Busy July

     July has been so busy! At the beginning I did a Playtime Poppy theater camp, where I was Denise, the town Magistrate. The week after that I was in a Movie Maker summer camp. That weekend, I went to our yearly Gir Scout Pool Party. Just this past week I did a Young Footlighters Traveling Playhouse theater summer camp in Coralville. It was the Vanishing of the Jolly Rodger, and it was mainly about getting out of the Bermuda Triangle so they (pirate crews, seabirds, and turtles) could help with climate change. I jokingly said to Evaline that it should've been called The Jolly Rodger and the Effects of Climate Change. All these camps were so fun, my favorite one was the Jolly Roger one. 

    Earlier today, my mom, some family friends, and myself went to Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief Musical at the Giving Tree Theater.

We had two performances of the Playtime Poppy camp, It's Complicated

As always, the Pool Party was a blast!

Tuesday of the week I did the Jolly Rodger camp, my mom, my sisters and one of their friends, one of my friends and her mom, and I went to the new Barbie movie, and it was SO GOOD!! Highly recommended!

On (I think) Thursday of that week, one of the friends I was doing the camp with took us to Hurts Donuts, as it was right next to the theater. I got Red Velvet.

The performance was on Saturday instead of Friday because of RAGBRAI

And, finally, the Percy Jackson Musical! My mom and I both wore our Camp Half-Blood t-shirts that my mom made on her cricket. We're both children of Athena!

 

Camp Wapsie 2023

     Last week I got back from Camp Wapsie. I went there last year, and I decided to come back this year. Both years I went with my friend Jane, who loves Wapsie just as much as I do. we went week 3, and the theme was Holidays. We got there on Sunday the 25th, and got back Saturday, the first. Last year, we were in Cabin 7 (the youngest girl cabin), so we expected to be in Cabin 8, but we were in Cabin 7 again. No complaints, though, because our counselors were amazing, and because we were the youngest cabin (and only girls' cabin) to get the 5P, the Super Duper (the cleanest cabin award) all five days. There were many girls also who was in Cabin 7 last year, though, so we weren't the only ones. 

Morning Activities - there was Camp Crafts (you basically cook the food they have planned at the boys' end firing), canoeing, preforming arts (my favorite), arts and crafts, guitars, outdoor games, the Hope Tango Tower, archery, and the store.

(The smoke from Canada was really bad that day and I was right next to the fire)

On Wednesday, we have more of a calm time called Be Still, and there were tons of different activities, I chose reading.

  On Thursday we had Stage Night (this week it was Stage Afternoon, as it was so smokey), and I sang Stiches because that was the song that I sang for my singing concert. I also participated in our whole cabin act, where someone in our cabin recited the first thirty digits of pi, and then we pied our consolers in the face.

Thursday was also Theme Day, and we had this whole game where the minor holidays got upset and so they ran away, and we had to bring them back. Then we had a whole big holiday that celebrated all holidays called Wapsie Day. There were a lot of activities, but I went to the Nukum courts with someone in my cabin to bury her feet (We did it all the time during 4:00 Swim instead of swimming, so by this point, I was a pro)

On Friday we played everyone's favorite game, it's a game we only play on Friday, if you win (which no one has ever done before), you get the tower in your backyard, along with three of the horses, all of the Wapsie toilet paper, and all of the soda and candy from the store, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE!!! There are 21 tasks and if you complete all of them, you have to ring the bell. At the end of the game, the bell gets rung and you have to see if it was a team of campers, or the director. You have to be in groups of three or more. If no one wins, there is something called a Weekly Wapsie Weener, and you get a certificate and something else. My team, Me, Jane, and another girl from our cabin, got thirteen points, but we didn't win. 

After that, we have the dance. You could dance, play bean bag toss, Jenga, Frisbee, or just hang out.

Our Favorite Room

    In the fall of 2022, we decided that it was time to get a new porch, as our old one was rotting and no longer safe. We had many (two) companies come over to our house to look at our deck, but we decided to go with Patrick Cook Construction. We decided to go with a screened-in porch with a small deck off of it, with a small patio, and a sidewalk. It turned out amazing!

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

    We are so happy with the final project! We've already eaten many meals out here, and I've read out here a lot, too!

Washington D.C. Part 2

     The rest of the week, we spent at museums, but it was really fun. We didn't get any pictures at the National Holocaust Museum, but I'm okay with that. It was really cool, yes, but the topic was, well, really strong for me. and it was long. Really, really long. But the rest of my family enjoyed it, so if you ever go to Washington DC, you should definitely go there.

    On Tuesday, we went to the National Holocaust Museum, and then afterwards we went to the National Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, which was SO FUN!

At the Natural History Museum, there was an exhibit where you could see what you would look like as an early human. We all did it, and even convinced dad to do it (in all honesty, it was probably out of pier pressure, but I'm not sure)! In order: dad, mom, Evaline, Cora, me

On Wednesday, we went to the National African American Museum, and then the National Archives Museum, which was, honestly, kind of boring. We did, however, get to see the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution.

We had to wait a long time to get our food after the African American Museum. It was after one a clock, and we were all starving, and it took 30 minutes to get our food from a food truck, and we were first in line.

That night we ate at a super tasty restaurant in Collage Park, near our hotel. After we ate, we walked around and came across a butterfly mural...

Thursday we had the awards ceremony, and then we went to the National Spy Museum, which was by far my favorite museum that we went to.

That night for dinner we went to this place right across the street from the butterfly mural that had three different places that you could order from.

Right at the Maryland boarder, there was this really cool rest stop with some walking paths and one even went above the interstate!

One of my favorite restaurants that we went to was a diner type grill in small-town Brooksville, that our parents let us get milkshakes at!

     One thing that my mom and I agreed on is that the African American Museum and the Holocaust Museums were lacking is the interaction for kids. The Spy Museum was my favorite, not just because of all the topics (they were all really cool), but also because of the interaction. They had all these activities you could do that would relate to some of the topics, and even had this thing where you got to live your own mission throughout the museum. Last year, when we went to Kansas City, we went to Sea Life and the World War I museum, and Sea Life was made a little more for kids, but it still had a packet that was for kids. The World War I museum, I probably would've been bored out of my mind, but no, they had a kids activity packet so that kids could stay interested! If I remember correctly, they had a Scavenger Hunt activity, and many more. However, the Holocaust and African American museums didn't have anything for kids. That doesn't mean I didn't like them (African American Museum was really cool, highly recommended), it just means that I wish they had something more for kids, so I wasn't as bored as I was. But both of those are recommended.