Jamie and I just got done with a whole week of fun with our two nieces, Eleni (age 9) and Madalyne (age 7). We brought them home with us last Sunday and the fun never stopped! A library stop, yummy foods, video games, roller coasters and boogie boards, all four of us had a very memorable week. We decided to call it "Camp Wilder," and I even made t-shirts for us all to decorate.
[I do apologize for the bad photo quality in some of these... Life lesson: don't use zoom on an iPhone 5 camera!] 
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| Mine, Jamie's, Eleni's, Madalyne's | 
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| All decorated & ready for FUN | 
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| First order of business: get the girls on the Giant Dipper! The verdict? It was scary, but a little bit fun (they were so proud of themselves for going on it). Their favorite ride was the space bumper cars, which we did twice. | 
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| This Boardwalk pic cracks me up. | 
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| Madalyne won a fish in the balloon-popping game! And enjoyed the Carousel. She named her horse "Winter Snow" and Jamie's horse "Summer Breeze." She eventually named the fish "Goonla." I have no idea where she gets these ideas from. 
 
 
|  |  | Enjoying some art at Firefly before dropping me off at work the next morning |  | 
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| The Mystery Spot was definitely a highlight! I had to work, but Jamie and the girls had never been and they all had a blast. | 
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| In front of the bumper-stickered car | 
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| Inexplicable! | 
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| Mystery! | 
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| On Thursday night we went to Wilder Ranch to have a picnic on the beach and look for Geocaches along the bluffs. We found two! And saw pelicans, seagulls, an otter, seals, two rabbits, quails, and a dead bird. | 
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| ...and we explored some caves. | 
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| On Saturday we all went to the beach in Capitola. Madalyne & Eleni quickly made it their goal to collect ALL of the seaweed. | 
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| Quite a pile accrued. 
 
 
 
|  |  | Rented a boogie board for Eleni - she LOVED it |  
 
|  |  | Oh, joy! |  | 
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| Today we made another stop at the best bagel place in town, Firefly Coffee House! Yum! Hot chocolate with caramel for the girls, light roasts for us, bagels & cream cheese all around. | 
Now our little apartment feels SO empty! We will miss these two... both of these little loves have so much joy to share. We loved borrowing our nieces for a week, and we can't wait to do it again soon!
Do you have any fond memories with aunts & uncles, grandpas & grandmas? I LOVE family traditions and stories from childhood. Do share in the comments!
♥ Ciara Kay
 
This is Mom (on dad's google account:)- So cool! You showed your nieces a wonderful, magical week that they will NEVER forget! The only time I spent a week with my Aunt Christine, I was 3 or 4 so only have pictures that my Uncle Bill took to remind me that it even happened! I do have memories of Uncle Bill Cole, playing piano, doing yo-yo tricks, playing chess and "Doctor" (using our little kiddie medical kits and giving us 'shots"), and taking me for a ride in his souped up corvette on Highway 50! Bill was only in his 20's then- he was the uber-cool uncle!
ReplyDeleteHaha, that sounds like Uncle Bill! :)
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