Smart Space Art Camp - Art Through the Ages

Prehistoric cave painting.

Medieval Times- Coat of Arms Collage

Jacob says this is a ring and holder.

Egyptian Hieroglyphics and chalk pastel drawing.

Eye-popping food art inspired by Claes Oldenburg. This is an ice cream cone.

Staining paper with tea to "antique" it.

Jacob and new friend Kenny.

Smart Space Campers

I have been sending Jacob to this art camp for a couple years now and he really enjoys it. He has a flare for all things related to arts and crafts.

Color Me Mine

Front

Back

In my quest to keep Jacob busy this summer I took him to Color Me Mine. This is a painting art studio in which you can select different pieces to paint. Jacob had a lot of trouble choosing a piece and he kept picking pieces that were way out of my price range. Eventually we settled on this butterfly. Jacob painted the whole thing himself and I think he did a good job. He wants to know when we can go back again.

Zimmer Museum

Inside an airplane.

Playing with the Woody puppet.

Making music on the kid friendly computer.

We went to the Zimmer Museum today for some indoor play. This is a great museum with lots of things to play on. Jacob will tell you that the best part of the museum was the ambulance and airplane but we spent the most time in the theater playing ticket master. We have enjoyed this museum for 5 years now but I think Jacob has grown out of it. I told him it was our last visit and we would go to more "big boy" places now.

Ballona Wetlands

Today Jacob and I went on a nature walk through the Ballona Wetlands. I think it is great that we have this little slice of nature in our big metropolis. I printed out a hike scavenger hunt so Jacob would have some things to look for. We found a red leaf, feather, curved stick, ant, many birds, ducks, yellow butterfly and blue and red dragonflies. Since my photography is minimal at best I have included a link of bird pictures of the Ballona Wetlands. Enjoy. http://www.kiwifoto.com/galleries/ballona.html

Montebello Barnyard Zoo at Grant Rea Park

I had to look up 4 horned sheep and can you believe it is called a Jacob sheep. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_(sheep)

Don't call me a pig, I'm a wort hog.

Carolina was kind enough to join us in hot Montebello for some outdoor adventure. Jacob had a great time and of course did not want to leave. I have known about this park for a long time but have never managed to get there.

Lego Camp Day 5

The final day of Lego camp was equally as interesting as all the rest. The kids made things that could go on a zip cord. Jacob had fun showing off his creation of the day. It was a great week and I will miss the teacher (and the 15 hours of free time).

Lego Camp Day 4

It was robot day. The kids built motorized robots and many were very creative. Most of the kids did remote control but Jacob wired his to work without the remote control. Todays lesson was about gears and meshing.

Lego Camp Day 3

Today was car day, they made remote control cars. They had to pass the same stress test that nothing falls off when you turn over, shake or drop from a foot. Jacob's passed and he earned his man. We will see what tomorrow brings:)

Lego Camp Day 2

The group airport.

Jacob's contribution to the airport.


Jacob's plane.

A couple movies of Jacob's plane in action.

Lego Camp Day 1

Jacob said I took a picture of his car upside down, the rocket goes on the bottom. Oops.

Jacob is taking this Lego camp from a company called Play-Well TEKnologies which teaches kids engineering principles through the use of Lego. For classes in your area go to www.play-well.org.

Day one at Lego camp focused on cars and houses. I did not get to take a picture of Jacob's house but he said that was ok. His car had to pass a stress test: turn it over to see if any piece fell off, shake it to see if any piece fell off and drop it from a foot off the ground to see if it stayed together. If your car passed all three you got a Lego man to put in it. Jacob's car did pass the stress test. I have included a little movie of his car run.

Tammie's Baby Shower

From left to right: Mandi, Deedee, Tammie and me. A portion of the book club.
We all enjoyed the Snoopy and Peanuts gang theme.

Tammie's baby will be well cared for, she received many nice gifts.

I won again. I should play the lottery. The game I won had you identify children's quotes with the book it came from. My obsession with children's books finally paid off.

The shower was at Truxon's American Bistro in Westchester. The food was great and the service was excellent. I will definetly be going back.