Pre-Summer Antsiness at Bridlemile!

Walking into Bridlemile elementary last week, the summer anticipation was visible in everything from frenzied creative sessions with clothespins and popsicle sticks, to impromptu Taylor Swift dance parties, and bold makeovers of classic games.

We began our day by following some whispering and giggling over to the craft table, where Amari, Sydney, Meghan, Emily, Ellie, Nastassia, and Rory clearly had something big up their sleeves... But, as we soon learned, they were far too busy scrawling mysterious notes onto slips of paper to properly fill us in, so we moved on to an enthralling conversation about insects with Jocelyn (pictured above).

"I just love bugs so much," said Jocelyn. "I especially like going camping and seeing everything in nature –- worms, beetles, spiders -- they're all so cool." (Her eyes tripled in size as she emphasized the word 'COOL'.) "You mean they're cool from a distance?" we asked. "Oh no, I love holding them, looking at them... They're not scary to me." "But even creepy things like bug larvae and centipedes??" we pressed. "Yes! All bugs are awesome to me" she explained. "Well that's pretty amazing." We got up feeling inspired by all this bravery and curiosity wrapped into such a pint-sized package.

Our gaze then focused on Kai, who in our periphery had been diligently crafting popsicle sticks into a brightly colored sword. "You know, you have to be prepared to strike a warrior pose at the shortest notice" we told him. We'd barely gotten the sentence out when he transformed:

Kai then took advantage of our mesmerized states by performing two very impressive magic tricks –- the latter of which involved cards raining down on the floor in all directions (which he sorted, of course, revealing the 'chosen' card). He mentioned he was thinking about pursuing a career in magic, to which we told him we thought that would be a great idea, and that his excellent stage presence would serve him well. 

We were so wrapped up in Kai's magic and warrior glory, that we at first failed to notice the note that someone had stealthily slipped our way... Though we did think we heard some familiar-sounding giggles.

We figured this note meant serious business, so we promptly made our way back over toward the ladies at the craft table. As it turned out, Nastassia had brought her new Taylor Swift CD to school, so everyone was pumped and rearing to set their inner pop stars loose. We weren't surprised about this at all, since on a different day we had asked our Bridlemile girls who they would trade lives with if they could switch with anyone in the world, and the resounding answer -- interestingly -- was Taylor Swift (though someone did point out that Pharrell must lead a pretty cool life too).

We spent a little while talking about choreography and making sure that everyone who'd received an invitation was aware of this (very special) opportunity made available to them. After that, we worked on some rehearsals and then the girls took the stage for an official dance party show. Check out this clip to see some serious professionals in the making!

Countless cartwheels later, everyone decided to "wind down" with a unique rendition of Apples to Apples, in which the prompt word (i.e. 'weird') would be physically acted out, rather than represented with cards. As you can see here, things did indeed start to get a little weird.

Pictured L-R, Emma, Amari, Meghan, Ellie, and Emily (who wound up winning the 'weird' contest)

Before we wrapped up for the day, we made a point to check on a project that Francis and Ainsley had been working hard on. We'd heard of a business plan that they had been formulating together since Kindergarten, and upon asking them about it, they offered to draw up a detailed floor plan for us. "This is what we want to do once we get out of school," Ainsley asserted. "It's a five-storey building that has a dance studio AND an art studio, and then a theater and gallery so people can come and see what everyone has been working on. It also has a sushi restaurant," she added, "because people will be hungry -- and a bar, for adults." "Yeah," said Francis. "I'll be mostly working in the sushi restaurant."

Francis (L) and Ainsley with their business floor plan

We can't wait to see what comes of this venture, as Ainsley and Francis are known in the aftercare world for both their creative genius and their resolve. Check in next week to see what our summer camps are up to! We're off to a great first week of action-packed projects and exciting adventures in the sunshine.