Summer Camp

Beatrice just finished her last day of summer camp - the same camp she attended last year at the Stough Canyon Nature Center in Wildwood Canyon.  This year's theme was "Now You See Me, Now You Don't" - about animals and their hiding places - but whatever the ostensible theme is, the camp mostly revolves around going on hikes and then petting lizards and snakes. 

Coming back from a hike

Petting a deer skin

Talking about hedgehogs

Beatrice was so excited about camp each day that she couldn't sleep the night before - on Thursday night she got up around 10pm and asked whether it was time to go to camp yet.  I was also pleased to see they pet the same animals as last summer (the iguanas Mr. T and Roamer, and Cutie the snake) plus a new tortoise and an additional snake named Albee.

Showing me a puppet she made at camp

Beatrice is already excited for winter camp this January...

(Almost) No More Diapers

Arthur is officially toilet trained! (though he still wears diapers at night) 

We started him quite a bit earlier than Beatrice, in large part to improve his severe, persistent diaper rash.  Happily, he took to training immediately and the whole process went very smoothly*.  Also, he looks adorable in his new underwear.

*Amusingly, the one thing he absolutely refuses to do is urinate outside on the ground, or anywhere other than a toilet.  I applaud his natural fastidiousness, but it may be a problem when we go camping next month.

Summer Fun Jar

I have grown so fond of our Christmas activity advent calendar that I wanted a summertime equivalent. I know most people can just come up with fun things to do without going to the trouble of compiling an official list, but personally I find that if I don't write the activities down they don't always happen.

So I wrote up a list of fun hot weather activities, cut it up into individual strips, and put the strips into a jar.  Whenever Beatrice does something extra good, she gets to pick an item from the jar for us to do that day.  Sometimes we let Arthur pick one, too, even though he's very rarely extra good.

So far the items are:

Play outside at night with glow sticks
Water balloons
Nature scavenger hunt
Toy car wash
Build a fort
Backyard camping
Bubble painting
Flashlight tag
Send letter and gifts to cousins
Sponge tag
Make jelly bean bracelets
Stuffed animal picnic
Create outdoor race track for toy cars
Outdoor movie
Make smores
Ice excavation (extracting small plastic toys from a block of ice)
Giant slip n' slide
Go to the beach
Play with sparklers
Eat popsicles

As we go, I can also add more or re-add the most popular ones to do a second time.

Drawings by Beatrice

Lately Beatrice has become obsessed with drawing - it's practically all she wants to do, and she will work on one picture for two hours until it's done.  Here are a few from the last few days:



Four goldfish, a jellyfish, and a "giant taco" (upper right)

"A Ladybug"

Self-portrait illustrating her design for this year's Halloween costume, a rosebush

"An Owl at Night"

I've been excited to see what a huge leap she's made lately in her drawing abilities.  Seriously, that looks just like an owl!

Happy Fourth of July!

This year we had our best Fourth of July yet, starting off with a morning boat trip around Long Beach Harbor.  The kids loved it, especially when we saw several sea lions napping in the sun on rocks and buoys.  Arthur was also very interested in spotting sea gulls, even though he was slightly disappointed that they weren't ducks.

 



 

 

Waiting to embark



Sleeping sea lion

 

After the short 45-minute boat ride, we took the kids to lunch, then over to the aquarium.  I had expected it to be packed on a holiday, but in fact there was almost no one there at all, so we got a lot of time to see things up-close, including their new deep-water exhibit of nautilus and giant isopods, two of Dev's favorite sea creatures. 

A nautilus from the new deep-ocean display

Hanging out with sea lions again

Excited about sharks


By the time we'd finished exploring the aquarium, it was time to head back to Amy and Evan's 4th of July party with Miller, Ivy R., Beatrice, Arthur, Finn, Ivy H., David, Donovan, and two new friends, Alice and another baby Ivy.  We started out with the wading pool and barbecue, and then once the sun set the kids made smores and lit sparklers in the backyard.

 

Finn and Donovan with sparklers

Beatrice with her sparkler


As it got closer to the Rose Bowl show, we all relocated to the front yard, where David's dad Mike delighted the kids with a little pre-show of sparklers and Roman candles.  Beatrice was so, so delighted by the fireworks, she told Mike he was "the best grown up ever."

Then we all watched the professional show until it ended a little before 10pm and it was time to go home. (Arthur kept demanding "more fireworks!" even after watching them for about an hour.)

 

 

On the drive home, Beatrice said, "My favorite part of the party was everything," before falling asleep in the car.