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Miles and our neighbor, Will, attended Camp Invention last week. It was a full-day camp (8:30-4:30) which Miles kept reminding me about ("mom, I'm spending my ENTIRE summer at invention camp!"), but he and Will really did enjoy it.
I was excited about this camp, since Miles is really into small motor skill activities (drawing, building with blocks, board games, etc...). I didn't factor in that he is also my black & white/realist. On Day 1, campers were to arrive with an "appliance" to use as a basis for a new invention. I started talking to Miles about all of the fun things that he'd be able to make with his telephone -- and I got a little worried when he told me that he could NOT use his telephone as anything other than a telephone. It just wouldn't work. I suggested a marshmellow shooter....he refused to play along. Yikes. Still, he and Will did have fun "talking to each other on the phone" on the way to camp.
On the 3rd day of camp it was "wacky hair day". I broke out our Halloween supplies and doctored the kids up.
On the second to last day of camp, I arrived to pick up Miles and his counselor (a school teacher) said, "well, should we tell her now or wait until tomorrow?" Uh-oh. She said to me, "Miles arrived just sure that he couldn't create anything with his phone." I told her I understood, that he was 'my realist'. I was ready for her to tell me that he wouldn't have an invention to bring home the next day. Instead she said, "my 4th grade son pushed him a little to come up with some ideas and almost immediately, he began coming up with idea after idea. HE COULD NOT BE STOPPED." She was so proud of him that I immediately started crying. Our realist ended up having a ball inventing something!
When I arrived for the end-of-camp exhibit hall, Miles was so excited! He was literally grinning ear to ear, ready to show off his work. 
Here he is in the "inventor's parade". On a mission!
The kids also used recycled materials for other inventions. Here is Miles sitting in front of his "roller coaster". 
Miles' invention was a "Brother Stopper". It has a long tin foil cord so it can be hung from the ceiling (near his/Noah's bunk beds). It has a logo at the top (too cute) and an on/off switch (from the inside of the phone). If the Brother Stopper detects Noah and he doesn't enter the correct code, he'll get poked!
Here is Miles telling my parents a little about "The Brother Stopper". I should edit it down, but the thought of that exhausts me (especially since I'm still behind on my FL trip pictures), so I'm just including the entire video. You'll get a little flavor of 6-year-old humor as an added bonus.
I've been wanting to take the boys to watch airplanes land for years, but was never really sure of the best place to take them. A local website recently listed a spot, so Beth and set out to find it. We used google maps, mapquest, and our garmins, and could not find it. We chose another grassy area near the airport, set up a blanket, and within 60 seconds Griffin was yelling, "ow! ow! ow! ow!" I looked down and he had fire ants ALL over his legs. I worked as quickly as I could to get them off of him - but in the end he had 11 bites on one ankle. Poor little guy. I rushed him back to the car and he was saying "ow!" again. I took off his pants and diaper -- and wouldn't you know it?! There was an ant in his diaper biting him! How dare he mess with my Griff?!
While I was helping Griffin, Miles & Noah and Kathryn & Austin climbed up to the roof of our cars to watch some plans land far from the savage ants. They didn't see any landings from this spot, but they did see a train on the airport property and a bunch of planes taxing around. They were mostly just excited to be sitting on the roof of the car. 
We followed Beth to one other location (a nearby parking lot....no chance of ants) and it was a jackpot! By then it was noon (maybe a higher traffic time?) and we watched planes fly directly over us (very close!) every 2-3 minutes. The kids loved it. We're definitely heading back. 
It was a really great week. Loved the spontaneity of it. Loved the special time with family and friends. And, it was an amazing way to spend 4th of July. Looking forward to next year already! 
We had lots of beach time over the week (lots = daily, 2 to 2.5 hour increments).
Miles loved boggie boarding. Will be very cool if one of our boys loves to surf, like Mike. 
Noah loved to shovel up sand and throw up (the beach had other people on it, but there was plenty of room to run around and play). I assure you that the sand in the second picture did not come anywhere close to hitting that man. 
I spent a lot of time gathering buckets of water for the boys to play with. 
Lots of fun to play with toys in the tide pool. As you can see, Noah was still in his sandy-warm-up-period. :)
Griffin spent a lot of time jumping in the tide pools and pretending he was swimming. Miles loved making "sand angels" in this same spot. 
I spent a lot of time holding Griffin on the first few days, but by the last day, he was dragging us into the ocean to jump the big waves. Perfect example of why next summer it should be two consecutive weeks at the beach. :)
This could have been quite a dousing of water. But, Miles completely missed him. Not even sure that Griffin noticed. 
Griffin figured out how to soak himself pretty quickly. 
LOTS of fun with the Haenni's at the beach. 
Beth's parents were in town for part of the week. Her dad, Hoyt, had much fun playing with the kids in the surf. 
I'm so short compared to Beth, that I decided to stand on top of a bucket for this picture. I just don't look right as a tall person. :)
One afternoon Beth and I watched a little girl bury a man in the sand. I told Beth that it looked so unappealing to me and I had no interest in it at all. The NEXT day I found myself getting buried by the boys. Did I have sand in my clothes? Check. Did I get salt water in my eyes and mouth? Check. Lots of fun? Check. T.o.t.a.l.l.y w.o.r.t.h. i.t.
