Leave them alone for a while and they come up with this:
Hello. Welcome to the party of welcoming warmness. So this is what we are going to do:
- Eat
- Show talents
- Play games
- And whenever you feel like it, swing on the hammock.
Wind
Oliver, while inhaling noisily: “I’m drinking the wind!”
Crystalline magic
This morning, winter was showing off. Crystalline magic. 😍❄️❄️❄️
New Hair
Maggie’s been asking about dying her hair for a long time. Sarah tried dying it at home last summer, but it washed out after the first trip to the pool. So we finally made a professional appointment. The choice of color was suspenseful. Last week she wanted it to be bright red. This morning, she was leaning toward “greenish blue.” The stylist convinced her that purple would work best with her natural color.
Widjiwagan 2020
For the first time since 2011, I was able to go to Camp Widjiwagan this year as a chaperone for the week-long seventh grade trip. It was glorious to be back up north in the heart of winter.
The overall experience was similar to my first trip (as described in this post). I still enjoy cross-country skiing, but haven’t improved much in nine years; I still have a hard time managing downhill slopes where I pick up too much speed, panic, and crash. The sauna-dip experience involved much less trepidation, since I remembered it fondly from the first trip. It was just as good this time. For bedtime readings, I warmed my cabin up on Monday evening with one of my favorite creepy stories, H.P. Lovecraft’s The Cats of Ulthar. The next night, the students requested more, so we dove into The Call of Cthulhu for the remaining nights, wrapping up on Thursday with a few brave students managing to stay awake for the ending.
A personal highlight, as mentioned in my previous post, was our Wednesday DFRPG game with Sam doing a masterful job in the GM’s chair. It was the closest my beloved character, Zafir Abrashi, has come to dying, being nearly digested by a giant carnivorous plant!
I didn’t take many pictures, but the selection below provides a sense of things. (All of the following are my photos except for the chaperone group which was taken by Molly McMahon.)
Update: My colleague, Cheryl Wilgren, shared some additional shots from the trip:
A slice of heaven
Gaming before lunch? Check. Gaming again after lunch? Check. Roaring fire? Check. Surrounded by wintery wilderness? Check. Still managed to get 17K+ steps and more than two hours of active minutes? Check! Can a day get better than this?
Watercolors
The kids took the opportunity of a snowy afternoon to paint these three watercolors. They sent the originals to their Auntie Alli for her birthday.
declaration
Oliver <stomping into the dining room, confidently>: “I am a woman who eats waffles!”
Timeless Toys
This kid got some pretty great presents this year, but clearly they don’t compare to the play telephone from 1979 and vintage Fisher Price helicopter at Grandma and Grandpa’s house 💕
Christmas sunrise
