Summer Camp

During one of our last weeks of summer vacation, Kari and I got to go to Summer Camp! Well, not really, but that's what it felt like. My brother and his wife went to Hawaii for a week and Kari and I had the privilege of watching their 3 kids for a week. It was awesome! There is Chris, 14, who was helpful and easy as he was pretty independent. The last time I babysat Chris he was 5 years old, so it was cool to see him grown up and into his own things. And then there are Kai, 7, and Marley, 6. Thus, the feeling of Summer Camp.

We had Experiment Day at my parent's house with my sister, Jen, and the kids. We made Oobleck, a volcano, and ice cream in a bag. Marley loved playing with her Oobleck (a mixture of cornstarch and water that acts as both a solid and liquid) for days and Kai was the reigning survivor in the volcano explosion (his paper clip man didn't get hit by lava). We also challenged our observation skills with a little detective game.

We also had field trips to the zoo, bowling (Kari won with an impressive 119 after taking a 10+ year break from bowling), and an awesome water park that is actually part of the county park system. At the zoo, the lions were actually running around and playing! I don't know if I have ever seen a big cat awake at a zoo before. It was pretty impressive.



And during the animal show, they brought out a big and a baby sloth, which were super cute. I had never seen a real sloth before as they are really hard to spot in their zoo habitats. I think Kai and Marley were equally impressed with their shaved ice. Marley actually later that week asked to go back to the zoo to get an icee.

The water park was all day fun. Kai was tall enough by 1/2 an inch to get to ride down the big slides - which Kari took him down as the twists and turns in an enclosed tube kind of scared me. We enjoyed the lazy river, jumping off the diving boards, and playing in the kid's pool, which was equipped with big spray guns, all kinds of waterfall spouts, and these floaty things that you try to balance on and then get knocked off.

Our last day there we stayed home and had Carnival Day. We mimicked a fishing game with some of my Dad's wiffle balls, played a pyramid knock-down game, and pinned the karate belt on the Karate Kid (think Pin the Tail on the Donkey with life-size kid cut-outs).

The daily life stuff was some of the most fun for me, though. The kids were all so easy and listened to any directions. Plus, they let us sleep in! They would wake up at about 8 and would play quietly until Kari got out there around 9 to make breakfast. Almost every night, we would play outside before bath and bed. Four nights they rode their scooters for 2 miles while Kari and I ran. It was fun running while hearing them talk and watching them play.

And before bedtime, we had storytime every night. We got to share some of our favorites, like Monkey with a Tool Belt, Catching the Wild Waiyuzee, and I am Dodo. Sometimes Kai and Marley wanted to read the books out loud and they both did excellent. Kai even read Swim, Little Wombat, Swim! all by himself. One night they asked us why we like storytime so much and if we read out loud at home - and we do! Kari loves being read to - from children's picture books to our current ongoing read aloud of Anna Karenina (I think I figured we will get that done in about 5 years).

My parents also helped us out a lot by having us over for dinner multiple times. They also treated everyone to a sushi and Chinese food buffet, which was Marley's special dinner request. Jen also got to hang out with us and provide gourmet mini-cake donuts and a giant mall cookie cake.

Another blessing was getting to take the kids to their karate class three times. We could watch through a glass wall and I was so impressed with their focus and intensity. All three of them did great and I am sure will be able to beat me up in another year.

Now, summer has been officially over for a week. I miss the kids and am so thankful for our week of Summer Camp.