Summer Fun (Then and Now)

Yours truly!

Ms. DI

Volunteers at work

This year

volunteers

As we wrap up another summer of fun at the library I can't help but reminisce about past years.(.....like almost 30 years past! haha) I remember the days when I had to plan the programs and there was no such thing as a budget of thousands of dollars to bring in entertainment. Back in the day I had to rely on various Martial Arts schools, Dog Trainers, etc. to come in and wow the crowds believe it or not we did get some For the younger kids we had the "Pull Toy Parade"....but I remember the highlight of every summer was always the "Stuffed Pet Show". Always guaranteed to draw 35-50 kids!I can only imagine if we tried that NOW A stand out was the year I was pregnant with Brenna and woke up with a migraine on the day of the Stuffed Pet Show. My boss was desperate...she told me to sleep in as long as possible, come for the program and leave immediately afterwards. I managed to get there looking a little "green around the gills". I told the assistant that I was going to read a couple of books and then show a short film before the "Show". If I suddenly jumped up to run for the bathroom...she was just supposed to turn on the movie and distract the roomful of Moms and tots. haha I made it through the book(s) (with a lot of deep breaths). And spent the entire length of the film in the bathroom throwing up...and then came out with a pained smile on my face and made it through the rest of the program. The Moms all looked sympathetic. One of the teen volunteers....who is now a fellow Children's Librarian told me for years she decided she was never going to have children...because I scared her half to death that day! We still laugh about this..(.her third child just turned 2)

I also talked many friends and family members into doing a variety of programs. My brother Paul and his buddies did a Break Dancing performance one year (it was the 80's)...and they were pretty good. The kids loved it! My friend Mark G. did a program on plants......and I laugh because if I did that now...I might get plenty of retirees...but I doubt the kids would be lining up to come! haha

My sisters Jenifer and Elizabeth along with our friend Lynn T. ,were college students at the time , therefore they had plenty of free time to help me out. They did a great performance of "Many Moons" by James Thurber the year of the Space theme. At that time the Library was housed in the same building as Meadowlane Elementary School...so we had a stage with curtains and everything! I asked them for help and in the true Burton spirit (Lynn was as good as Burton) they not only agreed to help, they went all out with props, costumes, sound effects ( who could forget the nose flute. I don't remember exactly who was who...except the little "girl", Princess Lenore, was my Goldilocks puppet. It was a good performance and they did a great job all for some McDonald's coupons good for some free french fries. (These days we pay several hundred dollars for people to come and do our shows! haha)

But one of the funniest things, for me anyway, was the year the theme was "Summer Yummers". I had the ingenious idea making the last program a "Bake -Off". I figured the kids could bring in all the baked items , we would judge them and then the baked goods would serve as the refreshments for the end of the summer party. What a plan! haha Well....Liz, Jen and Lynn had no idea what they were getting into.....because when kids bake...they usually pick the recipe that has the maximum amount of sugar in it ( in all fairness...one kid made pretzels (they even spelled out Summer Yummers...pretty cool). We had several tables full of entries..... and the three judges each had a sugar induced headache before they got through half of the first table! hahaha I just remember the four of us LAUGHING and eating our way around the room!

Some how we made it through all the entries and picked the winners....and the kids loved the party. Never got feedback from the parents on how the sugar crazed kids behaved the rest of the day...hahaha...(of course I didn't have children at the time...neither did any of my helpers!)It's probably a good thing it was the end of the summer program! As I said...the pretzels were very clever...they won a prize. Another memorable entry was a Shoo-fly Pie (John used to love those!) that came with a slice out of it. The child told me she had to taste it to see if she should enter it! haha And then there was the girl who brought her Angel Food Cake in in a Tupperware cake holder..(you know the one with the big clear cover). Well...she had the cake holder and told us what it was and then she took the top off..........and the cake was about 2 1/2 inches tall! Ha!

I didn't laugh...but I must've had a big grin on my face.....

Today....we had a visitor from NASA who put on a great program for us and as you can see we got to try on the Space suit afterwards. while that was going on in the Large Meeting Room...I was in the Small Meeting Room with the owner of the local Ben & Jerry's store and some of our student volunteers. The Friends of the Library and John sponsored the event . It was our way of thanking the kids for all their hard work this summer. They have moved tables and chairs around, straightened book shelves and and put away DVDs and videos, and cut out many many pieces and parts of various crafts projects. They helped with our craft programs and the Storytime crafts (always good to have some extra hands for those children who have younger brothers and sisters...as mom can only do so much! Next week they go back to school...so we won't see them much until next summer. In our part of town the kids are busy! Many of them are in very demanding classes, volunteer in the community and play every sport known to man!haha (Volleyball, Cheer leading, Soccer, Tennis to name a few) I don't know how they do it all!...

so this was our end of summer send-off. we have an afternoon program tomorrow and one more Thursday.......and then things will quiet down for awhile. We have had hundreds of kids coming in to the Library this summer...for books, crafts, programs......it's always a great success. It's also kind of a send-off for me...since I will be in Circulation for the most part from here on

Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer fun as much as I am!