Camp North Carolina Collage

Camp North Carolina 2015 is complete! The big girls went down to North Carolina to visit our extended family from Monday till Friday afternoon. They had a blast! This post will be a collage of all the pictures I received of them this week during their time at "Camp North Carolina"

Nana and Papa took them back to NC on Monday.

So Bekah fell asleep on the way back, and her big sister decided to help her out while she slept! I think this is one of the best pictures!

 Once they arrived, they got to eat at Pizza Inn, one of their favorite places to eat in NC. Here they are working a puzzle that Nana and Papa got them on the way back to NC.

 
 Tuesday was McDonald's, playground, shopping and play day with Nana and Tuesday night, Uncle Jason, Aunt Brittany and Cousin Saylor got to come over for supper and a visit. The girls were thrilled. I know because we saw how excited they were on Skype that night! I heard they also got to "see" Uncle Jared, Aunt Brooke and Cousin Inman by Skype also while they were visiting in NC. 
 

 
 On Wednesday, they headed to Fayetteville to see Mimi and Pop. Wednesday afternoon they headed to Monkey Joe's, which has all kinds of inflatables and games. I told them I want to go to Monkey Joe's too then next time we visit!

 

Apparently, Mimi couldn't find her glasses while they were visiting and Bekah told her that was ok that she was "a famous botective" and she would find them!

Resting with Pop before the excitement of Monkey Joe's. Can you see how excited these girls were?!

Here they are playing games at Monkey Joe's. Mimi said they played so hard by the end that their ponytails were even falling down.

Pop cooked his big breakfast for them on Thursday morning and then they had some snuggle time with Mimi afterwards.

Later on Thursday, they got to see Grams at her house too. Here is Rachel waiting for Grams to arrive.

I think Grams was as excited to see them as they were to see her!

Thursday evening, they also got to see Grandpa, CeCe, Ethan and Emily.



                                
Ethan had a school dance so they went to take him there and then they got to eat at Pizza Inn again!

Yes, Rebekah is eating with a fork and a spoon at the same time...and yes, I think Rachel enjoyed her ice cream!


They also braided hair and played Barbies with Emily

 


They got a surprise treat later that evening. Boom Boom Papa and Nanny Joyce came by after their mountain trip to see the girls and let them see Papa's BIG BIG watermelons. My grandfather, since I was pretty small, has grown giant watermelons (150 to 200 pounds BIG) every year. I am so glad they got to see Boom Boom Papa's giant watermelons while they were visiting in NC!

 


On Friday, Nana met us near Richmond with the girls. We were so glad to see the big girls!

Back together again!

The big girls had a wonderful week at "Camp North Carolina!!" They are already talking about when they might want to do it again. Thank you to all our family that took such good care of them last week and helped them have such a fun time! I am thankful for modern technology like Skype and Facebook that let us see what fun they were having and helped me get through the week pretty well! Thank you also to all my photographers this past week-it was great to see the week through your lenses this week! Camp North Carolina is a blast and I am sure will continue to be an annual event!

Little Fish

This post has been almost a whole summer in the making. Actually, the story begins last summer. Last year, Rachel took swimming lessons for the first time. Bekah was not 3 yet, so we told her she could start swimming lessons when she turned 3. So this year before the pool even opened, Bekah began to ask when her swimming lessons would be. Toward the end of June, it was finally time for swimming lessons at the Fairfield pool and so Bekah began her first swimming lessons!

Here she is learning to blow bubbles in the pool and with her teacher Miss Mackenzie.

Here she is learning to float on her back!

One of her big milestones was learning to go off the diving board. Then first time was a 3 step process.
1. Bekah walked to the end of the diving board. She watched and waited
2. Miss Joanna walked down and held her hands
3. Miss Joanna lowered her down to Miss Mackenzie.

By Day 2, the 3 step process was repeated, but this time she really jumped off on her own to Miss Mackenzie. Now she loves jumping off the diving board to someone!

Here she is going from the diving board to the side of the pool.

Here is Bekah practicing her swimming strokes.

Here is the littlest water bug playing in the kiddie pool with her Daddy while her sisters had swimming lessons.

By the end of our week of swimming lessons in June, the last lesson was cancelled due to storms and was to be rescheduled as an individual lesson. With our crazy summer, it was 2 weeks ago before we got the last lesson in. Bekah has improved so much over the summer with being in the water. She will put her face under water. Here she is going all the way under the water.

She was even trying to swim under the water to Miss Mackenzie by the last lesson!

She goes off the diving board now without even a pause!

Kay Kay and Jonathan even got to come watch the girls' last swimming lesson a couple of weeks ago. The girls were so glad they got to come!

Thanks to Miss Mackenzie, Miss Katie, and all the other guards at the Fairfield Pool for all they have taught our girls about swimming the past 2 summers. Bekah loved her first swimming lessons and I am sure she will be ready to do swimming lessons again next summer! We are proud of you, Bekah! You did a great job, "Little Fish"