Kennolyn 2: Return to Paradise

This Sunday, we dropped the girls off at Camp Kennolyn for a full two weeks away from home. This is Lily's second year, having done one week last year. Amalia got no such easing in period, and just dove right in.

Burning off some steam at the beach before camp.

After eating at Tortilla Flats in Santa Cruz.

Rolling down the main avenue to camp central.

Amalia's cabin - Acacia.

Amalia's cabin is straight ahead. Lily's is on the right.

Cabin counselor Beki helping Amalia tie her shoes. Mom helping make the bed.

Lily's cabin - Elm.

Dad helping Lily make her bed.

Amalia's cabin mates and counselor Beki (on the left) and the other counselor who we didn't meet. This is a postcard we received today that reads: "Greetings from Cabin Acacia! Amalia is having lots of fun here at camp. Her favorite activity is swimming where she has been placed in the advanced class! We are getting ready for Outpost tomorrow night which Amalia is super excited for!"

Lily's cabin mates and counselor Becca (on the right) and the other counselor we didn't meet. Of note is that Malia (center) and Lily were cabin mates in Fern the previous year, and the other three girls were all cabin mates as well. It seemed to be coincidental. This is a postcard we received today that reads: "Greetings from Cabin Elm! Lily has settled back into the camp lifestyle with ease and has already bonded well with all of the girls in the cabin!She has been so excited to get involved in all of her activities, especially horse riding which most of the girls in the cabin are also participating in which is awesome! The whole cabin is stoked to eat some yummy foil stew at Outpost this week!"

While Lily was at camp, she got this birthday card from her cabin counselors from last year when she was in Fern. This camp thinks of everything!

An actual photo of the camp!

Heather and I have also been sending notes to the girls via an email system where they receive our email note, print it out, and deliver it to the girls' cabins and place it in envelopes they designed specifically for that purpose.

Lily's first belt buckle

Today Andy took a very-nervous Lily to her first competitive archery shoot. The Mt. Madonna Bug Shoot is in Watsonville, about an hour south of San Jose. It was an all-day affair, with Lily shooting from about 9 this morning to 5 in the afternoon, with a 15-minute break for lunch. There were hundreds of competitors coming from all over the region.

Lily was really nervous about participating and almost didn't enter. I think she only agreed to go when she learned last Thursday evening that Nali (her friendly competition from class) was planning to go. Nali is also 8 and going into 4th grade.

There was a small group from Cal Sports Academy, the club where Lily shoots: Nali and her parents, Lily and Andy, Chris (in the back), Michelle (one of the instructors), and Michelle's sister, Elissa.

 

 The younger ones got to shoot closer in. (Still looks pretty far away to me.)

 Nali and Lily posing with the big kids, who were shooting from their regular distance.

 Goofing around while waiting for their turn to shoot.

 How awesomely bad-a$$ are these girls?

 Who's afraid of spiders? Not these girls.

 Hanging out with Chris, who shot in the adult group.

 Taking on the giant scorpion.

 Woo hoo! Lily won her female age group!

And earned herself her very own belt buckle! Now we just have to buy the belt to go with it. Nali took 2nd. Andy says there were about 9 or 10 girls in the Cub group, which went up to age 11.

 Proof: the scoresheet.

Hitching a ride in the back of a pick-up back to the parking lot. Happy girl. 

 Serious hardware.

 Waiting for her at home.

 Proud girl. Rightly so.

Roald Dahl fan fic

A few weeks ago, Lily and I read Danny, the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl. If you've read it, you may recall that it ends with a fantastic and highly climactic poaching of pheasants from the nasty Mr. Hazell by Danny and his father. But Lily was left wondering what happened at Mr. Hazell's VIP shooting party scheduled to take place the next day. The book ends without telling us. So this morning she wrote her own epilogue.

"The Great Shooting Party"

So, as you all know, Mr. Hazell has been robbed of all his pheasants. Now about his shooting party. There were about no pheasants in his wood, but he still had that horrid party. 

As Mr. Hazell was welcoming his guests into his empty wood, he was worried sick about what was going to happen because if he told them, it would be a nightmare. Just thinking about it made him nauseous. Finally, he just decided to cancel the whole thing so he would have no pressure. Or would he? 

The End

Amalia plus balloon

So, this happened at bedtime tonight. (And it made Lily literally pee her pants she was laughing so hard.)

Bay watch

 Yesterday we checked out the Monterey Bay Aquarium, including the fantastic jellies.

 Touching live stuff.

 A dance party!

  

Amalia, the fish whisperer. The creatures in several of the exhibits would follow her hand and face along the glass. (I didn't tell her they probably were hoping for food.)

 

Lily didn't have as much luck.

 

 My precious pearl.

 Feeding time in the kelp forest.

One of the girls' favorite activities was drawing jellies on a computer and then "releasing" them onto the wall screen. Lily's is the colorful one; Amalia's is blue and white. We drew a lot of jellies. And by "we," I mean "they." Let me know if anyone would like to see more drawn jellies. Lily made sure they were emailed to me.

Fireworks at the winery

We spent the Fourth of July evening at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga. Gorgeous view, lots of great food, and a fun atmosphere. 

 

Walking into the winery.

 "Free" popcorn!

 And cotton candy.

 

But you have to wait for it.

 Killing time until the fireworks by dancing to the cover band, The Cocktail Monkeys.

 Patriotic shirts courtesy of Grandma Carol.

Killing more time running around on the Paul Masson stage, which also happens to be a great concert venue.