NJ Day & Daisies

Seems like every kid in NJ studies NJ when they reach the 4th grade.

I did.
Not that I remember much....
Marissa's class did too.

They had to "invent" something to display on "NJ Day" at school.
AND they had to come up with a game, based somehow, on NJ.

The invention had to solve a problem. This made me think of all the un-used hangers I've got making a crazy mess in my closets. So I gave her the idea to make something to house all those hangers. We brainstormed it together with Joe--since he's "Mr. Handyman" around here, & they sketched it out & came up with an idea.

For the game, it could be any existing game based somehow on NJ & Marissa came up with a "Memory"-type game. We googled places in NJ, found pics of certain areas & printed them onto cardstock.

BTW--Googling "Jersey Shore" does NOT bring up areas of the shore anymore. It brings up that wretched TV show, on what to do with your life when all you can accomplish is being drunk & stupid on TV. I despise that show & all other shows making the people in NJ look stupid.

ANY-WHOOOO.........The kids were to display their inventions & games at school & all the parents were able to come in to oooh & ahh over them all.

This is Marissa's "Hanger 'Hangar' 2011"........



It's now sitting in a closet storing all my extra hangers!

This is her memory game. It's not all laid out since there wasn't a lot of room for her to spread out all the cards.

It was over around the same time as they got out of school which was handy since she had so much stuff to bring home.

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Right after school, Gianna's Daisy Girl Scout troop was going on a hike around a nearby lake. Before leaving, they were going to plant some daisies in front of the school, so I hung out taking a few pics of the girls.

One of the leaders had her older daughter that's Marissa's age & a friend with her. While we were all talking, they were trying to figure out if they had enough room in their cars for all the kids. So I offered to take the 2 older girls to my house for a playdate with Marissa. Long story short, the leader had to leave early so she would need her daughter back before I was due to pick up Gianna from the hike.

Still with me??

By this time, Marissa just wanted to hang out with her friends, so I just went with them to the lake.

To hike. Which I don't do.
In. flip. flops.

I was leary at first, especially about my footwear, but then I remembered all the other possibilities, namely poison ivy, snakes, bears & bugs. I had bug spray from spraying Gianna before leaving, so I sprayed myself & Marissa before we started.

But I was planning on staying close to the park ranger.
He had a gun.

At the lake, we met with the ranger who talked about things found around the parks in our town. I actually learned a lot.

Like how there are a mating pair of Bobcats in one park near my house.
Didn't know that about them.

The ranger had a variety of animal skulls & a deer pelt that he talked about, while the kids had a snack. One leader brought "S'mores" & thanks to the heat were pretty gooey & perfect. How do I know? Gianna gave me hers. ;)
Also learned how poison ivy grows like a vine & when left to grow, has a thick, hairy, trunk-like vine that can strangle it's host tree or plant. Lots of it around the lake, "stay on the trail" became a chant of all the adults.

But it wasn't all bad. While the weather was hot, we mostly stayed in the shade. The bugs weren't an issue either thanks to the bug spray. By the end of the hike the ranger told us we had walked 1.1 miles.

BONUS! I hadn't exercised yet!! ;)