With Ellie up in SB, Nick and I had a break from packing lunches, bedtime routines, combing out tangles, and grumpy mornings. We were also able to go to a restaurant with white tablecloths on a Tuesday and a movie marathon on a Thursday evening.
While in SB Ellie seemed to get a hot breakfast every morning... such a luxury! French toast, scrambled eggs, fresh squeezed orange juice...on a weekday!
Of course, there was the typical breakfast in the car. And apparently she pitched in with cleaning as well.
Ellie was a veteran when it came to zoo camp. She loved riding the train, feeding the goats and giraffes, and seeing the Dino Show. Apparently the SB zoo now has a show where two people dress up as dinosaurs and there is a baby Triceratops puppet. But ask Ellie and she will tell you that the baby was real, but the other dinosaurs were costumes because dinosaurs are extinct. We are still trying to convince here the Triceratops was a puppet.
Ellie says she likes Natural History Camp better. Based on the reports from her and her grandparents and the daily itinerary, I don't doubt it. The theme for the week was Pee Wee Naturalist. It was definitely up her alley. They climbed in a creek to look for frogs, dissected owl pellets to find mice bones, searched for unique rocks and painted them, broke open a geode, explores the mammal and bird hall, saw all the "crystals" in the gem hall, played in water in a faux creek, went on hikes, learned about California mammals (like the Island Fox), measures trees...and that's just what she told us about.
I hadn't been to the Natural History museum since I was a kid. So, the weekend before she started the museum camp, we all went (Ellie, me, and her grandparents) to check it out and let Ellie get a little familiar with it. The museum had changed so much since I was a kid, it was a lot of fun. Ellie at first was a little afraid of the taxidermied animals in the mammal hall, but though the birds were pretty funny. She lived the giant crystal and all the butterflies in the insect hall. There was also a special exhibit about Tinkertoys which we all enjoyed. And of course the outside area was beautiful. We got to meet a naturalist and her snake. Have some creative play...before she got wet in the little creek.
And of course no visit to the SB Museum of Natural History is complete without pretending to be swallowed by the blue whale skeleton!
It was a good thing we went and checked the museum out too. We learned that the campers have water play most days and get soaked and very dirty. So, water shoes and a complete set of change of clothes was recommended. So we went and got her a pair of water shoes and a new backpack to carry all her stuff including change of clothes, a lunchbox, her hat, water bottle, extra sunscreen...all the normal things a camper needs.
Her trip to SB wasn't just educational day camps. There were almost daily trips to a frozen yogurt place, fancy Italian dinners followed by chocolate gelato and the development if a new obsession...American Girl Dolls. Susie and I both received a doll the first year they came out and then accrued all the accessories for our historical figure dolls Kirsten (mine) and Molly (Susie's). Well Ellie met Kirsten and fell in love. She has asked when she can have her own, I told her she has to be able to read the books (chapters, lots of words, minimal pictures...second grade level).
And my dad and uncles company had their annual summer picnic. Ellie and I were invited and so we joined in the fun of good food, face painting, and caricatures.
Everyone had a blast. Ellie has been talking non-stop about natural history camp. She even asked Nick to go on a walk with her so that she could look for bugs! Good summer!
Ellie also improved her phone etiquette. We talked to her every evening just before bed and got to hear all about her day.
Most pictures are courtesy of my parents.
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