Grandma's house....

This week we visited Grandma's house. We had Jasmine's lunar birthday party with Brenda, Margie and Tim:) Jazzy and Grandma did all kinds of fun stuff while I was at a seminar:)

Last Day at Shingobee Timbers!

I made the long drive to Shingobee Timbers to pick Jazzy up. She was hand in hand with her roommate from the "Turtle Room"- Helena:) I asked Jasmine what kind of cooking they did, since it was a "Cooking Camp". All I heard was that they peeled cucumbers, then helped make tacos one night. Here are some more crafts from camp: a tie die tee shirt, more "lanyards" and friendship bracelets, and a couple of "badges". I made a "deal" with Jasmine that if she completed the "Polar Plunge", she would get a "surprise". Apparently she did it:) I am quite certain that the water was not much colder than the middle of the day. She said they swam in the lake every day. I wanted to give her the incentive of a "surprise", so she would actually stretch a bit and do something different. Here is the surprise:--- a desk that I actually put together myself!!! Totally amazing- since I've had to pay the local handyman to put some other things together for me. Now she has a place to do homework! The favorite dessert:))

San Diego of the Midwest

This weekend, it was as if we were in San Diego!! Perfect weather, light breeze, seagulls all around. We had Sunday brunch at a place called Chase on the Lake- a nice resort on Leech Lake. We couldn't afford to stay there, but at least we sat on the patio and had brunch. After brunch, we drove back to Birch Lake to go "fishing"- which was kind of funny since we had no idea what we were doing. This is a funny picture. I don't know what happened to it so that the little boy is cut in half. These little boys were really friendly, talkative and helpful. They showed us how to put the bait on properly. The little blonde boy was really trying to engage Jasmine, give her fishing hints, etc. She kept her head down with her hair over her face the whole time and never said a word:(. After awhile, the little boy pointed over to Jasmine and said "Does she ever talk"? which was kind of funny, but kind of not. I am constantly having to make excuses to people as to why she doesn't talk:(, but it WAS funny in how he said it:))

Leech Lake today.....

We spent most of the day in Walker, MN around Leech Lake- a very touristy place- window shopping in every single store. We ended up getting a fishing pole and tackle box, then went back to our hotel at Birch Lake to fish. Jasmine didn't catch anything, but we didn't have the correct bait. We'll try again tomorrow.

Hackensack, MN

Picked Jazzy up from Arts and Crafts Camp today. Here are some of the items she made: minion finger puppets, a partially made basket, a landscape, three bookmarks, many lanyards, a sand candle, a necklace made from peices of a magazine, and a partially made straw doll. She made more items in this camp than ever before. The sand candle is kind of interesting. They dig a little hole in the sand, pour in hot wax, set the wick, wait for it to harden, then dig out the candle. Jasmine would have had another patch called a "Polar Bear" patch, but she wouldn't complete the requirement for the badge- which was to jump in the lake at 7am:( She had a "swimming test" where she had to jump into shoulder deep water and swim about two strokes, so I don't see what the big deal was. She is going back to a "Cooking Camp" in a couple of days. I told her that if she did the Polar Plunge and got the badge, I would have a surprise for her when she got home. I'm not sure what I'm going to do if she doesn't do "the plunge" because I already bought her a little pink desk and chair. She has no place to do homework right now- since we don't even have a kitchen table yet. I just have to put the stupid thing together before she gets home. I'm not sure what I'll do if she doesn't do the plunge- maybe make something up:) After I picked Jazzy up from camp, we drove the 12 minute drive to Hackensack (population 313) where the Owl's Nest Hotel is located. It's right on Birch Lake- which we've already explored, played on the playground, checked out the fishing docks, did all of her laundry, ate at one of the restaurants, and went into a couple of the shops. Tomorrow we will go to Leech Lake- which is fairly close since we've already done everything we can do here on our 1 1/2 day summer vacation:))

Shingobee Timbers

First day of Camp Shingobee Timbers- Arts and Crafts Camp. Walker, MN. I was surprised at how small the camp was:) I guess we're used to the big camps in Arizona. Jasmine was happy that she will be sleeping in a dorm instead of a cabin. The dorms are really nice...nicer than the St. Olaf College dorms we stayed in a few weeks ago! Jazzy was waiting for the roomie to show up! I hope she does show up, or Jasmine will be in another room with 3 other girls...no big deal. Bobcat Room. With Counselor Baily. In two days, I will pick Jasmine up from the Arts and Crafts Camp, then we will stay in a little hotel close by, do her laundry, and go back for Cooking Camp! Since these are mostly indoor activities, Jasmine is overjoyed that she won't have to deal so much with her new tick-phobia!!!

Friday night fun:)

We were looking for a nice restaurant to visit tonight. I was hoping for a restaurant called "People's Organic", but we found out that it's only open for breakfast and lunch. Then, I got suckered into going to the "Space Alien" Restaurant. You sit in a big spaceship, and they have Area 51 which is all of the arcade games. Ugghh...noisy with several birthday parties going on at once! Jasmine loves that sort of thing. She got a little card with a few dollars on it for games, then won points and bought a bunch of junk. It was a "fun" Friday night:) The view out of the top of the spaceship. Eating inside the spaceship:)