Pictures Of Camp Tall Trees

Here are the promised pictures:

 Darcy in her newly-presented camp t-shirt at the fire ring. She got to work on starting a fire with a flint and steel and dryer lint. I believe she got a small fire going, but it wasn't entirely clear to me.

 With her cabin-mates before taking off from camp.

 Showing me around the main building. This is Bucky.

We stopped at Michael's office on our way home and he was a little happy to see her! It was a good reunion, with Darcy showing off her camp creations and the pictures they sent of her on their rock climbing wall.

Photos To Follow

Darcy is home from camp, safe and sound, and resuming the summer life. She had a great time -- everyone agrees on that score! The camp director assured me that he saw "not one second of miserable" and all the other adults said she was happy and engaged the whole time.


Darcy also agrees. When asked by the camp director if she had missed me, she said no. Last night, at bedtime, she told me that she and Mika, her stuffed-animal pika, wished they were still at camp. (The camp director also told me that she had asked him earlier in the day why she had to go home. Older scouts get to stay longer -- the girls next step up from Brownies stay four days and the middle school girls stay for seven.)


I've got a few pictures from the closing ceremony and Darcy's tour of the camp, but those will have to wait. Darcy and I have a busy day to get ready for now.

Darcy At Camp

Mama's anxious, but I think all of Darcy's claims that, "I'm a little bit nervous" were just for our benefit. She stormed the cabin. Helped me (?) make her bed. Shrugged off my attempt to show her what we packed for her. Asked, "Can we go play now?" (We being her and her troop mate K, not her and me.) Gave me a kiss good-bye on request and turned her back on me. I guess she'll be ok at camp for the next 48 hours.

Three Wild Days Of Summer

So Thursday was the last day of kindergarten for this clan and we have started the summer vacation off with a bang. On the last day of spring break this year, Darcy was in crisis because she thought spring break "lasted all spring" and was devastated to find out she had to go back to school on Monday. We've had many conversations about how summer vacation compares to spring break and have decided that it's an 80-day weekend. Here's Darcy starting the first day:

Anyhow. The first three days of this extra-long weekend have been spent extremely well. On Friday, Darcy and I prepared for Saturday by doing some birthday present shopping along with some grocery shopping in Brookings. On the way back, we stopped at the mouth of the Smith River for some water, seals, snacks, and sunshine:

Seals kept popping their heads up to check us out 15 or 20 feet off-shore. Darcy was digging it. When we got home, we planted a bunch of stuff in the garden before lunch. After lunch, we did some errands, spent time at the library, and then joined two of Darcy's troop-mates to check out the camp they're about to attend. Long day!


On Saturday, Darcy had been invited to two birthday parties AND had her end-of-tee-ball-season party. It was too much. We declined the birthday party that coincided with tee-ball. If you could find space out of the wind, Saturday was a day of glorious weather. It turned out that Endert's Beach was pretty much wind-free and therefore approaching what we call hot on the north coast. The low tide wasn't very low, so the tide pools were thin on the ground, but Darcy had fun holding back the ocean:

...and learning how to use her new camera...

It's a $20, 2.1 megapixel point and shoot, but she's doing pretty well holding the camera still:

She might need to work on holding it straight, but it will add a little avant garde feel to the camp pictures she'll be taking!

Today, the adventure continued, but without pictures. Michael went with another dad friend to float part of the Smith River in the morning. Part of the goal was scouting for a good section to take the kids floating in the afternoon. They chose the wrong section. By far. Michael came out of it alive and only slightly banged up, but minus his glasses (only pair with current prescription) and his wedding ring. Oh, and also minus the boat. He insists (like right now, as I'm typing) that the BOAT is not lost. He knows exactly which boulder it is currently wrapped around. The glasses and the wedding ring are gone forever.

After a lunch rendezvous, both families ventured back to the river -- a different section of the river -- and had a good time. Dads took kids floating downstream to where the car was still waiting for someone to float by. I swam briefly, but mostly found rocks for the toddler to throw in the water. We came home, had a good dad's day dinner, and packed for the next adventure: sleep away camp!! 

Yes, Darcy goes to camp tomorrow for two nights and three days of fun with her fellow Girl Scouts. We are very much hoping this is a good experience with not too much homesickness. Her camp day will start at 10 tomorrow, so by the time bedtime comes, I think she'll be too exhausted to worry about it. As long as she is having a good time during the day, I think it'll all be ok.

Our day should be long, too, so hopefully we'll survive sleep away camp, too! Anyone know of any good movies in the theater right now??

Last Day Of Kindergarten -- She's Off!

Glamour Rats!

Here's what you need to know about the Pine Grove performance of Rats: it was outstanding. I say this not because Darcy was in it, but because the teachers and volunteers did an amazing job of pulling together three classes of elementary school students and creating an evening of actually enjoyable theater.

But of course, Darcy was my favorite part. It was hard to get pictures, but here is our small rat in ensemble:

She is the small rat in the middle. Nice set, huh? There were similar houses on the other side. I think this is during the first big song about how wonderful Hamelin is. Here's one of Darcy's big scenes. She and a rat friend are following the librarian while reading and crying over Three Blind Mice (because of the tails, you know), which they had stolen:

It was impossible to get good images of the stage, so we did a photo shoot before she had to turn in her ears and tail:

Just A Tease

I'm building anticipation. For you. Darcy's class is performing a play with two other classes at her school. Today. The dress rehearsal is in less than an hour and the performance for parents is this evening. Darcy is extremely excited. The play is a version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. Darcy will be a rat. Not just any rat, mind you, but a glamorous rat. She explained this at 6:15 this morning when she arrived in our bed announcing, loudly, "Do you know what day today is???" She then described the glamour of her costume: her braided tail had a pink bow added to it yesterday. Ooh la la! So fancy!


We will attempt to get the very best pictures of our glamorat this evening. I'm told there's a scene where she and one of her fellow glamorats (only girls get the glamorous tails) cry as they read the tale of Three Blind Mice.


I can't wait.