Summer Wrap Up

It may a bit premature to use this blog title, but I feel like my summer is coming to an end since I start back with professional development on Tuesday (2 days away).  The girls have another week.  At any rate, here are some of the fun things we have been able to squeeze into the last days of summer (in no particular order):

1) Our church’s VBS theme was Stellar.  So, at the end of the week, they hosted an International Space Station food court.  People from church could have a food table with international foods.  The girls and I brainstormed a number of ideas and finally decided to partner with Sam who was doing American – Hawaiian Sliders.  We added to his table with an US staple – the root beer float!  We used small cups, maybe 4 ounces or so, with a scoop of ice cream and a couple sips of root beer.  We also contributed by providing the decorations – tablecloth, poster (moon by me, astronaut by Ellie, diner sign by Madison), and aprons/hats. Cale ended up assisting Sam in the end, too.  It was a fun meal!

    

2) Kidron Volunteer Fire Department hosts a chicken BBQ every year.  I told the girls I used to enjoy going to eat, talk with friends, and listen to some music with the kids rode horses or played.  But in the last few years, it has felt like a competition – you have to get there hours ahead and wait in long lines in hopes they don’t run out.  Well, this year, we went late and decided if there was no chicken, we would just return home and eat pancakes.  There WAS chicken though, so we had some, added some ice cream at the end, and even watched the girls be led around on horses. 

    

3) Grandma Yoh has taken the girls back to school clothes shopping for the past number of years.  The girls really like browsing the clothes, trying them on, and selecting a few.  This year was no exception.  They had a blast.  And they came home with some fun (and trendy) finds.

         

4) We took a family bike ride, which we should do more frequently than we do, last Saturday.  Jeremy drove the truck to Ernie’s Bike Shop in Massillon and then rode his bike to meet us on the trail.  We left from home and headed his direction.  It is about a 12 mile one way trip.  This was the first time that the girls used a camel back drinking system while biking.  It was great; so many fewer water stops.  I am sure our stops were less because they are older and can bike farther, too.  We had a great time biking there though.  Once we arrived, we treated ourselves to a scoop of ice cream, loaded up the bikes, and drove home.  Job well done!

5) One thing we thought would be fun this summer was to visit different branches of the library.  We did a horrible job locally accomplishing that goal, but we did go to two on our road trip in June.  We decided to go to Massillon Library.  We were sadly underwhelmed by it.  I am not sure what I expected, but it was definitely grander than what we saw.  But it was a good venture out.  We hope to try Stark County Main and/or the Jackson Branch… maybe Monday. 

6)  The bake sale.  I really don’t know how many years we have done this, but I think it is third year (every year we have lived here).  But we have also participated in Laura’s garage sale by selling baked good a number of years as well.  The girls enjoy doing it.  Madison likes trying to gather things to sell at a small garage sale and then displaying them attractively on a table.  Ellie likes baking things to sell.  They both enjoy the planning, running the sale, and the profits they earn.  We have always done it with the neighbor girls.  Once there were maybe 3-4 additional girls.  This year, it was just Ellie and Annabelle.  This year, they also pretty much did all the baking and planning on their own.  We had banana bread and muffins, chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate chip cookies, brownies, cupcakes with frosting, and sno cones.  The last thing was both a blessing and a curse.  The girls were a bit frustrated that the sno cones – a last minute addition AND not technically a baked good – were outselling the baked goods they had worked so hard making.  That said, it did bring a lot of business to their tent to keep them busy.  They had a great day and a lot of fun.

    

7)  Jeremy’s uncle David usually has some sweet corn planted along his lane that he shares when it is ripe.  We have frozen it before, but soemtimes we just eat it immediately.  This year, we took the girls out to help pick some.  Then, we worked together to husk it, boil it, cut it off, and bag it.  Madison took the job of tong girl, transferring the corn into the boiling water, then into the ice bath, and then onto the cookie sheet to be cut.  Ellie took on cutting off the kernels.  Which left me, to just bag it up.  (And Jeremy to get the lawn mowed before the rain came!)  It worked out really well.  We were able to get about 6 bags of corn to use in the future. 

    

8) Avery came for a sleepover.  This is a summer event.  And when I say event, I mean “event.”  The first year Ellie had her over, she decided to make it an experience or themed.  I think it was camping that year, last year was Harry Potter (with an escape room!), and this year… Yoh Family Camp.  Best cabin choice: Crazy Pine (Ellie’s room).  They played forever with water on the trampoline, had a scavenger hunt, had hot dogs for dinner and s’mores for dessert, and watched a movie on the patio.  The next day, Ellie made some blue pancakes with sprinkles for breakfast.  They frosted the bake sale cupcakes, and they just hung out. 

    

9)  And finally, the surprise.  Jeremy had apparently been secretly raising a monstrous vining plant near our compost bin on the backside of our house.  He said he was waiting to see how long it would take me to notice and hoped it would take me all summer when he could show me the bounty of produce that grew.  Well, it didn’t take me all summer, but it took me a long time to notice.  I don’t mow the grass much.  I don’t take out the compost.  I do go outside in the backyard, but I must not look around much.  The thing is massive.  And I call it a thing because I don’t know if it is growing pumpkins, butternut squash, watermelons… Who knows!  Not sure what the plan is, but I need to be more perceptive. 

4-H Projects

For the past few years, the girls have participated in 4-H.  Typically, when people think of 4-H they think of animal projects.  We don’t live on a farm, and besides a dog and the random fish or hermit crab, we don’t have animals.  And to show the dog, Pepper would need to either do rally (obstacle course), obedience, or showmanship.  Jeremy is confident Pepper would succeed at any of these.  I am sure that it would take a lot of time investment, and I don’t know that I am willing to commit that kind of time.  (Although I am sure we would all be better for it… a trained Pepper!)  Anyways, the girls participate in the still projects.  Every year, they have chosen something different instead of advancing in one they have already tried.  There are pros and cons to this.  The pro is they get to learn a lot of new things.  The con is that we always feel like we have no idea what we are doing.

In addition to the individual project, they work with the club to do a group project.  This year, the club chose an incredibly ambitious project – Rockets Away!  So, they worked building model rockets; Jeremy worked with them quite a bit at home since we had missed a meeting or two while on vacation.  They blasted them off at a meeting in July.  Ellie’s was recovered; Madison’s was lost in the field.

         

This year, Madison chose to do The Laundry Project.  This project taught her about stains, stain removal, fabric types and care, washing and drying symbols, and ways to wash and dry clothes.  This year we tried something a bit different.  While I had some professional development, one of the grandmas worked with each girl on their project.  It was helpful for two reasons: 1) They were able to get a lot of work done in a week, 2) They didn’t have to do it with me (which sometimes doesn’t go so smoothly).  Madison worked alongside Grandma Yoh on her project.  They had a lot of fun together.  Then, she did a few parts with me.  Overall, she enjoyed the project.  She was really proud of her poster design as well.  She scored an excellent on her project this year, which was the category below outstanding (where she has placed the last few years).  It was a little unclear why she scored excellent and not outstanding, but in the end it doesn’t really matter.  She did a excellent job, interviewed confidently, and worked hard throughout the project. 

         

Ellie chose to step away from the dog projects she had done in the past, and try something different.  She chose the project Staying Healthy.  She worked alongside Grandma Ediger for her project.  This project had her thinking about exercise, nutrition, and hygiene – all things that help keep you healthy.  She had fun with this project – creating new power foods, thinking about a variety of exercise, and also how does she keep clean.  Grandma and her worked well together.  Ellie scored an outstanding on her project.  She interviewed well with the judge, seeming to add a lot of information unprompted.  We learned while she was at camp, that she was selected to take her project to the Ohio State Fair!  (Just like Madison’s project last year!).  So, that was pretty exciting.

        

So, on Wednesday, July 26 (while Madison was at Camp Luz), Ellie, Jeremy, and I headed down to Columbus for her state judging.  She was excited, but a bit nervous too. 

We got there with plenty of time, so we explored a bit in the air conditioned building before heading into the judging area.  We had fun with the space stuff especially.  Ellie had been doing VBS crew leader job all week, and the theme there was Stellar.. and she was the Mars crew!

    

She was called quickly to the judge’s table, sat down, and seemed to have a good interview with the judge.  She received all excellent (highest) on her score paper.  There was an award’s ceremony scheduled a few hours later where they would present awards to Outstanding of the Day in each class (top 20%) and the Clock trophy (highest honor in each class). 

         

So, we meandered through the fair, listened to Noah Michaels play drum in the All Ohio State Band, and went fishing. 

                   

Then, we headed back for the awards ceremony.  John and Christi Michaels (who were there supporting Noah) joined us, which was pretty cool.  Ellie got an Outstanding of the Day AND the Clock Trophy in her class!!  It was surprising to all of us.  We were pretty excited for her. 

         

Afterwards, we at some less than awesome gyros and rode the sky tram thing before heading home.

    

The only thing left for 4-H this year is the display at the Wayne County Fair.  Otherwise, this year’s 4-H is in the books!  Way to go girls; you both did a great job again this year!