Margaret's 15 minutes of fame

Today's Olympian newspaper ran a story about the camp that Margaret & Caroline attended last week. Margaret was prominently featured in the article and gave a great interview. I can't seem to figure out how to post the link here, so I've just cut & pasted a copy of the article.


Published July 21, 2008
Kids get crafty at 4-H camp
Venice Buhain

Margaret Doyle, 8, and her friend, Camryn Phipps, 7, made a list of things they made in the Creativity Festivity summer camp at the Thurston County Fairgrounds.

"We've made a scrapbook, we made papier mache, we made clay things," Camryn listed as they worked on sewing a small, stuffed turtle.

"We made a T-shirt. We made friends," Margaret added.

The annual weeklong camp is run by Washington State University Extension 4-H and is for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. The projects made by the 40 campers can be entered into the county fair, 4-H program assistant Barbara Wollstein said.

Wollstein said the purpose of the camp, which has been offered for three summers, is to introduce students to arts and crafts and to give them a taste of 4-H, which many think of as a club just for raising farm animals.

"The point of the livestock is to help kids learn responsibility and time management," she said. "They also learn public speaking and leadership. A lot of them do record-keeping."

She said that projects are awarded ribbons based on standards, and students aren't pitted against each other.

This year, the fair's mascot is a turtle, and students made papier mache and quilted turtles to tie in with the theme. Students also took a field trip to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, where they practiced photography, Wollstein said.

Margaret, who will be in third grade this fall, said she was in the camp last year and enjoyed learning new skills.

"Last year, my favorite was crochet," she said. "It's like knitting. I always wanted to learn how to knit."

Some of her projects were entered last year in the fair, and it was the first time she and her family attended, Margaret said.

Some students also are exposed to skills that traditionally have been taught at home.

Patt O'Neil and Vicki Ogden, who are Master Textile Quilters with Washington State University Extension, said some students were getting their first exposure to sewing.

"One of them said, 'My mother has a sewing kit,' " O'Neil said. "We hear that a lot."

Venice Buhain covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5445 or vbuhain@theolympian.com.

Everybody loves a parade!

We just got back from the Lakefair Parade. The girls really enjoyed themselves and Grandma Gail and I did too. Jeff took advantage of the time to catch up on some yard work.

Doyle Family Campout 3.0

Here are some pictures from last weekend's trip to Wenatchee Confluence State Park for the 3rd annual Doyle Family Campout. Everyone was healthy this year, and the weather cooperated (hot but not unbearable), and a good time was had by all--at least I think so. The Oly Doyles sure had fun.

Notice the breakfast of champions to start the day out right... Captain Crunch along with the 2 dozen donuts Grampy insisted we all eat!

Margaret with a nice chocolate donut - breakfast just doesn't get much better than this!


Saturday we spent most of the day at the beach, in and out of the water. We had all kinds of floatation devices, and the kids took turns making floatillas and just goofing around. The river was REALLY cold, but that was a good thing considering how hot it got. We were also able to watch the fire burning on the hillside northeast of Wenatchee up towards Chelan.
Jacob and Caroline got along great all weekend and paired up on the floaties.

Dylan

Jaiden, Margaret, (and Marissa's legs)


Andrea catching a little R&R away from the kiddos


After everyone was burned out at the beach, we hung around the campsite trying to beat the heat in the shade.

Caroline was able to get a great shot of Grammy Doyle, who normally doesn't like anyone to take her picture...


Under close supervision by the grandparents while Jennie and Brian were at the other campsite, Jameson discovers the chocolate donuts!



Andrea & Margaret enjoying the hammock.


As usual, Brian came up with a great idea for a family activity. Squirtball!


In squirtball, the fielders all have water bottles full of water to splash on the baserunners. Technically they have to have the ball in order to splash the runner, but that rule was widely ignored and everyone pretty much squirted all the runners every chance they got. Not that anyone minded since it was SO HOT!


Dylan was especially diligent in squirting Grampy after every single pitch he tossed-it was very cute. As a matter of fact, Dylan was pretty attached to Grampy all weekend. Could it have anything to do with those chocolate donuts?


Jeff & Caroline's water war

Caroline reloading


A kid's view of the campground


Wiped out...

4th of July

We started our 4th of July festivities at home in the driveway, with sparklers and race cars and cool parachute guys that blow out of a mini cannon and then sail back to earth. Then we went over to our friends house for a much larger extravaganza. Everything was safe and sane, and VERY fun. We stayed for the grand finale after 10 pm and the girls had a total blast, although they were wiped the next day.

Father's day & my b'day

Going back a bit to catch up on some pictures from June... We celebrated Father's Day with the girls presenting their cards and gifts to Daddy out on the deck.



For my birthday, we went out to dinner and had a seafood feast then walked down at the waterfront.

Gymnastics talent show

Last week was gymnastics camp and the girls performed at a talent show on the last afternoon. Here's a short video of Margaret showing off her new roundoff and backbend skills! Look out Aunt Jennie!

Totally my tooth!

Caroline says:
Believe it or not, I lost my tooth! Well, it's pretty cool, huh? I was fiddling around with my teeth and suddenly it just got swept out. It bled so much, and I'm so excited to have the tooth fairy come get my tooth. The end.