Little Seals

In our quest to have the girls become strong swimmers, Don and I decided to sign them up for the local swim team. I had heard about the Pinole Seals a couple of years back but our schedule, coupled with the age of the girls just didn't work out for our family. Now that the girls are almost 6 & 8 and can barely swim we decided to commit to the 5x weekly evening practice so the girls could master swimming once and for all. And if this doesn't work, I'm throwing in the towel!

So far the girls are enjoying their practices and we are seeing improvements. Havana isn't as keen but she is younger. Amara, who tends to be a perfectionist, is putting in alot of effort, which is paying off. They are both proud of themselves. (and having friends on the team helps tremendously.)

We don't want to burn them out so we often only attend 3-4x a week but that is more than enough and we hoping that when the meets start mid-June they will have made enough progress to actually compete. To be cont.

Dinner Time

 Eagle Eyes Amara and her father, Eagle Eyes Don caught sight of a bumble bee who got tangled in a spider web underneath the balcony of our bedroom (they were out in the garden at dusk and just so happened to look up at the right time!) That they saw it was pretty amazing but what happened next was the stuff you see on those nature channels. 

The spider, which turned out to be a black widow, approached it's prey and then after it was dead (or dying) wrapped it in a web cocoon.  She then left, leaving it like a mummy. A few minutes later, a daddy long leg who was in the web too (not caught) came over and ate some of the bee. I guess Ms. Widow didn't like that because she returned rather quickly, took the bee and left with it, hiding in a corner, out of sight. 

It was quite a show that. The girls and I watched with fascination from the balcony (looking down) and Don watched from the ground. I was thankful to have had a lens that allowed me to get some close ups of the action.

 

Winnie the Pooh

 Amara just stated her second play (she was in Peter Pan in the winter time; http://twosmallgems.blogspot.com/2014/12/peter-pan.html). She has a role of a honey bee in Winnie the Poo. Don and I are very proud of our little bee. Amara is open, talkative and warm around people she knows but she is shy around new people and new experiences. For her to want to be part of the Pinole Youth Actors is a big deal for Amara. She needed encouragement the first time she started with PYA but now she is confident with friends old and new. And the performance was just too cute! Amara and the others did a fantastic job.

Amara and Juliet. Having her other BFF in the play has been fun for them both.

Charles Schulz Museum

 Recently, the Charles Schulz museum was the destination for our troop for the girls to ice skate and work more on their insect patch (Brownies) and the petals (Daisies). Back in the Fall, when I was reading the event guide for the year this description of the day was far too appealing to pass up: Build a bug house, meet live bugs, make a treat to eat, create crafts using flowers and trees, plus much more. Brownies, Juniors, and Cadettes will work toward their Naturalist badge requirements and Daisies will get started on the Daisy Flower Garden Journey. Ice skate at Snoopy's Home Ice and receive a Schulz Museum fun patch. 

So off we went, caravaning early on a Sunday morning up to Santa Rosa for a day full of fun and adventure. 

The younger girls had the option of using a chair to help teach them. This is how it worked out for Havana and Addison! 

 After skating the girls had a chance to do a variety of table top activities including seeing live bugs under a microscope, making scented bath salts and homemade lemonade, drawing botanicals and a whole other host of things. And of course, they could explore the museum to learn about the life and art of Charles Schultz. 

Ms. Havana,  I have been discovering has a natural gift when it comes to art. Here she did a lovely drawing of the California state flower (the poppy.)

We were all tired and hungry by the end but the girls were happy and full of new knowledge and a few cool crafts. They didn't want to say goodbye! I personally think this was the best out of all our April events. I think the whole troop would agree. Now we are talking about an outing that is just ice skating come this Fall. Which means, the adventures of the Ellerhorst Girl Scouts continue....

Get Crafty

It's been an active April for the Ellerhorst Girl Scouts. We don't normally do weekend events outside our troop so frequently but it just so happened the Northern Ca council planned the activities we wanted to participate in all in one month.

On our first outing, we trekked down to San Jose to a park where the girls would work on their painting badge. The purpose was to teach girls how to do different types of art. This is technically a Brownie badge but the Daisies in our troop (we have both) did theirs early. Teen scouts lead the event which was awesome. Girl lead activities teach the younger scout sisters that they will one day take leadership roles. These teens did a fantastic job from planning, to execution of the event to connecting with all the girls. 

Our troop was split up so that they had to make new friends which was scary at first but by the end of the day the Girl Scout idea "to be a sister to every scout" was a lesson they got to live instead of just here about. So not only did the girls create some pretty creative art but they made new friends.  

Below is a glimpse of our girls in action.

The groups rotated; here they got a brief lesson on artists.

Ending the day with the friendship circle. This circle is one of the things that stand out the most from my own Girl Scout days as a child.

 

Nancy, my co-leader and I loved this; She took the initiative to make one for our own troop!