A Little 4th of July Preview

July is just around the corner...are you getting in the patriotic mood??

We are looking forward to celebrating the 4th with our family out at the beach.  There is this annual 4th of July golf cart parade at Carillon...Rich is very pumped...because he thinks Claire will enjoy it ofcourse ;)  And this year Claire wants "to fly a kite wif Pop"...Stay tuned, I am sure there will be loads of pics.

Weather...

Yep, I realize July doesn't start until Sunday...I was "distracting" myself while waiting to hear from the girls...who are going to be stuck in Atlanta overnight due to weather delays.  Not the weather here in Panama City where we are experiencing the outer bands of Tropical Storm Debby...no, they are delayed in Salt Lake City by the weather that delayed the plane coming into SLC from NYC...
I am very thankful they are together in this adventure :) 

Okay...YOGA at 6:30 tonight is a must...weather you best cooperate!!

Book Club with an AWESOME group of girls!

I am back in town sooner than I planned as Tropical Storm Debby is trying hard to be a downer today! So I packed up Gabby this morning when Rich left for work and headed back across the bridge!!  I have lots to do here and the girls will be flying in this evening if the weather holds (please hold).  Now might be a good time to post before my week gets away from me!  There is so much going on around here and it's all about choices...so for today I have decided to talk about the book club at Girls Inc.

Last Wednesday was our second week of book club.  After the whirl wind day of making journals with all of the girls week one, Chelsea and I were looking forward to giving out books to the girls and getting to know them.

We started each group time with a little game I call around the world...we passed the globe around the group and the girls talked about themselves. Oh yea, the girls love Chelsea...of course and she has a little shadow in each of the younger groups :)

One group of 4th graders wanted me to read aloud with them to get them

started in Pippi Longstocking...so Chelsea manned the group that wanted to silent read

Another group is reading the book about the mysterious Thorne Rooms in the

Chicago Art Institute...notice the doll house in the background...donated last week, we are

thinking about it being a part of our summer fun!  Anyone have some interesting doll house furniture they would like to donate???

This week we will give the first, second, and third graders their books...which include picture books and Magic Tree House books!  We will also be creating Venetian masks with the middle school girls who are reading the Thief Lord and secret key necklaces with 5th graders who are reading

 The Sixty-Eight Rooms.

It is amazing to me that what started as a way for me to get directly involved with an organization I believe in and have supported over the years has quickly turned into a weekly life lesson for me and I think Chelsea too!  It is good for the heart and the soul :)  Oh, and if you are wondering what happened to Kate in all of this...she got a job at Sharky's on the beach and works all the time (except on weekends when she is traveling about with her sister :)

Father's Day Weekend...

We just got home from our weekend in Birmingham. It was Father's Day weekend and Rich wanted to be with all of his girls...he hadn't seen the new house since the move-in...Claire wanted to see us.  It was an easy decision :)

Heading out on Friday for dinner...

Saturday 9:00am...first stop the downtown Farmer's Market

Claire "borrowed" Chelsea's wild sunglasses

Nicole and Claire check out the blueberries

Rich took this sign to heart...he had a sausage biscuit, a cinnamon roll, and a coffee popsicle...

The tomatoes were beautiful AND they tasted like tomatoes...so we had to get some!

Time to go but we were loaded down with peaches, blueberries, tomatoes,

 corn on  the cob, and a basil and spearmint plant.  Next stop the Botanical Gardens to check out the rose garden and play a little hide and seek!

Pop and Claire brave the water sculpture...

Why don't my roses look this good????

Fathers and daughters...

                             

GiGi and Claire...the green girls!

Now for hide and seek...

While Claire and Katelyn take a romp through the gardens

 Nicole and David decide to stroll...

After a busy morning it is time for lunch...and a nap!!

Fun with Claire before church on Sunday...

When it is time to go and she says..."I go to your house to see Gabby..."

I just want to say "Let's go!!

My Summer Adventure at Girls Inc.

Today I set up for the summer book club that I will be leading at our local Girls Inc.   The theme for the summer camp (which starts next Monday) is... "not a vacation from learning, but a vacation of learning."  The 200 girls will be "traveling" around the world in order to learn about different cultures.

Our book club will take the girls to Mexico, Italy, China, Australia, France, and Chicago!  The girls will make journals, kites, sock puppets, key necklaces, and bake cookies! 

One of the decorations for my "classroom"
(which is actually the stage in the community room) is the banner I made using an old atlas...

I am soooo excited about this opportunity to hopefully pass along my love for books and writing and fun to a group of awesome girls who will surely pass a few things along to me!! Pray for us all (including Chelsea and Kate...my two assistants) as we start our adventure!!  And if by chance you are in town and want to help with making sock puppets or kites...let me know :)

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee...and that pocketbook!

This morning Chelsea and I were checking out the news over our morning coffee and caught some of the Today Show at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee...
She dresses like my grandmother did back in the 50's and 60's and just like my grandmother she is described as pragmatic...which could be the reason behind the pocketbook (yes, that is the correct name for the old fashioned patent leather style she  seems to prefer).  I get taking the pocketbook to church, the theatre, parliament...I mean she might need her lipstick or monogrammed handkerchief or perhaps a Certs breath mint (those were the kind of mints my grandmother carried in her pocketbook)...but seriously...carrying it out on the balcony of her own palace???  I seem to vaguely remember in the movie The Queen, she carried her purse when taking a walk about in her garden with Prime Minister Tony Blair.  I am thinking there must be some pragmatic reason behind this...possibly, she keeps it with her in case she has to be whisked away in an instant for security reasons or maybe she's been trained to use the pocketbook as a weapon in a security situation.  She's the Queen and can do what she likes, but don't you wonder what she carries in her pocketbook...

Anyhow she looks as though she has been enjoying herself over the past several days so my hat is off to her :)

As an aside...here is a picture of my grandmother taken back in the day...she would have made a lovely queen :)