After Elizabeth's party/Thursday night gathering a week ago we closed first session the following day. The counselors agreed that a one-week session is a good way to introduce them to being counselors. James and I dislike one-week sessions because as soon as you're finally getting to know the kids they up and leave!
My Uncle Danny and Aunt Lynn had called earlier in the week to let us know they were coming to their campsite for a long weekend at Unicoi Springs Campground in Helen. They brought four granddaughters and Lynn's niece for some quality grandparent time. We joined them Friday evening for dinner and fun with the kids. The campground is kid heaven with two pools, putt putt, and a playground. There's a sign at the entrance that says "Grandparents at Play." It's that kind of place.
We enjoyed ourselves and the kids had a blast playing with second cousins. Uncle Danny and my dad are brothers, and the girls are the daughters of my cousin Gary.
Love the Eddie Munster hair!
Abi, our cousin who recently turned four.
Kendel, who was two in March.
Bailey helps Elizabeth swing. (Elizabeth is looking healthy these days, no?)
Score!
Uncle Danny helps Avery with his form.
Not exactly sure what's going on here....
Avery needs some more lessons.
I love being a parent. I can see how being a grandparent one day will be awesome too.Saturday was a day off for staff and for us before campers arrived again on Sunday. James wanted to spend some time working on the Jeep, so the kids and I went back to the campground Saturday morning. I didn't intend to spend the entire day, but it worked out that way after all. Avery went on no nap and Elizabeth got one that was about 45 minutes long, but she did fine. Fourth kids adapt! We played all day long and they crashed hard on the way home after dinner.
Amelia with Gracyn and Bailey who are twins and are seven, and with Lynn's niece Lydia. They played a mean game of bean bags on the porch of the main lodge. We also got ice cream that afternoon.
More swimming!
Avery looks like he's wearing a tutu.
Shark in the pool! Aaaahhhhh!!
Shannon would have had them toss them into the pool until they were exhausted had we not left to eat dinner. These are some friends who go to church with us.
Dining al fresco! I took a few pictures of a horseback riding class from last week. If anyone is wondering how I spent every summer of college, this is it!
Teaching kids to ride while getting dusted. I've yet to work in a non-dusty riding arena. This is Abby, who runs our riding program.
Sarah, my first cousin, who was at camp that week. 
Bliss, my riding student from this past year. She got to come to camp for the first time this year.Here are a few random shots from the opening day's evening game, Multimate Frisbee. (Like Ultimate Frisbee, but with multiple frisbees. A James Himstedt creation.) Camp is divided into two tribes for the purposes of competition and spirit. On the first night they get their tribe if they're new to camp. They are the Awahili who are blue and are represented by an eagle, and the Waya who are red and are represented by a wolf. They have tribal cheers and songs, most of which are truly creative and fun to watch.
Awahili
Waya
Flash explains Multimate Frisbee rules. He's one of the program directors and has been with camp since it's first summer.
Multimate in action!
While the campers play in the evenings the kids and I go to the field to watch. Shannon has really enjoyed riding his (pink) bike all over the place.
He's getting to be a pretty fast little booger.
Avery loves frisbee night. We have to keep him from swiping the ones that are supposed to be in play.
Elizabeth had fun playing with Daddy's glasses.
I did it!
Our fellow camp director Daniel and office manager Rebecca both have dogs that like to watch the evening activities. I got this great shot of Winston trying to convince Lily Belle to play with him.
What's this I spy? An air horn? Goody!
No one's watching...
Success!
Shannon hasn't had the first qualm about riding the princess bike, but Darrin who goes to church with us and has been helping us out in the camp kitchen had mercy on him and brought him a bike his son had outgrown. Shannon loves his new cool dude bike.
Wednesday Amelia finally spent some time on the pink bike...
And learned how to ride it!
It's really fun to see your kids accomplishing things. I've been amazed to watch the learning process with reading this year, and watching physical accomplishments is no less amazing. Man, I envy the capacity of a little kid to learn! (And to bounce, when necessary!)
We've had a good week here at camp. This session ends next Friday, then another one-week session follows it, then one more two-week session. After that I'll do two weeks of horseback riding day camp. Call me if you know a kid who would like to come to it, there are still spots left.
Check out what was in the parking lot yesterday:
A fawn! One of our staffers found it bleating in the parking lot yesterday. It was tiny, no more than 3 days old most likely. A lady who lives just down the road rehabilitates wildlife and took her in. She says the doe was most likely gone since fawns will stay hidden by instinct and will only come out when they're extremely hungry.A few of Amelia's friends were over today and they were discussing the fawn's plight, saying it's mother was probably dead. Avery chimed in, "Yes, she died. She was swimming and went off the board and "died" into the water. Then she was swimming."
He's said some funny things lately. The other day I was tweezing a few stray eyebrows and he said, "Why are you cutting them?" I explained that I was pulling them out, and he said, "You don't like them anymore?"
We passed a large expanse of lawn that was cut so that it had stripes in it, like a golf course. He pointed and yelled, "I see grass letters!"
Shannon cracked me up too, telling our horseback riding director, "I can ride a bike now. And if you have a mom, you can tell her too!"
I love our kids. I'm a blessed woman, that's for sure.
Happy Fathers' Day out there to all of you dads.
Goodnight!
No comments:
Post a Comment