Ollie Fest

Today we went to a fundraising event at my daughter’s school, “Ollie Fest”.   There were silent auctions and things you put a dollar ticket into to a shoe box to win some kind of prize like a collection of Target or Amazon cards or sports package or computer or something else the class room parents put together with donations from the parents.

There were bouncy houses, a rock climbing wall, food trucks and a fashion truck (that was a new on on me).   Face painting, bingo, go fishing wall and a collection of other little games for the children were positioned around the school, all in an effort to raise money.  

It’s convoluted and complicated and takes a lot of time as opposed to the, “will you write a large check to go towards our annual fund” spiel we get from my son’s private school, but it works.   The number of tickets in the Amazon gift card box was impressive.

My daughter was more excited about showing her brother the playground she plays on every day at school with her peers.   The two of them had a discussion, nay argument, over the meaning of the phrase “Monkey Bars” on the way to school.   One contended it was the entire play structure (my son) while my daughter insisted it was only the section of horizontal ladder that you swung back and forth on.  

It turned out they were both right in a sense, with my daughter being the most correct.   And speaking of the playground/monkey bars, we got to school and my son and daughter did indeed have a good time together there.   And as I was sitting on the perimeter of the play area, I noticed a clock under the central structure that said, “Learning Braille”.  

Sure enough, there was a braille-centric learning wall as part of the play structure.   This is for an elementary school that has only six visually impaired students from K-5th grade I believe.   I was impressed.   I was touched.   Here’s what it looked like from both sides:

   

The Big Boy Update:  My daughter had gone off today to spend some time with classmates she’d met up with at Ollie Fest.   My son was enjoying time on his sister’s playground.   There was a small child there and my son, in his typical fashion, was wanting to take care of the little guy.   I asked my son if he wanted to be a babysitter when he got older.   He flashed this huge smile and nodded.   Then he made sure he took care of the little boy until it was time for us to go, even telling me one time he was practicing his baby sitting skills.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My husband and I have a bit of a cold.  It’s not a bad cold, it’s just a niggling one.   My son had it three days ago but he felt fine the next day.   At this point though the only one who hasn’t gotten it is my daughter.   She very concisely explained to me yesterday, “I hope myself doesn’t get sick.”