Day 357: Camp Wood

I mentioned a few days ago that we were writing letters to Matt, Ashley, Emma and Connor at Camp Wood.  Eric and I also mailed them a package with candy, glow sticks, and water balloons.  Today was the closing ceremony, and Patrick Funston's ordination - I debated all week over which one I should go to, and ended up choosing camp because my family was there.  While I am sad I missed out on seeing a bunch of old friends at Patrick's ordination, I was so happy to be back at camp!  I had signed up to be a counselor, but they had too many adult women and they didn't need me.  Next year I will definitely get my application in on time!

Campers singing "One Name"

Definitely in my top ten favorite places!

Day 356: A Day at the Zoo

I have got family passes to the zoo, so Jack and I went for the first time of the summer today.  The pass allows up to 4 people, so I called to see if Alison and Zach wanted to join us.  Zach was going to spend the day with his dad, but Alison was happy to come along!  We had great timing today - showing up for the zookeeper chats, and seeing all of the animals very active!

Nikita is a 4 year old male who weighs in at over 900lbs!  He spends a lot of time in his pool!

This year the zoo has 2 baby girl sea lions, joining their adult male.

This boa reminds me of Harry Potter!

Llama, llama!

Alison was hogging the birds!

I had to hold Jack's right hand so he wouldn't pull away, and his left hand because he tried to grab the bird (pretty successfully, haha!)

This rhino had a well worn figure 8 path.

Jack and an alligator. 


We went on a walk tonight, and I brought Mystic in the baby sling, haha!  She actually liked it.

Day 355: Carpooling

This summer, Eric and I are hoping to save a lot of money by carpooling.  Awesome!  On the down side, this means a fair amount of time sacrifice for both of us.  Last week, I had to be at work by 7:40 every day and Eric started at 8 or 8:30.  Because I have to have the car at work with me, this meant that he was 20-40 minutes early on those days.  This week, he still has to arrive at the same time, but I don't start until 11:20 because Jack is in summer school - so I have a huge gap to fill.

Eric just brings a book to work, that way he is covered for before and after work gaps in transportation, and lunchtime.  But for me, being in town over 3 hours early, I decided to go to a few places.  Today I started at Panera for some breakfast (with my blow money), walked around Oak Park Mall, browsed at Barnes and Noble, went to the Blue Valley Library, and read a book outside Jack's school. For future days, I think I may just stay equipped with books and read the whole time - it will save some money!

Reading, a french toast bagel, and some iced tea - a nice way to start the day!

Day 354: A Playdate!

I had Chase and Zayne, my cousins, to tag along after this morning and afternoon, as well as Jack.  We had a good time playing video games and eating lunch at McDonald's.  I don't get to see these guys a lot, so it was a fun afternoon!  When Jack came to Zayne's house in the afternoon, they played Wii games together and then we all made Shrinky-Dinks, yea!  We also wrote a stack of letters to Connor, Emma, Matt, and Ashley at Camp wood - Kiss! The Fish!  Kiss, Kiss the fish, uh!

They wouldn't let me get a picture of them both drinking out of their straws, it was pretty funny though!

Before and after sized Shrinky-Dinks.

On my way home, I stopped at Mom & Alan's house and caught this picture of Chaos and Cora.

Day 353: Line Drying OOPS!

Today was my first line drying mishap... I left the final round of cloth diapers (from when Andrew stayed with us) on the line while we were at work today.  When we got home, we were down one prefold!  I looked around our porch and on the ground level an it was nowhere to be found.  So now line drying will probably only occur when we'll be HOME!

An empty clothespin right in the middle!

Day 352: Summer Nanny Job

This is my third summer working as a nanny for a great little boy named Jack.  He is seven now, and has just finished first grade.  I originally found this family by posting an ad on craigslist, saying that I could work as a summer care provider for kids of all ages, that I had just received my degree in Early Childhood Special Education, and that I had experience working with children with special needs.  Jack's family and I were a great match - he has autism, and they were interested in someone who could provide therapies and educational opportunities at home.

Throughout the week Jack and I go to speech therapy, behavior therapy, and social groups, but we also have swim lessons, trips to the library and zoo, and are working on learning to ride a bike.  Jack talks, gestures, and signs, and I often act as a gateway between him and the world - because most people wouldn't understand his meaning (and he wouldn't initiate conversation without a prompt).

Over the years I have grown to love this special guy and his family!  We have had a great start to this summer, and still have lots to look forward to!

Today we were playing with a balloon kit, and I made him a star!

After work, Eric and I helped Mom and Alan with some cleaning and moving in their house, and we all went out to Dairy  Queen afterward!

Day 351: Grandma Betty's 80th Birthday Party

This is sort of part two continued from yesterday. It's been a long fun weekend, and continues to be. This morning we hung out at Steven and Leslie's; I played Mass Effect 2 and had too much fun with the character creator while Jess, Steven, and Leslie all gave input and advice to make my character extra creepy. Then Jess and I took the bike and followed Steven and Leslie to Smithville Lake for Grandma Betty's 80th birthday party. We had grilled cheeseburgers again (you can never have too many), and cake and ice cream while Grandma opened her presents. The four of us and Grant tossed around a couple of those hollow disc frisbees for a while, and then Jess accidentally threw one on the roof of the shelter. She got it stuck so we decided she had to get it down,  my dad and I had to give her a boost up onto the roof. The tricky part was getting her back down. That afternoon we left with Steven and Leslie and went swimming at their place again, and then watched the movie "Adam" with them, a movie about boy meets girl, boy has Asperger's Syndrome, it's complicated. After the movie it was time to ride home in the dark. It was Jess' first night ride as my passenger, but everything went perfectly. It was a good end to a great weekend.

My super creepy Mass Effect 2 character.

Ready to roll.

Steven and Leslie nommed grilled veggie burgers.

The lovely birthday girl!

"Got it...how do I get down?"

Whit wanted to play with us; a cross between frisbee and horseshoes.