Had a group of day campers in the YRC who had been leaning about transportation throughout history. We read a few stories with transportation themes. I read a selection from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The part about the other schools arriving in the giant carriage and ship. Then we had crafts. I had convinced my supervisor to do two activities and let the kids choose, one which she had found including paint. I was so excited! This was such a fun project! We dipped hot wheels cars in paint, then drove them over the paper, the tracks creating an abstract art piece. IT was awesome! A word of warning: if you ever do this activity, don't use any cars that are the ones that go automatically when you rev them up by rolling them back. We learned that the hard way when one kid loaded his car wheels with paint, picked it up, and the wheels quickly spun a lovely green splatter pattern all over the table and the girl standing next to him :)
The other activity was making flying saucers out of paper plates. Then they had to get them to fly to the landing pad. We had a blast and all went well (except the splatter incident of course). Then we had to spend forever cleaning up, and before I knew it the day was over. We were exhausted!Did not get any of the work done I had planned on. Oh well.
Monday, July 18, 2011
DC fun again
- FHE dinner groups at Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill. Great burgers and owned by Spike, a Top Chef competitor
- Navy Band concert at Navy memorial - Bluegrass group called Country Currents. I think bluegrass is the most fun type of music
- National Portrait Gallery and American Art museum
- ate at Nando Peri Peri - (brother-in-law would be jealous!) bummed because they didn't have the delicious spicy chocolate ice cream I still remember from a few years ago
- ran into the gigantic crowd there to see the Dalai Lama while trying to get Josh Groban tickets
- Had picture taken with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison at her constituent coffee- thought I would actually get to talk to her, but only got to say where I was from, snap the picture and move on. Oh well, it was great to see the Texas flag again!
- Harry Potter!!!! Went with a group to see the double feature midnight showing of Deathly Hallows pt. 1 & 2 - We dressed up, I was Hermione. But, we went to a theater in Maryland where apparently no one dresses up, so we attracted a lot of attention, especially my 6'8" friend dressed as Hagrid.
- Tour of the Capitol and Capitol Visitor Center
- Tour of the White House - amazing!!! The rooms are much smaller than you think. I loved all the bold colors and furnishings and decor dripping with history. Only saw the first 2 floors of the East wing, but impressed by the Stately elegance, though humbleness of the President's home. The gardens are spectacular!
- Ate at historic Old Ebbit's Grill, oldest restaurant in DC. Should have ordered the crab cakes. Super blackberry pie.
- Walked Lafayette Park - Marquis de Lafayette was such a fascinating and wonderfully patriotic person. He doesn't get enough attention in American history. I'm glad I read the book about him for my children's lit class last semester!
- Visited the Renwick Gallery - crafty part of American Art museum. Saw the most amazing bureau which included a replica of the Library of Congress main reading room and lots of hidden drawers. I wish I was rich so I could buy that piece! Also saw a piece called the Ghost Clock which appeared to be a grandfather clock covered by a large canvas cloth, but the whole thing was actually carved out of a solid piece of mahogany. Even looking really close, its nearly impossible to tell it is not fabric but wood.
- Navy Band concert at Navy memorial - Bluegrass group called Country Currents. I think bluegrass is the most fun type of music
- National Portrait Gallery and American Art museum
- ate at Nando Peri Peri - (brother-in-law would be jealous!) bummed because they didn't have the delicious spicy chocolate ice cream I still remember from a few years ago
- ran into the gigantic crowd there to see the Dalai Lama while trying to get Josh Groban tickets
- Had picture taken with Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison at her constituent coffee- thought I would actually get to talk to her, but only got to say where I was from, snap the picture and move on. Oh well, it was great to see the Texas flag again!
- Harry Potter!!!! Went with a group to see the double feature midnight showing of Deathly Hallows pt. 1 & 2 - We dressed up, I was Hermione. But, we went to a theater in Maryland where apparently no one dresses up, so we attracted a lot of attention, especially my 6'8" friend dressed as Hagrid.
- Tour of the Capitol and Capitol Visitor Center
- Tour of the White House - amazing!!! The rooms are much smaller than you think. I loved all the bold colors and furnishings and decor dripping with history. Only saw the first 2 floors of the East wing, but impressed by the Stately elegance, though humbleness of the President's home. The gardens are spectacular!
- Ate at historic Old Ebbit's Grill, oldest restaurant in DC. Should have ordered the crab cakes. Super blackberry pie.
- Walked Lafayette Park - Marquis de Lafayette was such a fascinating and wonderfully patriotic person. He doesn't get enough attention in American history. I'm glad I read the book about him for my children's lit class last semester!
- Visited the Renwick Gallery - crafty part of American Art museum. Saw the most amazing bureau which included a replica of the Library of Congress main reading room and lots of hidden drawers. I wish I was rich so I could buy that piece! Also saw a piece called the Ghost Clock which appeared to be a grandfather clock covered by a large canvas cloth, but the whole thing was actually carved out of a solid piece of mahogany. Even looking really close, its nearly impossible to tell it is not fabric but wood.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Coolest shoes ever!!!!
These are the most amazing heels in the world! They're from Anthropologie and I will have to figure out how to afford them. The heels are book spines! AWESOME!
Running out of time!
A few interesting experiences at the LOC this week. Monday I had my meeting with IPO (interpretive programs office) to prepare my items for the Junior Fellow exhibit day display. These are the people who prepare exhibits and displays in the LOC. It was fascinating! They had shelves and shelves of pieces of all kinds of material. I just showed them a book and in about 10 seconds they grabbed pieces and a drill and had a perfectly sized display piece done. It's like they play with blocks and erector sets as their job. So cool! They were also all very entertained by one of the books I brought, What the Presidents are Made Of. A fun book which has little known facts about several of the presidents and what they like. Each president is illustrated by the artist using found objects, many relating to the facts. For example, George W Bush used to own part of the Texas Rangers, so they used a baseball, hot dog, mitt, etc. to create his picture. It's amazing how much they really look like them!
Finding more and more amazing picture books in the donation collection I'm working on. I'm worrying now if I'll be able to finish this project. Things keep getting added to take care which take me away from the project itself. I was asked by the outreach department to conduct a storytime with a group of zoo campers, since they said I did a good job at the Princess reading. I've also been asked to write an article about my experience at the YRC for the Center for the Book newsletter. Not to mention getting my media presentation ready for my display. All great things that are fun to work on, but eating into my rapidly shrinking time left. We'll see how it goes!
Finding more and more amazing picture books in the donation collection I'm working on. I'm worrying now if I'll be able to finish this project. Things keep getting added to take care which take me away from the project itself. I was asked by the outreach department to conduct a storytime with a group of zoo campers, since they said I did a good job at the Princess reading. I've also been asked to write an article about my experience at the YRC for the Center for the Book newsletter. Not to mention getting my media presentation ready for my display. All great things that are fun to work on, but eating into my rapidly shrinking time left. We'll see how it goes!
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Getting Ready for Show and Tell
I spent a good bit of time this week planning my display table for the Junior Fellow exhibit day which will be at the end of the month. I decided to make the focus an educational and advocacy display for the YRC. So, I had to pick a few books to represent the whole program. I picked a few from the Roback donation I've been working on, one I read to the Princess, and two popular novels from our older reader collection. I'm also going to have a photo of me reading to the Princess and embassy kids, and a laptop with a video I'm going to create about the YRC. It was so hard to pick so few books to represent the program! Hopefully the ones I chose will show the scope of the YRC collection and pique the interest of the congressmen and others who will be there on exhibit day. I'm meeting with IPO, the preservation and exhibits department to work on the logistic of the display table. I also had to submit the text for the labels which will be printed with the LOC logo for the items on display. Its exciting to be putting together an official display!
On Friday we were able to take a short tour of the conservation department, where they work on restoring and repairing materials in the LOC collection, mostly rare books and manuscripts. It was pretty interesting, but a little disappointing because all the staff was out to lunch and we didn't see anything in action. Oh well, maybe next time.
We also had a follow up meeting with Dr. Marcum earlier in the week. She spent an hour with us answering questions, mostly about the Twitter archives, future plans, and career advice. Its such a great opportunity to have people with so much insight and experience share their time and advice with us.
The week went by very fast! I was so busy with preparing my display and continuing inventory work, the four day week just flew by. I still can;t believe how little time I left here. I'm not ready to be finished yet!
On Friday we were able to take a short tour of the conservation department, where they work on restoring and repairing materials in the LOC collection, mostly rare books and manuscripts. It was pretty interesting, but a little disappointing because all the staff was out to lunch and we didn't see anything in action. Oh well, maybe next time.
We also had a follow up meeting with Dr. Marcum earlier in the week. She spent an hour with us answering questions, mostly about the Twitter archives, future plans, and career advice. Its such a great opportunity to have people with so much insight and experience share their time and advice with us.
The week went by very fast! I was so busy with preparing my display and continuing inventory work, the four day week just flew by. I still can;t believe how little time I left here. I'm not ready to be finished yet!
DC fun cont.
I've been exhausted this week after the 4th, so took it somewhat easy :)
- concert at Wolf Trap, national park for the arts: National Symphony Orchestra, Tcheers for Tchaikovsky! - picnic on the lawn while listening to violin concerto, Nutcracker suite, and 1812 Overture...amazing!
- LDS Midsingles conference in DC:
Fri - Luau;
Sat. - Folklife Festival on the Mall (Columbia culture and Rhythm and BLues music, so fun!), catered lunch, Potomac river boat (The Cherry Blossom) cruise including Alexandria fireworks show;
Sun - special sacrament meeting with stake president and area seventy, lunch and mingling, musical patriotic fireside
- concert at Wolf Trap, national park for the arts: National Symphony Orchestra, Tcheers for Tchaikovsky! - picnic on the lawn while listening to violin concerto, Nutcracker suite, and 1812 Overture...amazing!
- LDS Midsingles conference in DC:
Fri - Luau;
Sat. - Folklife Festival on the Mall (Columbia culture and Rhythm and BLues music, so fun!), catered lunch, Potomac river boat (The Cherry Blossom) cruise including Alexandria fireworks show;
Sun - special sacrament meeting with stake president and area seventy, lunch and mingling, musical patriotic fireside
Monday, July 4, 2011
Independence Day the DC way
I spent the morning and afternoon at Mt. Vernon. What better place to be on the 4th than the home of the man who made the USA. We spent the 4th there when the family came a couple years ago, and I fell in love with Mt. Vernon. George Washington's relatives sure knew what they were doing when they created a home on that breathtaking spot. I could spend hours sitting on the back porch of the mansion enjoying the view.
I have always had great respect for our first president, which only deepens the more I learn of him. If I could choose to meet and speak with anyone form the past, he would be at the top of the list. One thing I greatly admire him for is the fact he was able to turn away from immense power when it was his for taking, and not only once. There are so few men, past or present, who could or would do what he did if they were in the same place. His standards, morals, and ideals were more important than himself.
After touring the mansion and watching a reenacted review of the troops, followed by the reading of the Declaration of Independence, came the highlight of my day. I followed a procession down to the tomb of the Washingtons, and witnessed a wreath laying ceremony by the Sons of the American Revolution. We were invited to individually lay a carnation at the tomb. It was a very moving experience for me in which I felt I was able to show my deep appreciation, respect, and admiration in a very small and simple way.
The rest of the Mt. Vernon visit consisted of music demonstrations and performances, a daytime colored smoke fireworks show on the back lawn overlooking the Potomac, relaxing and reflecting on the porch, and touring the museum and education center. One interesting and humorous exhibit was George Washington's dentures, which the exhibit displayed a timeline of his teeth. Also fascinating were the manequins of him throughout his life, which they've used very high tech technology to create and are considered to be as close to the real thing as it is possible to get.
After leaving, I headed to the city to meet up with friends at the Capitol 4th concert. I got there first and with the help of some very nice people (one who turned out to be from Austin) managed to get a great spot. We had a view of the stage and of the fireworks without having been there for 5 hours. Best part - Josh Groban performed 3 songs! He was amazing as usual. Also a highlight, though unexpected was Steve Martin (yes, the comedian) playing the banjo with his bluegrass band. The NSO played while the fireworks went off, and it was spectacular!
I had an amazing day celebrating our country of which I am so proud to be a citizen.
I am
I have always had great respect for our first president, which only deepens the more I learn of him. If I could choose to meet and speak with anyone form the past, he would be at the top of the list. One thing I greatly admire him for is the fact he was able to turn away from immense power when it was his for taking, and not only once. There are so few men, past or present, who could or would do what he did if they were in the same place. His standards, morals, and ideals were more important than himself.
After touring the mansion and watching a reenacted review of the troops, followed by the reading of the Declaration of Independence, came the highlight of my day. I followed a procession down to the tomb of the Washingtons, and witnessed a wreath laying ceremony by the Sons of the American Revolution. We were invited to individually lay a carnation at the tomb. It was a very moving experience for me in which I felt I was able to show my deep appreciation, respect, and admiration in a very small and simple way.
The rest of the Mt. Vernon visit consisted of music demonstrations and performances, a daytime colored smoke fireworks show on the back lawn overlooking the Potomac, relaxing and reflecting on the porch, and touring the museum and education center. One interesting and humorous exhibit was George Washington's dentures, which the exhibit displayed a timeline of his teeth. Also fascinating were the manequins of him throughout his life, which they've used very high tech technology to create and are considered to be as close to the real thing as it is possible to get.
After leaving, I headed to the city to meet up with friends at the Capitol 4th concert. I got there first and with the help of some very nice people (one who turned out to be from Austin) managed to get a great spot. We had a view of the stage and of the fireworks without having been there for 5 hours. Best part - Josh Groban performed 3 songs! He was amazing as usual. Also a highlight, though unexpected was Steve Martin (yes, the comedian) playing the banjo with his bluegrass band. The NSO played while the fireworks went off, and it was spectacular!
I had an amazing day celebrating our country of which I am so proud to be a citizen.
I am
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Princess is now in the past - she came, she went, I survived
Well, of course the major highlight of this past week was the visit of Princess Mathilde of Belgium on Monday. It was quite the experience. So, the Thursday before, I was notified I'd be expected to entertain about 10-12 of the K-1 embassy kids about a half hour before the storytime. Of course, they didn't seem to know kids well, because they said I could just have them color or something. Ha! That would last 10 minutes at the most! Anyway, I planned all kinds of games and activities. Good thing, as they called about 9:45 the day of to say the kids were already there. I was planning on going to set up at 10 for them to be there at 10:15! So, we hurried down. They had the Whithall Pavilion all set up with chairs for story time and tables for coloring. They looked mortified when I came in with my cart full of games, balloons, toys, etc and began moving everything out of the way. So, the kids colored and played with magnetic blocks for a bit until I got games ready. Then we played the 2-sides getting to know you game, had a paper towel snowball fight, Simon says, and sitting balloon keep away. The trick was to guard the Rodin sculptures from our frolicking game play :) We had a ball.
When the older kids and parents got back from the tour of the LOC, we had cookies and lemonade. My YRC partner Joe and I were shocked to find out we were left to run the whole show, as all the people we thought were in charge left to follow the Princess around. We had to figure out where all the refreshments were, get them set up, get everybody arranged, clean up trash, etc. It would have been nice to know ahead of time we were expected to do that. Especially since we had the typical unexpected issues, like a Mom freaking out because her kid couldn't have nuts and he was hungry.
Once we got everyone settled, I welcomed everyone, invited them to visit the YRC and introduced the stories. I then read Clever Beatrice. When I as getting ti the end, the Princess arrived. I stopped, let everyone know she was here, then waited as she made her way up to the front to sit beside me. She walked up and offered her hand to shake while thanking me for being there. I finished the story. Then she welcomed the visitors in a beautiful French accent, and tried to ask the kids some questions. I thought this was hilarious, but also felt bad for her, but the kids totally clammed up. She tried asking three different kids in the front some questions, like if they liked the story or what they liked to read, but they just stared at her and didn' say a thing! It was funny because I had just spent an hour playing with them, and they were anything but quiet, plus they had asked my a bunch of questions about the Princess. She turned to me and asked if they were always this quiet. Of course I had to say no.
Next I read Too Many Fairies, which was fun because it included sound effects that I had the kids help me with. After, the Princess thanked me and asked me how I had chosen what books to read. She then presented a gift of a couple of books to the Children's Literature librarian. She was then supposed to leave, but she was semi mobbed by the kids who wanted to give her the pictures they colored and get her autograph. Despite what her entourage wanted, she stayed and talked to the kids. They took a group picture, then she left. I figured the press was going to all leave with her, but some stayed behind and talked to the kids and parents. I was supposed to continue story time, but by then I had lost them all, so I just hung around in the background. The photographer for the LOC interviewed me real quick. Then everyone left, Joe and I cleaned up and headed back to the YRC. We were completely exhausted. I was mortified to find out the Too Many Fairies book had a huge rip in the back, which Joe told me had been there the whole time I was reading, and was the side the Princess was on. Great impression, reading a torn book! Sheesh!
Anyway, it was a crazy experience, but fun and definitely once in a lifetime. How many people on earth can say they read picture books to a Princess and a bunch of kids from Belgium? I'm very glad I had the opportunity, but very glad it is over :)
Check out this site with pics:
When the older kids and parents got back from the tour of the LOC, we had cookies and lemonade. My YRC partner Joe and I were shocked to find out we were left to run the whole show, as all the people we thought were in charge left to follow the Princess around. We had to figure out where all the refreshments were, get them set up, get everybody arranged, clean up trash, etc. It would have been nice to know ahead of time we were expected to do that. Especially since we had the typical unexpected issues, like a Mom freaking out because her kid couldn't have nuts and he was hungry.
Once we got everyone settled, I welcomed everyone, invited them to visit the YRC and introduced the stories. I then read Clever Beatrice. When I as getting ti the end, the Princess arrived. I stopped, let everyone know she was here, then waited as she made her way up to the front to sit beside me. She walked up and offered her hand to shake while thanking me for being there. I finished the story. Then she welcomed the visitors in a beautiful French accent, and tried to ask the kids some questions. I thought this was hilarious, but also felt bad for her, but the kids totally clammed up. She tried asking three different kids in the front some questions, like if they liked the story or what they liked to read, but they just stared at her and didn' say a thing! It was funny because I had just spent an hour playing with them, and they were anything but quiet, plus they had asked my a bunch of questions about the Princess. She turned to me and asked if they were always this quiet. Of course I had to say no.
Next I read Too Many Fairies, which was fun because it included sound effects that I had the kids help me with. After, the Princess thanked me and asked me how I had chosen what books to read. She then presented a gift of a couple of books to the Children's Literature librarian. She was then supposed to leave, but she was semi mobbed by the kids who wanted to give her the pictures they colored and get her autograph. Despite what her entourage wanted, she stayed and talked to the kids. They took a group picture, then she left. I figured the press was going to all leave with her, but some stayed behind and talked to the kids and parents. I was supposed to continue story time, but by then I had lost them all, so I just hung around in the background. The photographer for the LOC interviewed me real quick. Then everyone left, Joe and I cleaned up and headed back to the YRC. We were completely exhausted. I was mortified to find out the Too Many Fairies book had a huge rip in the back, which Joe told me had been there the whole time I was reading, and was the side the Princess was on. Great impression, reading a torn book! Sheesh!
Anyway, it was a crazy experience, but fun and definitely once in a lifetime. How many people on earth can say they read picture books to a Princess and a bunch of kids from Belgium? I'm very glad I had the opportunity, but very glad it is over :)
Check out this site with pics:
More Fun in DC!
- Kennedy Center - friend Russ performed, show included several choirs, second half was operetic recreation of events in Bulgaria involving the people refusing to send Jewish people to concentration camps
- Falls Church farmers market and Civil War balloon recreation
- Eastern Market again (tried a soft shell crab for the first time, not a big fan)
- visited the Library of Congress as a tourist
- watch an arena polo match out in the Virgina countryside (I could be a big polo fan if it existed out in Texas)
- visited the Oak Mar ward and went to potluck
- Kennedy Center Milenium stage free performance
- Old Town Alexandria (ate at La Tascas, tapas restaurant. Awesome! Glad Carrie introduced me to the real deal)
- National Museum of American History (amazing display of pop-up books, transportation, and military)
- Navy Band concert at Navy Memorial (what's cooler than the Navy band performing Highway to the Danger Zone from Top Gun - all the songs were themed on flying to honor the naval aviators)
- early dinner at Tony & Joes on the Potomac
- National Symphony Orchestra prelude concert in the Kennedy Center (snippets from each of the upcoming season peformances, had seats on 8th row of orchestra level - and they were free!)
- dinner at Matchbox in Chinatown
- saw my roomies Shakespeare play, Love's Labors Lost
- relaxed at sculpture garden again
- Gettysburg - battle reenactments (awesome!), replica camps and shops, lunch in town at Dobbins House Tavern (oldest building in Gettysburg, 1776 - cool colonial atmosphere)
- attempted to go to rehersal of CApitol 4th concert - canceled because of storm :(
- Falls Church farmers market and Civil War balloon recreation
- Eastern Market again (tried a soft shell crab for the first time, not a big fan)
- visited the Library of Congress as a tourist
- watch an arena polo match out in the Virgina countryside (I could be a big polo fan if it existed out in Texas)
- visited the Oak Mar ward and went to potluck
- Kennedy Center Milenium stage free performance
- Old Town Alexandria (ate at La Tascas, tapas restaurant. Awesome! Glad Carrie introduced me to the real deal)
- National Museum of American History (amazing display of pop-up books, transportation, and military)
- Navy Band concert at Navy Memorial (what's cooler than the Navy band performing Highway to the Danger Zone from Top Gun - all the songs were themed on flying to honor the naval aviators)
- early dinner at Tony & Joes on the Potomac
- National Symphony Orchestra prelude concert in the Kennedy Center (snippets from each of the upcoming season peformances, had seats on 8th row of orchestra level - and they were free!)
- dinner at Matchbox in Chinatown
- saw my roomies Shakespeare play, Love's Labors Lost
- relaxed at sculpture garden again
- Gettysburg - battle reenactments (awesome!), replica camps and shops, lunch in town at Dobbins House Tavern (oldest building in Gettysburg, 1776 - cool colonial atmosphere)
- attempted to go to rehersal of CApitol 4th concert - canceled because of storm :(
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