Snakes

We have a great little nature center near my house that all my kids love.  They love the snakes and the turtles.  Today Estelle sat for and hour and watched this snake slither around his cage.  She was really cute with her magnify glass.  Natalia and Sienna kept bragging to their friends about the snakes they held at grandpa camp.    

Volleyball Camp

Volleyball Camp was last week.  Dad came out with five of his high school players.  It was really fun and maybe the best year of camp that I have done.  I got to play with the girls a bunch and even though I am sore, it was tons of fun to get in the gym and play.  I love doing camp with dad; I am so glad he comes out every year.  It was long days and dad was a little jet lagged, but he always found a place to catch a few cat naps.  

We took his girls to DC a couple of times after camp ended and we just had some fun around the house with my girls before they all left.  

Splash Pad

We have been doing lots of fun activities this summer.  We hit up the splash pad last week after we got back from vacation.  My kids really liked it this year and didn't want to leave. 

Rachel's House and Headed Home

We headed up to Rachel's house a couple days after grandpa camp.  We went at nap time, thinking the girls would just sleep in the car.  Sienna finally feel asleep about 20 minutes before we got there, but she was cute all passed out.  We played at the beach some more.  Ate lots of ice cream and went to our favorite dentist.  The kids did great.  Estelle sat on me the whole time my teeth were cleaned.  It was nice to spend a couple more days with Rachel's family before we headed back home...and I got to drive their huge van.  Tyler was nice enough to take us to the airport first thing in the morning.  We left at 2:00am; it was brutal, but we all survived.  

The kids traveled home pretty well.  Estelle didn't do any sleeping and she got a little restless, but not major meltdowns, so that is a success in my book.  It was great to finally get off the plane though.  We had a great trip and lots and lots of fun, but it was nice to be home too.  

Grandpa Camp - Day 2

The second day of Grandpa Camp was just as much fun as the first.  All three of my girls loved having so many cousins to play with.  We heard all the stories from the Cabin sleepers, ate pancakes and found out the winners to the guessing jars.  

The baby chicks continued to be a hit.  My girls loved holding them and watching them.  I think they will remember this always.  We had fun in grandpa's shop.  The kids make slug pinchers and we found some old relics (sheep's heart) to show them.  Adele asked...with teary eyes, "why did Grandpa kill the sheep?"  We had to explain this was almost 30 years ago and we all eat meet that comes from animals.  I would not be surprised if she ended up a vegetarian some day.  

There was lots of game playing and tree climbing.  All the little kids made it to the top of the climbing tree this year, inclucing Natalia and Sienna.  There was the motivation of getting ice cream if they went all the way up.  Sienna was in tears, but determined to get the ice cream.  I don't think she had a hand or foot in a foot hold at the end, but she did touch the top.  Good thing Grandpa is strong and can pull her up.  

The girls hammered for a long time in the shop.  They were not making anything, just hammering away.  My girls always love craft time too. 

The water balloon fight was fun.  They had teams and launched balloons by a sling shot to the other team.  The only person to actually get hit was Sienna and she ended up with a big red welt on her leg...poor thing.  She was tired and a little distraught, but she survived and got a special bead for getting hit.  She thought that was cool.  It was fun watching them fling the balloons. 

It was great watching the kids have so much fun together.  I love seeing my kids so happy.  Everyone was beat by the end of the day.  The Men went out for a man night, the kids watched a movie with Grandma and then we put them all to bed tired and happy.  

It was another wonderful Grandpa Camp.  We love going and being there with everyone in the family.  It is something we all look forward to all year long.