Miller Day Camp

Well, I ran my first unofficial day camp yesterday.  We had a litlte get together with some of Seth's mom's family.  She told me, "just keep them busy."  So that's what I did.  I had so much fun gathering ideas, supplies, materials, and finally getting to do some projects I've wanted to do.
I had so many activities planned, but sadly, the day was not long enough (nor was the kids energy after so many hours outside!)
We started our day out after a yummy lunch.  We headed out front to enjoy the bike carwash Mom had helped me build.  It turned out so great.  It was a little frustrating to get the legistics right.  I'm the type that has an idea and justs wants to do it.  It was fun to draw it out, go to Home Depot and get what I needed.  It made me feel so "able". 
I was just a little drill happy with the holes so the water wasn't able to pass up and to the other side.  Dad helped me attach another hose to the other side, and after replacing some very holey poles it was great.
The kids played in that thing forever.  It was great.  We had so many different bikes and scooters and jeeps and bigwheels for them to ride it was fun to watch.  I was happy to see that Chloe loved it too.  Her cousin, Madi was so great to ride with her the whole time so she could enjoy it.
Here she is getting a wet sponge to the face!

Chloe trying to cover her face as the cold streamers get her.

More cute Chloe.

I love how you can see the water spraying her here. 

James loved the bike wash too.  He definately went at his own pace.  It was cute to watch him just casually ride through and take his time to go again as everyone else was speeding around to go again.

The place we chose in the side walk was great.  It had a little slope to it and created an awesome puddle to add to the effect.

More cute James.

Here comes Sam.

He started off on his scooter and then realized he could go much faster on his bike.

With the speed came the rooster tail.  He thought he was so cool.  (I tried to get it, but it is a pretty wide shot.)

Had to get everyone going through.  This will definately be making many more appearances.  It just pulls apart and stores easily, so I can't wait until we bust it out in our neighborhood!

We then moved on to an activity in the shade to bring it down a notch.  I had drawn little stories on rocks for the kids to paint.  This was so fun for me.  I did the "3 little pigs", a fairy tale theme, and a pet shop.  These are perfect to keep in your sand box to play with.

I also made a big paint shirt with their name on it for each kid to wear while painting.  They loved them and were soon painting those as well and having each other sign them.  It was cute to see how excited they got about a t-shirt suvenior from their fun family day.

Chloe loved that I was just letting her loose to get messy and paint. 

Sam and James did great too.  I was super surprized that Sam got so into it due to his usual lack of enhusiasm for art.

He painted a very awesome "big bad wolf" that he was very proud of.

From there it was time for a game so we headed to the back yard to throw darts at balloons that were filled with treats.  The kids had a good time with this.

It got a little harded as the board got more scare so we let them move closer and closer and closer until we finally just let them poke the balloons with the dart.  They each loaded their goody bags with treats and giggled at their loot! :)

And since we didn't get enough candy from the balloons we had to make candy necklaces.  This was so fun.  I put out a variety of circle candy and cereal for them to choose from.  Chloe mostly just walked around and snacked while I worked on hers.

James was way into this activity.  He took his time and chose his candy carefully.

Chloe showing off her "pretties".

We didn't quite measure James' string right, or it was just the fact that he kept messing up his string and we kept having to cut it, but he ended up with a candy crown! :)

He thought it was fun for a while, but we had to eventually cut it and lengthen it so he could actually snack on it.  (Love his little face!  So cute!)

We then moved on to ice fossils.  I froze little animal figureens in water balloons to make these babies.  I only made a dozen, not thinking they would be so popular.  Boy was I wrong.  You should have seen the kids grab a hammer and start smashing and chipping away at their ice to get their prize.  We gave them real hammers and spread them all around the grass.  I think they felt empowered with a real tool in their little hands!  Next time I do this I will defiantely be doing many more!

Sam working hard to get his animal out.

James was a little timid at first, but soon realized that he really could just wack it.

James had a few pieces of ice that just wouldn't get off.

We then cooled off again by playing tag with sponge balls I made.  They were awesome.  They held so much water and were so cool, soft and refreshing when they smashed on you. 

We then went fishing for balls that had points and got more prizes.  The kids had fun being able to pick prizes out of the bins and add them to their loot.
We ended the evening by making glow bugs.  These were simply decorated plastic bottles.  They turned out so cute.  After they were decorated we put water in them and a glow stick.  They glowed well and surprizingly this activity was one of their favorites as well.

Here's James bug.

Chloe loved hers so much she had to sleep with it!

I had so much fun putting this together and spending the day with the kids.  I don't know how I will be able to live up to the bar I set myself if we ever do this again, but it will be fun trying.  One of the most validating thing of the day was when Dani, the kid's cousin, said, "this is so much better and funner than the arcade!"  I knew I was doing good when I heard that! :)