After our vacation we jumped right into the camp season at Beachmont. I hosted a picnic for the summer staff during training week. We served about 50 people that evening under the outdoor pavilion. Except for a huge thunder storm, everything went very smooth.
The kids went to camp for three of the nine weeks of camp. I got to spend a lot of time with Alyssa who wasn't old enough for camp and got to see her grow up quite a bit during that time. The theme this year for camp was the Beatitudes. The kids learned all of Matthew 5: 1-10. They all also got to improve their swimming skills with extra lessons on Monday nights. Even Alyssa got in on the swimming lessons. She actually got to be quite a fish!
In the midst of all the activities of the summer, our family got to celebrate 4 birthdays! First, Matthew turned 6 in July. He was very excited to get his own Lego set!
The next birthday was for Alyssa. She turned three in the beginning of August. She was very excited about her new scooter, but I think the candy came in with a close 2nd!
Julia was next with her 14th birthday. She was absolutely thrilled to receive her own digital camera and has been busy taking pictures ever since! Julia also started her first summer job. She worked for my mom in the snowball stand after camp each day. Unlike a typical snowball stand, they are only open for about 2 hours each day, but within that time they sell hundreds of snowballs to the campers and their families when camp lets out for the day. Like her sister Alyssa, Julia loves candy - especially dark chocolate!
Our last summer birthday was for Jim. He turned 13 this month. Jim loves legos and was thrilled to get his first "big" set. He built this ship in about 3 hours.
We decided that since he was turning 13 he was too old for party hats, so we went for the "party tattoos" instead!
