Day 23! MINI FAIR!

All pictures post!

Energetic morning singing!

Quack, quack, quack, quack . . .

GO DUCKS!

Gearing up

FOOSBALL!

AMAZING card tricks and Hidden Door game

Such an amazing turnout!

Swinging "Boat Thing"

Cork Game!

Give me all your money . . . . please

What a great year, and so much great support from our community. As we wind down Village '14, I continue to remember a quote from an article by our visiting political writer, William Rivers Pitt:
"--but a few miles north of me, glowing like a coal in the night, a bunch of kids are immersed in the practice of community and good government. They are engaged, learning how to express themselves, learning how to work together, learning how to be real and effective citizens. They will carry those experiences with them into adulthood, and improve their world. Coals like that are growing, as we speak, across these United States, thanks to the Game of Village."

Thank you so much to everyone that came out to attend our Mini-Fair, and an especially large thanks for helping make this possible year after year!

Day 22

Intergalactic Girl!

It's Mini Fair Eve! I just have to say, while I dearly miss the political sport involved with the Little Leaf oligarchy, seeing all of these Mini-Fair preparations come together completely makes up for it!

The excitement is mounting. We starting out by offering up our support to one another by singing - Lean on Me. We also sang the Done Song and the Cheese Song and the good old Llama Song. After we swam we all shared our plans for our super hero costumes and rides. SO much to look forward to! ;)

We switched things up today because of the wishes for swimming. We saved play block for the end of the day and plowed through two work work block blocks to start the day. We could barely pry our hands off our projects when it was time for snack. Just one more cut, one more stitch, one last bake in the oven, one more nail! We have a lot of teams working on Mini Fair projects together, and lots of creative ideas.

The Federal Mint: Hooray for inflation!

We snacked and soaked up some sun and got right back to work. The other big item on the agenda was finishing money for the fair. Minting actual leaflets. There was a lot of turn over at the Mint and now as we get close to the wire (down to the wire?) we are lacking small bills. We will either need a lot of big spenders or some very busy Mint employees tomorrow. For the record - minting money is a great way to earn money!!! Which is important as loans get paid back and we start looking forward to auction.

Emmett it's Corvee time, get off your back!

After lunch - we opened up a lot of possibilities. Keep working (so dedicated!), take a trip to visit the stream (exploring!), and playing games (gotta move!).

After a hurried Corvee and one word pluses and wishes, we all went home for a good nights sleep where visions of happy peeps fly across our dreams.

Day 21

If yesterday's theme was wet, today's theme was sunshine. Sunshiny weather, sunshiny houses, sunshiny projects, sunshiny games.

And sunshiny singing. Actually we started today by singing about our fantastic sun. Without it, without a doubt, there'd be no you and me. We took in all of the sun's energy and sang about a sad Tin soldier, a pirate with missing parts, mountain dew, and last but never least... the great ship Titanic.

Then we all headed to Little Leaf for the long awaited, much anticipated appraisals. Each homesteader was responsible for rating the landscape, interior, exterior, and home security of every peep house. Including their own home, that meant visiting 17 houses and scoring each category out of ten. That's a lot of work! It was also a lot of fun to visit each home and take time to appreciate all of the hard work that went into it. The only thing missing from this morning's appraisals was... well... the sun. It was actually a bit chilly in the shady woods. Is it still summer?

Anyway, after the grand tour it was up to the peep loft for MATH! and SHARING! A great shuffle took place, as the homesteaders sorted out their appraisal sheets, getting the score cards into the hands of the appropriate peep.

At this point it was time for a break.... snack break! Which we then followed up with several rounds of sharks and minnows (we needed a break from CTF).

Once that was accomplished, we were ready to start again and we found the median of our house ratings (not the mean - it's tricky but that won't get you what you want). Then we turned our final number into the math wizards (Jesslyn and crew) who determined the worth of each house. The final step was a whole lot-a checks written out to each peep for the value of their home. Score! (Time to get that pesky loan off my back.)

Whew! What a morning! You might think that after all that, no one would be interested in any more numbers. Not So! There was a chat over lunch about multiplying that was SO rousing... it became a plus.

No rest for the weary - or eh - energized. Either way we got back to work. Glitter was flying, scissors were cutting, brain wheels were buzzing, and the thumb piano college course held a reunion to finish their instruments. The work was interrupted briefly by some sober news. Canti gurna's (who had been missing) was found. However she was found in many pieces having recently been run over by a lawn mower. Her husband was upset, but happy to have closure.

As per usual. We ended the day with cleaning and more playing. We tried out a new one, (Hello Hairy Chicken?) but we had a slow start. We went back to old faithful with a twist. Sharks and Minnows where the Sharks make all the rules!

Only one more work day till Mini-Fair Day!!!!!!!!!!!

Plus

Sharks and Minnows (with and without crazy rules) x many 

Painting (for a cause)

Signs

Math Session

Costumes

High Appraisal

Dings

Finding Peep

Wishes

Food

Finish projects

No bug bites

Pie

Summer weather for swimming

Finding peep in one piece

Day 20!

Wet, wet, wet.
So much rain today!

The deluge was so immense, that it was used as a murder weapon in our early morning game of murderer. Tragic. Lucky, the guilty party was brought to justice (just a few innocents lost along the way) and we were ready for planning and sining.

The planning looked a little soppy but the singing was far less than sloppy. We are getting pretty good at our favorites (if I do say so myself). There was the Jeep song, the coffee song, good old fashioned Eddie, and the new Pirate song introduced last week at campfire.

The rain kept us indoors for most of the first work block, if fact, it kept our peeps indoors too. The residents of Little Leaf battened down the hatches and we homesteaders carried on with their blessing. Which was ok, since there is so much to do for mini fair. I mean, those super hero capes aren't going to make themselves! We need attractions, and signs, and money, OH MY!

The rain did keep us from doing our house appraisals as planned. Instead, they will happen tomorrow, and for many peeps, the money they earn from there house will be used to pay off their federal loan of 50,000 Leaf Lets. We had another tax day, so at least thats over with. Good to know there are some things you can count on!

After we washed and snacked, we played salad bowl aka. hat game aka. celebrity. This game highlighted our acting talents, and it was great because even though some of us were reluctant to get started, we ALL played, which is always the most fun.

After lunch it was back to work! The sky took turns showing off some blue and blowing in rain. Couldn't seem to make up its mind, but FINALLY, after an afternoon of hard work, we got enough sunshine to go outside for some afternoon games. Yay CTF!

Plus

CTF

Rain

Costumes

Bullhorn

Wishes

Sun

Rain

Respect

Day 19

Federal Mint

We are getting so close to Mini-Fair! This morning we sang the Done Song, Jeep Song, Titanic, and Ultimate Jibberish! Finally, we reached the ultimate stage of jibberish. We reminded the Homesteaders that Appraisals are coming up on Monday morning. The appraisal is the quickest way to make a lot of money quickly. Everyone rates each others homes and through lots of math and number-workin' they end up with an estimated value. That value is then awarded to the Peep for use in the AUCTION.

Our work blocks have officially become entirely dedicated to making a lot of money for Mini-Fair, minting a lot of money for Mini-Fair, and creating attractions for Mini-Fair. There's probably a pattern there. More rides reached their final stages, Campfire Show presentations were practiced, and jobs were worked.

Jordan, Gretchen, Gabe, and Jesslyn, clearly!

We had snack out in the field, and once again decided that this was a CTF kind of day. The pond definitely missed all 24 of us, but there were flags to be captured. We also played a few rounds of Sharks and Minnows, which made us sufficiently energy-deprived. So we stuffed our faces with more food at lunch time.

Campfire Show: We had an amazing show today! Acts included Slideshow by Lily, Paisley, Elizabeth, Victoria, and Gretchen, where they raced jet skis down a very clean sewer until becoming zombies. If you blinked you would have missed the Mind Battle with Cedric, Victoria, Will G, and Jack. Next, the "Commissioners" sang a pirate song and did AMAZING. We had a gripping and hilarious story written and performed by Sam and Jared. Finally, Gabe played us out with some saxophone.





Plus
Saxophone!
Campfire Show
All day
TILTON (secret)
CTF
Came to Village!
Finished ride
Music!

Wish
Mini-Fair was NOW
It wasn't the weekend
Finished my ride
Giant cookie
Cookies & Rainbows & Unicorns
Pie
Fully working ride
Ice cream sandwiches and rainbows.

Day 18

Day 18! Today is the second to last day of Village-related government happenings! After Friday, we are going to be more or less in full Mini-Fair prep mode. This morning we started off the day by singing the Jeep Song, Lean on Me, Bonnie Song, and Eddie Kuchakachakama. Our morning announcements were very important, and included:

BIRTHDAY BASH!: While this will not be at Village, it is without a doubt a very Village-y event. Everyone from camp is invited to Ewan's birthday party Monday @ 4, right after camp at his house. Directions and additional information has been e-mailed and Facebook messaged, if you need it sent again please let me know! There will be hot dogs, CTF, and hopefully cake!

Job Talk . . . : We had a talk about what some options managers have when their employees are not following directions other than just firing them. There are so many more rules than just playing music or giving checks to the bank. Several Peeps were replaced as managers, and Alex took up the responsibility of many of these jobs.

So much Magic™

Currency: We don't have any real dollars, which has been great for buying things and not needing change carried around everywhere. However, we also won't have any money to exchange at the Mini-Fair! A FED Mint Manager job was offered, and promptly given to Guntha, who worked with Caleb, Morgan, Luna, and others to start printing our cash currency today. They still don't have the required 5 foot tall stack . . . We'll see.

Morning work block went very smoothly as plenty of Mini-Fair attractions are being designed and built. There are so many Homesteaders who do not have ideas yet, get crackin'! There have been some great ideas, and some not so great ideas that need a little bit of work before they can come to fruition. Peep furniture is being built for the auction, and as long as we make a bunch of money at the Mini-Fair, we will have some amazing items to sell, as well as some great CAMPERSHIPS to offer next year!

We had snack in the slightly chilly shade today, and determined very quickly that nobody (Victoria, put your hand down) wanted to go swimming. So we didn't! Democracy is amazing. Instead we played some Sharks and Minnows, Elephant Kangaroo Giraffe, and ENTOURAGE! There was also a miniature Magic session at the fire pit.

After lunch, the second work block felt less like work and more like loud noises coming from the radio station. Signs were painted for Mini-Fair attractions, ferris wheels were hammered into oblivion and then reassembled with new paint, and super secret attractions were glued together very very carefully.



Do not miss THE MINI FAIR because we have an amazing clothing theme for Homesteaders this year:
FICTIONAL SUPERHEROES.

Obviously superheroes are real, so these are going to be the ones that don't exist, like Captain Chicken and Bad Grammar Girl. Captain Canada is real, unfortunately for Reginald. Find your old cape from those vigilante days, dust it off, and come down to the Mini-Fair, July 31, 3-6 PM @ Center of Nelson

Plus
Painted my sign
CTF trickery
Mint
Progress
Job
Metallica!
Radio
Mini-Faire ride
Ripped pants, so ripped

Wish
Cookies, Rainbows, AND Unicorns
I had trimmed my nails . . .
That the clay allowed us to fix the cob oven. Way to go, clay.
MORE CTF
MORE Mini-Fair projects
FASTER CORVEE
Pie.

Day 17

Mini-Faire is officially just 8 DAYS away. The End-of-Camp Auction is just 9 DAYS away. It's hard to think of much else than how much fun those last two days are going to be. This morning we sang Tin Soldier, Coffee Song, and I'm certain there were others . . . Anyways, morning announcements included:

Professor Wes

- CCC Animal Expert Class: Wes' human, Eathan, is very knowledgeable about the animal kingdom and spent the better part of the morning teaching the group that signed up all about reptiles, fish, and birds. We found out how snakes are able to expand to eat big ole deer, why they call some birds "raptors" when they are certainly not dinosaurs (they're cousins, by marriage?), and how big a Megalodon was. The answer is GIGANTIC.

- APPRAISALS: Today was our first appraisal. We checked out Patrick L's sweet property complete with a patio and zipline, and each gave him an appraisal based on his landscape, interior, exterior, and security. This didn't happen until the afternoon just in case there were some last minute additions that he needed to make.

The morning work block kicked off nicely. Almost all of us are now in Mini-Fair mode, brainstorming and designing some awesome rides. They're all top secret right now so you'll have to come down to see all of the wonderful miniature foods, rides, and exhibits prepared by the Homesteaders of Little Leaf at 4PM NEXT THURSDAY, JULY 31ST. Much of these upcoming entries will be very cryptic in order to keep secret all of the excellent work that is being done this week.

We ate snack, we ALL went to the pond, and then we ate lunch. Lunch should just be the entire afternoon. But it can't, because then we wouldn't have time to appraise Patrick L's treehouse. We all got our little rubrics, headed down to his property, and practiced appraising a demo home, then went to work. This didn't take too long, likely because it was very buggy, and very hot. We all ran back to shade and got back to work on our morning activities. Morgan quit the radio station, her employees are clearly just too difficult to manage at this point. The FED may need to step in . . .

Corvee took super long, I think we all just like cleaning way more than we like playing games. Remember this when you ask your child to do chores. They love chores.

Plus
CTF
Game
Coming to Village
Practice
All day
Appraisal


Wish
WE ALL WISH JACK L DIDN'T HAVE TO LEAVE!

Day 16

Week 4 is shaping up to be very political, and very  chaotic. This morning we met some of Paisley's friends that came over. He kept them in a jar. They must not be very good friends. Anyways, we sang A LOT this morning, including the Done Song, Boom Chicka Boom, Can't Be a Pirate, and the Hippo Song. It's amazing how many nonsense lyrics we are capable of memorizing. The morning meeting had some important announcements today:

Thumb Piano Building!

- CCC Thumb Piano Class: Sensei (Ewan's dad) came today to teach a class of Peeps how to make Thumb Pianos. They're actual-size pianos for the Peeps, but for our gigantic Homesteaders they're just for za somes. Work will be completed next week, but they are coming along great!

- APPRAISALS!: Appraisals are coming up! This is one of the most crucial points in Village, where the Homesteaders appraise each others' properties to determine their monetary value. After this, we find the average appraisal for our own property, and as long as we pay back our loan, we receive that value in our bank account. This is especially important if Homesteaders want to buy a whole bunch of great stuff at the auction on the last day (there are some GOOD prizes this year). Properties will be appraised based on: Landscape, Interior, Exterior, Security, and Creativity.

We also freed Paisley's friends. It turns out they were mice, so the jar was acceptable. They are currently roaming around . . . our town center.

As far as general business in Tarzan goes, it as classic politics: very manipulative. The firestorm of change and protest started in the morning when Emersyn was arrested, allegedly for being mentally unstable. However, Katie claims her Peep is simply very claustrophobic. So a tiny jail seems to be a good place for her. Morgan ended up getting fined by her own fellow oligarch Johnny Darke, and then she promptly quit her position in government in favor of a new movement. With a space available, Johnny Darke freed Emersyn from jail and appointed her as his new partner in governance.

There are officially two major camps appearing. There are those who continue to support the strong leader Johnny Darke and his seemingly constantly changing administration, and then there are those who, like Morgan, have taken up the cause of democracy. There is really no telling which way this is going to go as we sprint towards the finish line.

Suspicious activity at the bank was analyzed by Banker Luna

We had snack, split up for our last time so that some could swim, and some could CTF. After lunch, we needed to once again announce that APPRAISALS ARE COMING. Furnishing, landscaping, and making tons of money should be priority! However, there is just too much to do with this contention for control of the government. Johnny Darke did go missing today, which is very mysterious given all of the spotlight he has had lately. The newspaper printed some nice government propaganda against the deposed Morgan. Sudoku continues to be extremely frustrating.

This afternoon we took a break from CTF because we took way too long to clean up and Corvee. So instead we played Stalker, Look Up/Look Down, ENTOURAGE, and Duck Duck Goose. There's just no beating some classic DDG.

ENTOURAGE!

Don't forget, Wes is teaching a ZOOLOGY class tomorrow!

Plus
New shady spot
Duck
Odd jobs for cash
Swimming
New CTF rules
Games
Money!
Coming to Village
Duck Duck Goose
Raking
Entourage
Max's new rug business

Wish
Swam
Goose
I wasn't sat on
More swimming
More CTF rules
Thumb Pianos were finished
Fedoras!
I could come back (Granted)
Sandwiches

Day 15

WAHH

Happy Monday! We are starting to feel that whole "Village is ending soon" vibe this week. There has been some awesome progress to be able to speak of this summer, and we are all pretty excited both for the Mini Fair/Auction AND to spend the rest of summer hanging out! This morning was a great singing session. We sang about the Titanic (too soon? nah), Noah's Arc (too soon.), and everyone's favorite beverage, COFFEE. Usually Mondays are much slower than today, I think we are really turning on the after-burners for our final two weeks.

Some interesting events for the day today:

This should've ended differently.

- CCC Karate Class: Commissioner Gabe's femme fatale visited for the whole day today. That's tough. She taught Karate 101 this morning, where about six Homesteaders learned the basics needed to become a true ninja. Being a blackbelt for three years now, Hannah definitely looked like she knew what she was doing (it looked like karate). We had one tough chick sign up, and hopefully more will sign up when Hannah hopefully returns for Karate 102!
- Patrick's Retirement Party!: Since our Homesteader Jack L is leaving us towards the end of this week, and since his Peep finished his house, turned it into a crazy cool bungalow, paid off his federal loan, AND quit all his jobs, we threw him a retirement party. More on that later.

Morning work block consisted of tons of work at Dark Elf Decor and the Diversity Shop, as well as a new store in the works called "Want free weapons for defense?". The newspaper was working on a copy (it's a daily newspaper, pretty awesome), and the bank was keeping accounts accurate. Everyone works so well together there's hardly any time for revolting against the oligarchy anymore. Our leaders have proven to be some pretty level-headed politicians, except for Alex, it is a little crazy. For those who had completed their fence, house, and map, they were ready to start thinking about their Mini-Fair attraction.

RETIREMENT PARTY

After several people headed down to the pond with Paisley to release his pet leech?, we all gathered for some mid-day CTF, which is actually Noodle Flibbit. Teams fought valiantly. We spent the last few minutes before lunch learning a new circle game that has been temporarily named "Stalker".

Second work block as loaded with last minute preparations for the retirement party as well as the printing of the Jane Daily. The sudoku is impossible. Seriously. At 2:00PM we promptly began partying down in the town of Tarzan. Embarassing stories were told about Peep Patrick including chewing ABC gum and accidental indecent exposure. Oh man, the stories.

We extended the party for obvious reasons, and after an efficient Corvee returned to just ten more minutes of "Stalker".

We will certainly miss both Patrick and Jack L!

Plus

Learning a new game

CTF (Noodle Flibbit!)

Finished house

Karate class!

Birthday is soon

Retirement party!

SCANDAL.

Wish

Cookies and Rainbows

I didn't have to dress goth tomorrow (peer pressure)

Birthday was NOW

Ninja 102

MORE SCANDAL.

Day 14

Happy Friday! Today we had such beautiful weather today it's almost all I want to talk about. However . . . .

A lot happened today! In the morning we were joined by Ewan's dad for singing as we went through a slew of songs at lightning speed! We sang Baby Shark, Jeep Song, Llama Song, and nearly ultimate jibberish! Some important announcements that needed to be made before the Homesteaders ran off to collect their Peeps included:

• Community College Courses: One was being conducted today by the Sensei (Ewan's dad) on mastering the recorder. More are being held next week including Monday Karate, Tuesday Thumb Piano Building, and Wednesday Reptile Class. Sign up ASAP!
• Houses on Land: We are flying through house construction, which is nice because there are so many other awesome things to do that we hate getting bogged down in this step. All houses were due on the land by the end of our morning block, and we ACHIEVED! New Village record.



Recorder class

• Property Maps: Peeps also need a clear map of their land including, other properties that touch borders, home location, border, and other important features. This is not only so Peeps don't get lost, but so parents don't get lost on Mini-Fair day either!

Wes was hired for some construction help

After talking with our small groups who were all very anxious to get to their jobs, we got moving. Up in the peep loft we had some shift complications at the radio station where last-minute fill-ins were required. This is a good demonstration of why it is important to always have an up-to-date shift schedule. Guntha ended up filling in, even though he had been fired Alex as the newest oligarch felt it was within her power to rehire him for this purpose. Unfortunately that wasn't enough because upon a period of radio silence, Morgan promptly fired him (the manager hates silence!). It is unclear if he has an opportunity to be rehired again, again. Dark Elf Decor has really kicked off, opened a bank account, and was promptly taxed by the Feds along with all other businesses because it's TAX DAY! Reginald has a blast going through and taxing all of the businesses' hard earned money. 

As we ate snack in the fairly mild weather, we decided to once again part ways. Half of us would go swim, and half would remain to play Noodle Flibbit. Lunch was had, and it was back to work. 

The second work block started off with an immediate meeting at the bank. Luna felt compelled to speak to her employees about the importance of being a bank clerk. Peeps trust these bankers with keeping their money safe, and keeping their accounts accurate. The manager felt this has not been happening and made sure her staff knew that this wasn't to be taken lightly. 

Getting the word out with a news article: "New Bank!"

By the way, Zeus opened a new bank. While this didn't sit well with the bank, they accepted the competition. The oligarchy gave Zeus some stipulations in order to open his bank, to which Zeus promptly disagreed and opened it anyways. Business for the Leaflet Bank (permanent name pending) has appeared to start off well with multiple accounts, including Dark Elf Decor, withdrawing from the Fed bank in favor of Zeus. Interesting.

Standing Ovation! It's charades in reverse.

Campfire Show: This afternoon, what appeared to be a bleak showing of one performance turned into a slew of entertainers itching to get a chance in the spotlight. First up was a story by Lily, performed by Lily and Paisley (to be continued . . .). Next, we had card tricks from Jack L, pretty impressive stuff. Jaimee did some various tricks of juggling and body contorting. Then, the Mind Battle happened. Cedric was just doing some laundry, when William busts through the door demanding a battle. Action ensues as Jack appears to come to the rescue of William only to challenge both battlers. Finally, Victoria comes back from the dead and it's a 3v1 battle, then 2v2, then 4v0. Not sure there were any survivors. Our last game was Standing Ovation. Great group game, easy to play, unless you're "it", then it feels impossible. But it's fun to watch!

ONE WORD P&W

The oligarch and his security force

Plus

Birthday

Campfire

Swim

House

Minecraft

Story

Game

That

Camp

Help

Radio

Day

Wish

Birthday

INTERRUPTIONSSSS...

Snart

Campfire

Froyo

Unicorns

Pants . . .

Positivity!

MORE

THAT

Braided-Harley-Hair

Longer

Non-tragicness