Sydney Fuller

Boondocks

Its Spring Break and we spent the first few days here at home in Longmont enjoying the local activities before heading off to the cabin. Oddly, we had never taken the girls to the local Boondocks Fun Center. It has about everything a kid could ever want. Syd is wanting her birthday party here this year so I figured we ought to give it a little test run.

They have everything: Go carts, bumper boats, miniature golf, a huge arcade, Kid Zone which was a huge play/climb center which puts McDonalds to shame, and laser tag. We invited our friends the Sandovals and the kids all had a blast. But, by the end of the end Mom vetoed Boondocks as a birthday party choice. There was just a little too much to do and the thought of trying to contain a dozen or so 8 year olds seems just a little too overwhelming for this Mom. But still a great family fun day.

Badge Work

A big part of being an American Heritage Girl is your badge work. Our troop completes three badges a year as a group. Also, the individual girls are able to complete additional badges on their own. This weekend Sydney has decided to work on getting her Cycling badge. We wanted to give you all an idea on what earning a badge looks like.

Requirement #1 Learn all about bicycle safety.
What type of clothing should you wear?
Why should you wear a helmet?
Learn at least three different hand signals..left turn, right turn, and stop…and teach these to a friend.
What side of the street should you ride on?
What are the bike rules in your community and household?

Requirement #2 Bicycling as a means of Transportation
What are the advantages/ disadvantages of using a bike for transportation?
Does your community have special bike lanes on the roads for bikes?
Do you know of a place where bikes are the main means of transportation?

Requirement #3 Take at least a two mile bike ride with your family or friend
Draw a map of your ride for everyone to follow. Note your starting and stopping place as well as any turns or landmarks. Be prepared with any necessary food or drinks. Follow all safety rules learned above.

Requirement #4 Learn how to add air to your tires.

Usually badge work consists of Mom and Sydney going through the steps. But this week we decided to get Dad in on the action. Mostly because Mom doesn’t really know how much air to add to a tire. But we also wanted to give Dad a chance to see what being an American Heritage Girl is all about.

You’ll be happy to know Sydney completed her Cycling badge and was signed off by her leader at the last meeting. This badge was a pretty simple one as they go.

Her first badge of the year was the Ancestor Detector Badge which took us about two months to complete. It was one of her favorites so far. She had to (1) make a family scrapbook complete with pictures of her ancestors, wedding, and birth certificates. (2) Interview her oldest living relative…we did Mimi (3) Discover a game from the past and play it with a friend. (4) Visit an old cemetery and find a list of items…oldest date, military, unusual tombstones, etc… Syd loved the cemetery especially. Let’s just say that was an interesting day as I tried to explain to a 7 year old things such as, “Why are there babies here?….What is the crematorium?….What happens to your body after its buried? Why are there so many military people?” Glad that one is done!

Here are some pics of the Mimi interview and cemetery visit.

Found In Backpack

Sweet Pea Princess Party

Tonight our American Heritage Girls Troop was to have our next big troop event, a Sweet Pea Princess Party. Sweet Pea is from the loved Veggie Tales series. They partnered with American Heritage Girls to teach the girls about the importance of inner beauty. The older girls in our Unit had planned out tonights events for the younger girls as part of their badge work. They did a great job and the girls all had a blast together. We were able to loan out our basement for the big event. We had to clear out the room and make way for the various princess stations that the girls would attend. Each station held one leader and one big girl. Soon the girls starting arriving all dressed in their princess best.

There was a Tea Party station. Where the girls would learn about etiquette and proper manners.

There was an Art Wisdom Table. Here the girls learned how to draw pictures of owls and they discussed the Wisdom of the owl.

There was a beauty station where the girls had their hair and nails done. Here they were also each given a pair of jeweled earrings.

And there was a dancing station where the girls were taught the Virginia Reel. At the end they were also taught to curtsy which was cute.

After the stations we ate dinner together and then settled in to watch the Veggie Tales Sweet Pea Princess Movie. The last event of the night would be the crowning ceremony. Each girl would be crowned a “Sweet Pea Princess.”

The girls all had a really great time together. We are so lucky to have such a great group of sweet little princesses in our troop. Its been such a great experience for us all!

Firehouse Field Trip

Today Sydney’s class had a field trip to the local Firehouse and Police Station. I had the pleasure of driving along to help out with the kiddos. The firehouse was really fun. The kids got to see where the men basically lived on their 48 hour shifts. They showed the kids the ins and outs of every part of the truck. Which got a lot of oohs and aahs.

When the fire alarm rings the men have just three minutes to get on the truck. This means that they have to put their gear on fast. And there was a lot of gear. One fireman demonstrated how they get dressed. By the time they are done every single inch of skin was completely covered and protected from the fire. Even their mouth. It was quite impressive.

Next we moved onto the Police Station. We had been here with our Girl Scout troop before. The big part of the trip is getting to see the jail. We missed this one before because there were criminals being housed. We were going to be able to tour the jail this time. But just as we arrived an arrest was being made. Bummer. But the interesting thing to see from the cameras was that this was just a kid, maybe 13 years old. Awesome to scare the kids a little.

The other great thing about this trip was hearing all the stories from the kids. Something about authority figures made these kids want to confess to all sorts of crimes. There were..

“Sometimes I don’t wear my seatbelt if my Mom isn’t looking”

“Once I set my curtains on fire and the firetrucks had to come put out the fire”

“Once my uncle went to jail for drinking too much while driving”

“Once my Dad got pulled over for speeding. He was not too happy with the dumb policeman”

It was hilarious. Luckily, my kid was quiet.

Spring Swimming

Back in swim class and Sydney is concentrating on stroke development.