recording their measurements and taking a census. She will make a very smooth transition to adult life as long as she becomes a marine-animal biologist in the field, and part-time pastry chef.

As such, Elise also loves baking and, to a lesser extent, cooking. She's becoming a more adventurous eater as well (broccoli, occasionally!), and willingly tries to find healthy snacks if pressed (it's complicated). Her new favorite thing to make is energy balls, but she'll pretty much make anything that tastes good. 

She strives to make good decisions and it stresses her out when other people don't... however she's not so grown up that she doesn't also make decisions to cover herself with mud in the stream, with friends. But at least she knows for a fact it's a dumb thing to do and doesn't pretend it's anything else as she carefully heads upstairs to shower.

Elise is still enchanted by pretty beads, and enjoys making the occasional jewelry (but not wearing much, as her ears still aren't ready to accept lots of changes of earrings). She also likes painting, and is taking a watercolor class.

And she loves reading, specifically books about people overcoming challenges, but also silly stuff or serious stuff. She enjoys her voice lessons (especially one particular song right now), continues to inch along on guitar, and is improving her acting skills.

Now that Elise has embarked on 7th-grade pre-algebra, she no longer complains about math and sometimes I have to stop her and make her do things like use a calculator instead of pencil/paper, stop complaining about the easy problems, or move to something else. I actually did kind of think this might happen, and it's been amazing not to have that particular "disagreement" every day this year. 

She's flying through writing, learning some real French, enjoying digging in to ancient Egypt, and not fussing as much about grammar, either. Our Elise is growing up! New this year: tests and grades. After a slightly rocky start brought on in overconfidence in our general science knowledge (i.e., she declined to study much because she figured she knew everything), she's found herself more than able to achieve the A's she wants. For the sake of her own pride if nothing else.

Elise loves to volunteer, and has been helping with the younger classes at church (along with her sisters), plus she helped with a special needs VBS over the summer, being a buddy for an attendee. She looks for chances to help out other places as well. 

She strives to use good communication to solve problems--and often succeeds. And she's trying to build her courage by doing things that (reasonably) scare her. A few firsts this year included leveling up to her coveted Pioneer level of AHG (more lock-ins! Planning their own badges! More challenging badgework! Yay!), jumping off a diving board, acquiring an email address, making a day's worth of meals for the family, sewing her own water bottle carrier, getting along with the strange teenagers at theater, organizing our garage sale (okay, I helped), and babysitting for some neighbor kids.

In fact, on her first job, she even had to feed the kids all dinner and put the 3-year-old to bed! Not only do the kids (and parents) LOVE her, but she totally maintained her composure and sweet patience when the 3-year-old kept getting out of bed because life was too exciting to be sleeping. Since then, she's babysat them a few other times, usually bringing them to our deck to hold her pet critters and (very mindfully) playing with them in the (ankle-deep) stream. And she earned the money she needed to pay her half of summer camp!

But she's not 100% grown up, either. She's still vocally annoyed she can't climb the maple tree to the top (she totally could--it's just a really tall tree). She adores sweets a little too much (does anyone outgrow that, ever?), loves squishy things, is often too loud, forgets to brush her teeth, neglects to clean the occasional cage unless asked, holds a grudge against the dentist, and sometimes forgets to do what she's told.

But we wouldn't have her any other way, would we?

Happy 13th, sweet girl!

Naomi at 10

Three kids in double digits! Seems impossible, but it's not. And Naomi makes a fantastic 10-year-old.

The day started, as most special days seem to, waaayyyyy too early. For both me and Naomi. I blame cancer for my early start, and excitement for Naomi's. 

No matter. Naomi had cleared it with me that she could wake her sisters up at 6:45 to begin the festivities. So she only had, like, an hour and a half to wait--but that's why books were invented, right?

We'd all decorated for Naomi the night before, and had her birthday cereal--magically appearing dragon Lucky Charms--ready to go on the table. Everyone dug in (except me, I dutifully ate an egg and toast), and I hustled off to 8:00 am radiation (I'll go on my birthday, too). Poor Naomi had to wait until I returned home before opening gifts, but I don't get the impression she had a hard time waiting with her sisters to entertain her. 

The only one still in her PJs, Naomi clearly hunted for a new birthday dress on the table. She'd asked for a penguin dress, penguins being her favorites right now, but those are difficult to find in August, and sometimes at all. She landed on a floppy package that did feel dress-like, if one could tightly fold a dress for a 10-year-old into a small, thin rectangle.

But it turns out she was close, because inside the gift was a yard of lovely penguin fabric from Kalina, that she promised to help Naomi turn into a dress, or a skirt, or a pillowcase, or a bag, or whatever. Super sweet!

I then handed Naomi her actual birthday dress, wrapped up in a larger box just for fun. And then she opened an adorable 3D otter puzzle, and that was plenty for the time being. 

Naomi of course got to take the day off of school, but Kalina and Elise didn't, entirely. Although with Elise about to explode because the super-cool, exciting gift she'd found for Naomi (and, admittedly, herself as well) set to arrive a day or two late, plus a birthday to celebrate, it was a bit of a struggle to get Elise to focus on anything. She did her math, her science, plus the unofficial crayfish census project she's been working on ever since she started finding these beloved critters in the stream. But I digress.

Poor Kalina did her best to work through her math, but it was hot upstairs (major heat wave) and downstairs was loud. She still got a lot done.

Then we decided that a little PE was in order, and we went to "swim laps" at the neighborhood pool. Swimming seems to almost be a birthday tradition with all our summer birthdays, and it's good exercise when it's so hot outside. That's how we justified it, anyway.

We had the place to ourselves, unless you count all the floating bugs. If you count them the pool was, in fact, quite crowded. The girls not having birthdays today took turns with the pool skimmer to clear things up a little. 

Naomi showed off her swimming skills, which finally include plenty of ducking all the way underwater (nose plugged, of course), and even swimming underwater. But not jumping in from the edge yet.

Once back at home, we enjoyed Matt's awesome pancakes, with whipped cream and chocolate chips. Plus a bowl of veggies and fruit, because we really do need those things.

The afternoon passed with more gifts, and then our typical Jason's Deli meal, followed by a Dairy Queen ice-cream cake with Grandpa and Marianne. 

The next day, though, something even more exciting happened: Elise's gift for Naomi arrived! Elise, so excited about her gift for Naomi, and that one she ordered for herself as well, nearly died waiting for it in the mail, but somehow pushed through. The entire wait became sheer agony, but the elation... let's just say I'm surprised she didn't throw up, like she would've in her 4-year-old days. 

The gift for Naomi was a tracking bracelet, to follow a real live tracked penguin. We located him in South America, presumably just arriving at his nesting spot! I think. He hasn't moved since, so I'll be making a phone call.

Elise's gift to herself was a similarly tracked sea turtle. She now has a "pet" sea turtle off the coast of Florida. And Naomi has a "pet" penguin. Joy!

Naomi also got to celebrate with a few friends at a local trampoline park that she'd been eying ever since her last birthday, apparently desperate to launch herself into the air. So a couple weeks ago, when a particularly good summer sale was still in full swing, we loaded up three friends and let everyone loose on the trampolines. We do, by the way, have a trampoline at home--but these were bouncier. They had a blast.

We followed the bouncing up with DIY ice-cream sundaes at home, grateful that we hadn't reversed the order of activities.

And our little girl is 10!

____________________________________________

Naomi is a delight, with a lovely mix of quiet self-sufficiency, a goofy sense of humor, and a soft spot for all things little and cute. Even her stuffies kiss each other goodnight.

Her courage is currently under development, as she rode a horse and a waterslide this summer, in addition to auditioning for a musical. Of the three, she could picture riding a horse again, but definitely not a waterslide. Maybe the audition. 

She's greatly developing her music skills, covering lots of piano music with virtually no help at home and a good practice ethic. She has also made great strides with violin, and has stopped complaining quite so much when I ask her to practice, having enjoyed the fruit of her labor. Remember the super-long fingers of her itty-bitty baby days? She still has those and yes, as I suspected, they are piano-playing fingers! If only she'd trim her fingernails a bit more often--she certainly doesn't need the extra length.

Arts and crafts continue to be one of Naomi's favorite hobbies, and she's applying her practicing skills to pencil drawing and working methodically towards drawing really realistic animals. She continues to delight us with super-creative 3D crafts (as she calls them), combining materials to make adorable little animals. She certainly has an eye for cuteness. She can also crochet little 3D items.

Reading is another favorite, and Naomi continues to enjoy the historical fiction genre, among others. She can somehow be in the middle of four books at once. And her reading skills are carrying over to her writing, as she actually completed her first chapter book this year. About penguins. It contains many of the elements of great literature, including differing points of view and a tear-jerker backstory that explains some of the complex emotions of one character.

She made her own
travel pillow!

Practically speaking, Naomi can clean a whole bathroom, make more things in the kitchen (although cooking is, understandably, not her favorite unless she's flipping pancakes or grilled cheese), organize messy areas, check her way through a to-do list like nobody's business and sweep well. Now that she's 10, she's received a colorful laundry basket and the task of doing her own laundry, which she used to be excited about but now isn't so much. 

In school, she needs my help like once a week. Naturally, I work with her on several subjects anyway but sometimes only out of principle. 

He giggle continues uncontrollably at times, as she cracks up at anything the least bit silly. And in the other direction, she's gaining good composure and communication skills to use when things aren't quite perfect thanks, in large part, to Elise, with whom she practices a lot. Their relationship continues to grow into more friendship, much less frustration. They make a great team most days. 

Kalina, for her part, sweetly and carefully takes Naomi under her wing to help her with new skills, like running a sewing machine and solving a Rubik's cube. They can get pretty goofy together as well.

Naomi can occasionally now eat a food she doesn't like, as long as it's not, like, twice in two days or anything, and not anything she has a specific aversion to (beans, potatoes, meat--things like that). She's definitely a vegetarian (not wanting to disrupt any cuteness), and has started to accept the fact that maybe, someday, just maybe she might need to branch out so she gets enough nutrition. The seed is planted, but it's going to take a lot of watering.

She runs faster than most of her counterparts, paddles a canoe, jumps rope a gazillion times, hikes long distances without complaining, swims fully underwater (holding her nose, of course), and does her own hair. She can Google a photo of a cute sea otter with its mom (just type in "cute sea otter with mom"), select one safely, print it, and decorate her wall with it, with no help from me. Her new thing is fake sneezing, and she's surprisingly convincing.

The girl impresses with her theater skills, and can go from silent and still to slapstick comedy acting in a matter of seconds. One of her favorite things to do with her friends is to put on shows, and they've gotten fairly elaborate, with multiple acts and lots and lots of costume changes. 

Fortunately, she still has a little neighbor girl who's happy to play Playmobil and Calico Critters with her, and all her friends seem happy to do shows, craft, make things for her mice, and play outside as well. 

Speaking of mice, she lost two this year (not lost like they're missing--the other kind of lost). She grieved a long time, and worries about the remaining one. But she and her friends had lots of fun before that building interesting structures for the mice to explore, including a little restaurant, a store, a theater, and more. Two of her sweet friends even helped her build coffins when the time was right, and bury the mice, with Matt, in the backyard in probably the most adorable funeral I've ever heard of. Even the girls, though their respectful sadness, couldn't quite keep from cracking up at the cuteness of it all. [Update: in the writing of this blog post, she lost the third. We hope to host more at some point, as they've been a lovely pet. Or maybe a hamster.]

Sisters are just the best.

Naomi continue to adore younger kids, and her cousins top the list, of course. She's happy to do their bidding on the several days a year we see them, and enjoyed a cousin sleepover in Minnesota when we visited. She also plays with the neighbors' granddaughters who are all at least two years younger than she is. The neighbors just love her. And she helps with younger kids at church, endlessly sweet and patient.

And she's about to get her braces off!! She has virtually never complained about them (the dentist comments every time on how different my children are from each other), and says she'll miss them a little. 

What she really doesn't like is bugs. And being upstairs alone, still.

And she still wears pretty much only dresses, but did go through a skirt phase and was okay in jeans for riding the horse that one time.

Naomi thinks a lot, and processes many things internally. But she asks great questions and increasingly makes really good points. I'm guessing we'll all be paying more and more attention to what goes on inside her head in the coming years.

Isn't she a delight? We are excited about our decade with sweet Naomi!

October Outdoors

Eek, what a busy month October was! It began with a trip to Colorado. For my brother's wedding! Thank you for planning it in a glorious spot at a spectacular time. (Also, my brother is MARRIED!!!)

This was preceded by a September during which we all tried to make sure we had proper clothes for a fall wedding in the mountains. Or honestly, even just fall clothes that fit (Elise was all out of pants and did I unthinkingly donate Kalina's hand-me downs?!?). Turns out, only Matt had everything he needed. As the predicted weather switched from slightly chilly and partly cloudy to quite chilly and drizzly, and as all reasonable, matching cardigans sold out pretty much everywhere, that final week before the wedding was a bit of a scramble. 

Elise also packed her loud, sparkly rubber chicken, because Uncle Tom.

The trip started with a strange noise that the van was making, and by the time we'd almost arrived, Naomi's dental appliance had broken. On a Friday afternoon. When the office was closed. When we were a state away. We adopted my favorite strategy: pretend it didn't happen and that everything would be fine. Although we only got it reattached nearly 4 weeks later, due to busy-ness at the orthodontist's office, things still seem to be fine. For the record, Naomi is a trooper.

The remaining 45 minutes of the drive were pretty perfect. We arrived with plenty of time to make it to the rehearsal dinner, after first saying hi to Aunt Nancy and checking out the gift shop at the YMCA of the Rockies, where we were staying along with Aunt Nancy, Grandpa and Marianne. Because the time to buy souvenirs is definitely before you even begin the trip, right? Of course.

We weren't able to check into our room yet, so we headed over to the rehearsal location where we got to meet the bride's family and see lots of Tom's friends we hadn't seen in forever (or ever, in the case of some of the girls). Naomi was taught not to just drop the flower petals--because that's boring--but instead to toss them high in the air. She was totally up for it. The ring bearer, meanwhile, napped on his dad's shoulder. Naomi began to see that throwing flower petals would only be part of the job, and that she could have her work cut out for her getting that ring bearer up the aisle.

We caught up with people, ate a lovely dinner, and even squeezed in the most straightforward game of Telestrations I've ever played, with other guests, before heading back to our room for bed.

The next morning we trekked out on a gorgeous hike past the Twin Owls, along with other members of the wedding party and cousins. We enjoyed exploring and catching up along the way. Then, it was time for us to decorate for the reception and get all the bits and pieces in place (including, we debated, the chicken in a place of honor as part of the head table's centerpiece. Although we hated to waste the opportunity, we decided against, in the end. We didn't want the bride to have any reason to second-guess her decision. :) ). 

Back at the Y, after a drive through the elk festival in downtown Estes, which turned out to feel a lot like driving through an actual elk herd, we had enough time for a cooler lunch, showers, dressing and--for Naomi, hair curling before heading back through the crowds to the wedding. Naomi was actually quite excited to get all dressed up and although the curls didn't stay in very well, she exuded radiance and looked quite lovely.

And the wedding! Naomi scattered the petals with gusto, and also probably helped the ring bearer feel comfortable enough to make it up the aisle. The ceremony was gorgeous, and not nearly as rainy/chilly as I'd feared throughout the week before as I'd stocked up on all the warm wedding-ish things I could find for the girls of the family.

At the reception, the chicken did make an appearance on the cake table, and the photographer may have snapped a photo, but it wasn't too disruptive, I don't think. The girls enjoyed their food--Naomi having secured my promise beforehand that if she ordered the chicken fingers and fries she wouldn't actually have to eat the chicken ("Mom, a chicken had to die!"). I debated, but decided that in the spirit of unforced celebration, Matt could finish off the chicken. Elise had been glad, when we responded to the invite, to be allowed to choose the grownup lasagna instead of a kids meal. It all felt fancy and delicious--we don't attend too many formal occasions. Yum.

Elise managed to get in a little dancing (and maybe Naomi, too?), as did Matt and I, but I believe Kalina stayed glued to her spot, in true Hanks-Odegaard style. 

We had a lovely time but were ready for bed before everyone else was. However, that meant we were awake in time for a short hike in the morning with Aunt Nancy. The rain had held off so well, but we were nearly drizzled out this morning, being a little cautious about finding ourselves in a downpour a mile out from our warm, comfortable van. Still, we enjoyed some beautiful aspens and didn't really get wet, thanks to all the raingear I made us drag along. (I packed for ALL the weather.)

After hiking, we stopped at the store to pick up all the amazing brunch food, before heading to a lovely, elk-infested park for the post-wedding picnic brunch and a few rounds of spikeball. After which we said goodbye to all the relatives, and began adventuring on our own, namely in the form of a hike at RMNP. 

We may have spotted some endangered fish, but we definitely made it to our destination: Emerald Lake. After which, the weather looked a bit iffy (was that rain?) and still not wanting to be out there in a downpour, we yanked the kids away from their quiet admiration of the view and quickly retraced our steps to the parking lot. No rain, so we hiked the easy Bear Lake loop.

For dinner we decided to return to the yummy-looking mac and cheese we'd seen in the grocery store's deli when picking up the food. As if we'd only dreamed it, however, the mac and cheese had been replaced by a shiny, sterile, completely empty serving bin, ready for the next day's mac and cheese. Honestly, I think I was the only one that had major problems with that (hot. warm. comforting. dinner. now.). Matt, sensing the kids were in danger, wisely removed them toward the summer sausage, crackers, and cheese, while I glared at a row of prepackaged cold deli food.

Once eating my stupid pasta salad, doctored up with summer sausage, back at the hotel and divvying up cookies, though, my good nature returned and we made our plans for the next day before everyone else went to bed and I sat up for 2 hours reading alone in the dark (which I had 0 problem with).

The next morning we first hiked, and then hung out at a favorite part of the park: the Alleuvial Fan, an area with large rocks to climb and a waterfall. Climbing around on the rocks and wading in cold, clear water was pretty fun, but even better was taking turns with Elise's LifeStraw and sampling the water. Delicious, refreshing, clean... the list goes on. Best of all, no one got sick!

Back at the lodge, we ate a quick cooler lunch and Matt began putting in 1/2 day of remote work while the girls and I headed to the craft cabin. Kalina mosaiced an amazing cat pawprint, Elise turned a picture frame into a creative half-mosaic, half mountain artwork (and it turned out really cool!), and Naomi painted a lovely pumpkin for fall. She's been super into pumpkins lately. It poured while we were in there (and I chose that moment to run to the car to bring everyone's rain jackets in case it was still pouring when we left...not my best-thought-out idea ever), so I was glad we weren't hiking.

After our projects were finished, we headed to downtown Estes for some souvenir shopping. I love hiking with my girls, and I also love shopping with them, and I love that they love hiking and shopping as well. Kalina was looking for a t-shirt (preferably for much less than the $30+ we were seeing on many price tags), Naomi wanted a rock animal, and Elise wanted maybe a shirt, maybe a keychain, maybe a sticker--we'd see. 

Naomi was delighted to find two dinosaur rock animals she wanted, and kept her spending at that. Kalina eventually found a shirt that fit pretty much all of her qualifications, including price, and Elise found a super reasonable long-sleeved one as well. We also somehow found something to buy at the taffy store (aside from gifts for our pet-sitters), and wandered through an art gallery that left us all almost wanting to be CEOs when we grow up so that we could buy all of it. 

A spectacular sunset, a cooler dinner, and a bunch of packing rounded off the day. And the next morning, we headed back home. It sure is a long drive... wish we could make it more often, but we're pretty sure we'll be back!

But we weren't done with epic outdoor adventures in October! As part of her role as Girl Outdoor Lead with our AHG troop, Elise had the responsibility of planning the fall campout! And as there was no mentor in place for her and I'm her mom, plus the troop vice coordinator, I did my best to support (not control) her. Spoiler alert: the campout turned out awesome and Elise and I feel like we make a really good team. 

Actually, much was beyond Elise's control: she helped narrow down campsites, but our coordinator chose her #4 choice out of 4 options. The option we chose included a built-in evening activity--Elise was on board, but again didn't have much say. We also informed her we wanted to tie-dye matching troop t-shirts on the campout--an idea she loved, but had no say in. And finally, our troop shepherd and her team had an hourlong activity to do. So Elise was left with scattered chunks of time to accomplish her goals: namely, to complete/work on the Camping badge!

Elise decided that we'd go on a hike, and she figured out the meals, with some help from another team member. She also created the schedule--a monumental task that many adults would have trouble with--made a controversial decision about how the girls would contribute, delegated/invited other girls and adults to help, and wrote various communications. She wrote a packing list and made sure we had the right supplies.

The kicker: "I feel like I didn't do enough," is how she self-evaluated. Read: "I'd liked to have done it all!" Glad she likes her job!

One thing she couldn't have planned: the weather, which was pretty much perfect. 

In the end, despite a few mess-ups, the camping badge was as earned as it could be, the hike was fun, the meals were enjoyed, the evening activity was... okay and memorable... tie-dying was amazing, and the girls seemed to have a blast. It's going to be really hard to top, but as Elise is brimming with ideas, I'm pretty sure if anyone can do it, she can. 

Elise at 12

 If there's one thing that annoys Elise leading up to her birthday it's celebrating fall before celebrating her. As such, we have something of a family rule that we don't decorate for fall, buy anything pumpkin-spiced, or even talk about fall much before she's aged up. This year, however, she decided that September could be its own season. So it's kind of, almost, okay to talk about fall. [We do remind her, every year, that Grandpa Les has it way worse, with a near-Christmas birthday. This does not seem to change her convictions about her birthday + fall, but Grandpa gets a good dose of sympathy from afar.]

Honestly, I agree. September, gorgeous and lovely, is really neither pure summer nor pure fall. So we celebrated September as the summer-fall shoulder season this year, as well as Elise's 12th. 

Elise is surprisingly low-maintenance when it comes to birthdays. She's happy with anything (as long as there's a party and sweets), and is content to stay within a budget, keep it simple, consider others, etc. She conscientiously drops hints about what she wants to receive, so there's little guesswork, and she'll gladly help with celebration prep. I know she'll have a great day, no matter what.

On her birthday morning, Elise managed to let us sleep in a bit, but still started her day with fanfare and sisters. Having asked for  hinted about a camera (a rather large gift), for months, the rest of her gifts from us weren't gigantic, but she did open a stingray Squishmallow from Naomi and a book and a bioluminescent mushroom kit from Kalina. 

We enjoyed yet another box of Lucky Charms for breakfast (seriously, we call that breakfast?!?), and I baked Elise's cake so we could decorate it later. Then off to church, where Elise was over the moon to see one of her besties, who we don't actually usually cross paths with in church. Her family made a lovely fuss over Elise, and Elise's day was officially made. 

At home, Matt made pancakes (a new tradition for birthday lunch? I kinda hope so!), and we opened a game of Spikeball from Uncle Tom and Aunt Clarissa! :) We tried to play, failed hilariously, and generally enjoyed ourselves so much.

Then Elise decorated her cake to the theme of sleeping under the stars, her highlight of the year, thanks to plenty of fondant. She was putting the finishing touches on when Grandpa and Marianne arrived for lots more fun.

We made the trip to Jason's deli, opened more gifts, and then expertly pogo sticked a whole lot in the driveway (she got a pogo stick from Grandpa and Marianne and mastered it almost immediately, having borrowed one once for a while). 

A week later, Elise had some friends over for some low-key celebratory fun as well. They began with a craft--decorating wood cutouts of their initials. We even allowed glitter (under stringent rules since I was less than confident about some of the girls' ability to manage it responsibly--no offense, Elise's friends), although I regretted it later when I saw that the glitter didn't stick as well when the paint dried. I also regretted a wet paint/dry glitter blow-dry incident that you can still find traces of in the half-bath.

We enjoyed pizza (from two separate places--the cheap place that is the only kind one girl likes, and the gluten/dairy-free pizza for two other guests. Thank you Matt for doing that running around!), and then headed outside.

Earlier in the day, Kalina and Matt had created an awesome orienteering-based treasure hunt that took the girls down the trail a bit. I'm not sure everyone stuck with it, but they definitely all enjoyed roaming the woods, and eventually they made it to the end (which was, ironically, very close to where they'd begun. Even more ironically, they'd almost started digging there at the outset.). 

Next, a campfire and lots of s'mores options: gluten-free Oreos, Rolos, York peppermint patties (which will forever be known as Yonk peppermint patties in our house--a hilarious mispronunciation Elise is officially able to laugh at now), pretzels, fruit-flavored marshmallows, and more. 

And then, quickly, gifts. We'd requested only simple things. We ended up with everything from a lovely plant to a glittery, noisy rubber chicken. Hmm.

______

At 12, Elise continues to amaze us with her good-naturedness (that she seems to be purposefully developing even more), joyfulness, and volume. And curiosity. And occasionally, daring. And strangeness creativity.

She's as emphatic as ever about certain types of scientific knowledge (plankton, etc.), and the outdoors, and baby snapping turtles, and whatever book/craft/pogo sticking/new pet/whatever other hobby she's into. It's fun, really, to be pulled along through all her interests. Most of the time. Other times they hit you a bit like a train.

Elise asks great questions and shows great empathy and thoughtfulness, with a very well-developed sense of social situations. It's not that she acts on that 100% of the time--but if she was annoying adults by chatting too late in the tent with her friends, she will freely admit she needed to have quieted down. She's an encouraging little soul, too, trying to push her friends and family to greater heights. Again, not 100% in the right way, but getting there, and with the right motivations. 

Her pets in the past year have included a baby prairie kingsnake, a couple little turtles (painted, snapping, I think maybe one other), triops, copepods, tadpoles (2 kinds), a preying mantis, probably a couple fish, and of course her frogs and the standard things in our house. And probably more that I'm forgetting.

Elise still loves all things science, reading, writing, and theater. She's currently in Annie and in a show called Puffs, about the Hufflepuffs' experience at Hogwarts, in her theater class. She also continues to enjoy her voice lessons and loved planning and organizing the campout for AHG. Nature Club still continues, although it's been a bit bombarded by neighbors and is maybe not as big of a thing as it used to be, sadly. She's one busy girl!

People frequently mention how fun Elise is to talk to--a neighbor was even happy to drive her to theater classes last semester. She has no problem speaking to people of alllll ages. It's as though age doesn't exist--although she can definitely tell when people aren't acting their age, and she does value a certain level a maturity from kids who are old enough to know better. :)

Her sweet tooth still reigns, but she's just as likely to pop tomatoes into her mouth as chocolate chips (or, almost), and she even wants to try adventurous foods. She still climbs higher than we'd like, but is not afraid to do a lot of other things that we would like (get shots without a fuss, kill the spider, make friends with a new child, etc.).

She likes to tap into her creative side, whether by writing poetry and illustrating it, or, more recently, painting tiny canvases in national park-inspired scenes.

Here's some poetry she wrote in her math book, just like those monks copying manuscripts years ago added their own thoughts to the margins to make life more interesting:

The sunlight shines upon her fur,
So now it seems to glow,
And why she looks so pleased and smug is something I don't know.
The sunlight soothes her worries;
She purrs without restraint.
It's very clear this sunlit cat is perfect, without taint.

And on the next page:

I rub her chin, I pet her tum.
She blinks and smiles and rolls.
It is my job to pamper,
She pays me with her purr. 

And for the final stanza, she changes it up:

She's always, always sleeping,
Unless she's busy licking.
I try to let her rest as best I can.

In order to conserve time so she could write the poetry, she omitted some steps of problems and shortcutted her way to the final answer. Personally, I'm wondering if we should be doing math at all--after all, she could probably make her way in the world just fine with a little cat poetry and a smile. 

Speaking of math, it remains on her list of things she won't do without a fight. Also included: dentistry (still) and grammar. Other things she won't do without a varying level of nagging: clear her dishes at the table, brush her teeth/hair, clean her room, turn out her light and go to sleep (basically anything recurring).

She freely admits that she gets distracted easily and this keeps her from getting schoolwork done and sleeping at night. To the point that I had her take a self-test for ADD (turns out, her answers lined up almost perfectly in the "gifted" column, with almost none in the ADD column, so there's our problem...).

But she maintains enough focus to produce lovely art, hold interesting and in-depth conversations, learn all about microscopic (and non-microscopic) critters, plan an entire campout for AHG, bake amazing key-lime bars, learn a TON of lines for the play she's in, crochet an entire blanket, kayak and hike long (ish) distances, scatter joy around the world, and all the rest. Not bad for a 12-year-old!

Naomi's Ninth

Naomi was super excited to be
the birthday girl!

Naomi is nine! And nine is a big deal. Her birthday wish list, written on the dry-erase board, included the following:

A glue gun (later crossed off, because I didn't allow her to put glue all over the counter in an attempt to make solid glue creations)

A real pet Guinea pig

A pencil sharpener

A tape dispenser

Erasers

Really big drawing paper

A specific Guinea pig book

Mini lights that you could turn on and off, to use for crafts.

A stuffed axolotl Squishmallow (Google it)

Only later did it include things like:

A stuffed Guinea pig

Another specific Guinea pig book

Much later. Saturday later, with her birthday on Sunday.

Fortunately, unlike a certain stuffed puppy crisis of Christmas 2018, Naomi had a delightful birthday even knowing that she wasn't going to get a real Guinea pig (yet, anyway), and that she'd probably written the stuffed Guinea pig on the list too late to actually receive one. If she was feeling emotions such as "disappointed" or "frustrated," she bottled them up well.

But it'd be hard not to have a great day when waking up to a sweetly decorated dining room (llamas were the theme), plenty of gifts that she actually did request (nice of Target to have so many back-to-school sales just in time for Naomi's school-supply requests!), Lucky Charms for breakfast, and a sister sleepover the night before. 

I will never get tired of saying how grateful I am to birthday-girl sisters for making each others' days special. The two older girls pulled out all the stops even after losing sleep to a sister sleepover.

And even when, in addition to the stuffed axolotl from Elise  Naomi got the super cool gift they both probably would've asked for if they knew it existed: a 3D printing pen. I'd had the idea when Naomi gave up on the idea of a glue gun. "Wait... I think they make a product like that that's way cooler... Amazon?!?"

Eventually we made
guinea pigs instead
of random strings.

Although much of the melty plastic was initially used to make long vertical strings and other kinda weird little sculptures, Naomi eventually learned how to make a bunny... sort of. There's lots of room to grow, but the YouTube videos sure look cool.

Naomi was delighted to wear the Birthday Girl button at church--where they had a giant box of donut holes set out just for her (or for a volunteer recruitment event, maybe--but probably just for her). She loves going to her class and even made a new friend named...drum roll...Naomi! 

Fuzzy rug from Grandma and
Grandpa, and a cuddly sister!

Back at home, Matt had his super amazing pancakes all ready to whip up. Naomi opened a gift and played a quick game of Telestrations with me and her sisters, who were still, thankfully, not too worn out by all the celebrating to stick close to the birthday girl and continue to make it a special day.

There wasn't a ton of afternoon left after our late lunch, and before Grandpa and Marianne arrived, but Naomi had plenty of ways to fill it. Soon, though, we were metal detecting in the yard with Grandpa. Whose birthday is it?!?

Chocolate cherry
cake and llama
plates--a great
combo.

And then Jason's Deli, a rousing game of Telestrations (new family favorite?), more gifts, and lots of fun overall. Plus cake, and two different ice creams (if you only go to Jason's Deli once a year, you do kinda need the free soft-serve!), including Grandpa's special homemade ice cream. 

As a bonus birthday, Naomi also got to invite friends to paint pottery at a local studio the Saturday after. Although there was frequent confusion about which pastel color on the palette would turn which vibrant color when the pottery was fired, a patient attendant with a wet sponge was able to fix every mistake and help the girls enjoy their experience. 

See the worry in Naomi's face?
She's still nervous about fire.

Naomi painted an adorable orange and white cat (2 guesses where she got the inspiration), and enjoyed seeing her friends paint a mix of dolphins, horses, and other animals--plus Kalina's plate. We also enjoyed cupcakes and gifts, most of which were crafts. She's set up for a while now! 

It was a pretty awesome birthday, and so much fun to celebrate our sweet girl! Happy birthday, Naomi!

Naomi is gaining confidence as a 9-year-old, which shows up not only in how she talks to her sisters (which is ripe with pros and cons), but also in tasks that she takes on. Case in point: trying to earn 6 new badges over the summer so she can fill up her "flower" on her AHG vest. Ambition--I like it!

Naomi shows off her new
pencil sharpener, and I show
off my new 9-year-old.

Stuffed animals are still her favorite, but she's increasingly enjoyed playing with little kids this year, like neighbor girls and little sisters of friends, and her well-honed nurturing skills are transferring well. Moms/grandparents everywhere love her--she's a natural and she genuinely enjoys playing with littles.

Naomi desperately wants a pet Guinea pig, but also openly recognized that eventually she "might not be as into Guinea pigs anymore." So she wants a pet one before she's lost interest. Hmm... maybe we won't just run right out to the store for that one. However, if she maintains interest, and maybe at some point we're short a bunny...

She uncomplainingly and unfailingly takes care of the bunny, which she's claimed for her own (to the annoyance of Elise, for whom I don't feel much sympathy as she's unwilling to do anything about it) and renamed Oreo. She's done this partly to convince us she could handle a Guinea pig. And she's totally proved her point. Matt and I just can't handle cleaning out another cage.

Naomi's expanded her reading horizons, breezing through the only 3 Harry Potter books we've let her read and picking up a lot of historical fiction. She's been increasingly able to handle suspense and sadness in books, shows, and conversation, as well as even a tiny bit of blood and guts. We're up to, like, a paper cut.

Increasingly adventurous outside, Naomi will happily hold frogs and scale cliffs. Yet she's very scared of the dark, and ants. She's also a newly discovered claustrophobic. Worms are her least favorite.

Naomi's new skills include baseball (thanks, cousins, for playing with us!), practicing piano without needing much from me, violin, a pretty decent cursive, making pancakes, cleaning toilets, a solid doggie paddle and diving underwater, actually eating food she doesn't like (it happened! Like twice! Only because I made her, though...), using a porta potty (despite being claustrophobic and only, she informed me, because it was her only option), a few computer skills, doing her own hair, and drawing fairly well--her newest thing is to draw people sitting down. Like Mona Lisa. I think she may actually surpass my skills in that this year (not that that's much to speak of).

She had her first audition in a musical theater class this year, and earned a fun little solo part that she's really excited about. We're excited to see her personality shine through on stage, and she's been enjoying acting and learning to sing with a group. 

The girl loves flowers (always has, looking back--many wildflowers lost their lives to be stuffed into a vase after family walks), and is uncovering a new interest in interior decorating. We have vases with fake flowers that she arranged all over the house. And ceramic bunnies as decorative arrangements. And pompom animals. It's super sweet, and I'm counting the days until she can for real decorate my house for me. Until then I'm enjoying the colorful hodgepodge.

She also likes shopping with me, but mostly at stores that have "animal decorations" (i.e., ceramic bunnies and such). Usually, this means Hobby Lobby, but I've also convinced her to come along to Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Even the grocery store she doesn't really mind. 

She's asking really good questions lately, showing lots of thoughts and larger-than-life connections. We often Google things together.

Around the house, Naomi will happily do Elise's chores for her, but will freak out about washing dishes. Why? The plate may have touched food she doesn't like. Some things never change after 9 years--but we wouldn't have it any other way!

Chaos and Camp

Thumbs up for summer camp!

Every week in the summer is different. Which is super refreshing and fun at first (towards the end I'm usually way ready for a schedule again). There's VBS week, with younger kiddos out of the house in the morning, there are various half-day camps, occasionally, and there are the weeks with nothing planned that end up planned anyway (but with trips to the pool, Hobby Lobby, fun places around town, playdates with friends, and random walks). There are also the inevitable trips and visits. 

Plus occasionally I like us to do math in the summer, and most days I assign some sort of a special chore, in addition to regularly scheduled music practice. As I commanded my kids to clean the baseboards, walls, doorframes, doors, and cabinets one morning, I realized that I wasn't sure I'd ever actually cleaned my own baseboards--or at least not more than a couple times. Only my mom's. It's totally a kid job that gets neglected when there are no able-bodied kids in the house. Another mommying mystery, solved: which adults actually regularly clean the baseboards? None of them! Why? Because it's not that important and it's hard on our knees! Why assign it to kids? So they learn to work/keep out of trouble/it's hard to mess up! Plus they're the ones who get them dirty in the first place! (Or, if you regularly clean your baseboards, just disregard this part. Also, I suppose now that I know better I will probably stay up on it, but for now it's totally a kid job. Please don't look too closely.)

And actually, cleaning the woodwork is a job they all actually really get into--especially Elise and Naomi and Magic Erasers. There's something truly satisfying about scrubbing dirt off polished wood. 

Anyway, summer is basically managed chaos (but good kinds of chaos!), which totally freaked poor Matt out when he first started working from home, and still does--especially when he actually tries to stay on top of our movements. I'm not sure why anyone tries, actually, because it all changes at any moment anyway.

Plus it helps that I purposefully schedule in plenty of down time. 

Chaos doesn't mean kids hanging from the chandeliers, by the way (except Elise recently hanging ribbons from the chandelier so it looks like a giant jellyfish--a big improvement). Sometimes it means everyone is peacefully reading one minute and then rushing out the door to piano lessons/pool/local attraction/playdate/etc. the next. 

Ah, summer!

But nothing challenges a chaotic summer schedule like a week of sending the older kids off to a 5-night camp. 

To prepare, we bunched all of our activities into the week before and week after (talk about chaos!). We also discussed all the "what ifs?" To help with these, we devised a code, knowing that the camp photographer would make her rounds every day.

In addition, watched videos on horses, as the camp was called Horse Wilderness. They would be doing wilderness things, and also horse things. Kalina, not being super into horses, was going to have to fake it. Elise, not being in 7th grade yet, was also going to have to fake it. [The camp was officially for grades 7 and 8, but by nudging Elise into 7th--which she could totally be in anyway. As long as no one asked too many questions. Plus usually once people meet Elise, they want to keep her, so she I knew her personality would work in her favor if need be.]

And finally, we packed. The girls packed from a rather sparse list, and we asked our friends about the rest. They actually ended up well-prepared, and not really over-prepared. Perfect.

And I wrote letters, one to be delivered to each girl, each day. I believe most kids got a, "Love you! Mom" type of letter. Not mine. They received 3 long, fun (to me!) letters from me, and another each from one of the cats. 

And then we were off! It took me an entire day to drop them get them to camp, and return home empty-handed.

The drive up was fun, getting excited about camp. We talked through scenarios and discussed what to do at each one. The girls read. I savored the last couple hours of me and my older girls. And finally, we made it to the iconic restaurant we'd agreed to meet up with our friends at, with whom they'd be attending camp (just the kids, though). 

After another drive, we arrived at the camp. And then, after I spent 4 hours in the car, plus a restaurant meal, it took all of 10 minutes to drop them off. I felt ripped off, and ripped apart.

I didn't mean to come back a zillion times after dropping them off, but it happened. First, to encourage sunscreen--after all, they were standing right in the sun! Seriously, girls?!? Then, to ask Kalina if she wanted the book that was on the front seat (she didn't). Next, to take their picture. Everyone was laughing at me at this point, self included.

The whole cabin! Elise has
apparently found a snail, and
the fun counselor is
interviewing it for the
photo. Because Elise.

Finally, I actually drove away, with Kalina loudly predicting I'd be back. Soon, it dawned on me that I hadn't told the counselor that the girls would be picked up by their friends' parents, which is kinda important. Back I went--but that was it! I turned on my audio books and hit the road. 

By evening, the camp had uploaded loads of photos from check-in and the first chapel service. And there I was! One of my many attempts to say goodbye was captured for posterity. More important, there were my girls, vehemently giving me thumbs ups in each picture.

Kalina makes breakfast

Why thumbs ups? It's all about the code we'd developed. We agreed that if the girls saw the photographer and wanted to communicate to me that the camp was actually a forced labor camp, and they needed to be picked up immediately, they were to smile and wave for the camera with one hand. If the girls saw the photographer and wanted to communicate to me that there were no bathrooms nearby (this was a legitimate worry for about 30 terror-stricken minutes during packing), she was to wave with two hands. If everything was fine, they were to give me a thumbs up. This made us all feel better.

Waiting for breakfast

I wondered if all week, all I would see in photos would be thumbs. Fortunately, that was not the case--they relaxed and had a fantastic time, from the looks of the photos. I did not, unfortunately, get a single shot of one of my girls on or even near a horse. But I did see that they cooked breakfast outside (Kalina tended the fire and checked the meal), did a perfectly coordinated Church Clap at chapel, and threw hatchets at a target (embarrassingly, I didn't actually recognize them until they got home and they showed me...). 

Church clap!

Another stalker-Mom moment happened every evening when I checked their account balance to see if I needed to add more cash. You know, for things like candy and slushies (cushy camp!). One night, I saw that Elise had spent something like $17 and I figured out that she had probably purchased a milkshake and a t-shirt. But which shirt? After checking out the store online, I found the camp horse shirt that looked just like Elise. Was I right? (spoiler alert--I was only wrong about the milkshake!)

This is a picture I
didn't recognize
until after they
showed me at home.
Because ax throwing
?!?!?

The girls had a fantastic time, adored their counselor (who also adored them--and regained hope after having been ready to quit her job after the previous week and was giving it one more just to see), slept under the stars 3 nights in a row (and got rained on the last one!), rode horses a lot and BOTH enjoyed it, went down the water slide, rode the giant swing (terrifying, apparently!), enjoyed the food just the right amount (they were really excited about my lasagna, corn and bean salad, etc. back at home), loved the other kids, learned an amazing new song they're still singing, and decided that of course they'd be going back the next year. (Surely there are amazing camps closer to home though, right??)

But Kalina and Elise weren't the only girls who had a fantastic week! Naomi started talking the minute they left and didn't stop until after they got back home. We loved hearing from her. 

Plus, she attended our favorite art camp with a good friend, Emily. As a bonus, the camp has a mini farm attached to it, and the new animals this year were bunnies. Every "recess," Naomi bonded with the same one. The whole recess. 

Naomi and her non-
bunny friend

Naomi and her camp bunny

Naomi and Emily, although they were only 8 and 9, were allowed to be in the upstairs area this year, with more advanced projects. They actually did a stained glass project that turned out beautifully (Naomi made an orange cat), as well as a hanging clay planter and one or two other things. They had a blast. 

You'd think we would've had a lot of extra time on our hands, but that wasn't the case. I'd found a sweet little paper flower kit and we poured over the complex instructions and completed a few steps every day, waiting to let the glue dry. We learned a lot and produced a poppy and a purple one by the end of the week. They were lovely, but time-consuming! We also worked on a couple badges, since Naomi's trying to fill her AHG flower this summer, having just moved up to the next level. And baked, and read, and chatted, and played games.

With a playdate or two and other random things going on, the week passed super quickly, but we enjoyed every moment of it. In fact, we might just send the older girls away for a week every year...

Naomi and her art

Our friends stayed the night after
camp! After lots of showers, we
had dinner and celebrated 
Kalina's birthday early, because
we could.