"Church Camp" at Chase Oaks: Summer Bible Blast!

Phew! We have had a busy start to our summer! All of us except for N caught hand-foot-and-mouth disease three weeks ago, which made for a miserable week. Thankfully, the children had a mild case of it and I was hit the worst. We think it's a miracle that N didn't catch it!

 We then took off for a week in upstate NY, where we enjoyed spending time with people we love dearly. Our friends, Mike and Tanya, got married, and B rocked his job as a ring bearer.

He pulled the bride's nephew and niece in a red wagon all the way down the hill and down the aisle!

Little Lady with the beautiful bride: such pretty girls!

Fixing B's tie

This was one of my favorite moments from our trip; I just love how much our son adores his daddy (and vice versa)!

This past week was our church's "VBS" week, except we call it "Summer Bible Blast" (and B calls it "church camp"). Technically, it is for children ages 5 and up, but if a parent volunteered, our younger kiddos had the opportunity to attend.

So after returning home from our NY trip late on Sunday evening, we got up early on Monday and took off running. There were a couple moments when I wondered about the sanity of going into a week of so much fun and busyness after a big trip, but it did offer the benefit of getting us right back into a solid and set schedule. And B took terrific naps all week, thanks to church camp.

We had a nearly bare pantry due to being gone all last week, so on Tuesday morning, we did a lightning quick run to the grocery store. B was SUCH a terrific helper!

So strong!

On this rainy Wednesday, they brought the fun inside!

My little daredevil rarely does thing the conventional way.

I think crafts like this demonstrate a lot about each kid's personality.

Outdoor water fun on the last day!

While B had fun with his class (they even got to go to "worship song time" in the sanctuary), I volunteered in one of the preschool snack rooms. Such cuteness!

This class was a riot every day. There was just one girl and a whole lot of boys.

I made a new friend! This is Maya, who was my co-volunteer. She had two little boys of her own and was so sweet to bring a carrier and hold my Little Lady for her morning nap.

Looking like such a big kid!

I brought B a fruit cup each day from the volunteers' snack stash as an incentive to get into the car quickly.

He liked his fruit so much that he wouldn't look up for a photo.

He said it was a "bright day" (it was actually quite cloudy), so he "needed" his hat and sunglasses.

Running back from telling his favorite neighbor (Mr. David) about "church camp" and doing a great job staying on the grass and not going into the alley

What a fun week!

On Wednesday night last week, my MOMS table from this past year had a "reunion dinner." It was actually a surprise baby shower for our friend Julia! She is expecting a baby girl in August, so we wanted to make sure to celebrate with her as she prepares for Baby Lydia's arrival. 

And finally, in other big news, Little Lady learned to roll over this week!

And this morning, after church, we saw this on the pavement outside the main building:

It was a nice reminder of the fun B had this week, although N said it was reminiscent of a crime scene (with lots of little people involved).

I hope everyone's summer is off to a great start!