Eww...Worm Poop!

This was a great past two weeks or so! After a few bumps and staffing surprises during my first week of being Lead Instructor (in charge of my site at camp), things started flowing smoothly and I really enjoyed the entire past week. I got to know some of the kids pretty well, since they came back for a second or third week with me. Now that the site is over for the summer, I'll be off from work for two weeks for our trip and back at Lake Washington Tech College (about 5 minutes from our condo) for the last two weeks of summer. Some of the kids from the Bothell site might come to Space and Rocket camp too, so I could see familiar faces again! Last week we did a Powerful Planet theme, the highlights of which were a "composting with worms" tour on campus that had the other instructor and I laughing really hard (kids had some funny questions and one girl kept saying "eww...worm poop!"), sea turtle mystery (the kids had to find out why the sea turtles didn't arrive at their beach to lay eggs), an electric car that could do wheelies, and making s'mores in solar ovens. This week, we did a "Fabulous Physics Challenge" theme that looked at the physics behind various sports (bowling, cup stacking, polymers in shoes/helmets, skateboarding) and involved making soda pop rockets, paper airplanes, rubber band race-cars, and parachutes. There were no week-long cumulative projects this time, but the daily projects were a lot of fun and kept the kids pretty busy!

Kayle says there's nothing too new at work lately. He's still working hard on Visual Basic and feels like he's making good progress. He still likes going to work every day!~ Jeff Irwin (who hosts the movie nights with his wife, Paula) also works at Microsoft and just released the big mystery project called Microsoft Hohm. He was working round the clock for a few months and couldn't tell us anything about his job. Now, their website is up and running. It's a long questionnaire about your home and energy usage and gives advice for how to save money on energy costs along with how long the upgrades will take to pay off. We probably won't use the site while we're renting, but it seems like a cool tool for making a home more cost effective. Here's the site to check it out: http://www.microsoft-hohm.com/

We've had quite a few events going on in addition to our regular CG (which is still meeting in parks for the summer), youth group (we are starting a new book called "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan- so far, so good), and church services (sermons are still working on 2 Peter; will finish soon and do Luke for several years after that).

Last Thursday, we went to a baptism BBQ for our Bellevue campus at a near-by park. About 20 people were baptized in the lake, including one of the women from our CG. The Ballard campus also had a similar event at a different park and got a picture and caption in the Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009479368_b1baptismlo16.html. Afterward, we went with three other couples to TCBY for ice cream and celebration of Kim's baptism. We ended up each telling the stories of how we met and married our spouses. We really enjoyed it!

Last Saturday, Joe (from the Dutch House) decided to bike from Redmond to Bothell for breakfast at a cafe there. We rode our tandem bike about 10 miles each way on the river trail and went right past UW-Bothell, where we were holding Science Camp. It was a yummy breakfast and it was nice to see Joe and meet some new friends. Though our trip went only about 2-3 miles beyond where we've ridden before, we were pretty tired when we got home! That night, we went with some other friends to see the 6th Harry Potter movie in theaters. I liked the movies a lot but I think Kayle doesn't enjoy them as much. We got him to read the 1st Harry Potter book last week, and he's "open" to (but not overly enthusiastic about) reading the rest of them. Just have to pick them up from the library...

On Sunday, we went to a farewell party for Jenny Razey, who is going to teach 5th grade in Sudan for a year or more. She has traveled (and taught?) in Jordan before and really felt a heart for reaching out to other cultures and learning Arabic. We're sad to see her go but excited for her passion to serve. She's got a lot of friends back home praying and supporting her in her mission!

Today, we're heading to a BBQ at the home of John and Kristan (from our CG). We baked Hinkle chocolate chip cookies this morning, since they were a big hit at our last BBQ. It should be a fun afternoon with a lot of familiar faces and children running around. Jenni and Jonathan (also in CG) just had their baby boy, Luke Elliot, this week. We've got a few more babies expected in the next couple months too.

This will probably be my last post until after our trip out east. We leave for Michigan on Thursday (7/30) where we plan to go to Eric and Dana's wedding, see both the Maxey and Hinkle families, and visit our high school friend, Emily J. On Monday, we'll probably start driving with some Maxeys (not sure who yet!) to NJ to visit my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins on my mom's side. On Thursday (8/6), we fly out to Nebraska for Leanna's bachelorette party, rehearsal dinner, and wedding. It sounds like Claire, Tamika, and maybe a few other ND friends will also be staying at Leanna's house, so we'll have time to catch up with all the college roomies! On Sunday, we're back on a plane to Seattle and ready to start work on Monday. We'll probably be exhausted after so much travel and socializing, but I can hardly wait to leave and see everyone!

Well, that's it for today! We miss you and love you all!
Angie and Kayle