Day 22

Today, we learned about animals that live in colder water regions. We went and saw the penguins, prairie dogs, river otters, and bald eagles today. We also fed the goats this morning. Animal presenter brought the tiger salamander and an African centipede today. I spent a lot of time today cutting out pieces for the craft project of the day as the animal presentation was going on. We had some parts ready this morning before the kids came, but we caught up eventually. Today's craft was a penguin. We traced our feet on construction paper to use as the base of the penguins body and head. Then, we added wings, a beak, and eyes.

When we went to see the Magellan Penguins, we did the chicken dance for a bit, which some of the kids really got into and enjoyed. I love doing these random dances in the zoo, although this time, there weren't visitors out wondering about just yet, so we did not look like an exhibit this time haha

We had a little time before we wanted to head down to lunch, so we made a big circle, and I started the hokey pokey: animal style. We put our claws, wings, feet, tentacles, bellies, noses, heads, tails, booties, and whole selves in and out. As you can tell, I kept adding them to keep it going. Remember we did rights and lefts for some of them. Lots of verses haha, but the kids kept going with me... not once did they say last verset yet? That's one thing I like about our group this week, they really get into the dancing with me. I love watching them and shaking right along with them, and they all just smile as they watch me lead.

 
After lunch, we helped some enrichment ice treats for the education animals. We put together little fruit cups, which they were going to add water to later and freeze them. Then, it was 1:00, and time to send most of our campers home.

This afternoon, I played some Zooreka with our full day campers, we watched the penguins get fed, we went through the Discovery Center again, played some lily pad bean bag toss, played the bullfrog game, and a little sharks and minnows. I forgot to mention yesterday that as we walked past the camels yesterday with our full day campers that they actually stopped, asked the camel boy a few questions, and learned about the camels, which are named Molly, Cotton, and Candy... and for those of you who are wondering out there, that hump is not a big water storage container on the camel; it's actually fat.

Day 21

I have no idea where today went, it just flew right on by. The kids were even more well behaved today than yesterday, and our afternoon boys weren't quite as energetic as they were yesterday. We discussed the ocean and made some jellyfish today. This craft went better than we expected, and the kids seemed to really enjoy it.

Animal presenters brought a boa constrictor and chicken today. Then, we rode the train, which was a big hit again. We worked on activity books for a bit, ate lunch, and went through the Discovery Center. I decided to take our big group picture today in front of one of the aquariums since it is Splash! week.

.... and then it was 1:00 already for most of our kids to head home for the day. Since we did the Discovery Center today, we split into 4 groups, so it was easier to keep track of everyone like we did last week. Here's my little group for the day: Will, Charlie, Brooks, Wyatt, Cate, Shae, and Grace.

Today I asked Grace about my suspicion from yesterday, and she and Charlie are siblings, and it just so happens that Brooks is their cousin as well. We have so many kids that are related this week, which is kinda fun. They definitely like to stick together, but they also do a good job of making new friends, too. Charlie's my little helper, and it's also cute to see him watching out for his younger sister.

So, I forgot to leave Kari's house key at her place this morning when I left, so I headed back there after work to drop it off. On my drive, I kept thinking about how I wanted to get my haircut... So, after Kari's I drove down the street in Ankeny and pulled into Sports Clips haircuts, the first haircut sign I saw. Turns out this is a place where mostly guys come due to the sport theme and all. A great stylist named Michelle cut my hair for me though. We ended up going shorter than I originally thought I might go. I told her I haven't went this short in over a year, but I'm liking it. It also turns out that this salon offers a head, neck, and shoulder massage, shampoo, and steamed towel treatment with the MVP package, which I got for free since it was my first time there, which was kinda fun. The picture doesn't do it justice - it looks pretty good in person, but you can tell it's shorter.

Then, I moved to Averee's house near Indianola, which is where I am sitting now. Don't have to get up as early in the morning now for work. haha

Day 20

Start of a new week with 22 new faces for Splash! week. Only 22 new faces because Oliver and Scarlett from last week are back for another one. Think I remember all of their names already, but I guess I'll find out in the morning. Woke up to a thunderstorm, guess that's one way to introduce water week haha Rained last Monday, too, but today it was done raining by about 10am. Then, it was just hot and humid out.

These 22 new faces sat down in nice little rows without us even telling them too. Thought this was a great start to the day. After we went around the room saying our names and our favorite animal, we did a little lesson on the water cycle and freshwater animals. Then, we went on a zoo tour of the red pandas, trumpeter swans, ducks, and flamingos. Went back inside for snack and the animal presentation. They all got to pet Hercules the ferret and see Zoobie the parrot do a few tricks. Next, we went and fed the fish, came back and worked on our activity books, and then went to lunch. At lunch, I realized that we had two sets of twins this week - Cate & Will and Daniel & Alec.

I think we have another brother and sister, but I'll have to check with them tomorrow- Grace and Charlie. Speaking of Charlie... I remember he wanted to open the door for me at one point. This is Charlie:

After lunch the campers worked on painting their bags, which we had little canvas ones for this week. I got paint all over my hands today, not quite sure how I managed that, but I did haha

19 of our campers went home at 1:00 today, so we only had 5 left for the afternoon. Daniel & Alec (twins), Oliver (from last week), Kaleb (wore a red shirt today), and Samantha (our one afternoon girl). They all did a good job helping us clean up some of the board games first this afternoon. Then, we went and played on the playground for a bit, where they sweated up a storm. Did some craft projects, and then it was time to go. Those twin brothers got kinda rowdy this afternoon. I almost felt like I had more than five kids this afternoon, but all in all a good day, and looking forward to getting to know these kids as well as I did the ones last week.

Last night, I packed up most of my stuff back into my boxes, and then I loaded up my car tonight. I'm moving to Averee's house tomorrow after work. My last night in Ankeny with the Renz family.

Wedding Weekend

Back to small town Nebraska this weekend for the wedding of my cousin Elizabeth to Mark Hansen, one great guy. I was the maid of honor in their wedding. Got up and had my hair done at 8am Saturday morning, and then headed to Raeville, NE to start photos at about 11am. The photographer did a great job of keeping everything moving, and then the ceremony started at 2pm.

Everything was looking great until Liz had a wardrobe malfunction right before it was time to exchange the vows. The zipper on her the back of her dress had started to split in the middle, and I looked and was thinking "Oh crap! What do I do?". She could feel it, and whispered to me "Jess, how bad is it?" "It's okay, but when you walk over to do the unity candle try to stand sideways if you can", and she said "ok" as I was thinking "how am I going to fix it?"So, then as we sat back down, I told Julie behind me that we needed safety pins, and then Liz motioned me up to the front where she was sitting, and I said we were getting some safety pins, and I'd come up and fix it. So, I took the two pins they found and went up there and put them in the back of her dress. Mark whispered "I thought you guys had all these malfunctions taken care of ahead of time", and I responded "Shut up, Mark. I'm working on it." haha Then, before commuion my mom had went and got a handful of pins from Kelli, Liz's personal attendant. I went back up as communion was being distributed, took Elizabeth to a back room, and put every single pin that I was given in her dress, and I told her "Well, now the bad part's over so we don't have to worry about it anymore hahaha" Luckily, we all stayed pretty calm throughout this, and it was funny to talk about afterwards. Something we're never going to forget :-) Joe and Ed said it wasn't really a scene that many people noticed until I went back up there the second time, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Poked my finger quite a few times that night, but what a night!

So, wardrobe malfunction aside, they're married, I sign the marriage liscnece with Ed, and then Ed and I ride in the car with Mark and Elizabeth to the reception hall in Tilden. Ed took us on quite the tour of some small towns on the way to kill time, with the rest of the bridal party following behind us. Then, we rode in this old firetruck that the Hansen's own, which was fun.

Dinner was great, we banged on the table to make them kiss, and Ed and I gave our toasts. In addition to what I had already thought about, I threw in "Elizabeth, as you know I'll always have your back. I had no idea that I'd actually have to prove it to you today, but I'll always have your back".  Here's a photo of Sheldon and I with Elizabeth. Sheldon was one of Mark's groomsmen.

Then, we had an hour before the dance was going to start, so we decided to take the bridal party on a little walk and take some fun pictures together. Liz even had brought the parrot from her bachelorette party along. The guys were even pretty good about playing along. haha

Then, we danced, danced, danced the night away. So much fun! We boogied it down the line in our pairs during the bridal party dance to "Celebration", chicken danced, had the dollar dance, slow danced, "Cotton Eye Joe", the macarena, line danced, and just had a good time. It wasn't just girls out there all night either - the guys were fun. Here's the best man (Mark's younger brother Ed) and I, toward the end of the dance.

Yay for weddings! Always a good time. Made some new friends, made some great memories, and had a blast! Congratulations to Mark and Elizabeth Hansen!

Day 19

I went in early today because I needed to leave early to head home for my cousin's wedding rehersal. I decided to go in and get a few things done for next week, so Monday wouldn't be so crazy. Made some copies, organized a few things, and then I put together the folders to send home with our campers today. I put in a group photo, an individual photo of them, and a personal note from Averee and I saying "Hope you had a great week cause we sure did!" I always think personal touches like that can make all the difference sometimes.

We changed our normal schedule up today since I was sneaking out before 11:00. We still started with our big circle and went around saying what our favorite part of the week was. A lot of them liked the train. A few even said everything. Then we went to visit the penguins. Quinn kept asking me yesterday when we were going to see the penguins. The kids kept asking us why they weren't swimming, and I just answered that they must not feel like it yet.

 
Next, the kids all had a chance to feed the parakeets. We went in with three different groups rather than all at once. As the kids came out, I decided we needed to have something to do rather than just stand there. So, first I had about 6 of them, so we did some "London bridge is falling down", then we went up to maybe 12, so we did the hokey pokey. I saw the parakeet lady look over and chuckle, then when almost everyone was out we were doing the macarena and the chicken dance. Now, for those of you who don't know the Blank Park Zoo, the parakeet feeding area is right off the sidewalk as you walk in the main gates, so the visitors that walked in within those first 10 minutes that the zoo was open saw me shaking around with my line of Kindergartners joining in. One of my fellow interns Magen, who is working with the 3rd and 4th graders walked up the hill, looked, and laughed as she went. Later she caught me and said she enjoyed seeing us do the hokey pokey haha Well, it kept them occupied and in line for the time that we needed it. Hey, and one of our zoo crew volunteer helpers from the day Marissa joined in and did the dances with us too.

Then, I lined up my soldiers (yesterday afternoon I started the military bit for fun, which they responded well too - "attention", "yes, sir", "at ease", "forward march"). We quickly marched to the gibbons, which are apes, and big cat exhibits - tiger and lions. Then, back to the classroom for quick freezie pops for snack, and then the animal presenters came. They started with a leopard gecko, at which time I snuck out for the day.

I drove home for about 5 hours, and then headed to Raeville, NE for my cousin Elizabeth's wedding rehearsal. I am actually the maid of honor. Tomorrow's going to be a fun day. This is the first time I've been back in these neck of the woods in about a month. I am pretty tired, considering I've been up since 5:30. Good day though. Here's a photo of my brother Sheldon, Mark - the groom, Elizabeth - the bride, and me at the rehearsal dinner tonight.

Day 18

Exhausted again today... but it was a really GREAT day again. Some of our more quiet kids were so energetic and excited today. For instance, little Grant was talking up a storm and constantly telling me to come look at things as we walked through the Discovery Center today. Gran'ts mom actually asked me yesterday if he had been interacting with the other kids. I said he had been quiet, but he was getting involved and looked happy. I was sooo excited to tell her today how he was excited, energetic, and talkative today :-) Here's Grant pointing showing me some of the poison dart frogs:

Since the Discovery Center has lots of turns and cave areas, we split up back into four smaller groups so each of us leaders had 5 or 6 kids to keep track of, which worked really well. We also used those groups as we headed to the train today, so we made sure we all stuck together. I started with Meadow, Grant, Oliver, Noah, Matt, and Cole. Cole and Quinn switched between the train and Discovery Center.

So our lesson today was about other things that existed during the time of the dinosaurs, which included some fish. So, we went and fed the Japanese Kois, which kids always get kick out of feeding the fish.

The animal presenters brought a blue-tongue skink and a tiger salamander today. Then, we went on a train ride, which the kids loved. They all were so good on the ride, and waving hello to people and the animals. Such a good time.

 The boys saw my camera and wanted to make silly faces, which I encouraged haha

Logan

Grant

Noah

Brody

When we headed down for lunch, some of the meals hadn't arrived yet. (Parents have an option of sending packed lunches or purchasing lunches through the zoo) Well, instead of letting some kids start eating right away, I made them all get back up out of their chairs, and we did the "Singing in the Rain" song with the actions, which went well, and I think we had fun with it. I think Averee might have laughed at me as I was swaying and singing, whipping that song out in an instant. haha

Then, after lunch we walked through the Discovery Center, which was really fun too. The kids were all so excited, and I loved my group. All our kids this week are pretty awesome, though. I'm going to miss them, but I'm sure some of them are coming back for other camps.

Here's a few shots of more of our kids in the Discovery Center from today:

Noah was another one of my coming-out-his-shell-kids today. He was so hilarious and entertaining. Here is posing for me down by the mural near the water lab in the Discovery Center:

So, my little buddies today were Noah, Matt, Oliver, Meadow, and Grant.

Meadow didn't do a very good job of listening to us yesterday, but the first thing she told me this morning was that she was going to be really good... she kept her promise, she was a lot of fun today. Gonna miss my little group. Brody is also one of our really well behaved kids that stays all day... Most of our kids that have been going home at 1:00 are really good. Little Brody, my dinosaur body guard at one point today (at least that's what he said haha) He's one of those talkative fun loving kids.

Really great day! Long post, but I had so many great things I wanted to write about today... I also picked up the photos I ordered, and I'm really excited to put them in the campers' folders tomorrow to go home...Well, good night everyone. I'm getting up early, and have a lot on my agenda this weekend, which I'll write about soon.

Day 17

Today's theme was Dinosaur Lifestyle. Before the kids got there, I dug out this alligator bean bag toss game we have that someone put together last summer. Then, I made a setup for pin the horn on the triceratops. I drew the face on a poster, and then put some tape on a paper towel tube for the horn. We discussed eating habits, adaptations, and prey/predator ideas in our lesson this morning. I helped lead this one. After our lesson, we played the two games that I had prepared in the morning. The kids were having a lot of fun with them and didn't want to stop.

Then after a bathroom break, I taught the kids the bullfrog song, which they really enjoyed, too. They caught onto the words after a few times around too, so I wasn't singing alone the whole time. Cole started singifng along during four first round, and then Drew was leading it the last time we played it before checkout. I told his mom to ask him about it. It is a fun little game. Mason won quite a few of the rounds we played. I actually made it down to the final two one round... it was just me and Cole staring down as we waited for the kerplunk. I can still picture the look of "intimidation" on his face.

The kids also got to feed the goats today in the petting zoo area, and play on the playground a bit more. I also took individual photos of everyone, so we can send home a group photo and an individual photo with each of them at the end of the week. Another game was "What time is it Mr. T-Rex"... if you've ever heard of "What time is it Mr. Wolf/ Fox", you'll know what I'm talking about, and if not and you're curious, ask me about it sometime. We played it inside in the morning for a while, cause the kids were really having fun with it, then we played it outside for a bit this afternoon.

We made dinosaur paper plates this morning, and then crumple art this afternoon. The animal presentations today were a ferret and a baby alligator. I remember hearing one of the boys say "It's soft as a pillow" after petting the ferret. Brody had a little nosebleed today, but no big deal. Something like that was bound to happen one of these days. Brody is one of the most well behaved kids we have.