So July for Curie is all about pony camp at Congressional, this year Erin got her in four times, so she had the chance to really get to ride. We even bought her and Elia cowboy boots so that she could ride with her own boots. Elia got to ride when she was in Great Adventures, so luckily she didn’t feel that she was left out or anything. Curie learned to take care of the horses, trot, and even jump. When it came time for the Camp Luau, every person at pony camp knew Curie and made it a point to interact with her.
The summer went by very quickly and you start to understand that summer is not as long as you remember. For the kids it was about going from specialty camp to camp. Curie made strawberry jam and macaroni cheese in Instant Pot camp and came home with the intent on making strawberry jam after we had made the cookie from Elia’s camp. Curie was so proud of it that she took it back to camp, made Erin take it to work, and made all of us have some at a restaurant. It sat in our refrigerator to almost September before we got rid of it.
In addition to Pony camp and Instant Pot camp, Curie had a few others like story telling and one other camp. Curie one day said that she might be up for the Golden Zippy, a great honor at camp where one camper a week at that camp gets the award, much like an MVP award for best camper. She said that she had never gotten it before and was so excited. So when she came home with it later that week she was intent on showing it to us and asking that we put it into the trophy case. When we put it in the trophy case we found another Golden Zippy button in there – from a different summer that she must have won it. It was pretty funny.
For July 4th we had planned on taking Steve and Julie to Cleveland to celebrate their birthdays but one thing led to another with bad weather everywhere, we decided to go to Philadelphia, even though we always get sick when we go to Philadelphia. On the way to Philadelphia, Steve and Julie had their car broken into, so they returned home. We kept on with the kids to show them that we would persevere and not let troubles prevent good from happening. We went back to our hotel by the airport and met up with Reggie’s family briefly. We went to the Franklin Institute and had conveyor belt hot pot at Chubby Cattle. Then Curie started a fever and we decided to lay low at the hotel. The rain was crazy at the hotel and because we were on the top floor we started to get some leaking, which got worse and worse. It was a crazy stay.
We were trying our best to do some summer reading for Curie, but to be honest, we were not good at it, and Albert tried to impress the importance of neat writing with her. Then one night Curie broke down and told Erin that she was embarrassed that she couldn’t read chapter books and her friends could. Albert took Curie and when they came down they had decided to write their own chapter book with Curie reading what Albert wrote. Here is Chapter 1 as a sample of the book:
“Curie was frustrated. She thought everyone else except for her could read chapter books already. The reality was most people were also having a hard time.
Even though Curie was the youngest person in her class, she was also the hardest working and never gave up! That is because Chens never give up!
Curie was the best at math, but when she was little she thought math was hard.
Curie is a perfectionist who wants to never be wrong or make a mistake, so when she does make a mistake she gets frustrated and mad. When she gets frustrated she tends to try to give up. BUT CHENS NEVER GIVE UP!!!!
So when she had trouble in math, she worked harder and her parents helped her understand that making mistakes is part of becoming great at math.
Her parents wanted her to work just as hard at her reading and writing. “
The best part of their writing, which only lasted a few days, was that she was so excited to read some and write some that chapter books were not as intimidating as before. Curie read the chapter out loud to Erin and Erin cried when she heard it.
Summer has gone by very fast and we have seen our kids continue to grow, mature, and find joy in life. Yes they have been whiny, yes, they have been kids, but they have also been people discovering new things and learning new things. The kids learned to shoot archery! Curie had a very interesting moment though, she told Erin that she thought the Army was there to fight aliens. Then she saw Christopher Robin (the movie) and realized (in the war scene) that people fought people. Would that the army was only there to fight aliens from outer space. It was a sad reality she learned but it was something she was very thoughtful about. We try to keep the bubble as long as we can, but we are also trying to make sure they are equipped for the world we live in, so it is still good even if a bit sad.