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Camp Klein: Young Authors Day

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Well, every rock star hits bottom someday, and when she does, she becomes…a writer!

Basya was 100% in charge of today’s events, which meant “warm-up” excercises (“This is a yin yang, it is a symbol of balance. Draw your own symbol and describe what it represents”) followed by each of us completing a full book with cover page. Here’s a teaser:

Bet you didn't know that!


If you want to find out more about cats, you’ll have to buy the book!

Camp Klein is very excited to welcome Grampa tomorrow for his extended Camp Klein Weekend Tour. We predict many trips to Zaftig’s.

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Camp Klein continues!

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

What a week so far! First, it was Nature Expedition at Walden Pond where we saw a snaaaaaaake!

Snaaaaaake!

and discussed Thoreau’s philosophy (Bassie says that “man has become the tool of his tools” means that “the tools are tricking the people into working for them”).

Yesterday it was Beach Day, and it was quite an exciting time for a little Midwestern girls such as myself. I actually saw the tide go from low to high and back again for the first time.

Bassie’s comment that it was her first time seeing it, too, was met with me yelling, “Yeah…but I’m 32 and you’re 8!” Anyway, seriously, it was one of the coolest and most humbling things I’ve ever seen. The Earth and the Moon and the vastness of the ocean all moving in some cosmic rhythm…maybe my awe was what distracted me from reapplying sunblock thus leaving me with a raging sunburn.

But a sunburn could not deter Rock-Star Day! Based on a conversation I had with Dina the other week when she was done eating a cucumber while we were walking outside and, in lieu of a garbage can, suggested she might just place it in the nearest mailbox. Hence, “Cucumber in the Mail”. Enjoy!

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Camp Klein: Day Three

Friday, June 25, 2010

Today’s theme: Field Day.

After waking up a bit late and missing the 9 AM “bus” (our couch) we still made it to camp in time for morning calisthenics (Bassie let us know that there are late buses at 9:30 and 10:00. Phew!) Then we filled up our water balloons, got a few old pillowcases and headed out to the park for the games. Here are the results:

1. Sack Race: Dina won the qualifiers due to a glasses mishap on Bassie’s part, but Bassie pulled through with a second to spare for the win in the end:

Everybody loves Camp Klein!

2. I won the Balloon Toss, but somehow that meant free tosses at me in the end, so I also got the most soaked. Dina made some great catches, though. I think I’ve got a couple of second basemen on my hands. And one goalie (Uncle Matt, I know your preparing a curriculum for Bassie for the summer).

3. Rina (the combination of me and Dina) won the three-legged race. Close second was Baschel, followed by Dasya.

4. It was no contest for the egg and marshmallow races, with Basya pulling off easy wins with her steady hand and steely resolve.

5. The long-distance run (if I had to eyeball it I’d say it was 300 meters) was an easy win for me, but I was disqualified for having legs twice the length of the other competitors. In a stunning last minute sacrifice, Basya flung off her flip-flops (yes, we were clearly prepared for a 300 meter run) and ran the last 30 meters bare-footed on the hot pavement, narrowly beating Dina by 4/10 of a second. And the crowd went wild.

In the afternoon it was reading and craft time (my friendship bracelet is going well).

Camp Klein is off for the weekend, but we’ll be back on Monday with Nature Expedition and camp t-shirts.

Stay tuned…

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Camp Klein: Day Two

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Today is day two of camp. Theme: Movie Day! First, we watched one the girls hadn’t seen yet: Little
Shop of Horrors. Of course, Dina is already singing Suddenly Seymour pitch perfectly around the house. Now we’re on to favorites (Bassie’s is Ferris Bueller, Dina’s is Gremlins). Bassie’s favorite line: “The question isn’t ‘what are we going to do’, it’s, ‘what aren’t we going to do.’”

We also wrote journals about the difference between books and movies, and went shopping for marshmallows and water balloons for tomorrow’s Field Day.

Camp Klein t-shirts available soon…

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Camp Klein!!!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Today began our month-long family camp, or, as some might call it, Camp Recession Trail. The girls decided that we each needed a notebook with three sections: one for creative writing, one for reader responses, and one for science journaling. In addition, Bassie, as camp director, assigned themes to each day. Today was Getting To Know You Day. In the morning we played “I Never” and filled out personality surveys then went to the park to find something in nature that reflected our personalities and write about it.

In the afternoon we read Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and wrote reader responses about whether or not we felt bad for Mathilde.

Of course, we took time to watch the end of the USA World Cup game. Go Landon Donovan!

Now we’re making friendship bracelets (hmmm…another theme: necklaces, bracelets).

All in all a great start to camp.

Tomorrow: Classic Movie Day.

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Closed Captioned

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Like any red-blooded American Liberal seven year-old, Dina likes reading The New Yorker in the bathroom.

Well, it was only a matter of time before she took a crack at the cartoon caption contest, so I was only mildly surprised when I opened the magazine the other day and saw this:

Dina's Submission

For those of you who need a translation, it reads: “Honey, Wayne Zelinski blew up the phone.”

For those of you who do not get that allusion, there is nothing I can do.

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Exactly

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Last night Dina knocked over a cup of water on her and Bassie’s bedstand. But instead of spilling all over Dina’s stuff, it spilled on Bassie’s Percy Jackson book.

Bassie: HER water spilled, but MY book got ruined.

Me: Thats Murphy’s Law.

Bassie: Why does Murphy’s Law only apply to ME?!

Me: Exactly.

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party lines

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Yesterday, the girls were talking about who should take over the Extended Day program at their school when the current director retires.

Bassie: I hope Wendy gets the job because she’s very good at organizing things and being in charge.

Dina: But Wendy yelled at me once when I wanted to have a playdate with Mia.

Bassie: I’m sure she didn’t yell at you.

Dina: Yes she did. She wouldn’t let me. She said “No way!”

Bassie: Well, that’s her job.

Dina: What? Making children cry?

Bassie: No, following the rules and being responsible.

Dina: But she didn’t have to yell.

Bassie: She probably didn’t yell at you. What was her tone?

Dina: (yelling) NO WAY!!!

Bassie: (pause) Look, just because you had one bad experience with someone doesn’t mean they’re not a good person.

At this point both girls are on the verge of tears, Dina because she is literally reliving her experience and feeling her emotions as though it were happening that very moment, and Basya because of the depth of her frustration over what she perceives as Dina’s totally irrational assessment of Wendy’s character.

And I am stiffling a giggle. Yay, parenthood.

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yosefblog turns 31!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Guys! It seems like only yesterday that he turned 21 and legally drank for the first time…and it seems like only a year and a half later than that when his first child was born! And two and a half years after that when our car insurance rates finally went down because he was no longer in the most statistically dangerous demographic in the universe. Somewhere in there he had another baby, and got rabbinic ordination, and a Masters in Math, and an MBA, and moved to Boston. He also learned Hebrew and Aramaic and Yiddish, and discovered a UNIX bug, applied for a patent, and was “this close” to winning to Netflix prize (if only he had a supercomputer at his disposal to run the algorithms).

Hang on…I’m adding up the number of years it would realistically take to do all that stuff and I’m pretty sure yosefblog is, like, 57.

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non-sequitors

Monday, May 17, 2010

The other day I told the girls about the line in Romeo and Juliet where Juliet asks the Nurse what Romeo told her, and she replies, “Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a courteous, and a kind, and a handsom, and I warrant, a virtuous–Where is your mother?” to which Juliet responds, “How oddly thou repliest: ‘Your love says, like an hoest gentleman, Where is your mother?’” Dina didn’t think too much of it, but Bassie thought it was hilarious, and she’s been bringing it up every chance she gets. And, apparently, I give her plently of chances.

For instance, the other night, when I was looking over her shoulder at a story she was writing, and as I walked away said, “I really love your story…I have to go to the bathroom”.

“‘I really love your story…I have to go to the bathroom?’ Mom, you are a master of romance.”

This is what happens when you introduce your children to Shakespeare.

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