Happy Hump Day!
As you may have guessed from the title of this post, my Mummy’s Camp plans got a bit derailed! I blame the cruise. WAY too much fun making flubber and meeting Ariel to want to spend time learning about how to make a hospital corner!!
Oh well, time to regroup and get back at it, right?
Before we left on the cruise the girls learned a lot about preparing for a trip and also some handy skills to have while on a trip. I had prepared lessons for the week we were on board and while some were touched on, most were not. Today we are reviewing all those and moving forward with new lessons. I’ll talk about those next week.
Things that went right on board:
On our way to the cruise ship we read through the Monday lesson and talked about safety protocols. Our youngest is seven and very adventurous. The part about NEVER CLIMBING THE RAILINGS was specifically for her! LOL! Once the girls were signed up for the kids club we found out that she wasn’t able to check herself out of the club as she wasn’t eight. Sweet! One less safety concern to worry about!
On day two we talked about stateroom etiquette and the treatment of the crew. I’ve talked about how wonderful the crew was already, I’d like to think that my lessons helped our girls interact with them in a properly respectful manner. I do not hold with rudeness from children to their elders!
Keeping their stateroom ‘tidy’ was an ongoing headache but all in all things were not as bad as they would have been without my insistence on a few things – like unpacking their suitcases and picking up the floor every morning and evening.
Geography Lessons
On the Wednesday we were scheduled to go up Tracey Arm and I talked all about fjords in the lesson as well as gave tips on how to use their binoculars properly and basic photography tips. We ended up going up Edicot Arm as Tracey Arm was too full of ice to allow safe passage of our cruise ship. Only the eldest paid any attention to the glacier! Bonus points for her then! (The other two came out to take a look but really would have been quite happy to stay inside all day!)
Here are a couple of the photos she took.
In true twelve year old fashion she took a selfie! Sigh. This photo also shows how windy it was at the bow of the ship!
Her photo of Dawes glacier at the end of Endicot Arm. We also got to see it calve a few times. She was really interested which warmed this mother’s heart!
History Lessons
The next day we attempted to explore Skagway and teach the girls about the Gold Rush etc but … it took quite a bit of time for the girls to warm up to idea of “learning stuff”!
Right off the boat we were greeted by this steam engine. The girls decided it was the Hogwarts Epress!
There was a hands on learning exhibit run by the State Park (I think) which finally got the kids out of their funk. Dressing up like Gold Rush times was fun.
Not satisfied with a straight face, this one has to ham it up for every photo!
After some souvenir shopping and some forced learning, a Doughboy (a.k.a. good ol’ Beaver Tail) was called for. Nothing like cinnamon sugar laden fried dough to put the bounce back in your step, eh?
Foiled Lesson on Government
We reached Juneau on the Friday and I had written about visiting the State Capitol Building
but …
This is what we saw.
Bummer!
Across the street from this was a cute little museum so we decided to check it out.
My middle daughter had control of my camera (another teaching moment!) so this is the view she captured. She liked the totem pole!
After learning about the history of Juneau and its mining town origins, we went looking for more souvenirs and something to snack on. Because little girls can’t survive two hours without eating apparently! And the cruise ship was “too far away” to wait for a free lunch.
This one has very particular tastes so we had to hunt high and low for just the right snack. We found it at a crepe shack where she proceeded to eat the sweetest crepe ever made – a S’mores Crepe. Nutella, marshmallows, chocolate chips and Graham cracker crumbs. Can you say “Diabetic Coma”? At least she washed it down with something healthy, right? (A berry smoothie.)
Thus reacheth the end of our lessons.
Not the end of the trip, just the last of the planned lessons that were more or less ignored by my daughters. No, I’m not bitter. Really! It was not surprising that the other activities held more interest. I am glad I put together what I did though. It helped ME prepare better for the journey!
What’s next for Mummy’s Summer Camp?
A quick look back and then we will delve into some super fun (for me!) lessons on cleaning and organizing. I may have been temporarily knocked off the rails by our vacation, but I am determined to get back into the ‘classroom’ so to speak. Wish me luck!
And stay tuned for more updates!
Have a great rest of your week everyone!
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