Summer: Part 1

The first half of my summer is over.  In one month, I will be welcoming my new students to my classroom.  Thoughts of panic are creeping into my mind, so I will stop right there.  It has been a busy summer, and I have really enjoyed all of it.  Right off the bat, I took my cheerleaders to camp at UCF (University of Central Florida in Orlando).  Other than one of my boys getting his teeth knocked out the first night, it was a great camp.  I got to take him to the hospital and then there was the drive around Orlando to find an all night pharmacy.  He was great about it all and I spent the rest of the weekend trying to keep him off the mats and away from flying elbows!!

The girls sang him "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth!"

For our Flashback night, we dressed up "Rosie the Riveter" style to represent the 1940s.  The boys were sailors coming home from the war.  I really wanted to do something different.  The kids loved the look and had a lot of fun taking cute pictures.  I really had a great time with my kids.  They worked hard and were easy to deal with.  

Varsity and JV - 47 kids!!

I went from Cheer camp straight to McCall's wedding.  Lani had asked me to be the "Day of the Event" coordinator.  I've never done that so I was rather nervous going in.  But the day came and everything went well.  I was exhausted.  We went early to help set up.  Rozzie and Maddie were a big help.  I had been at the rehearsal dinner the night before and one of Scott's friends is a magician and he did a really cool fork bending trick.  When Rozzie heard about it, she was so excited to go to the wedding and see a magician.  When he made it to her table and did his trick for her and Maddie, they were both enthralled (here was Harry Potter right at her table!!!)  We all had a nice time

Maddie, Travis, and Rozzie looking fancy for the wedding

I'm posting the next picture for a few reasons.  The first reason is that Lani's mom (Barbara "Bobbie" Baron), pictured here at the wedding, never walked again after these pictures.  She walked to the car (she didn't stay for the reception) and went to the hospital the next day.  She came out for McCall's wedding with her doctor's permission.  She had lung cancer that metastasized to her brain and liver.  She was very frail, but really wanted to be at the wedding.  While here, she had blood clots in her lungs and was hospitalized.  Due to the cancer, she was very weak and she passed away two weeks after the wedding.  They are so happy to have these beautiful pictures with her at the wedding.  She was a wonderful lady.  She was from Hawaii and was always very complimentary of others.  I went to see her at the hospital the day before she went to hospice and she held my hand and told me thank you for being Lani's friend and loving her so much.  It was a very special time with her.  The second reason I'm posting this is for Mom Smith.  After Bobbie's passing, we went over to the Collard's to chat.  We were leaving for Girl's Camp and Lani and her father were leaving for Boise and taking Bobbie home for her funeral.  We were talking about lots of different things and somehow it came up that Lani's father Ron went to West High School in Salt Lake City.  Travis mentioned that his mother went there to, class of 1953.  Ron was in the same graduation class and knew Barbara Graham!!  He said she was always a classy lady.  She was pretty and popular and always very kind - of course!!  He had tears in his eyes as he remembered.  Mom Smith, if you click on this picture, it should enlarge and you can see it more clearly.  Ron said that she would remember him by the name "Moon".  Sure enough, when Travis called his mom, she said, "We called him 'Moon.'"

Clint Collard, Ron and Bobbie Baron, McCall and Scott Shipley, Lani and Roger Collard

Right after the wedding, but before Girl's Camp, the great FIDT kidnapping took place.  Maddie was thrilled to be kidnapped by her big sister Morgan.  Now mind you, this is not her biological sister, Morgan.  So now Maddie has two big sisters named Morgan.

Maddie's 5:15 wake up call!!

Next, they were off to Dance Camp at Stetson University in Deland, Florida.  It was really strange to be home without any kids!!  I stuck around the first day to see them dance.  Rozzie is co-captain of the team this year.  It was handy that both girls were in the same section of the dance for picture taking purposes.

Rozzie and Maddie started a trend on the team:  There are now three sets of sisters!!

All of their lots of many awards

And next on the summer list of fun things was Girl's Camp.  Once again, it was a family affair, although we never got around to taking a family photo.  Rozzie didn't have her usual henchgirls with her so she branched out and made better friends with lots of girls.  It was good for her to experience that.  Rozzie was a 2nd year YCL (Youth Camp Leader).  The YCLs help the leaders run the camp and with that, they have many privileges, like late night karaoke.  They 4th year girls (Maddie's cabin) had a little pirate skeleton hanging at their cabin.  The YCLs immediately noted it and proceeded to steal him at night.  One night they took him off on adventures similar to the Flat Stanley adventures you know about.  It was just hilarious.  They took pictures of everything he did.

Capt. E. Bones sings karaoke

Capt. E. Bones snuggles with Carol June, the Camp Director

Capt. E. Bones takes a shower

Maddie was a 4th level camper and graduated this year.  She said it was her best year ever.

Fleming Island 1st Ward contingent

Skit night is always a high-light.  The 4th level always does the same skit.  They sing a song where everyone has a part and it builds.  It starts:  If I were not at Girl's Camp, I know just where I'd be.  If I were not at Girl's Camp, a _____________ I would be.  It starts with a chicken plucker (always a girl from Palatka).  Maddie was an obsessive Internet stalker.  By the end of the song, everyone is yelling their part at the same time and it is really fun!!

"Jacob, Johnny, Billy, Jack.  Why won't someone call me back?"

Rozzie reprised her roll as Carol June, the Camp Director with her thick Southern Accent.  This year, Carol June dressed as Bunny Foo Foo and bopped people on the head with her "mallet" to get them up.

The YCLs played a dirty prank on the leaders.  They put open cans of sardines in our cabin to stink it up!!  It took a long time to find them, too.  It was so stinky!!  We got them back, though with the craziest interrogations ever held at camp.  I think it surprised them that we'd do something like that.  There was a "Lord of the Flies" feeling to it...just a little!!  It was a really fun week.  Travis enjoyed his time at the pool and in the kitchen.  It was great to be there as a family again, but we sure missed Morgie.  Last year she was able to visit us for an evening.  Not so this year.

So now we have 2 girls who have gone through the camp program for all 6 years.  We are so grateful for really fantastic leaders who put so much time and effort into making the camp program so successful and fun.  We love being part of it.