Valley girls thrilled by reply to their invitation to Obamas
From our weekly issue dated May 20, 2009
Two Cave Junction friends, Hannah Kelley, 8, and Sarah Bollweg, 12, were watching presidential inauguration events on television in January.
They were most interested in coverage of Malia and Sasha Obama’s sleepover party. They thought it would be fun to invite the children of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for a sleepover in their tree house. And that’s where their story got interesting.
In February, they hand-wrote a letter to Malia and Sasha, saying that they saw their Dad get to be president on TV and thought it was cool. They asked if the Secret Service could get the Obama girls out of school and let them fly on Air Force One to Oregon for a sleepover with them. In their letter, they asked if Malia and Sasha liked “American Girl,” the board game, “Sorry,” and if they really had a bowling alley in the White House.
They asked if Malia and Sasha would like to visit them in their tiny forest town and sleep in a magnificent tree house at Sarah’s home in Cave Junction.
The tree house is no ordinary one. It was built by Sarah’s father, Michael Bollweg, and features a stairway instead of a rope ladder, a spacious balcony and bay window. It has a pretty door, and a tinted Lexan roof to let in light.
It is stylishly painted in dark green, barn red and light brown outside, and decorated inside. It’s just right for four girls to hang out together.
Extending from the balcony platform is a tree trunk with different kinds of swings attached. It is an inviting, sturdy tree house, by anyone’s standards.
The girls played in it and around it often, swinging from a trapeze or rope swing, and enjoying the view from about 20 feet above the ground.
Sarah is a sixth-grader at Lorna Byrne Middle School. She is in 4-H and raises Hampshire pigs in a colorful pig paddock. Her close friend of five years, Hannah, is in the second grade at Evergreen Elementary School. Their ages parallel the ages of Malia, 11, and Sasha, 8. They say they thought their idea was a good one, as they awaited a reply.
It arrived in a large envelope, too big to fit in Michael Bollweg’s post office box. Sarah’s stepmom, Stacy, found a yellow notice for an item that had to be picked up at the counter. At first she thought it referred to a phone book and ignored the notice.
When a second notice appeared April 9, she went to the counter and asked about it. To her amazement, the item was a big, flat envelope addressed to Hannah and Sarah from the White House. Bursting with excitement, she carried it home.
That afternoon, the girls opened the envelope and pulled out a sheet of white paper, dated March 16, that bore the watermark and letterhead of the White House. It was signed by Michelle Obama, who thanked the girls for writing.
She wrote, “Our daughters are happily settling into their new surroundings and routines. They’re having fun making new friends and working hard on their homework.”
She also urged them to do volunteer work and be involved in America’s future. Mrs. Obama closed by writing, “I appreciate how hard you worked on your letter. Keep up the good work.”
News of the letter from Mrs. Obama to Sarah and Hannah got the attention of Medford-based TV station KOBI-Channel 5. The girls had told their teachers and friends at school about the letter, but no one believed it. When one of their teachers found the story on KOBI’s Website and showed Sarah’s class, everyone believed it.
Both girls were beside themselves with excitement when they saw the KOBI news story featuring an interview with Hannah and their letter from Michelle Obama. Sarah’s father made a video showing the girls watching the TV news and then jumping up and down in delight in the Bollweg living room.
The families of both girls realize that the Obamas must receive thousands of letters asking to visit the children at the White House or inviting them to visit their hometown. So far, no invitation to visit Malia and Sasha at the White House has arrived.
Sarah and Hannah are still hoping to be invited there one of these days if Malia and Sasha are unable to visit them in Oregon.
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