Chinese Language Camp

Rgirl's school holds a one week Chinese language camp. Although school starts in 2 weeks, we used it as a refresher for her, and for something fun to do. We were supposed to do daily Chinese homework over the summer (reading, writing, watching movies or cartoons, visiting websites online, etc), which we did alot of, but I don't think as much as the teachers would have liked.

On the last day, the parents were invited to the classroom near the end of theday. Here they were singing a song (I'd tell you what the song was about...but...uhm...I can't understand Chinese.)

Here they performed a rendition of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf". Except it took me to the very end to figure out what they were doing. I was pretty proud I figured it out at all :) Rose was a sheep, the boy was a shepherd, there were villagers with axes to come to the rescue, and there were 2 wolves.

The moms and dads had to participate too. I got to use chopsticks to move yarn from a big pile into individual piles. And we had to hold hands and do some circle dance thingy (yep, that's the technical word for it I'm sure). Some parents and kids had to move marbles from one bowl to another. I tried to get Doug to do that one, but he wasn't buying any.

They did some great paper crafts, I might just have to steal an idea or two for FCC Midwest's Chinese New Year :)

This was the first time I got any time to myself at home, without Rose. Yes, there have been a day or two here or there throughout the years when friends or family have taken her for a day, but this was the first planned time in 5 years. I didn't get much done early in the week due to some unforeseen extended family issues. But I did get to catch up on much needed sleep, laundry, lawn care. Doug took Thursday off and we had a date - put our bikes on the car and went biking on a new trail to the west of us. Had a fun lunch at a drive-in restaurant. Then, since I couldn't ride as far as Doug could, he kept going and I met him with the car further down the trail.

Our family had also been ill up until last week- Rgirl had what the doctor called a "probable" case of H1N1 that started at the end of July. The only place we figure she was around alot of other children was at swimming lessons. The doctor said in a neighboring city there were alot of swimmers getting it, including instructors. It's a milder version, which we were thankful for.

Had to cancel a big playgroup at our house, had to drop out of swimming lessons, missed our big National Night Celebration our neighborhood does. Rgirl sat in the window and cried, although we tried to get her to come watch a movie in the basement to take her mind off all the fun activities she was missing just outside our door.

Alot of people are alarmed about the H1N1 flu, but it is out there for sure, anyone can get it. Rgirl did, and she isn't any different than anyone else. She rarely runs a fever, and this flu has a fever that is high and lasts for about 5 days. The fever is what tipped us off that it wasn't just any bug. On a possible good note, if/when it starts going around the schools, there's a chance she won't get it again. Doug and I didn't get it, but we both ended up with colds.

Because we had to miss a fun playgroup at a friends swimming pool yesterday because of camp, I took Rgirl to the local swimming pool. Five minutes after we get there, they had to clear the pool due (doo?) to contamination in the water. Last year when we went, we were there about 10 minutes when a rogue storm came through, lightening struck about 1/2 block away, and we all ran screaming from the pool. It was actually kinda funny. Blam! Aeeieeeeee!! Run!!! Nothing like almost getting zapped to get your heart pumping.

Random pictures:

Peaches likes to nap in a big wooden toychest that houses Rgirl's dressup clothes. She came out wearing this.

If I have the camera in the car, sometimes I snap a quick picture backwards without looking, and see what I get. I got this one yesterday on the way home from camp.

Doug took this one of her, he thought it was pretty cute. I agreed.