Camp Shabbat

WOW!!! We had the best Shabbat ever this week.  We attend "Camp Shabbat"  at a local National Park.

A few families from a nearby synagogue organized this Shabbaton.  They reserved a block of cabins with a kitchen and dining hall.  They catered Shabbos dinner and planned/prepared all the meals and activities for weekend in a manner that families who are shomer Shabbos could attend even though they themselves were not. 

I heard about it through a listserve.  Even though there was very little information in the announcements, I decided to give it a try.  We went down expecting not to know anyone but to make new friends.  It turns out we knew several of the families in attendance.  We got to spend time really talking and playing with these families as well as meeting lots of new friends. 

Other than a big hike that almost everyone went on and of course the big havdalah bonfire, there was very little in the way of organized activities.  The big kids formed roving bands and just went off and played and made their own fun.  I am not really sure what Froggy did most of the afternoon but I know she had fun. 

I love camping and even more so on Shabbat.  To me being that close to HaShem glorious creations while thanking him for all the work of creation is special.  But it is really hard to camp on Shabbat and we frequently arrange our trips so we don't have to deal with that.  This was the perfect way to meet all those desires.

We are so back next year!

Menu Planning Monday - 8 Tamuz

This week, our meals are very simple in keeping with the kind of eating I like to do during the summer.  But there is lots of baking going on as we celebrate birthdays and have visitors and need to bring treats places.

Sunday - Pasta, homemade sauce, salad and garlic bread
Monday - picnic poolside - tuna fish, crackers, carrots and fruit
Tuesday - Pulled Chicken, peas, corn on the cob, and birthday cake
Wednesday - fish ala Jenn rice and broccoli
Thursday - Grandparents Arrive - Vietnamese rolls and a chocolate trifle for dessert
Friday - We leave!!! - bringing - Brown sugar cookies and brownies

Toothless Grin

Within the last two weeks, Froggy has lost two front teeth leaving her with a big toothless gap smile just in time for corn on the cob season.

Menu Planning Monday - 25 Sivan

Sunday - Fish ala Jenn, rice and peas

Monday -Brinnner - Pumpkin pancakes, scrambled eggs and melon
Tuesday -Pizza and Salad
Wednesday -picnic dinner - deli rollups, carrot sticks and pasta salad
Thursday - Pasta, salad and garlic bread
Shabbat - Challah Gefilte fish, matza ball soup, spinach and strawberry salad, roasted herb chicken, green beans, corn on the cob, strawberry tirfle, molasses cookies
Shalosh Seudah - at a friend's  -bringing coffee cake , and quinoa salad

Menu Planning Monday - Summer Swim

Summer swim team starts this week. That means we have entered the three least favorite weeks of the menu

planning year.  Summer swim meets at 6pm until school gets out.  It is the worst time for me, especially with the little guy staying with us.  Add to that Abba is gone until Wednesday and it makes for an interesting menu. 

Monday - Mac and Cheese and veggie sticks
Tuesday - Chicken Nuggets for the kids - salad for Ima
Wednesday - Abba home -early dinner before swim- Fish ala Jenn rice and broccoli
Thursday - Picnic at the pool - Deli wraps and strawberries
Shabbat - Mandu,miso soup, Asian salad, sweet salmon, rice, keem, snow peas, and something for dessert but I have no idea what.  I am lucky I got this far
Shalosh seudah - apple egg salad, green salad, tuna fish, crackers two kinds of hummus, fruit and same desserts as Shabbos dinner (whatever that may be)

Missing History?

So I ran across this article about the "important" events in American history.  It did not sit well with me.  I feel like it is missing many critical events.  Now I will grant that the objective is highlights not comprehensiveness.  Even with that caveat, I still disagree with their choices. 

For instance, they completely leave out the Great Depression and both World Wars yet they put in the Manhattan Project. 

So what do you think?  Are there other choices that you disagree with?

Looking Ahead

This weekend Froggy and I get to go to the wonderful Jewish Homeschool Conference.  They are even going to have vendors this year.

I have some things I have been thinking about using for our Limudi Chodesh subjects such as this or maybe something from here.  But I am waiting to see what the convention has to offer.

There is no reason to wait though for our secular subjects.  We are very pleased with Ambleside Online and booklist for Year 3 to see what I needed to order.  It turns out there really are not any.  One of the great things about the Ambleside booklist is that we can read many of the books online.  Those that we cannot are often for history and used for several years. 

Froggy will begin Year 3 in the Fall.  To that end, I finally got around to looking at the

I do need to decide what we are going to do about Marco Polo.  His travels are supposed to form the basis of our geography studies for Year 3.  Usually my decisions are very easy since the wonderful advisory board at Ambleside has already found the best books on each topic.  But they acknowledge that they have not found anything good for Marco Polo and leave the decision to each family. 

Menu Planning Monday - 11 Sivan

After a week of almost constant cooking both for us and for shul,it feels great to have a week of minimal easy gentle foods.

Sunday - Pizza and Salad
Monday - tofu stirfry (since we have so many yummy veggies leftover from Shavuot) , rice and keem
Tuesday - No Abba = Mac and Cheese and  veggie sticks
Wednesday - pulled chicken, mashed potatoes and peas
Thursday -Brinner - Scrambled eggs and Pancakes.

And then we leave for our Shabbos retreat/homeschool weekend.  So it is a breath of calm between the chaos.

In the paper

Our synagogue was highlighted in this past week's Jewish Weekly. Our synagogue is amazing and vibrant, a fantastic community.  It is nice to see other people recognize it.