Summer 2010

This summer has been much busier than normal for me.  Usually, my family will go camping once or twice during the summer, and occasionally we have taken a "real" vacation, such as going to South Dakota or visiting out-of-state cousins.  I don't usually go anywhere on my own, however, or at least I didn't until a few months ago.  I was planning on blogging about each of my trips, but when I got back I had told the stories so many times to all of my family members that I didn't really want to write them up again!  As you may have noticed, I seem to have this problem where I feel like I should blog about a certain event, so I don't blog about anything else until I have finished the "required" post. :)  This has certainly been the case with my summer!  But I feel like it can't go completely unrecorded, so here is a short summary of my life for the past couple months:

Schoenstatt High School camp began my summer, and I can't think of a better way it could have started!  We put on a camp for Hispanic kids who live in the area during the afternoons and prepped for it in the morning.  Every day with the kids ended with water games, and at the end of the week we had a family picnic which concluded with a water fight that I believe I could describe as a water war.  I also learned a lot and was very inspired by the week!

A week after Schoenstatt I went on S.W.I.M.  This was such a great experience!  Every day was different, and everything that we did was really fun, whether it was cleaning at a home that houses new migrants temporarily, collecting food for their food shelf, swimming, or having "intense prayer" nights.  Since I haven't been on any other missions I can't say for sure whether or not it has prepared me well for them, but I know that S.W.I.M. has certainly helped my relationship with God and I am sure that I will be happy for the experience should I chose to go on other missions.

My last trip this summer - helping out on the 7th grade campout! - was not really a "trip" per se, but I was gone from Monday to Thursday, so I think it counts. :)  I was on the "Eyes" team (aka, music) and I enjoyed it immensely!  This year was the first time I could help out, and I hope to do this again for the next couple years!

So, there is the away-from-home summary of my summer.

Ain't We Got Fun

A little movie that Amanda and I made with the Mac:

Stripey: the miraculous transformation

About half a month ago, my little brother Nathan brought home a tiny monarch caterpillar (about the size of an inchworm) that he had found on our neighbor's milkweed plants.  We had had a monarch caterpillar before and had creatively named it Stripey, so Nathan's caterpillar was Stripey James.  Stripey James ate like crazy, and in a week or so he had at least doubled in size!  Soon, he crawled up to the top of his cage and made some sort of spiderweb thing.  To this he attached something else, to which he attached himself (I am a little unclear on the details), after which he hung upside down in a 'J' shape: a sign that he would soon become a chrysalis.

Stripey James hung there all that day.  The next morning, someone in our family noticed that Stripey was hanging straighter, and that his antennae were hanging limp, and from reading about monarch caterpillars we knew that something was going to happen.  We all gathered around the cage.  There, before our eyes, Stripey became a chrysalis!  It was an extraordinary feat: you see, monarchs shed their skin four times, which is the signal for them to do that whole J thing described so vaguely in the first paragraph.  Once they are hanging there, they shed their skin one last time.  This time, instead of still looking like a caterpillar, they come out all green, and their legs and antennae come off, too (disgusting, I know - it wasn't quite as bad as it sounds)!  Stripey, being a monarch caterpillar, did this very thing.  After a couple of hours, he began to look more chrysalis-like.  At the end of the day, the caterpillar was gone, and all that was left to show that he had ever been there was a beautiful green chrysalis, hanging from the top of the cage.

For 11 days Stripey stayed in the chrysalis.  Then, as we were getting ready to leave for church this past Sunday, I noticed that there was a butterfly in the cage!  Unfortunately, we missed this last emergence (I think that's a word...), but it was still so amazing to see that caterpillar become something so different!  When butterflies first come out of their chrysalises they are all fat with some sort of fluid.  They then pump this fluid into their wings, which are all squished up, to make them so large and beautiful!  It was too bad that we missed this, but seeing the caterpillar become a chrysalis was already such a treat that we were not too dissapointed.

We gave Stripey some sugar water, and after mass we let him go.  Nathan put his finger down into the cage and Stripey crawled onto it for one last good-bye before flying off high into the tree-tops.  The whole thing was so incredible!  I think that no atheist can ever have watched a monarch caterpillar become a butterfly.

Stripey in a 'J'

                                                                                    

Stripey as a butterfly!

Cute Things Kids Say

My Mom:  Maggie, is your mom home from her errands?
Maggie:  No, she doesn't know Erin.

Andrew:  Look - bird!
Mr. Bittner:  Yes, it's a robin!
Andrew:  No, just bird.

(My siblings were going to Grandma and Grandpa's house to sleep over, and they were going to bring cereal for breakfast.)
My Mom: Is everyone happy with Life? (meaning the cereal)
Katie:  I am! (meaning her life!)

Comment with your own cute things!

A Rainy-Day Post

It has been a little while since I posted, and I think part of the reason is that I was planning to write a blog post on the camping trip that my family and I took about a week ago, but in my brain my plan for that was turning out to be very long.  I didn't really want to take a lot of time to write a long post, but somehow my brain seemed to be trying to keep from writing any other posts until I had fulfilled my obligation to the camping trip.  Today, however, I had decided to blog about my day when I realized that I had never done my camping trip post.  Therefore, I am shortening the trip post to one paragraph and it is as follows:

My family loves to go camping, and our trips are always enjoyable, despite the fact that half the time we manage to choose a raining weekend to camp.  Two weekends ago (the one where it rained :) we went to Charles A. Lindbergh State Park.  We had lots of fun hiking around the park, and even went canoeing!  This was our second time canoeing as a family, and already everyone can (or at least tried to :) paddle.  While on our canoe trip, we saw some turtles on a rock and also stopped at a sandbar that was perfect for skipping rocks (on Davey's first try he got nine skips!  And the most I can do is two...does this happen to all older sisters?)  Thankfully, the rain only came Saturday afternoon, and we had a good time in the camper taking naps, reading books and playing card games.  We also went to the Carnegie Library in Little Falls, which was donated by Andrew Carnegie and would be one of my favourite places to go and read if I lived a couple hours closer to it!  After the library we took a tour of the Charles Lindbergh house.  It was really cool to see where the Lindberghs lived and to learn more about them.  Mrs. Lindbergh loved to play piano, and her piano is there and kept in-tune for visitors to try!  Mama, Amanda, and I all got to play it, which I thought was really neat!  All-in-all it was a very good trip, and I hope to have many more like it.

Now, to the intended post:

This morning we - Mama, Amanda, Davey, Nathan, Katie, Grandma, Anna, and I - went strawberry picking, something we do every year (but Anna was a new addition :).  There is something addicting about finding more berries hidden under new, green leaves, and with so many pickers we had soon filled up our buckets.  When we came home it was almost lunchtime, and I ate after mixing up a batch of Amish friendship bread (I don't make extra starters, so we have decided that my stuff is really Amish selfish bread), then went swimming.  Katie's latest thing is holding someone's hands and swimming around with them, so I did that with her for a while.  Soon, however, the sky began filling with clouds, the clouds began filling with water, and the rain began to come down.  I swam a little longer - there's nothing more fun than swimming in a light rain! - but it started raining harder and Nathan and I, the only remaining swimmers, got out and dried off.  As we walked into the house, the smell of friendship bread greeted us at the deck door, and the moment was just perfect!  Well, not quite: the only thing that would make it better, in my opinion, would be eating the bread and writing - and that is how this post came about!

David's Birthday

Today is my brother Davey's ninth birthday, so I thought that I should write a little about him.  As you may or may not know, he has blond hair, blue eyes, a dimple, and a cute, almost ever-present smile.  He also says some pretty cute things, like the following (both of these happened in one day!):

Daddy:  "This is a memorial for the veterans who have died fighting for our country."
Davey:  "No, Daddy, they're veterinarians!"

After reading about peregrine falcons, Davey saw what he though might be one and pointed it out to us with the exclamation, "Look!  A paranoid falcon!"

Davey has just started his third year of baseball, and this year he and Nathan are on the same team.  (This makes games more interesting, as we have two people to watch!)  If you yell, "Go, Davey!" or something of the sort while he is going up to bat, he will turn around and smile at you.  One of the dads on his team calls him "The guy who hits to second base".  This name is well-earned, which often provides a problem for the boy who is before him in the batting order.  He also gets very excited when anything good happens during the games, and he becomes quite bouncy as a result!  Also, Davey and Nathan are usually the only players on their baseball team who tuck in their baseball shirts.  Undaunted, they continue to do it, and I believe that they haven't noticed.

Although he can be annoying at times I am very thankful for my little brother Davey.  With his love of life, stuffed animals, and chess, he creates quite the colorful character.  Happy birthday, Davey!  I hope you have a great year!

Baseball

(A poem by me)

Once again it's that time of year -

Should I cry or should I cheer?

A baseball almost hit me; that one was too near!

But I guess I'll keep watching the game.

Oh no, I have to sit facing the sun!

Squinting like this isn't any fun.

Wait - my brother just batted in a run!

So I guess I'll keep watching the game.

Now someone hit a foul pop fly

We stare as if flies up high in the sky.

I hope it doesn't fall right on my eye!

If it does, I'll stop watching the game.

I can't believe it - a double play!

This is what they practice for every day

My brother is smiling, we shout 'hooray'!

Now I have to keep watching the game.

The little boys, ages six to eight

Walk determinedly to the plate.

Until it's over my inevitable fate

Will be to keep watching the game.

Are we in the last inning now?

How many innings do they allow?

But I know that our team will win somehow

If I just keep watching the game.

Now it's over - that wasn't so bad!

If there weren't any ball games, I guess I'd be sad.

My brothers come to the recitals I've had...

I guess I'll keep watching their games.

The MN History Museum

Yesterday my family and I travelled to the Minnesota History Center to see the Ben Franklin exhibit, and it was a very worthwhile trip!  The exhibit boasted chairs, bowls, portraits and the like from Franklin's own home, while including many interactive displays as well.  My family learned a lot not only about the amazing Benjamin Franklin but also about printing, apprenticeship, and old-fashioned fire-fighting.  One of out most interesting discoveries came while watching a video about printing presses in Franklin's time.  The printer had to set the type by hand, taking the letters from two cases in the picture - the capital letters from the top, or upper case, and the small letters from the bottom, or lower case!  It is always so interesting to learn the origin of a common expression, and one can find more than that at the Ben Franklin exhibit, as well as learning about one of our country's most amazing founding fathers.

The 2010 Homeschool Conference: Highschool and Beyond

This morning I set my alarm (something I haven't done for a while, now that school is finished) and headed out at an early hour to Macalaster College.  There my mom and I, along with the two people with whom we carpooled, joined a group of homeschooling parents and teens for a workshop by Linda Lopez.  As the title of my post suggests, the point was to prepare them for high school and even college.  It had not yet occurred to me to think very seriously about what college I should attend or in what I should major, but this workshop inspired me to begin to consider my options.  I also learned more about college entrance tests and their prep tests, the ACT, SAT, PLAN, and PSAT.

Mrs. Lopez also had a great suggestion for keeping track of things that you have done, school-wise and extracurricular:  take a box and put pictures of your science projects, programs from your plays/recitals, and other such mementos into it.  At the end of the year, you can look back and see how much you really accomplished.  It is easy to lose track and feel like you haven't done anything, so I can definitely see when such a box would be helpful.

There is more to the Minnesota Catholic Home Education Conference than just one workshop, but I have never been to it before this so I can't explain much more for fear I will do it injustice.  I do know that there are 'vendors', who sell books and other helpful homeschooling things, and speakers, who give presentations.  The vendors (or maybe just some of them....I am unclear on the details) gave their presentations this afternoon, as did the keynote speaker (although he did not give his keynote presentation, but a different one).  Tomorrow morning the conference will begin at 7:15 with mass, and I do not know if it continues until Sunday.  It is annually a very inspiring time for many homeschoolers, who come here from many mid-west states including Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Michigan, and will hopefully encourage home educators for years to come.

Spring Break

As you can see, I am on spring break and I wanted to make a blog post but could not think of anything good about which to write.  So, I will write about what is going on right here:  my sister has a friend over, and they are making friendship bracelets together.  The two of them look as if they could be in a Klutz book, laughing and chatting as they try to tie the bracelets!  My mom is on the phone, my other sister is taking a nap, my brothers are over at the neighbor's house, and I am blogging.

But about what?  How about Holy Week:  here we are, with Easter less than a week away!  I find this the longest week of the year.  This time, however, I have a new perspective, for we just finished watching the movie Ben-Hur.  I thought that most of the movie was rather depressing, but the ending really redeemed the whole movie.  I will try not to give to much away, but let's just say that it helped me appreciate Jesus' death.  We are saved not only by His resurrection, but also by His death.  Of course I knew that, but something inside me clicked last night, and I began to realize how much Jesus' death really did.  I still don't understand suffering, but I feel like last night Jesus' suffering made more sense to me than it ever had before.


Well, I'm not sure if that all made sense or not.  Anyways, it gave me a new appreciation for reconciliation as well, for I had just gone to confession before we watched Ben-Hur.  It suddenly occurred to me that the last couple times I have gone to reconciliation, it seems that I have made some spiritual connection or just felt closer to God. Took me longer to figure that out than it should have, I know, but it is cool, and hopefully I can go to reconciliation again before too long.

Deep Thoughts for Spring

Spring: it's almost come!  Here in Minnesota the temperature was up to 39 degrees F, at least at my house, and such warm weather brought down bikes, scooters, trikes, and roller blades.  While watching my little siblings and neighbors out enjoying the heat (and yes, I was out there, too) I began to see the situation as I believe that St. Augustine might have; precisely, why do we humans like to ride on wheels so much?  Cars, motorcycles, go-carts, tractors, four-wheelers, golf carts, and of course all the above-mentioned recreational vehicles seem to attract us somehow.  Is it the smooth gliding along?  (And if this is so, why do my roller blades have any appeal?)  Or does the speed call to us?  Well, whatever the reason, I am glad that the wheel was invented, and I am sure that I will continue to make use of it for my entire life.

Advice from Ben

A poem by me (the last verse is not meant to be speaking to anyone in particular):

"Three may keep a secret,
If two of them are dead,"
That is what admired
Benjamin Franklin has said.

"Early to bed", as you may have heard,
Is another one of his rhymes.
It might help to remember them
In these high-school times.

But you don't pay attention
To your teachers or old Ben.
You just might have to learn these lessons
The hard way, then.

My Thoughts on the Superbowl

Usually, I don't have any opinions concerning the superbowl.  The Sunday before last, however, when the Vikings were playing the Saints to see who would make it to the superbowl, I, for the first time ever, got excited about a football game!  Being a loyal Minnesotan (and not having any previous prejudices to go by) I rooted for the Vikings, and was rather dissapointed in their performance.  So, when it came time to decide who I should root for at the superbowl I, like all the other Americans, had to make a tough decision: Saints or Colts?  My reasoning was that I hate the Saints so I should root for the Colts, but other people had said that they were rooting for the Saints so that, if the Colts lose, we will not look so bad.  Even that, however, could not change my mind about the Saints (I mean, we will look bad anyway - how many fumbles did we have?), so I rooted for the Colts.  Naturally, the outcome of the game did not really delight me.  Every single time I have actually gotten excited about a football game, my team has lost - to the Saints!  Thankfully, I am getting over it and hopefully will not hate the Saints forever.

Dancing at the Caves

Last night I went dancing at the Caves!  It was for the sixteenth birthday celebration of a wonderful dancer, and a very fun experience!  The Caves (actually, I believe that its technical name is the Wabasha Caves, but I'm not sure about that) is a place in St. Paul that has swing dancing every Thursday.  They also have tours, but I am not clear on all the details there.  There was live music - "Swing Beat" was the band - and they did a great job.  I went with a group of about 20 teens, and as far as I could tell they all had just as much fun as me!  The Titanic, the Cyclone, the double-arm turn, and the Sweetheart (exactly like the Sweethearts in cha-cha) were all new moves that I learned, and I was very happy to be able to add them to my swing-dancing repertoire.  Happy birthday, Micheal, and thanks to all of you for such a memorable night of dancing!