4 Wheels 4 Girls

At El Lago Del Bosque, one of the classes I attended was a cooking class with a very nice counselor named Yamile.

For the first two days, my entire family was in the cooking class with me. There were about twelve people in the class altogether. On the first day, we made something called Arrolado de Papas, which was like a casserole from Argentina, where Yamile was from, full of potatoes, cheese, tomatoes, ham, eggs, and anything else you could find in your kitchen. Yamile said that the dish was good for using up leftovers. It was absolutely delicious, and knowing that my family, friends, and I had baked it made it taste all the better.

Chopping tomatoes for Arrolado de Papas

On the second day, we made a pastry called Pasta Frola, also from Argentina. It was made with mostly dough and strawberry jelly. I loved that, too. It tasted like some kind of tart.

On the third day, the only people in our family that were in the class were Stella and I. Dad, Jean, Ellie, and Ana picked another activity. So anyway, on the third day, we made another pastry or cake-ish thing, which I forget the name of. All I know is that it had lemon, cherries, and chocolate in it. Of course, this Argentinian dish was also extremely fabulous.

On the fourth and last day of cooking class, we made these little cheese balls from Argentina. They were basically just dough and two different kinds of cheese. They were simple, but phenomenal. Dad loved them so much that I shared some of mine with him.

I’m really glad I decided to sign up for cooking class. It was a great (and yummy!) experience!!!

August 30 was our fist full day at camp and it was cool but scary at the same time. Paola, Bruno, and Emilia all told us to come and play some games with them. So we went and we played this game were somebody yells out your name and throws a ball up in the air and you catch it and everyone runs and when you catch it you yell ALTO!!!!!!!!! And everyone freezes and then you can only take three steps toward the person who is the closest to you and then throw the ball at them and if it hit’s them then they throw the ball up and so on and so on.

Then we played the Frog game were someone is the detective and someone is the frog and the other people are flies. You make a circle and wait for the detective to come and when he or she is not looking the frog will stick out it’s tongue at you and you will have to fall down dead oh ya I forgot the detective gets only 3 guesses. We played that for a long time.

Then we played this game it so hard to explain it I will try. Ok so we all sit around and put one hand over the other persons hand and other one under the other persons hand. You slap their hand and then they slap the other person’s hand while the counselors sing a song and if the number that is how old one of the other people is and the last number lands on you you’re out. We played this for a long time and then we went to go to our cabin or something like that.

August 29th, the first dia of Espanol camp, we were brought down to the fire pit to learn some camp songs. The first one we learned was called “El Mamut”. It was about a mammoth who wanted to learn how to fly, so he asked a bird and the bird told him how to do it so he flew with his orejas. Then we learned “La Bamba” in Espanol. It was really cool and fun. We learned one more song. It was called “Maria Maria”. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was about, but I caught a few words in the song like “sol” and “planeta”. Learning Spanish songs was pretty cool.

Learning "El Mamut" on the plaza

The first day of Spanish camp we played 3 games. We played rob the cheese, hula-hoops, and races with a ball between our legs all in Spanish. At first I didn’t know what to do because the counselors were speaking in Spanish but I figured it out. I didn’t like playing rob the cheese with the older kids, especially the older boy who kept knocking me down. But I really liked playing hula-hoops. At first I didn’t know how to hula-hoop but I figured it out. It felt really fun to do it for a long time. In the game with the ball between our legs we had to race to the other side but my team didn’t win. It was still fun. It was fun to watch everyone try to run or hop without losing the ball.

Wiggling a hula hoop down a line of people

Mommy is passing the hula hoop to me

On Monday, August 29th, we arrived at our week-long Spanish immersion camp.

It was at a place called El Lago del Bosque, and when we arrived, I felt like I was in a Spanish country. The activity center, offices, classrooms, cafeteria, and all the other buildings looked Spanish, and there was a great big courtyard with a fountain. Then we stepped inside the activity center to get checked in, and we went to a table with a counselor named Mariano. He was very friendly and welcoming, and I immediately felt better about the camp. I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous about speaking almost all Spanish for almost an entire week. So Mariano introduced himself, and then sent us over to Ana’s table, who was another counselor. She was very nice, too.

Stella at the plaza fountain

We picked out our Spanish names for the week from a list. Greta, my name, was on the list, so I picked that so I wouldn’t have to change my name. Dad’s Spanish name was Conrado, his Spanish name from high school, Jean’s was Juanita, Stella’s was Estela, Ellie’s was Ester, and Ana’s was Lucy.

Then we went over by a counselor named Alejandro, and there we picked our activities for the first two days. I picked Cooking and Jewelry. Then we went outside to make, decorate, and paint our name tags. We met lots more counselors, all of which were very, very nice. Then we played some games with the other kids and a few counselors, and I felt like I was really getting into the lifestyle there. It was actually extremely fun! 😀

I really enjoyed first coming to Spanish camp. There will be plenty of posts to follow, to find out more about it!!!

August 28th, we were hanging out at Crissy’s lake house, and decided it was time for a game of Monopoly. Crissy got the game down for us and Greta set it up. She’s always the banker, because she’s the oldest, and just because she’s the only one that likes to be the banker. Emily is Jean’s friend, Amy’s, daughter. Emily, Ana, Ellie, and me were just normal players. So was Greta, but she was the banker, too. So we got ready and finally started. We played for what seemed like forever, and then when we finished, we counted up our money. Wow! I had 1,206 dollars! That was the most I had ever had! And usually, when I play Monopoly, I go in dept. But this time…
I WON!

We went to cresses cabin she hade a paddleboat. Me and jenenes were the first oues to go on the paddleboat. Then me and Ellie went on a boat ride together. Have you ever redenen In a paddleboat? You peddle like a bike. It was scere ween I went by my self because you culde see the bottom. I was scared in the ln the lelepades because it remides me of a swomp.

Paddling around the lake at Chrissie's cabin

[Editor’s translation:]
We went to Chrissie’s cabin. She hade a paddleboat. Me and Aunt Janice were the first ones to go on the paddleboat. Then me and Ellie went on a boat ride together. Have you ever ridden in a paddleboat? You peddle like a bike. It was scary when I went by myself because you could see the bottom [of the lake]. I was scared in the in the lily pads because it reminds me of a swamp.

We got an invitation to go to the cabin belonging to the sister of my mom’s friend Amy. We went on August 27th. When we got there Amy ‘s daughter, Emily, came and told us to come inside and say hello. When we got inside we were having hamburgers. They were so good. After a while me Ana and Emily all played horses. We were going to have s’mores but then it started pouring rain so we made mikeorwave s’mores. We played monopoly. We had a fun time at the cabin and thanks Chrissie!!!!!!:)

Hanging out on a nice day at Chrissie's cabin

On Saturday, August 27th, we went to see the start of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca State Park in northern Minnesota.

We found a photo of Lansing, IA at the visitor's center!

After the visitor center, we met up with our friends Amy and Emily and Amy’s sister, Chrissy. We all piled into the RV and drove eight miles to the headwaters, or start, of the Mississippi River. We went on a little walk to get there, and when I saw where the gigantic river begins, I was shocked. The water was like a foot deep!!! We all walked across the river and then we took a lot of group photos and we played around for a while. It was fun!

Crossing the mighty Mississippi at its very beginning

Jean and Aunt Janice crossing the Mississippi river

Then we decided to go back, but the kids wanted to keep walking on the river. So the adults walked on the path while us kids walked in the river. We met them at a bridge covered in gum, and they went back while we kept walking. Soon we realized that the water level was rising pretty quickly as we walked, so we headed back to the gum bridge. We decided to go back to the gum bridge and try to get out there ’cause we weren’t sure where else we could get out. So I got up onto the bridge, which was tricky since it was so far from the surface of the water, and then Stella and Ellie climbed up after watching me. Then I helped Ana up, and finally Emily, who was the hardest to help. When I was lifting her, I almost dropped her back into the river! But then luckily we all made it up safely.

Wading down the Mississippi river

We walked back to the gift shop and cafe, which were right next to the parking lot. It took us a good fifteen minutes to find the adults; it turned out they were looking for us too! Then we looked in the gift shop for a little bit and then left for Chrissy’s cabin. Whoo hoo!

We had a terrific time with everyone at the headwaters. I hope you had a good time reading this post!!! 😉

Our whole group (minus Chrissy!) crossing the very first bridge over the river

On August 26, me Nell Ana Stella and our other friend Jena went to Gary’s ( my uncle) farm. We all got the RV and when we started moving we all told funny stories. All of a sudden Ana yelled WE’RE HERE!!!!!!! Yay!! We all said! We hopped out and tried to find Gary, be was not there so we went and saw Clayton our cousin. He told us that Gary went to go buy some cattle and that he was on his way back. We went and saw the pigs. They were so scared of us because whenever we walked by they would run away. They stunk.

With our friends, Nell and Jena, on the farm

After that we asked Clayton to show us the chicks. There were so many of them and they had some red on them. Clayton caught one and let us hold one. When it was my turn it was so soft and then all of a sudden it started to get away so I let Stella hold it. After that we went back to the farm house and Clayton gave us each a popsicle.

Ana has a new chick

After that we started driving home when all of a sudden Gary came from the other way so we had back up. We said hello and then we left. I had a great time at the farm.