5th Annual Camping Trip

I must have been relaxing and having a lot of fun, because there aren't a lot of pictures on MY camera from the Fathers Day weekend trip. Here is CINDY - on their boat, helping us all to go tubing this year. We are thinking to change the venue for 6/2011. Perhaps heading to a private camp-ground near by and going tubing down the Battenkill. THOUGHS?
Dinner time at camp. Never a shortage of food. Nice tarp too - just in case of the annual sprinkles! NONE this year - nice job Mother Nature!

And - after every meal - DISHES! Great job girls.

Best of all - simple down time. This shot in the meadow adjacent to our favorite camping spot. What a gorgeous weekend it was.

Clothing Evals and Fashion Review

This was the second year we did sewing projects for the 4H CLothing Evaluations. The HARDEST part is writing up the commentary. We have to work hard on it because this is what they read while we walk down the aisle at Jo-Ann Fabrics.. It has to sound GOOD!
Here is Miss A posing for a picture to use with her commentary. NICE JOB on the Apron!

And here is another Miss A modelling her dog themed apron. Nice job blending two of your favorite things. Well - three, cooking, sewing and dogs!

Here is Grace in her Dog Anorak. I'm sensing a theme here myself!! She is excited for Fall becuase she can FINALLY wear it now that it is almost done being JUDGED. One more step - our Fair! Then colder weather and a new anorak!What a nice group of you represented Thrills & Skills at Jo-Ann Mother's Day weekend. Great job on the pants, aprons, and anoraks - and M's skirt. Love it and can't wait to know what you want to sew next year!

Trail Maintenance

This year we took on a DIFFERENT kind of volunteer project. We decided to FIX the BOG BRIDGES on the Taconic Crest trail leading to the Snow Hole. Here is Drew Jones from Williams College helping the leaders scope out this muddy muddy project in mid-April. There were a lot of broken brides and sinking or rotted support timbers. This area also needed just a TAD bit of drainage!
Mrs. Donlon looks pretty excited about this - ehh? Good thing she wore her MUD boots. Or - maybe these are her NEW mud boots? oopsie - sorry!

Um - and this is the beginning of work day. Williams students carried in all the materials for us. We are 10-12 years old after all!! Now, WHERE ARE THE KIDS. All I see here is the leaders getting muddy. Note - I am BEHIND the camerA! HA!

Ahh - there is the whole group. What a nice look all this mud is!

Ingrid, Mel and Bry learning about the BRACE and BIT! This was Mr. Morton's grandfathers tool. It works WITHOUT electricity - and is a great thing for this project. Nice job girls! WOW - all that softball practice really paid off on this outing. GO BRI - get that bridge off the muddy base! Get-um SLUGGER!

Even the 4th Graders got in on the drilling act. This is FUN! Some of our group had to depart early - but most stuck it out until the end. This was a lot of work. In the end - most of the kids agreed it was worth the trip and acknowledged that everyone who uses this trail during wet weather will surely appreciate our work - even if they don't know we did it! NICE JOB EVERYONE!

Wood Working & More Demonstrations!

Well - it's true. I get distracted late in the year and aren't as good at keeping up to date. Here are some more pictures and two more posts with end-of-year activities!

Here is Grace doing her CHICK demonstration at 4H District Demo Days in Voorhesville. This was Early May! She did great and will be presenting at the NYState Fair in Syracuse come August!
Mrs. G came thru once again with a GREAT wood-working project. We made a CD rack. Lots of sanding on this one. We had to keep the screws going straight and then the most fun - we learned all about the MESS of staining. They came out great!