Nathan’s uncle Bob makes all kinds of things out of wood. He made a beautiful box full of wooden blocks in different sizes and shapes for the kids. They all love building with them. Samantha and Timmy decided to build a chair for Joshua. Here is the chair without Joshua in it…
Here is the chair with Joshua in it…
The day I picked up Samantha from camp I also dropped Timmy and Nathan off at their last camp for this summer. This one was in Pennsylvania about 30 minutes from Samantha’s camp. The theme for the week was Space Camp. Here is Timmy with the troop he was paired with…
Here is Timmy and his group doing some kind of skit…
The troop Timmy was with had another Timmy in it. Here is a picture of Big Timmy and Little Timmy as they were called…
Since it was Space Camp they had to something with the theme so here is Timmy with his rocket that they made out of a soda bottle…
After all of Timmy’s camping adventures, Samantha decided that she wanted to go back for more camping as well. The only option open to her was a 5 night camp by herself. She decided that she was okay with that so we signed her up for a session called Mess Fest. We tried to get her into the horse camp but it was full. Nathan and I dropped Samantha off the day after her birthday. She was placed in the Jasmine tent…
We helped Samantha make her bed and made sure she was settled in and waited around until another girl in her tent showed up before we left her for the week. Here is Samantha sitting on her bed….
I packed two disposable cameras for Samantha but her picture taking skills were not that great. We also packed the extra cell phone for her but where they would allow her to have it they did not have coverage and they wouldn’t let her walk around to an area that had cell coverage so we didn’t hear from her all week. I think that part was harder on me than her. Here is a picture that the camp took of Samantha with her counselors and the other girls from the Mess Fest session…
We both survived the week although I still haven’t figured out if she wants to go to another week camp next year or not. :)
After Samantha’s party the day was filled with Christmas. The campground had a Christmas craft where the kids were able to make ornaments. Then after a potluck dinner Santa arrived on his golf cart….
He gave presents out to all of the kids and when he learned that it was Samantha’s birthday, he had everyone sing to her…
I even heard that after we left to go back to the RV that Santa gave one woman an engagement ring from her boyfriend! :)….
After all of the excitement the kids hung out at the RV with their cousin Alex before they headed out in the morning…
Samantha was thrilled for her birthday. Nathan’s parents came for the week before her big day and stayed for her birthday weekend. Nathan’s sister, Vicki, also came for the weekend with her daughter Alex so Samantha had lots of family as well as all of the new friends she has made this summer.
The morning didn’t start out well. Her party was starting at 10:00 and when Josh woke up this is what he looked like…
For those of you who know of Josh’s eye troubles, the swollen eye is the one he can see out of. So… while the rest of the family was decorating for the party, I took Josh to the ER. We weren’t going to take a chance. The ER doctor didn’t see anything in it (although Josh didn’t cooperate with the exam) and she couldn’t see any bites. She gave us some eye drops for infection and told me to give him benadryl every 4 hours. Neither did anything to help the swelling.
On to the party…. AMAZINGLY Josh and I made it back with 15 minutes to spare! That was a quick ER!! :) The first game we had come up with involved 5 different colors of yarn that the other family members strung around everything in the Pavilion. The kids were grouped into teams and the first team to wind up their yarn got a little prize. Here is a picture of Samantha and her team winding up their yarn…
The other game we had to entertain them was putting them in teams and giving each team two rolls of toilet paper. The first team to use all of their toilet paper to make a mummy out of one of the members got to hit the pinata after Samantha…
I think one of Samantha’s favorite things from her party was the pinata. She has wanted a pinata for years but we have never had her parties where we could have one so she got one this year! I managed to dodge the stick to get a picture of each of our kids taking their turn…
Samantha had a great time. After all of the games we filled the kids up with hot dogs and lots of cake and brownies and sent them home.
Side Note: Nathan said he saw the boys playing with the newly installed tetherball and he was pretty sure Josh took a shot to the head. The swelling started going down the next day but it never looked bruised. We are thinking it must have been a hit from the ball. Everything seems to have healed fine and he can still see! :)