Are You Zhazha?

The fifth week of Summer Camp was a milestone maker and a green one. Nate is now officially swimming without any floaties! He and Nia finished swimming lessons and he is now a floatie-free fish while Nia is our little Back Stroke Bean.

The green part of the week featured crafts with recycled materials and a lesson that I don’t think translated well with Nia. She told me the woman told them, “Don’t wash your car in your driveway because it can kill the fish and hurt things.” Yay, green!

Out of all their crafts for the week, Nia is most proud of her recycled bottle bird feeder. She can’t wait for us to hang it outside for birds to visit. I couldn’t wait for her to use her bookmark. We placed it at the start of Chapter 2 of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. I’m technically being green with that book too – being that I’ve read the series several times and am now recycling them with Nia.

Cardboard Bookmark

Bottle Bird Feeder

Sunshine Plate and Egg Carton Flower Planter

Swim Lesson Success!

Tags: summer camp

What a fun week for the kids at camp! They started swimming lessons and told us about their accomplishments each day. (“Guess what?! I went in six feet today!”) And, not only did they make their crafts, but they got to eat them as well!

The theme was about cooking and food. The kids drew pictures about food, made rice and bean beach scenes and made noodle necklaces which I have pictures of below. But the edible art they created, naturally, didn’t make it home. They made ants on a log and trail mix and then munched them up.

I think the cooking week inspired Nia to help at dinner too. The other night she helped with green beans and watched as I made beefy noodles, asking questions about the seasoning and why I was doing what I was doing. Nate tasted the green beans and told her, “Yum, Nia! You made these? They are good!” He made her so happy. She gave him such a sweet smile and looked at me like, “That was special, huh, momma?”

Nate's Food Art

Nia's Noodle Necklace

Rice and Bean Beach Scene

Tags: summer camp

Week three of summer camp featured all the usual fun like swimming, new songs and games, but it also offered lessons on staying safe (Safety was this week’s theme) and baseball-packed mornings for Nate.

Nate loved crashing the ages 6 and up baseball camp. From what he tells us, he held his own with the older boys and by the look of his uniform at the end of each day, it seemed that way. Sweaty, dirty and STINK-y. He learned how to bunt and met new friends who taught him how to not “respect the pouch.” He still giggles about it.

During summer camp, the kids met with police officers, firefighters, a member of SWAT and the American Red Cross. They told me they learned about everything from tornadoes to fires and “not to pick up guns if you find some.” The fire lesson really bothered Nate. He told me before bed one night that he wished our house was smaller and that our roof was “down there,” pointing to the second story’s floor. He said that way he wouldn’t have to worry about jumping out of a window, he just could.

I suppose with knowledge often comes fear – and a mommy and daddy to comfort them.

Police Swag

Pretty cool caption, Nia.

Escape Plan!

Nate's Baseball Camp Certificate

Tags: summer camp