Operation Military Kids

For the past two summers I've had the privilege of working as a camp counselor for Operation Military Kids.
O.M.K is a support program for kids who's parents are in the military. O.M.K works with all branches of the military and host several camps over the year. These camps help the kids meet others going through the same situations, helping them connect with one another as well as teaching them valuable skills such as teamwork.

Metro Camp: This camp is held in September in Little Rock, Ar.
We rented a bus and took the kids on a 3 day adventure of downtown Little Rock.
The kids started their adventure at the Old State House Museum and from there took a GPS scavenger hunt to the River Walk where we ate lunch and toured the Game and Fish Commission Museum.
We took them to tour the Military Museum where they participated in another scavenger hunt set up by the Museum. Once they had finished there we walked over to the Children's Theatre and saw a play. We also went over to the Big Dam Bridge where a park ranger walked us halfway across and told us all about how the Dam was built and how dam's work.
One night we took them to Playtime Pizza where each kid got a card with tokens to play games.
 The last day we all got up and went to Hike Mount Pinnacle. It was a lot of work but I think the kids really enjoyed it. 
Each night we returned to camp and had a campfire program, the kids made smores and watched as the counselors preformed skits.
This is a great camp full of fun Activities and lots of group bonding! Recently they have started a similar camp in the Fort Smith area.

Movie and Art's Camp:  This camp is less of a run around and play type camp and more of a working to achieve a goal camp.
In Movie and Art's Camp we divide the camp into three groups. Documentary Movie, Creative Writing, and Quilting. 
Documentary Movie Group: This group spent the camp learning all about Documentary Film making and how to make one. During the 5 day camp they put together and create their own documentary film about OMK, Under the guidance of  directors and producers of the Sundance film festival.

Creative Writing Group: This group learns what creative writing is and over the camp does writing exercises that they will use at the end to write their story of what its like to be a military kid. This past year we were fortunate to have the Producer of Tales From The South a radio program on NPR. One of the days she brought out the radio recording supplys and had several of us read our stories for her show!

Quilting Group: This group used the art of quilting to tell their story of being a military kid by making story quilts.

At the end of camp we had a Red Carpet Event. Where the parents where invited to see what their kids had done over the course of the camp. The writing group made books that were handed out to each person. this book contained the stories and poems they had written.
The story quilts created byt the quilting group were displayed on stage for all to see.
and the documentary that the kids had made had its premier showing.
I was in also in charge of making a slideshow, just some fun pictures of the kids participating in the camp. this too was shown at our red carpet event.

Although this camp take a lot of focus and hard work from the kids they learn so many skills and get to take breaks from the workshops with a recreation time that includes Swimming, Canoeing, Basketball, and Board Games.
Also at night we have a campfire program where each night skits are preformed not only by the counselors but the kids as well! we have Fun time, when the kids can relax and enjoy themselves before bed where we served ice cream sundaes one night and popcorn the next. the kids could eat and play boardgames, wii play and other games they had learned during camp.

The Documentary that the kids made can be seen on youtube. I tried to post the link but my computer isn't letting me. the video is titled operation military arts & film camp 2010

If you or someone you know is in the military and has children please let them know about this program and these camps. If your not in Arkansas don't worry OMK is a national program you can find one in your area!

Happy Veterans Day!

Big Plans, Big Dreams.

The other day me and my mom were looking up 4-H in the area we are looking at moving to.

After realizing that 4-H in that county is practically non-existent I have decided to help it grow. start up a club and show them how amazing 4-H really is!
Anyone who has kids ages 5-19 should look into 4-H it's a great program that teaches kids life skills and builds resources for their future!


The other thing we've found out was that the county doesn't have a county fair! The county does a lot with an adjoining county. So I have decided to build a fairgrounds!  I think It should be a dual county fairgrounds so that both counties can benefit from it.

You may be wondering just how I plan on doing all this? well I'll tell you!
Step 1.  Move there and start a 4-H club.  Really get the 4-H program growing.
Step 2. Join the city council, PTA, ect.  Get to know how the town is run and what the needs of the town are as well as get to know people in the town.
Step 3. Maybe buy a little place and start a shop. join the small business owners association.

Step 4. Get the funds together and start working on the fairgrounds.                                                                Step 5.  Run for Mayor?     Who knows where this dream will lead!                                                          

                                                             

           Quote Of The Day: 

We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.                                                             - Woodrow Wilson

Green Tip Of The Day:  Compost! Find a place in the corner of your yard and start a compost pile. If you live in the city buy  a trash can and start a compost bin. Here at my home we save those big Ice cream tubs and during the week we dump our compost ( leftovers on plates, leftovers in pans, peels, cores ect.) into the bucket. The bucket has a lid and that helps control smell. When the bucket gets full we take it outside and dump it onto the pile. during the summer taking a big stick or a pitchfork and stirring up the compost pile once a month or so will help everything decompose quickly and evenly.  Come spring you'll have amazing soil for potted plants and garden spaces! 

Zombie for a Day

Conway Held it's first annual ZOMBIE WALK on Oct 30th.
There was a great turn out! Lots of different zombies showed up for the event. we had a star trek zombie, bride zombies and even a banana zombie!

In preparation:  Matt decided he wanted to be a Giant Executioner zombie from the Resident Evil Afterlife movie.   See example below:

 

This was my challenge !

I went to Hobby Lobby hoping to find an apron that would work for this costume. But, the only one I was able to find was a smaller one with pockets.. not exactly zombie worthy. It also cost $6.00.

So I took a stroll over to their fabric department in search of alternatives. I found a solid black calico that was 30% off  and some burlap for the mask. I ran over and picked up a couple colors of acrylic paint for zombie makeup and headed off to find some props. cost of fabric and paint- $7.60

For my costume I decided to go with Zombie Mom with Baby. I bought a shirt at Salvation army and a baby doll at wal-mart. total cost - about $7.00.

Unable to find anymore props I went home and started working. my first step was Matt's butcher apron.

I just held the fabric up to him and made a few marks for the size and started cutting. hemmed three sides (left the bottom unhemmed for shredding)  made some straps and  VOILA! I painted black paint onto the apron to give it a more realistic effect and spattered red paint all over it.  For the mask  we wrapped the burlap around his head and cut  the shape we wanted and modified it as we went.. two holes for eyes and red paint and we had an awesome executioner mask!

Matt went a little crazy with my zombie baby. By the time he had come home from work I had glazed its eyes over in white, dulled its skin color with paint and added a few wounds. Matt bought some chicken that day and saved the bones. he cut the one of the baby's legs off  and glued in the chicken bone with red tinted epoxy.  He glued a second bone into the loose half of the severed leg, and then super glued it to the baby's hand. The effect: the baby looked like it had torn its own foot off ... creepy.

Here are a few pictures from zombie walk!

 Matts costume was a HUGE success!  Several people stopped to take photos of him and the camera crew that was there thought he was awesome!  It was ton's of fun!


QUOTE OF THE DAY:  “Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.”  ~ James Dean


Thank you for sharing an Epic night of Zombieness with me!