Lego Mania

Our Lego club is off to a great start. We’ve had 20 – 50 kids at our first three meetings and many imaginative creations have been built. Our next Legos Day will be Saturday, February 4th from 3 – 4:30PM. Come join the fun!

To see more pictures of our great creations, go to http://rdlkids.wordpress.com/

Lego Club

We’re trying something new at the Library!  Our occasional Lego Days have been a big succes but several people have asked us for something more regular. So we are introducing our new Lego Club which will meet one Saturday each month for a afternoon of fun and creativity. We have 25 pounds of Lego blocks available for those building projects. Each month will feature a loose theme such as vehicles or castles, etc. but the main objective is just to have fun.

The first meeting of the Lego Club will be Saturday, October 1st from 3 – 4:30 PM. We will also meet on Nov. 12th and Dec. 10th. Although this activity is recommended for children ages 6 and up, younger children are welcome if they are supervised by an adult.

Last Blast of Summer

Summer Reading is over and the dog days of summer have arrived. Are you looking for something to do on these hot late summer days?
Come join us at the Library as we celebrate Last Blast Week in the children’s room from August 22nd to the 28th.
There will be loads of drop-in crafts and activities all week.
On Wednesday, there will be a drop-in storytime at 10:00 AM. Then in the afternoon from 2 – 3 PM, we will have a Game Blast with Library Bingo, board games, chess, Legos and more. Every child who completes a Book Bingo will receive a free book or book related prize.

Summer @ the Library

Summer is really flying by! It is hard to believe that we are already on day 30 of our Summer Reading Club. Next Saturday, July 23rd, is going to be a great day for families. We are have our Family Fun Day from 12 to 4 that afternoon. There will be something for every member of the family: a bounce house, clowns, and games for the kids; the music group, A Rare Fish, for the teens, Simply Bliss massage for Mom; and Dad can check out a Chevy Volt from Heidebreicht Chevrolet. The folks from Michigan Child ID will also be on hand to help parents keep their kids safe. This great day of fun in the sun is sponsored by the Four County Community Foundation.

Visit Japan

We had a great time in Japan. It was wonderful to spend time with Laura. I was very impressed with the improvement she has made in her spoken Japanese. Kanji is still a killer though. She say you need to know 25,000 kanji to read a newspaper. Wow! That’s going to take a while.

The weather was great during our visit so we were able to spend a great deal of time outdoors. We visited several shrines and temples all of which were surrounded by  beautiful grounds. (Pictures to come)

I do have one complaint though. Japan is vertical! Oh, my poor legs. I think we walked up and down every hill in the country. I haven’t been this sore since the last time I went horseback riding. It was worth it though. We had a great time.

There weren’t very many foreign visitors to Japan this spring. People have apparently been scared away by the earthquake and the trouble at the nuclear plant. Most of the country is unaffected though and the people are really happy to see you. So be sure to visit Japan this year. It’s a great vacation.

Konnichiwa Japan!

Last August, my youger daughter moved to Japan. She is teaching English there to students who range in age from 1st graders to grandmothers. She is having a great time but 8 months later she’s a little homesick. We can’t have that!

Next week my husband and I are off to visit. We did great when we visited France (9 years of French 30 years ago) and Harry loved Italy when he was stationed there (also 30 years ago) but neither of us has ever been to Asia. We are looking forward to a wonderful new adventure.

Hello Japan! See you soon.

New Children’s Website Is Up!

I am very excited to announce that the new Children’s Website that we have been working on for some time is now up and running. It is linked to the Library’s homepage (click on the “KIDS” button on the right side of the screen). The site features lots of fun links and shortcuts that should make surfing easier for all. And… just in time for school… it features a large homework help section, organized by subject area, and containing tons of useful information for those dreaded homework projects. We will be fine tuning the site as time goes on so any helpful comment you might have will be appreciated. Come and check us out!

Unfortunately, we haven’t yet been able to include a link to our great books & reading wiki, Bookplace,  so don’t forget to keep checking there too.

Th-th-th-that’s All Folks!

Well, Summer Reading 2009 is over. We’ve had another busy year – nearly 700 kids. Our final program was a Pokemon Swap-n-Shop in the lobby along with several crafts available in the Children’s Room. I didn’t have time to check out the Pokemon tables because I was too busy with the crafts. It seemed for a while there as though all 700 kids were doing crafts at once. In reality, there were “only” 150 people here that night but that was plenty to keep us hopping. Congratulations to all our readers and to the winners of the grand prize drawing.

August is our month to take a deep breath and relax a little. All four of us will be grabbing some vacation time in the next month. Hurrah!

Be Creative Bookmark Contest

Today is the last day for kids to turn in their entries in the Be Creative Summer Bookmark contest. We have nearly 50 entries from kids ranging in age from 3 to 13. The entries have been divided into 4 age groups and are on display in the Children’s Room. Members of the Library Board will judge the entries next week. The winner in each age group will be reproduced and distributed this summer at the Library. Come on in and take a look.

Whew! What a Start!

It is day 8 of our Summer Reading Program and we have a little over 100 participants so far. The books seem to fly of the shelves and the room is buzzing for large parts of every day. (In other words, situation normal for SRP;) Unfortunately, our most productive shelver, Lori, is out this week so the books are not flying back on the shelves nearly as fast as they fly off. We’ve all chipped in and tried to shelve a little – how does Lori keep up???