Outdoor Explorers Camp...a glimpse into Morgan's day

Now that Kindergarten is over we had to decide what Morgan was going to do for the summer break. Elizabeth's daycare doesn't really fit well for older kids and we wanted to make sure Morgan had lots of activities to keep her busy during the week so we finally decided on a program through the Carmel Parks Department. They had several camps to pick from all with a different theme and the one we picked was slightly outside of what we thought her comfort zone would be, but thought she would have fun. Morgan started the Outdoor Explorer Program right after Memorial Day and none of us were too sure what to expect. One of the best things I've noticed is that her camp leader takes pictures everyday and posts them online so the parents can see what the campers did. It's been great to see what Morgan is up to and it gave me the chance to share it with you.

The Outdoor Explorer's Program is Monday through Friday 8:30 to 4:30. Two days a week they are bussed to a field trip location (normally local parks) and on Wednesdays is swimming day. The other two days they have a pretty low key day with lots of playing, exploring, hiking and on Friday's the have a camp fire with roasted hot dog and s'mores!

They spend most of the day outside and when they are on field trips eat their lunch wherever they can find a spot.

Yesterday they went to Flowing Well Park in Carmel which is actually right down the street from our house. We have never been there so I was amazed when I saw the pictures of what the park had. The kids were allowed to walk in the creek and search for rocks and animals.

Morgan loves rocks!

Every week there is a theme for camp- so far we have had 'Into the Wild', 'Amphibians and Reptiles' and 'Bugapalooza'. So each place they go to on a field trip there is some educational component or places they can look for bugs, animals etc. There is almost always a playground too!

They play a lot.

And then there is Morgan's favorite day of camp- Wednesday. Why is it her favorite, because she gets to hike to the Monon Center and swim! The Monon Center pool is really great. Most of the pool is less then 3' deep so Morgan can touch almost everywhere she goes. They also have a huge playground in the pool. They typically stay there for 2 or 3 hours, and Morgan always comes home with little sun kissed cheeks. And she is even developing freckles like her mom!

Friday's are laid back at camp. Around lunch time they start up the camp fire and let all the kids build fortresses around the campsite. For lunch they provide hotdogs and s'more fixin's. Who wouldn't love that!

They also spend some downtown making crafts. So far Morgan has made a sit-upon for use at camp and a painted lizard during the 'Amphibian and Reptile' week. I'm sure we will get many more over the summer.

The other thing I find really amazing is all the cool animals the campers are able to find on their outings. The first day I went to pick Morgan up I had Elizabeth with me and all the campers found a SNAKE! Morgan and Elizabeth were both pretty interested surprisingly. But so far they have found toads....

Some kind of salamander...

A crayfish...although Morgan told me they caught a lobster and it wasn't until I saw the pictures that I realized she meant crayfish.

And a soft shelled turtle which I thought was the coolest one so far!

What have we been doing...

It's been awhile since I have posted about the two cutest girls in the world and that's because we have been very busy lately! Over the last couple of months the girls have kept us both on our toes. I thought I would try and sum up some of our activities so everyone can stay up to date.

Let's begin with bowling! For a couple of weeks in the spring Morgan's gym class was taught by the local Sertoma club. They came in and taught all the kids how to bowl. At the end of the lesson all of the kids got several coupons to try out bowling at the local bowling alley. Since I am trying to be more adventurous in our activities I thought the whole family should go. How could I say no when there was a free coupon sitting around. So one Sunday afternoon we all loaded up and headed to the bowling alley. Morgan was pretty excited, and Elizabeth was so-so about the experience, but once we were there everyone had a good time. I even signed them both up to bowl for free this summer so now we can go anytime we want!

We also have been using any opportunity we have to go outside and play. Once weekend when Greg was out of town the weather was perfect so I took the girls to the local park. It was our first time being outside this season and they had a ball!

Starting in April both girls were signed up in soccer leagues through the YMCA. Morgan was on a 5-6 year old team and Elizabeth was in the 3-4 year olds. Most weekends the girls played at the same time so I was always cheering Elizabeth on while Greg cheered for Morgan. Elizabeth loved the practice time they had before the game.

She would always run after the ball and do whatever drill the coach was asking them to do....

She also took a lot of time to pose for the camera.....

Unfortunately when the game started she decided she didn't want to play and would come and sit with me. Every now and then she would get out and play, but for the most part we watched her soccer league.

On the other field I was able to catch Morgan scoring at least 3 goals for the season! She was so excited. One week Elizabeth was sick and went home with Greg so I got the chance to sit on her sideline. During a break I was able to catch the serious athlete side in Morgan....

The girls had a great time playing soccer and we might enroll in the fall season! Earlier this summer we spent the day at the Broad Ripple Art Fair. We tend to go every year and most of the time there isn't a lot for the girls to do, except get yelled at to "STOP TOUCHING THE ARTWORK!" But this year they added several kid booths so that they could participate in the events. The minute we walked in the girls saw this booth that let them add to a painted canvas.

Not sure what it looked like at the end of the day but the girls really enjoyed themselves! One of the most recent things we have been doing is swimming. Earlier this year we made the decision to join the YMCA with the hope of finding classes for the girls and potentially using it as a daycamp this summer. Well the daycamp idea went away, but we are enjoying classes and THE POOL! The pool comes free with our membership and I must say they have a pretty good pool. Memorial Day weekend it was hot enough for us to get out an enjoy it.

We've been doing lots of other things too- Children Museum visits, playing on our swing set, watching movies, reading books and Morgan finished Kindergarten! We have some other special things we've been working on but I am saving those for a post in the near future. Hopefully everyone is caught up on the happenings at the Clark house- gotta run, we have more fun stuff to do!

Apparently I just don't understand...

Many times on the weekends the girls drive me to the end of my sanity. On one such Saturday we were in the car and the girls were fighting- they seem to know just how to push each other's buttons- and I asked them "Why do you two have to fight all the time!!!"

Morgan's response was "But Mommy, we are sisters."

So that must be the reason I cannot understand why they feel the need to pick on each other all the time. It must be a gene you get when you have a sister or brother and since Greg and I are both only children we are missing that gene.

I'm glad Morgan filled me in on that piece of information.

Up, up and away!

Elizabeth has a thing with balloons. Since it is such a different attitude then her sister I thought I would capture her balloon story last night and share it. I have been out of town and so last night I didn't really want to cook and there wasn't really much in the refrigerator so we went out. We went to one of our favorite places and while we were there Morgan walked into a table and bumped her head. She was fine- don't worry, but being the wonderfully dramatic child both she and her sister milked the situation for all it was worth. They left the restaurant with Skittles and balloons. They were lucky enough to get the balloons early on in the meal so they played with them the whole time we were there.

When it was time to leave we tied them to their wrists and headed home. Ever since I can remember, Morgan has always wanted to keep her balloon as long as possible. Elizabeth on the other hand must think that balloons are living a captured life when they are tied to your wrist, because she always (and I mean always) lets them go once we get home. So last night was no different.

We made it home and walked out to the front sidewalk so Elizabeth could let her balloon go. She always gets pretty excited about it too.

She very gracefully lets it go and then we have to watch the balloon until we can't see it anymore. I'm not sure what we would do if the balloon got hung up in a tree or something- but luckily this has never happened (at least while we were watching it).

So we waited and watched...

And watched....

And waited some more until it got so far away it was only a little pink speck.

Morgan on the other hand held her balloon very tightly and took it inside to play with it. This morning her balloon was still inflated and floating around the house. We will more then likely keep it until it has virtually no air and we sneak it into the trash can. I'm not really sure what this means about their personalities but I always thinks it is interesting when they feel completely different about things.

Fun at the children's museum!

For Christmas Greg's Aunt's Mary and Kathy and Uncle Charlie renewed our family membership to the Children's Museum. Since then we have gone about 4 or 5 times. It is such a great activity for a Sunday morning. We have found that if you get there when they open on Sunday that there is hardly anyone there. That way we can play until lunch and then head out when it gets busy! The picture above is Morgan playing in the dinosaur dig area. She hates the glasses.

Elizabeth's favorite thing to do is ride the carousel on the top floor. She would probably ride it 20 times if we let her. The other thing they love to play with on that floor is the ice cream shop. They get the aprons on, stack up the ice cream and deliver it to me.

The newest exhibit at the museum is Dora the Explorer. Elizabeth loves Dora and Diego and watches them all the time. So I knew when we went to see it she would love it. They both posed for pictures with Dora and Diego for me before they ran through the exhibit. They were both so excited that they didn't really experience any of the hands on pieces- they just ran from one thing to the other, to the other. The funny this was that Elizabeth could tell you all about the episodes that each piece of the exhibit was designed around. Like I said she really loves Dora.

Our other favorite thing to do while at the museum is see the Barbie exhibit (I'm not sure what we will do when it is gone!). Normally the girls play with the clothes and the dolls, but our last visit was an exception. Had I known what I was in for I would have taken a video....

Morgan strutting her stuff on the runway.

Elizabeth came out all dolled up and ran down to the end....

She then proceeded to dance....

and strut her cute little self. She did this for about 5 minutes.

The girls love the museum. Thank you so much for our gift-we will definitely enjoy it all year long!

Our little mermaids...

A little before Christmas I decided that the girls needed a winter activity. Something that would occupy some time on the weekends and be something that they could look forward to. In order to kill two birds with one stone I opted for swimming lessons. The two "birds" were 1. The girls would have something fun to do, and 2. they would learn the basics of swimming so that this summer when we are at the pool I won't worry so much about them when we are in the water.

So after the first of the year our first lesson started. I signed Elizabeth up for a Level 1 and Morgan up for a Level 2 since she had done a lesson at daycare the previous summer. I wasn't sure what to expect but they loved it. The lessons were held in the indoor pool at the Monon Center. They have a huge indoor pool with a slide and some fun spray jet toys. So lucky for us, while one girl was in the lesson the other got to play. This meant two hours of activity!

Elizabeth loved the water. She is fearless anyway, so I wasn't too worried. Morgan loved swimming too. She improved the most I would say because she can now swim on her back without help! She is still working on swimming on her stomach, but I am sure with a little practice this summer she will be doing it with no problem.

I took a video of Elizabeth swimming so everyone could see her skills.

I have more pictures I will have to upload later, but the girls had a blast. We did two sessions (one the month of January, and one the month of February). By the end Morgan had passed Level 3! Elizabeth didn't pass her level 2 class, simply because the teacher thought she was just too small to master some of the skills. But she said it was normal because her muscle dexterity just wasn't developed yet. The best part of the lessons was that by the end of the two hours the girls were beat! Most of the time Elizabeth never made it through Morgan's class. One evening I was able to get a picture of her resting while she was waiting for her sister to be done.

We took a break from swimming for a month or so, but I think the next opportunity we have to sign up we will. Plus we joined the YMCA and they have an outdoor pool and splash area so guess where we will be for the majority of the summer.....that's right THE POOL!