An Afternoon With Shawn Johnson Launched My Daughter's Show Biz Career

Last Wednesday my girls and I had the opportunity to meet Olympic Gold medalist and Dancing With the Stars finalist Shawn Johnson at an event sponsored by Lunchables and Camp Woodward. My 10-year-old daughter Kiyomi could hardly believe her luck - meeting a celebrity AND the possibility of snagging a free Pizza Lunchable.* Safe to say it was the best school day she'd had in a long time.

(*And yes, I do let my kids have the occasional pre-packaged lunch - my aversion to making school lunches is well known and I'm not above asking for a little help from the deli meat section of my local grocer. Now I'll pause a moment for my foodie friends to pass out, come to, and then cross my name out of their address books.)

Kiyomi's day then got even more awesome, as the organizers of the event agreed to let her interview Shawn. Seeing as my kid has high hopes of achieving fame and fortune in show business (we live in L.A. after all, where they come out of the womb asking for an agent) this was the big break she'd been waiting for! The proverbial 'foot in the door' that could possibly launch her wildly successful career in entertainment! Why, she was just steps away from her own talk show, lucrative product endorsements and a scandalous People cover!



Okay, maybe we were getting a little ahead of ourselves, but it was such an incredible, special opportunity and we're grateful to Shawn and the Lunchables team for making it happen. They even gave me a Flip video camera to record the whole thing, and if I was smarter I would have used it instead of my old video camera. (Hence the bad quality.) Luckily this was Kiyomi's first interview and she didn't know any better; I have a feeling a mistake like this on future gigs and she'll have me fired and replaced by one of the more competent, tech-savvy moms.

But my daughter's experience was perfect for the theme of Shawn's cross-country tour, which is to inspire kids to follow their dreams and achieve success. Shawn and the Lunchables crew are partnering with Camp Woodward, a sports, gymnastics, cheer and digital media camp that offers week-long summer sessions to kids ages seven to 17. With classes in unconventional activities like inline skating, skateboarding and BMX, this definitely ain't your daddy's camp. And there's more - Lunchables is currently running a promotion where 50 lucky kids could win an all expenses paid, VIP ticket to Camp Woodward. That's right - your son or daughter could be doing a wheelie or riding a half-pipe this summer instead of laying on the couch and fighting you for the remote control.

The whole event, which took place at a local gym, was a great experience for my girls. Shawn couldn't have been nicer and more accessible, and seeing her easy interaction with the young gymnasts showed why she's such a great choice to be a mentor to kids. (My daughters had a great time, but so did I - I got to hang out with two of my favorite bloggers, Donna and Tara.)

Here's a short video (shot with my brand spankin' new Flip Ultra) that shows how excited these young gymnasts were they first saw their idol Shawn. They had no idea she was going to be in that gym when they opened the door.



Oh, and Shawn - you definitely have our vote on Dancing With The Stars. And if it's not too much to ask, please keep Kiyomi in mind for your victory interview.

If you'd like to see some great demos on what Camp Woodward has to offer, check out these other stops on their tour (Shawn will be making an appearance in Chicago!):

• May 7-9, Grand Rapids, Mich. at the Tulip Time Festival
• May 14-16, Memphis, Tenn. at the Memphis in May Festival
• May 21-23, Charlotte, N.C. at the Speed Street 600 Festival
• May 29-31, Tampa, Fla. at the Taste of Pinellas Festival
• June 4-7, Nashville, Tenn. at the Riverbend Festival
• June 11-14, Chicago, Ill. at Navy Pier
• July 2-5, Norfolk, Va. at the Norfolk Harborfest
• July 11-12, Buffalo, N.Y. at the Taste of Buffalo
• July 24-26, New York, N.Y. at the Quick Chek New Jersey Festival of Ballooning
• July 30-Aug 2, Columbus, Ohio at the Ohio State Fair
• Aug 6-9, Madison, Wis. at the Wisconsin State Fair
• Aug 13-16, San Diego, Calif. at the San Diego Zoo
• Aug 20-23, Sacramento, Calif. at the California State Fair

The tour is open to all ages and will be free of charge.

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tags: shawn johnson | dancing with the stars | camp woodward | lunchables

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