Camp Nana

Our last week of summer was Camp Nana! I looked back on my blog, and this is our fifth year of Camp Nana. The older two kids went the first two years, and this is the third year Ellie has gone. The kids were already listing Camp Nana as one of their highlights of the summer before it even happened. This was the first time they didn't do the VBS in the mornings, so they had lots of time for activities. My mom jokingly called the week Art and Surf, but really it should be called Art, Surf and Animals...

 

My mom planned a few art projects during Camp Nana. When my siblings and I were younger, there was this popular local TV show called the Draw Squad that taught you how to draw fun, quirky drawings in 3D. Apparently my mom still had some of the old tapes, so the kids drew these pictures.

 

They did some painting one day,

and one day they painted a bunch of cute rocks!

For the "surf" portion of Camp Nana, they went to the beach nearly every day. Hannah especially got really into boogie boarding. Ellie still prefers to wear her floaties if she's going to be in ankle-deep water.

The Beach Bums.

They walked down to explore the tide pools during low tide.

They loved getting to go in the hot tub when they got back from the beach!

There was also lots of animal time. My parents were dog-sitting a Jack Russell Terrier named Max who got a little bit of attention.

Ellie especially is obsessed with my parents' cat, Callie.

One morning it was drizzling so instead of the beach they went to a park...

that was next to a dog park.

So many dogs! 

Ellie was in heaven!

In addition to the art, surf and animals there was Badminton,

and playing around the house.

The kids got really into these old wooden blocks, and apparently Joey made an epic train track with my brothers' old Legos.

Unfortunately my dad's mom passed away a few days before Camp Nana, so my dad was in Atlanta for most of the week for her service. I told my mom to make sure to put my kids to work so that she didn't have to do everything. I loved that she put Joey to work helping in the kitchen.

He was quite proud of the fact that he made hot dogs one night.

Meanwhile, Andy and I were enjoying our "date week." I got these from Aldi to celebrate! Andy and I are a little obsessed with this ice cream. It's soooo good and soooo cheap (at least compared to Ben and Jerry's).

I always look forward to getting a bunch of projects done around the house. This year in addition to getting our carpets cleaned like I usually do, I focused a lot on our backyard. I sanded, painted and sealed our picnic table so that it looks like new, and I hung some cute lights (also, from Aldi!).

Now that Octavian is gone and doesn't need room to do his business, I planted a new plant and made a succulent rock garden using a bunch of beach rocks. It sure came in handy that the kids painted all those rocks. They look so cute!

The kids came back from Camp Nana so happy and so tired. They had an amazing week, and Andy and I had a little bit of fun too! ;-) Thanks so much, Nana!