The first day of Camp Nana 2015 seemed to be a success.  I was met at the front door by two fresh scrubbed campers, attired in their brand new Camp Nana shirts!  Lookin’ sharp. We began with a little T-Ball.  While Abby was content to hit the T-Ball spring stand with the bat and watching the ball fall gently to the ground. while Max – well, Max was a natural.  He took his place at the T-Ball stand, and batting left-handed, knocked nearly every ball out of the park.  That is not a metaphor, but a fact.  Nana had to chase every ball down as both grandchildren stood by and cheered me on … “Get the ball, Nana!  Get it.”  Apparently watching Nana zigzagging all over the little park exhausted the 2-year-old Abigail and 5-year-old Maxwell.  So much so that they had to return home for a cooling down Popsicle break at Max & Abby’s little diner!  It was so cute to watch Abby pull her pink chair up to the outdoor dining bar and chatter back and forth with her brother.

Then it was time to begin our baking lesson.  Do you really know just how difficult it is to keep little fingers from swiping through the batter for just a taste?  Max took charge of the whisk and the duty of mixing, while Abby delighted in dumping in the oil and water and eggs.  They took turns helping to spoon the batter into the mini cake loaf pans.  Max busied himself with coloring while Abby darted back and forth to check the progress of the mini-cakes through the oven glass.

The room was filled with constant chatter and then … complete silence.  Ahhhhh.  Lunchtime.  Nothing but the slurping of milk and crunching of crackers and once in a little while … “Brudder.  You don’t want your cheese?  I have it?”  Topping it off with a banana and they are good to go!

Next, we settle in to create a diorama.

di·o·ram·a     noun

a model representing a scene with three-dimensional figures

Lightweight wood shadow box frames and some 3-D zoo animals were lined up and ready to go.  Max took great care in painting his diorama.  Lovely blue skies over lush green fields and dirt below where the animals will walk.  His fence was painted green to blend in with the grassy meadow.  He decided that the monkey should be climbing in the tree and the giraffe should be eating leaves of the tree.  Abby, however, had a more abstract approach.  She painted the entire inside of the diorama blue and then a touch of brown in the mix, happily stating “I made a waterfall.”  She was thrilled with the result, and that is all that matters.

The campers were getting a little tired and were ready for a nap.  Max climbed in the bed and immediately closed his eyes and just wanted to sleep.  Abby was less interested in sleep, even though her perfect blue eyes were droopy and tired.  Max didn’t make a peep.  However, I heard what I thought was a quacking duck, and walked in the bedroom to see Abby sitting on her knees with her head bent down close to Max’s face while a very loud and raspy “QUACK QUACK QUACK” yelled from her mouth.  I stood there until she noticed me.  She immediately squinted her eyes tightly shut and  made her way back to the pillow.

After nap time, we enjoyed reading the new books and playing with the stickers that came with the books.  Mommy and Daddy joined us for Family Dinner and a little playtime.  Great first camp day!