A Star-studded Girls Camp

I was recently called into the Young Women's presidency in our ward, so I was excited to go and spend an evening with the girls at camp this month.  I drove down with Kirra Self (our assistant camp leader), and what should have been a 1.5 hour drive turned into 3.5 hours when the directions we had proved to be terrible!  I'm grateful we were safe and made it in time for dinner, but really, I could have done without the ordeal!  And thank goodness the camp got cell phone service so we could call for help!

Once we got there it was as fun as could be.  The new stake presidency's fireside was fantastic, and I found myself wanting to reach out to the girls and ask, "Are you listening??  This is true!!  They're right!"  Their words were a great confirmation to me of what I already know is true, but what I hope the girls will learn soon if they don't already know:  that they are daughters of God, and He knows them, and He loves them, and He will help them.

The wards put on their skits the night before, but the girls reenacted theirs for us before we went home.  Our ward's assignment was Cinderella, and they put on a fun, modernized version.  But the modern twist wasn't the best part.  Imagine the excitement of the teenage girls in the stake when this guy waltzed onto the stage:

!!!

A few of the girls were giddy over the secret star of the show for weeks, and I wish I could have been there for the big reveal.  I'm sure it would have rivaled our movie theater experience of giggles and hoots and applause.  But even at our private performance he was quite a hit.

Ice Cream Cones

A favorite summertime treat this year.

To the Zoo!

This month we took our family to Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo for the first time.  Overall it was pretty fun, but there may or may not have been four tired, grumpy people at the end of the day.

The most memorable part for me was when we approached this penguin habitat near the entrance to the zoo.  As I drove Rhett's stroller toward the glass where Benjamin stands in the picture, Rhett lost it.  The poor things thought I was driving him right into the water and he was desperately trying to escape before he plunged.  It was not so much funny at the time as really sad.

A note to zoo-attending grown-ups everywhere:  I'm glad you like the zoo.  The animals are great.  But when there are a dozen children under the age of seven trying to see an exhibit, please don't stand there in the very front for 10 minutes blocking everyone's view.  Especially if you clearly don't have any kids of your own in your company.  It's annoying.  (Complaint over.)

The admission was a little pricey for our taste (we had to keep reminding ourselves that it was for the kids, who have never seen an elephant/hippo/gorilla/penguin in real life), plus you have to pay for parking (I dislike that part of Seattle very much), so our zoo visits will probably be few and far between.  And maybe we'll go after October 1 when the price goes down for the winter.

Sunday Reading

Our Sunday paper has lame comics.

But Benjamin doesn't know that.

Lately he likes Paul to read them to him.  Then he'll tell us why a certain cartoon was so funny.  Of course he usually doesn't get the point.

But that's not the point.

Celebrating the 4th (on the 3rd)

We have some serious July catch-up to do.  I guess it has been a busier-than-usual month for us.

For starters, we had a little 4th of July get-together at our house on the day before the actual holiday.  Our friends Nate and Cassie Katschke and Andrew and Jennilyn Hall came over with their kids (5.9 in all, plus our 2) for some hot dogs and other good summertime food.  I think we all had a good time in spite of the blazing sun (which we worried wouldn't show up until about an hour before the party when the clouds finally parted).

Our menu included homemade root beer, which is something of a tradition in the Duersch family for holidays like this one.  If you haven't tried it, you should so it sometime in your life (or sometime this summer) because it's super easy and a fun addition to a picnic.  You can get root beer concentrate at the grocery store (I remember the stores in Utah being loaded with the stuff during the summer), but don't worry about the instructions on the box.  Do this instead:

In a 5-gallon water jug mix about 2.5 gallons water, 5 lbs. sugar, and root beer concentrate.  Stir to dissolve the sugar.  Then start adding about 5 lbs. of dry ice to the jug.  Ultimately you want to add another 2.5 gallons of water, but we've learned (and re-learned) over the years that if you add all the water at once the dry ice action causes major spillage over the top.  So let the dry ice do its thing before you add the rest of the water.  Pretty soon, with the dry ice bubbling away, you'll end up with nice, cold, fizzy root beer!

A few tips:

If you forget to add the sugar and try to add it after the dry ice, it will make your root beer go flat.

Don't put the lid on all the way unless you're looking to make a dry ice-root beer bomb.

If you can, use a really long spoon to stir it a bit so the dry ice doesn't clog up the dispensing spout (this happens to us all the time).

Have some empty, clean soda bottles handy to fill with leftover root beer that you can send home with people.  Five gallons of root beer is a lot.

We also brought out the bocce set and had a fun time with that.  The boys especially, as evidenced here.

We had homemade strawberry and vanilla ice creams as well.

And the Halls so kindly supplied the fireworks.  Some kids were less thrilled than others with the show (ahem, Rhett), but it was definitely fun.

We're so glad to have such great friends and even more grateful for the awesome country we live in.