Hello Muddah, hello Faddah, Here I am at Camp Granada

June is fast approaching. Yes, it’s only March, and you may disagree with me – but to me – it seems like June will be here much sooner than I’m prepared for.

For the first time ever, I’ve signed Rachel up to go to a (Jewish) sleep-away camp for two weeks. She’s going to have an absolutely fantabulous time, I know. The activities they’re going to do there are just amazing: Horseback riding, Archery, various sports: hiking, volleyball, softball, climbing. There’s all sorts of artistic activities too: music, drama, arts and crafts, photography.

And of course, there is an exposure to Judaism that I can’t fully give her here. She’ll be with other Jewish kids (although kids of other faiths are welcome to go to the camp – but my guess is that is somewhat rare). I’m hoping she will walk away from the camp with a deeper understanding of what it means to be Jewish – even though we don’t always follow all the “rules” here at home.

There’s an enormously long list of items I have to send her with. Many things I’ll have to buy (like a frame backpack – the kids hike and camp out in the woods one night). I have no idea how I’m going to fit all these things in her suitcase…

… and this begins the explanation of why June feels like an unstoppable train headed this way. As much as I know she’s going to have an incredible time. As much as she’s looking forward to it – she’s barely been away from home for an overnight. Granted she’s very independent, but still. I know she’s not worried… but I sure am. They have a policy of not letting the kids contact the parents unless there’s a serious problem because they feel that it makes things worse and they’re trained and used to dealing with any seperation issues…. but still…. Two weeks. And!… AND!… She has to fly to this camp on her own. Is this an isnanity test or what?!?

Everyone has been saying this camp is amazing. She’ll be fine. And really, I think I’m not so much worried about her… I think it’s me who will be freaking out the two weeks she’s away. Meanwhile, she will be too busy having the time of her life. She’ll come home happy as a clam, and I’ll be a nervous wreck. LOL!

Have you ever heard this song?

Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh
Here I am at Camp Granada
Camp is very entertaining
And they say we’ll have some fun if it stops raining!

I went hiking with Joyce Fivey,
He developed poison ivy.
You remember Lennard Skynard,
He got tomain poisoning last night after dinner!

All the counselors hate the waiters,
And the lake has alligators!
And the head coach wants no sissies,
So he reads to us from something called ‘Ulysses’.

No, I don’t want (this should scare ya),
But my bunkmate has malaria!
You remember Geoffrey Hardy,
They’re about to organize a searching party!

Take me home, oh mother, father.
Take me home, I hate Grenada.
Don’t leave me out in the forest,
Where I might get eaten by a bear!

Take me home, I promise that I will not make noise,
Or mess the house with other boys.
Oh please don’t make me stay;
I’ve been here one whole day!

Dearest father, darling mother,
How’s my precious little brother?
Let me come home if you miss me;
I would even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss me!

Wait a minute; it stopped hailing.
Guys are swimming, guys are sailing.
Playing baseball; gee that’s better.
Mother, father, kindly disregard this letter!

Brand new day

“

These are not the words you want to hear, half-asleep, 5am in the morning. (Not that those words are ok anytime of the day) And thus began my day of balancing taking care of Zach while lugging my laptop around with me and trying to keep up with emails and whatever little projects I could get done. Fact of the matter was that he ended up being fine. I kept him home for the day, because I didn’t know what that was all about and wanted to keep an eye on him to be sure he was ok. But mostly he just wanted to play all day. Chalk it up to another day I’m thankful for my “work-at-home” life – even if I didn’t get that much work done today. heh.

Easter Village – iPhone App for Kids

IHere is a video about the app.

Easter Village: $0.99*

*Price at time of this writing.

Dr. Seuss iPhone Apps

Dr. Seuss is one of my all time favorite children’s book authors. I loved the books as a kid, and as an adult, I still love reading the books to my kids. So it should probably come as no surprise that the Dr. Seuss iPhone apps totally thrill me and my kids.

The Cat In the Hat

Love this book. For some reason, I feel like this book relates to my life on so many levels. From the thing one and thing two ransacking the house (=cough= Zach and Rachel =cough=) to suddenly finding yourself in a mess that is “so deep and so tall” you can not pick it up, there is no way at all… except a cat with a magical room cleaning machine never seems to show up at my doorstep. Hmmm… This eBook has it all. The ability to have it read to you or read it yourself. Little animations, little interactions, even a little background sound, music and effects. (There’s settings to turn those off too if you don’t like them) This is the way an eBook should be done.

The Cat in the Hat: $3.99* (NOTE!! See below about a special price on this app for March 2, 2010 only!!)

Dr. Seuss’s ABC

I have to admit – reading this book myself isn’t as much fun as reading The Cat in the Hat – but having the eBook read TO YOU it is actually alot more fun. Somehow the reader on the eBook does a much better job. (Maybe it’s also because I seem to get tongue tied reading this book long before I’m even halfway in) LOL! Either way – this book is great. Sound effects, interaction. If you leave the book in the middle, it will even remember where you left off and give you the option of starting there when you start the book/app again.

Dr. Seuss’s ABC: $3.99* (NOTE!! See below about a special price on this app for March 2, 2010 only!!)

Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition

Ok, this is a lot of fun. My kids LOVE playing with the camera on the phone, so this is a no brainer. You can pick out a “frame” and then take a picture or use one from your photo library or camera roll – usually putting someone’s face inside a cartoon – and then save it, email it. You can add “stickers” to it, etc. My only comment here is that the icons on the bottom are a little ambigous and took a little getting used to understand what they did. But exploring and playing with the app was so much fun, we didn’t mind.

Dr. Seuss Camera – The Cat in the Hat Edition: $2.99* (NOTE!! See below about a special price on this app for March 2, 2010 only!!)

NOTE!: So now here’s something really cool: Oceanhouse Media (the developer of these apps) is celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday and NEA’s Read Across America Day by dropping all Dr. Seuss iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad apps to $0.99 each for one day only, Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Definitely recommend you scoop these up tomorrow while they’re on sale. That’s a great deal!! You can read more about that here

Click here to learn more, see demos and see more Dr. Seuss apps

*prices at time of this writing.

Emily’s Girl Talk iPhone App

IRead more about them and buy the app on iTunes here.

Also, to celebrate the release of Emily’s Girl Talk, fans can enter a contest to become a sticker inside the game, by (i) posting a screenshot of their favorite story from Emily’s Girl Talk on the new Facebook fan page, (ii) tweeting it to @EmilysGirlTalk on Twitter or (iii) emailing it to EmilysGirlTalk@BrokenThumbsApps.com by April 1st.

Emily’s Girl Talk: $0.99*

*Price at time of this writing.