End of a birthday weekend!!

This afternoon, closer to dinner, he pulled me down and whispered "want to know why this day was a little bit bad?  Because I didn't get a cake or a party". 

So, after a fun day .... Elliot had a yard full of friends and a cake with a big E on it and a skylander!!  We had to wait til after the frozen game so dad could attend!

Many friends came ...

Isaac wanted to walk the cake out to his brother!!

Nice to have the girls here this week.....

I sense a fantastic week ahead of us.....

Kitchen Helpers !

Courtney is head cooking this week.  Last night while all her staff were in staff meeting, my kids were pulling up the slack cutting fruit for the chocolate fountain!

Elliot's birthday list.

He had lunch with his dad and got his final gift of the magic 8 ball, got a super RARE Pokemon card

AND completed the Zelda game by defeating last boss!  (Here he is with the game credits rolling!!)

He's had a good day so far.....wait til he has 200 people sing happy birthday to him!!!

Lego House #1

From a 3 in 1 pack from his birthday last month.  Now it's time to take apart and build house #2!!

Elliot is 8 today!!!

8 balloons for an 8 year old......

He's in store for a treasure hunt today!! (I was going to get like 20 balloons today for him!!!!! But by the time the grocery store lady got to 5, I was like, make it 8.... I gotta get going on this day!!)

He's still sleeping!!  Get up! Get up!

Pre-Birthday day !!!!

Started with lunch at the pre birthdays boys choice of white spot!!!  It's not a family picture without a grandpa giving rabbit ears!!

As per usual, our boys are so spoiled by their grandparents and auntie and uncle!!

Even Isaac also got glow in the dark silly string and a car window Canadian flag!

After a nice lunch together, Chris had me drive to nanaimo so he could crash;

He's so tired, he's doing well but I think it will take him awhile to really catch up from these crazy last few months.  This last week made it all worth it!!!  It was an amazing week at juniors. 81% of the campers said it was a 5/5 excellent week on their camper comment cards - a rise over the 66% from last year!!!

At Elliot's recommendation, we took him to see this movie.  We were all captivated in the adventure of these three best friends... 3 boys!!  It was just one of the best movies I've seen in a long time! 

Last day as a seven year old!!!!

At Jinnys camper on our way back to our house at the end of the day .... Love that woman .... She is one of our biggest cheerleaders.  The boys were bored though...Isaac fell asleep, Elliot stole a cuddle. 

It's 11 and the boys are getting their bedtime story. They enjoyed their silly string and they love love love their new pen flashlights from grandma and grandpa!!

Now teen campers arrive Tommorow.... But with the teens, also come great girlfriends......there will be an onslaught of pictures from this week I'm sure!!  Can't wait!!!!

Morning coffee routines!!!

Off to Timmies ....

Carrying his barefoot 7 year old. 

Natasha is our videographer this year...... I really like her.  

Zorgons, Astronauts and One Giant Leap!!

After dinner Isaac and I helped Chris prep a little bit for the night game.  Here are a couple cabin leaders heading off to hide before their campers come find them for the after dinner game......

Dancing and faceless ....

Jake and Kale all ready to go-pro the night game!

The astronaut explaining the game.  He was going to be much more gruff with the instructions until he saw four girls in the front row, crying, and scared ..... His voice softened and he explained a little more detail than he normally would of.  It's not a scary game at all, but so many of the kids have bought into the story, that they were genuinely scared. 

Kids love the astronaut.  It's been great for Chris's soul to see these kids love the games and they have totally bought into the characters and the story line this week.  Chris had so many little kids talk to him about how glad they were that he wasn't really "a bad guy", and that he just made a bad choice in stealing the game board....one little girl tugged on his shirt and said "it's ok, sometimes I get mad and make bad decisions too"....as I was running through the astro belt tonight with a tiny girl, I was attack hugged by Hannah!  My little junior camper from years ago!!  

Night game 2014.... Success!!!

Well done my love!!!  What a crazy game!!  I loved listening to all the kids talking about their missions and still having to "buy space boots and get to the black hole, or catch a falling star, or get the Zorgon slime" !!!  So creative .... So proud of you.  

Astronauts and amazing dinners!

Taken last night at dinner.... Such a rock star.  The campers are really trying to convince Chris that the astronaut and Chris are the same person!!!

This afternoon I arrived home to a clean house, dinner mostly made, and Amy sitting in the hammock reading to both boys.  It was super sweet!!

Dinner time!!

She's a super great cook and because she can't eat anything with a preservative in it, eating at the house is actually a bonus for her .....

Now the kids are being read to by Chris and the yard is piled full of staff and I am contemplating bedtime!  Long and very good day. 

First yellow band!!!!!!

Very momentous day for my 7 year old, soon to be 8!!!!  He got his yellow swimming band!!!

Snapshot of Monday - Juniors #1!!!!

Amy is going to be great for my boys this summer.   They already love her to boys that even asking Elliot was today's highlight was, he said "Amy!"   They didn't do anything spectacular.  I left for work, they went for breakfast, tidied the house, she made eggs for lunch, they went to the library and I met them here at the park in Duncan at 2:30.

On my way to work I saw this gem being offered up for free. It's the old icecream trailer from lake cowichan!  Piece of good old cowichan history right here!!  But considering the depth of the project and that trailers are such a hot bed of debate around here these days, I told the owner that my husband would probably say no in the end......I felt Chris breath a sigh of relief as I got back into the car (even though he wasn't with me or knew what I was looking at, I knew he'd be looking at me with wide eyes silently praying I'd walk!

Nice day alone in the office, I got a pile of work done and cleaned out much of my paperwork.... Nice not having any interruptions.  

Then it was off to the neurologist for a check up.  He's grown just over an inch and gained 3 pounds since March 5th!

The big space astronaut introduction was made after dinner.  Here is Chris trying to "sneak" his rocket over to the outdoor chapel at dinner time on his quad.  You don't see that everyday.  

He is inside.....  Getting hot and a little angry that the kids are only trickling in and not pouring in with excitement. (Cabin leaders were a little, um, slow) poor guy... You work so hard on something and dream about the outcome and it is faded in comparison when it happens in real life. But to an outside like me, I thought it looked fantastic!!!

Hello!!!!!!

Isaac helping his dad with a ladder.  

And the game began.... The program team were bummed about the intro, but the kids loved it all!  They always do.