Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Cousins Camp

Last weekend Honey and GP (my parents) hosted Cousins Camp for Ryan and Stacey and these boys were thoroughly entertained with endless activities, crafts, projects, games and prizes.

Every ounce of creativity in me came directly from my Mother!! Her endless ideas joined with years of teaching (and now Directing FBC Woodway Christian School- I'm so proud) make for a very overqualified, but perfect camp director. And Dad was there every step of the way to keep up with these two rowdy boys and capture it all on camera so I could blog about it! :) Thank you Honey and GP for a fantastic weekend. Stacey keeps asking to "camp out" but know he means go to Cousins Camp - and this indoor girl is just fine with camping out cousins camp style.

Friday night was Game Night. The boys rolled out to Tilt (an arcade in the mall) about 8:00 - night owls!! Then they went to the church for more games in the gym. They thought they were SO cool staying out late and actually getting quarters for games. Stacey is used to just pretend riding them so I'm sure it was a real thrill when he realized with money they actually move and interact with you.
Story time with Honey before bed.
Sat. was Ant day - yep a whole day ALL about ants, how perfect for these boys. Mom had words for each letter: art, nature, treats...and surprises?? can't remember what the S was for. First up breakfast, they made ant cinnamon rolls. (My Dad emailed me all these pics and I uploaded them to iphoto without clicking on each of them individually so sorry for all the random sizes, now I know!)
and edible play-dough
Yum
that eventually turned into these edible ants. Don't let the serious faces fool you - these boys were loving every minute of it.

Collecting rocks for a project

Painting the rocks to make ants out of them.
Of course a little math mixed in- an ant has six legs so here are six coins and three parts of its body so three packs of candy etc.
Mom tied in Proverbs 30:25 "Consider the ants, they are creatures of little strength yet they store up their food in the summer." The boys had a chart and got stickers all day for doing things on their own, getting dressed, picking up toys etc. At the end of the day a full chart = a prize!!
Looks full to me.
They also focused on aUnts for part of the day and made us each a puzzle with a secret message that said We Love Our Aunts. Phew, and that isn't even all, but it's all I can remember right now.

The last day was Water Day so of course water guns,
water balloons and relays,

and a car/bicycle wash.
And then some swimming!! Um, I think that pool is a little small for you Stace.
But, it's just your size Lila!! L got to join the boys for part of the weekend. Kacey had already reserved Honey and GP long before we invaded with Camp.
That is a little more your size.
The crafts included painting with popsicles and making glitter rainbow fish.
They used the magnifying glass to examine a queen ant the day before, but now Stacey is just examining Ryan.
Watermelon - clever Dad!!
And lunch in the fort - could they be any cooler!

What better way to finish off water day than in a big bathtub!!
OK seriously that is just touching the surface of all they did.

They ended the weekend with a trophy ceremony awarding each of them for being such good campers.

Stacey came to me last week asking where all his trophies were. Um, you don't have any trophies?? He seemed confused and obviously did not understand that trophies were earned and not a fixture in every child's room, Oh he is so hilarious. Thankfully he now has a trophy all his own!! Better get started on that case. :)

Thank you Honey and GP for an amazing weekend - you are the best!!!! we CAN'T WAIT for next year!!!!!

4 comments:

Kacey said...

No wonder they were so tired on Sunday! I am so glad we have such amazing parents! Sorry Lila joined in, but I know she LOVES her Stacey:)

angie said...

We do have the most amazing parents on the planet!! Nice post sis- you'll be seeing a similar one soon!

Katy said...

I mean WHERE do I even start on this post????? My goodness, that Nancy is something to ponder! How does she think of all this stuff?? I guess years of experience is the key! :) LOVE it all.

shannonmichaelis said...

don't even know how to say all the things i want to say! so many things, all crammed into one, creative, fun filled, thoughtful weekend! nancy is the greatest!