'What I Did Over Summer Break,' by Sasha, Malia

Sasha and Malia Obama might not be in school, but their summer vacation has been anything but lazy—the girls have seen the Eiffel Tower, the Kremlin, and Monticello as part of what the first lady calls “Camp Obama." And though there’s been plenty of fun, such as a recent Beyoncé concert, most activities have been educational and even somber, like a recent visit to a slave port in Ghana, the New York Times reports.

That trip was meant to teach the girls how “people were willing to degrade others because they appeared differently,” the president says. Still, not everyone appreciates the Obamas’ educational globe-trotting—Sen. Chuck Grassley knocked the president last month for his “nerve” in demanding Congress act quickly on health care and then going sightseeing in Paris.
(More Sasha Obama stories.)