A couple weekends ago, we went to our second Pow Wow. I took Jocelyn last year and this year Daddy came along. He appropriately joined Jocelyn in the couples dance. I am forever fascinated by the costumes and elaborate dance. It's a wonderful experience to learn about this great culture. My favorite part of the event is when they call all veterans and military service people into the center of the room and while they parade, the entire audience applauds, the whole time. What a wonderful show of respect.
The next day we joined our friends again for another adventure on our history tour. This time we went to an open house at a colored school that was used in the early 1900's. Once again, the kids had a ball, and we learned so much! We got to see what it was like to go to school a hundred years ago in a school with no bathroom, no computers, and all grades together in one room. Those kids had it tough!! Colin and Jocelyn were fascinated! They got to do crafts and play games like the kids had in those days. We stopped on the way home to check out a couple other places and play on the playground. Another fun adventure! We have two more planned this week!!
Last week was gymnastics camp. This is Jocelyn's favorite camp. She
has two weeks of it this summer. The last day there is always a performance for the parents.
There was a little something recently in the news about the *Dwarf* planet Pluto. A space craft called New Horizons flew past Pluto on July 14th, after traveling 9 years to get there! For the first time ever, we are seeing pictures of the real planet, and the U.S. is the first country in the world to have visited all 9 of the major planets in our solar system (we learned there are actually 1000's of planets in our solar system!).
The Applied Physics Lab (APL) hosted Plutopalooza last weekend. It was a chance for us to get up close and personal with the people who created the space craft. We got to try out some experiments, and see a replica of the New Horizon. There was a presentation that introduced some of the major people on the project, including Brian May. Anyone know who he is? He walked on the stage looking like the stereo-typical 80's rocker. He didn't seem to fit in with all the other master minds on the stage. Well Brian May is the lead guitarist for the band Queen, AND he's one of the astrophysicists that worked on the project! WOW! Talk about life accomplishment! He gave a great talk about how he was the perfect example of how you can be anything you want to be in life. I'll say!
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| With the New Horizon replica |
Our summer includes plenty of reading. Every night we read to Jocelyn and she reads to us. Daddy and Jocelyn have been spending time together playing Lego Star Wars on the Wii. This has sparked a big interest from Jocelyn in everything Star Wars and Legos. The books she reads from the library are all Star Wars, and her current favorite TV show is Ninjago -Lego Ninjas. Jocelyn can read whatever she wants, whatever she is interested in as long as it sparks a love of reading, it's perfectly fine with me. But I admit, in a million years I never thought it would be Star Wars and Ninjas!
She and her old friend would have LOTS to talk about re: Legos and Star Wars! Glad you guys are having such a fun summer!
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