Birthday Camps

For the past few years Jim's parents have given Rachael a trip to camp for her birthday. She doesn't really need stuff but she loves new experiences so it is a perfect gift. Rachael has gone to a couple of different camps and this year she chose a LEGO Stop Action Film camp at the local college. Rachael and Emma have been planning a stop action LEGO movie of the Hunger Games for a number of months and this camp would be a great training for that project. We signed Rachael up and she planned out a number of LEGO ideas and story lines. I warned her that she would very likely be one of the only girls and she was fine with that.

The morning of camp Rachael made some frantic last minute grabs of figures she might need and after we dropped the younger girls off at VBS we made it to the local college. There was one other girl in the class, Rae was happy at that. Rachael wound up being partners with Cate and she had to rethink her plans because it was a collaboration not an independent movie. Cate was a bit younger but the two of them seemed to work really well together and Rachael gave us updates every day. On the last day Jim and Emma went to the class to watch the creations of all of the kids and especially to see Rachael's movie premiere.  Here it is: The Adventures of Thor.

For some reason this video isn't starting at the opening and the sound if off quite a bit. The original syncs up as it should. We were all really impressed and Jim and Emma said it was definitely the best in the class. Rachael savored the challenge and the creativity that were involved and it was wonderful to see her focused, productive, and happy.

Then this past week Megan got to enjoy the birthday gift of Dance Camp. The camp was at a local studio but not one we knew of first hand. Megan was thrilled to pull out her dance clothes and get her dance bag together. She came home refreshed and happy. They did a number of different types of dance as well as Zumba and musical theater. The camp also included a craft project and snack each day. It was obvious that Megan had missed dancing very much and was relieved to get back to it. It really is a great fit for her. She thoroughly enjoyed the afternoons and was excited to bring home a wonderful collection of crafts projects on the last day. 

Together the girls will go to a 2 day rocket camp mid-August to round out the camp gifts. I love that they get these enriching experiences. It really is a gift.