Security at Kids's Camps

We love sports at our house and both of my kids are playing outdoor soccer this summer through CYSA. What a great assocation! My son recently attended their soccer camp and had a blast playing all sorts of soccer games. His skill level noticeably improved and, as a 6 year old, he left with a better understanding of the game . However, what impressed me the most was the camp’s security.

Security at kids camps is a serious issue. We leave our kids in the hands of people we do not know and basically trust that they will be well taken care of – trust can be a scary thing. My kids have attended a lot of camps over the years, some have good security and some, I am sad to say, don't. The initial week that my daughter attended her first year at Winding Trails Girl Scout camp was a bit scary. I almost pulled her. While she was having a great time at the camp which is located in the middle of Russian Jack Park, I was having a hard time with the drop off and pickups. It was very haphazard. Because of the tight parking, parents were not supposed to park and drop kids off, but rather were to let the kids out of their cars and drive off. The kids ended up wandering around until a camp counselor got them. There was not sign in and the 2nd day they let my sister pick her up without checking to her id or the pickup list to see if she was allowed to. I was not the only parent concerned and the GS office got quite a few calls about the it. Needless to say the security drastically improved and we stayed in the camp. We have gone back over the years and I have recommended the camp to others with the caveat to watch the security.

Mentos Geyser

I had a play day for my son with another little boy and we tried the Mentos Geyser Tube. I had picked up a Mentos Geyser Tube at Classic Toys in Anchorage and wanted to try it out. I gathered the required supplies - A roll or box of Mentos and a 2-liter bottle of soda. According to the instructions, diet cola is less sticky. We took all out of our loot outside and loaded the tube up. I was a bit skeptical that we would get a geyser and was pleasantly surprised when the soda shot up into the air. Needless to say, the boys that it was really cool and were jumping all over the place looking for mentos. The outer layer of the mentos were eaten away by the soda and we were able to talk about why and how that happened - so I got to sneak a little science in along with the soda explosion.

Tween/Teen Book Review Site

My kids love reading and I try to read or find out about the book my kids are reading. As my daughter enters her tweens this is becoming a bit more challenging. She is branching out of series that I am familiar with such as Harry Potter, American Girl, Nancy Drew and such and into books of which I have never heard. It is summer, she is an extremely fast reader and I was running out of books I felt comfortable having her read without my pursuing them first and I had already hit up my mom friends for their recommendations.

Enter TeensReadToo.com. This site has hundreds of book reviews for current tween/teen books. The reviewer include teacher, parents, college students sprinkled with a few high school student reviewers. Each review has a biography listed so that you can get a feel of their background. There is a link within each review to that reviewers biography.

The review is quick and easy to read - following is a sample.

THE VAMPIRE'S PHOTOGRAPH by Kevin Emerson
Category: Paranormal
Age Recommendation: Grades 6+
Release Date: 8/1/08
Publisher: Scholastic
Reviewed by: Jaglvr
Rating: 4 Stars

Navigation is cumbersome as there is no search mechanism and the site reviews on alphabetical listings of books by title, author, rating.

I read through some of the book reviews of books that I had read. I got a good feel for the overall philosophy of the site and its contributors and would recommend it.

Up - 3d version

We went to UP yesterday. Here is a quick review without a synopsis as most parents will have an idea of the storyline already.

I really thought this movie was great. All the parents were laughing when Carl, Ed Asner's character, wanted to play the "quiet game" with his stowaway Russell. Apparently the quiet game is a parent favorite even in the cartoon world. Normally, I don't like 3d movies, the scenes seem contrived, the glasses are uncomfortable and one can only take so many snakes popping out at you. However, I would recommend seeing this moving in 3d the graphics are wonderful and they way they have integrated the 3d is seemless.

Up Reviews

GeoCaching - Cooper Landing

I took the kids geocaching for the 1st time. We had a blast. We found a cache, unfortunately it was not the one that we were looking for - but at least we found one. publishing more on this today