Cousin Camp Day 5

Cousin Camp Day 4

After VBS and swimming in the creek today, we came home and painted picture frames.

And tried to drive our car in our brother's paint.

After crafts was dinner time.  This was my brainy idea, and it worked really well.

The kids loved eating the soup straight from the can.

Or, from the bowl that their cousin warmed gently in the microwave.

And we had a surprise visitor.  Which was OK, once her kid established that she was not there to pick him up yet.

And, we all survived another day.

Cousin Camp Day 3

Frozen grapes on a stick, of course.   They were cold, they were sweet, and they were refreshing.

AND THEY WERE ON STICKS.

Craft was watercolor painting.  This is an idea that I got from Pink and Green Mama

It uses Elmer's glue (or any white glue) with black paint to form the outlines.

Pink and Green Mama calls it Black Glue and Water Color Resist.

I am NOT an artist, so I printed some clip art out onto watercolor paper.  Then in the interest of time, I just did the black glue part while the kids were at VBS, so they would be dry and they could just get to work on the painting part.

This little guy only got to watch, but we kept him supplied with pretzels,and he seemed happy about that.

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We capped our day off with a movie on the porch.  I know you can't see it, but there IS, in fact, a movie playing on that sheet.

Cousin Camp Day 2

All this week the kids are going to VBS.  It starts at 10 and goes to 1- AND THEY FEED THEM LUNCH!

Dear Lord,  Bless the person who thought up VBS.  Amen.

 

After VBS we went and played at the splash park for about 2 hours.

Then we came home and made camp journals.  It took a while to walk them all through the steps (showing them on the littlest guy's journal), but they all really liked the outcome.

They laid them out in the sun to dry while they played until dinner.

After dinner, desert, and a little play time I read them a funny story called The King of Cats, and then it was tent time.  At this point they have all been asleep for about an hour and a half, and it is about time for me to drop, too.

The good news is that I don't have to have it all planned out, I just have to be a step ahead of them!

Cousin Camp Day 1

I decided to host Cousin Camp at my house this week.  I don't know why.  Call me crazy.  At least I limited it to the kids that are close in age to my kids.  The kids have 14 cousins on my side ranging in age from 22 to 4.  I don't think I could wrangle and entertain such a diverse group!

Our craft to day was Cousin Camp pillow cases.  They were a hit.  I just used Office Depot iron ons to make the transfers, and had the kids color them before we ironed them in place.  I have no idea how well they will hold up in the long run, but in the short run, they were thrilled.

"But Auntie Gina, I didn't bring a pillow.  I brought a pillow PET."

"Well, let's stick your pillow pet in the pillow case."

"Oh.  OK.  Hey!  He has a sleeping bag, too, now!"

 All the cousins posing for a group shot.

 Tent mates in the younger boy tent

 The girls in the girl tent.

 The older boys in their tent.  Let me assure you that the baby did NOT get to sleep there.

 If I close my eyes then I can't hear you....

The Camp director's Cabin (AKA: The play house)  I dragged a twin bed down there.


Running off our s'mores.
Sharks and Minnows

Red Light, Green Light.

Now, all the tents are blissfully quiet.

Family Camp Out III

One of the most fun group activities was going a town swimming pool.   They had a little water slide and a diving board, a shallow pool for the kiddies, and a regularly deep pool for the bigger and biggest kiddies.

And I realize that even though this was a group activity, I only have pictures of my kids.  I guess I just like them best.           Or, I'm just not very good at thinking outside the photo box.

This was the day that Jesse was sick.  Every time he got vertical, he puked.  Either that, or he only got vertical because he had to puke.  Either way, we left him at the campground with his dad and sleeping baby brother.  He was feeling much better the next day.  I think it must have been a mixture of exhaustion (only home long enough from a vacation with his friend to repack and go camping with us) and heat exhaustion.  I kept him supplied with gatoraid, and he was up the next day.

Sebastian took a bunch of guys on a morning white water run down the river, and took a second bunch on a run in the afternoon when we got back.

And a great time was had by all.

Family Camp Out II

Friday morning we took a hike with a group of church friends.

I just want to put a disclaimer that these pictures were taken solely by my children.

 I am not sure why my son felt compelled to take there less than flattering pictures of me, but, here they are for posterity.

Group shot.  I do not know why I am not in it, but let me assure you that I hiked all the way to the top.

 Overlooking the town below

Trying out nifty camera features.  Like I said, My kids took all the pictures, so I still have no idea how this works- but it does.