Can I just say now that camp was an incredible success because of the help of Lauren, Heather, and Walker. They were awesome, and I could not imagine it without them. They each took charge of a team, which was great when they needed to explain rules some more and especially help the littlest ones that were playing. It would've been chaotic without them. Also, they helped lead crafts and Lauren told the story one day. All of this was a big help for us with the load for everyday. And, most of all, they sweated and sweated and made camp fun, fun!!!
The last day, we sang all of their favorite songs.
The story was on Jesus' resurrection and the Gospel.
Then, we did a craft on the Gospel one more time...and to help them remember it!
Then, they took the kids to the park to play some of their favorite games one more time.
They came back after the pizza arrived for our party!
It was an incredible success, and I'm so glad we did it.
Some parents wrote us a sweet note, and one family even brought us flowers.
I'm so thankful for Gray encouraging my little spark of an idea, and not letting me put it aside.
I'm reminded I love "camp." We'll do it again, for sure!!!
Day 4 was water day, and it was most fun, and such a blast!!!!
We did a few songs and a few games at our house waiting on all to arrive.
Then Gray reviewed the other 3 stories and told a few stories about Jesus' life.
Do you realize some of these kids were hearing that wonderful name for the VERY first time ever?!!!
And, here is one of the boys retelling some parts of the stories from the previous days.
No time for crafts this day...we had LOTS of water games planned for the park!!!
My main job: keeping this little guy from bursting all the water balloons or pouring out all of the water.
Going after water balloons
He watched their games enough to copy and try to play on his own afterwards.
Soaked from head to toe!
A really fun relay:
And, then Parks' turn!
It worked really well to play duck, duck, splash at the end....perfect transition for a snack!
Such a good sport!
We ended it all with a big water balloon fight!
Games were pretty close this day, but whichever team to pick up the most trash (mainly water balloon trash) secured 1st place! This was a perfect way to clean up the park behind our week...and, actually, we left it cleaner than it was the week before Summer Camp! Bonus!
Only difficult thing was that we only had one glue gun.
But, after Day 1's chaos, we did crafts in teams while
the other two teams were outside singing and playing games.
Speaking of teams: I failed to mention that we had 3 teams for most of the game. Colors blue, green, and red. We handed out silly bands, which we have a great supply of--thanks to so many people that have sent them in packages. Thanks! Our kids loved them for a little while...It's really fun to share them with friends, and it was great to have them for camp!
Also, at the end of each day, the winning team got to pick out some prizes.
It was a stash of things we've been keeping and putting to the side for a little while now.
So, on to Day 3!
Here, they are in their teams youngest to oldest, and this was my FAVORITE relay!
Suitcase Relay! Have I mentioned that Gray was in charge of games?!? I threw in some ideas as well,
but he's just so good at games for kids--especially for a group with such mixed ages.
We called it suitcase relay (I guess because we used the suitcase to get it all to the park--we're original, I tell ya). The first person (the youngest) ran down and put on one item and returned, giving their item to the next team player. The next had that item on and went to get another, and it continued until the oldest had everything on! It was a hoot, and so fun!!!
The last leg of the suitcase relay.
3 really fun, older boys in our neighborhood decked out in Gray's clothes, dupattas and kids' sunglasses.
They are all good with the younger ones, which helps so much!
It's pretty great to be able to do a summer camp with kids from ages 3.5 to 13!!!
Another favorite game for the kids--and especially our kids was good, ole Red Rover!
Definitely interesting with the age and size differences, but it was a hit with them!
Check out a couple of runs--one is Sarala.
Day 3 Craft: was making a butterfly out of paper, a clothespin, and a pipe cleaner. It was kind of like this, but we didn't have tissue paper and our coffee filters we brought here from Thailand. So, we just used paper. It was fine.
Day 3 Story: of Abraham and Isaac--God providing a sacrifice!
Gray told it and they acted it all out. I wish I had pictures.
