Camp Nichols: Back 2 School Send Off

This was a fun summer! The kind of summer that reminds me why I wanted to be a mom, and why I am so glad that I am a teacher with summers of with the kids. Camp Nichols was the name I jokingly gave to the weekly summer playdates hosted at our house in July and August. The boys had so much fun with their friends and I loved seeing my friends each week too. While everyone is excited for the new school year, we surely will miss seeing our friends so often!!

Today was the last day of Camp Nichols, and we celebrated with a Back 2 School, A B C & 1 2 3 send-off.

Today's activity: You can't play with your food, but no one said anything about SPELLING with it!

In case you missed it, here are some other fun activities from Camp Nichols...
4th of July and Nature Hunt
Kiddie Kar Wash (so much fun we did it twice)
Christmas in July
Show and Tell (no pictures)
Minute to Win-It
and Back 2 School

iPhone find

iPhone Find

Time for another iPhone Find.... a place where I just share fun pictures taken with my iPhone!!!

I made a Twosie in my Onesie

Wish everyone thought my rolls were cute...

I love the match-matchy pics. I love even more that these were Logan/Hayden clothes and now are Hayden/Owen :)

Camp Nichols: Minute to Win It

All summer we've had friends over for Camp Nichols. Today was Minute-to-Win-It Games. If you've never seen the show, check out NBC's game show, http://www.nbc.com/minute-to-win-it/ . Today's contestants were super cute and had a lot of fun!

just missing Hayden

Game #1: This Blows. For this game, each kid got a cup and a straw. Using the straw they had to blow the cup from one side of the table to the other. First round was the Bigs, Second round was the littles.

Game #2: Eating Outside the Box. Kids had to piece together puzzles made out of food boxes.

Game #3: Brown Bag Lunch. Kids had to move a pile of of lunch bags from one side of the room to another, WITH THEIR MOUTH

Game #4: Cherry on top. For this tasty game, kids had to circle the table twice, carrying their 10 marshmallows, on their head. Whatever was left, they could eat!

Game #5: Here Comes Peter Cotton Tail. Kids had 1 minute to get the most cotton balls into a cup. This is where some real talent shined.

Peanuts, Eggs, Fish, Mustard and Lemon

If you are reading this blog, I assume that you know us and will at some point be in contact with Logan. Whether we see you all the time, or less than we'd like, please keep in mind... Peanuts, Eggs, Fish, Mustard and Lemon = NO GO FOR LOGAN. 

Sadly, Logan has several allergies. This list is all that we know for now aside from environmental like pollen, dogs, barnyard animals, etc. Recently, we had his first big attack. It was definitely a frightening experience - one that has left us on high alert and hypersensitive to what he eats or is near. 

After going to lunch at Boston Market, we returned home (no reactions). Logan sneezed and I handed him a paper towel from a roll that was sitting on the floor of the car. On the floor, months before had been some remnants of some nuts. He sneezed again, and this time I wiped his face after having eaten a sandwich that had mustard on it. In all instances, he was not given or eaten anything he shouldn't, but came in close proximity of an allergen. We had checked all the food at Boston Market, the nuts were cleaned from the car (an accidental spill by a passenger months before) and the the sandwich with mustard was far from him). BUT still, some how something triggered him and from he walk from the front door to the kitchen his face blew up and he went into a 100% allergic reaction. We can not confirm if the reaction was from something at Boston Market or nuts or mustard. No idea.

We immediately jumped back in the car and went to the ER. His face was scary looking, but he maintained breathing and his tongue only mildly swelled. We had given him Benadryl immediately when the reaction started but it didn't help. At the hospital he was given steroids, epinephrine, oxygen and fell asleep. After about 5 hours of meds and observation, he was released. After 3 days of steroids at home, his face finally was back to normal.

This whole experience showed us the severity of his allergies. We are being extra careful and ask that everyone else do the same. If you are reading this (and thank you for reading it), please like or comment. 1) that shows me that you are aware of his allergies and 2) I selfishly love knowing that someone out there is reading :) 

On the way to the ER

Poor Baby :(

Leesburg Animal Park

The summer bucket list is getting shorter, just as the summer day left are getting fewer. One thing we had planned for the summer was a trip to the Leesburg Animal Park. This fun little interactive zoo was about 45 minutes away. We all had fun and enjoyed spending time with our friends (the kids and my friends).

At the gate waiting to enter. The kids were looking at the biggest turtle i've ever seen.
All 4 could have rode that BIG turtle!!

The neat part about this Animal Park is that you can feed all the animals

They were a little timid at first (the boys), but they got over it and loved feeding the animals . 

After feeding the caged animals, we went to the open area where some Llama's wanted to play! *and chase people

They got right up in your face :)

The kids even got to ride a Pony!!! Here's the silly bunch! The picture doesn't show it, but they all had a blast!