My 11th Birthday

     Today is my eleventh birthday! We did so many fun things to celebrate, but before I tell you what we did, I'm going to tell you a little about myself.

    My name is Willa Rose Petersen, and I am a fifth grader at Pierce Elementary School. I do soccer, and I love to write, read, sing, bake, cook, make slime, watch TV, play video games (Sims 4, Hogwarts Legacy, FIFA 23, Minecraft etc.), hanging out with friends, and play on the phone. I love school, and my favorite subject is ELA (English Language Arts, or Reading) and PACT (Program for Acedemic and Creative Talent, or you may know it as TAG, Talented And Gifted), which my mom teaches, and she will now be working at my school this year, so I really hope I get in. 

    Now that I've told you a little about myself, I'll tell you what we did to celebrate.

On Wednesday, we went out to The Pines, a pizza place only a two minute drive from my house.

    Yesterday, the 26th, before my party, I opened up the presents from my parents. Then, we had my party.

Today, we went to Kohls to get a new backpack, and after that we went to Target (the shirt I'm wearing I got at Target)

Today for my Birthday Dinner, we might go to Edith Lucelle's or the Sushi House (I originally wanted to go to Need Pizza, but my parents said no because we already went out for pizza). 

The Rest of Summer

     August, compared to the rest of the summer, has been pretty low-key. We have only a couple other events going on, such as a sleepover that I'm going to tonight, Back-to-School Bash at Jeff tonight, Open House on Monday, Freshman Orientation sometime, school starting on the 23rd, my birthday part on the 26th, and my 11th birthday on the 27th. Oh, and A LOT of cheer practice. Also, Soccer is starting back up next Thursday, and I am so exited! I'll have the same coach I did last year, so that makes me extra-exited.

On August first, my mom had surgery on her Achillies Tendon. She had Tendinosis, which basically means instead of her Achillies Tenson being inflamed (which would be Tendonitis), the tendon was actually damaged. She won't be able to put pressure on her left foot until the 23rd I believe, and then she'll be in a boot. If you're wondering how she's getting along with only being able to put pressure on her right foot, she has both a scooter and crutches. She can still drive, because she uses her right foot ti drive.

On Sunday, we made homemade pizzas with our leftover Pesto sauce on it. We had one chicken and tomato and one sausage and tomato (my favorite), they both had mozzarella cheese, and they were so good!

And on Tuesday we went and picked corn. When we got to my grandma's house to cook the corn, freeze, basically prepare it, I started silking, but then grandma called me in to be the "ice girl," and what I did was after Papa cooked them, I put them in ice water, then once they were cold, I would bring them to my mom to cut off the cob. I also would put them in the freezer with my grandma after she put the cut-up corn in a bag three times.

(You may have noticed that I have somethings tucked behind my ears. My mom actually cut my hair and gave me curtain bangs)

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!