What a literal soul-snatching hell of a hot week! And an all-encompassing heart-warming one at that❤️❤️
We blazed through the first week like Speedy Gonzales on one of Wile E.Coyote’s jet powered contraptions, and by God, it was HOT! HOT! HOT!!
Nevertheless, this particular batch went on to reinforce and give a whole new meaning to the maxim, the fishing is best where the fewest go Albeit small and intimate, the spirit of community was ever prevalent, thanks to the support of their parents and family at large.
In the days and weeks leading up to camp, I waited with bated breath for the applications to flood in, but it only trickled down to this fab four for the first go-round, and little did we all know what an amazing time we’d have.
😃 😃 😃 😃
We kicked it off with a warm-up round ofSnap Fit an easy to learn card game full of exciting exercises to get everyone moving and on their tippy toes.
After giggles and heavy panting, we moved to our zesty breakfast nook to to chow down, excited to try out 2 jars of jam Alja brought us
Yum!
After that, tidy up, and a totally bananas filler game of Too Many Monkeys while I prepped for the day’s core activity- building our lemonade stand
First we went downstairs to see if we could find a nice shady spot to paint our crates as I worried the toxic fumes from the paint job would suffocate them and possibly melt my ovaries even worse, it was scorching hot by 8:30, so right back upstairs we marched
and set-up in the hallway area with the windows flung wide open for maximum ventilation.
After fetching our crates, I decided to err on the side of caution by laying out some extra newspapers to catch any excess drippings or possible spillage.
Having never painted anything other than nails in my entire life, and maybe fiddling with the odd water-colour here and there, I was waaaaay more excited than the kids were to be working with real paint! And surprisingly enough, it gave off almost little to no scent.
You can tell, I’m a rookie at this
In the heat of the excitement, I’d completely forgotten to inform parents to dress down the kids in shabby clothing for the messy job at hand.
Not that it mattered much.
Peak concentration was unleashed, making them hyperfocused on the job, and a fun time was had, with me occasionally butting in to make sure they didn’t miss any spots. AND let me tell you something Linda, IT WAS MESSY *pats self on back for quick thinking , laying out extra newspapers and taking home those extra brushes*
We then left the painted sides out to dry and proceeded to the next craft, banner making.
In every way I can imagine, this Fab Four was such a serendipitous pairing, as each child got a single crate to work on, and then 2 letters of the alphabets that make up lemonade. You can’t make up this kind of alignment. I was racked with nervousness when Gaši came in as it turned out he’d be the only boy, and he came ready to play football like I’d promoted on the posters, so was a bit downcast when he found out his lot, but his face lit up when Maja came in as it happened they were in the same class at school. He was so happy he swooped in for a hug the second he saw her. By the end of camp, Alja and Zala had become besties. Serendipity ✨
After banner-making, we were ravenous and set out to lunch but not without giving them a good scrub down first.
I did the best I could, but with Alja it just wouldn’t budge so we headed out to lunch anyway
Lunch was at Del Moro restaurant in Mercator shopping centre. We placed our orders and went off to the playground to let off a bit of literal steam. It was blooming hot!
Maja found a bird’s feather for good luck and clung to it for the duration of the entire lunch and of course, later forgot it on the restaurant table
Gaši instead of eating, played around with his fries, and I ended up with 5 portions of BBQ sauce as none of them would even touch it…. waaaay more for me, super yum!
After lunch, we popped in to Mercator to stock up on lifesavers: ice cream, cold drinks and watermelon!
and made our way back to the classroom, discussing the next day’s breakfast plans – PANCAKES!
Once back, I got down to giving Alja another scrub-down while they sat to a skin- crawling game of Bugs in the kitchen. By this time, the paint had proper set in and just wouldn’t come off despite all efforts and thus, another fear level was unlocked – what if the paint had seeped into her blood stream and messed up her white blood cells and red blood cells and inspection would come in and shut down my whole operation
Think nothing of it… Just one of many irrational fears that keep me up at night since working with children sighs*
Even worse, every time I took the wash cloth to Gaši, he would make this crazy face :
By the end of the day, they were all making the crazy face
Surely, the fumes had seeped into their brains somehow
Zala seemed a bit normal, so I gave in to her request to play Sleeping Queens, that had Maja crushing them 3 times in a row
By this time, the classroom had become impossibly hot and since it was nearing closing time, we went back to the hallway where it seemed like a faint wind was taking solace, to check on our paint job and wrap it all up.
As there was still a layer left to go on each crate, there was no way in hell I was going to hand them brushes and clean up another mess, so I took to the rest of the job myself, while they sat quietly playing another game.
And with that, the day came to end, with the kids excited and salivating for next days’ breakfast.
Ready for pancakes!
As I’m renting my classroom space in the vast building of a forester company, my Landlord, Mr. M was gracious enough to have us use the kitchen for our shenanigans since their crew was mostly away for most of the day. And not the first time he would extend such graciousness either, as he also let us use an empty space (now occupied though) for our halloween bash last year, which now leaves me with a real head-scratcher as to were it will hold this year But, one headache at a time.
He even left out a bowl of plums he’d picked himself for us on arrival
So, to the order of the day!
Gotta wash those hands first!
And it was all hands on deck!
The kids were particularly excited to show off their egg-cracking skills and I was thoroughly impressed
and even more so by their ease of handling condiments- not a single spill!
A dash here and a dab there,
and it was time to get frying
… and flipping
..and eating!
Clean up was a breeze
as the kids were all just anxious to get back to their crates to deck it out and practice for the sale.
Once back in the classroom, we got to primping and preening
Those damned poles gave us a right headache! In the end, it looked like we succeeded, but it went all awry on us again, until Gašper’s dad sorted it out for us when he came to pick him up (apparently, we’d secured it the wrong way with those whatchamacallit white fastener thingies… the name escapes me noweven in Slovenscina
When we were done, the perfectionist streak in me wanted to paint the poles too, but the even the kids gave a defiant no in unison, so that was out the window… a relief, honestly but still, just another one of many OCDs to keep me up at night.
Then it was time for our banner to go up!
then all the bells and whistles
Finishing touches by Alja,
and off to the next craft- making invitations to get the word out about our handiwork!
Zala keeping it sweet and simple, just like herself
If it’s Chess, boardgames, anything artsy, running after people, climbing things, telling her she can’t do something, Alja’s always game!
Maja, a product of her mother’s designer genes, set about it in no time. (Her mom, Suzy is responsible for most of the design work and translations on this site, and a real trooper behind the advent of the Lemon Tree. I might brag about her A LOT! (It’s a union made in design heaven between us♀️)
While it looked like Gašper was taking a chill pill during all this girly stuff, he managed to churn out 4 invitations(the girls could only manage 2 ) he handed out at a birthday party that very day!
Check out that level of concentration! When he does that thing with his tongue, you know the focus is intense!
A real trooper or what?!
Lunch called and we answered
Then it was off to Mercator to pick the brightest, yellowest, biggest, juiciest lemons we could find!
and then back to the classroom to display them and fiddle with those damned poles a tad, while Alja played in my hair.
And finished the day strong with a round of Banana Split.
Breakfast on day 3, we kept it simple with bakery treats and cereal
Another easy-breezy clean up
and off to the shade in Gajska Hosta playground in Kompole as temperatures had begun soaring into the mid- 30s and it was becoming increasingly impossible to be in the classroom
Armed with our outdoor favourites, we decided to throw caution to the wind, and avocados at one another with a riotous game of throw throw avocado
A game which always ends up with nobody ever wanting to duel Alja, and me quietly praying nobody falls and cracks their skull open on the unforgiving concrete. She was as tireless as a bull and gave everyone a good sweat, running all over the court, ducking and weaving, without even breaking a sweat. We were exhausted to the point of tears and just relieved for it be over. No, really, one of the kids cried because Alja just wouldn’t give up the chase and my poor lungs were on fire.
Since we were surrounded by beautiful, lush, green woods, we decided to zipadeedoodah right into it
and emerge satisfactual on such a wonderful day, but Gaši just wasn’t feeling it and begged to be behind the camera or play another game instead
Excited he was, to try out the potato sack race (or in this case, circus clown sack race) which then turned out Maya wasn’t particularly feeling
and of course Alja ended up winning
So we soaked up some more of the sights, swung around a bit,
and then headed back down for lunch
to well-deserved hamburgers and more BBQ sauce for me
and then back to the classroom to cool off with ice lollies
And a strategic round of Catan
Then tidied up (a chore I was surprised to find Zala took really seriously)
And called it a day
Day 4 had Gaši specifically requesting eggs, and Zala, frankfurters.
Alja kept it simple with cereal, while Suzy called in with heart breaking news that Maja wouldn’t be joining us that day.
Aghast, the kids pestered me throughout breakfast with questions I couldn’t answer as to Maja’s shocking absence.
We were all crestfallen and tried to make sense of the awful situation because it was scheduled to be the best day ever and none of us could wrap our heads around why she’d want to miss out on such fun.
While her mom tried to convince me it was because she was rather averse to water, I knew deep down in my soul, she was just tired… heck, I was! The blazing sun was zapping all our energy and had completely tapped her out. I understood her completely, because I myself struggled to get out of bed that morning but pushed through because… I could sense it in Gaši and Zala too, but they weren’t trying to miss out on the water fun.. Alja, well… Alja’s just cut out of a different cloth, so…
We ate breakfast without further incident, while I devised clever ways to rouse Maja from her slumber/ irrational fear.
A quick filler game of Honeycombs at Alja’s insistence, with Gaši plotting world domination after discovering play money in the cash register, and Zala looking on rather nonplussed,
we set out for ourfun-filled day after making pinky promises with fingers crossed behind my back we would play the oversizedthrow throw burrito
En route, we called up Maja’s mom to threaten her with a good time ore else we’d pull up to her house and drag her hands and feet if need be.
Guess what? She obliged! Oh happy days!
We pulled up to her crib to cheer her out and boost her spirits, and she came out all beaming☺️☺️
Who needs Superman to save the day
And off we went, to chase another adventure
Remember that completely off the grid-no signal having, middle of nowhere completely off the radar, trespassers will be shot on sight-private property I told you about in this post? Yes! Yes!
Well, as the gods would have it, we were invited back once again since we behaved ourselves the last time.
It was more of a treat for Zala and Gaši since Alja and Maja had already been there last year
Every now and then, Maja would serve her ‘what the heck, get me out of here face‘ then I’d give her the death stare in return, which would set her face straight again
We posed endlessly for Vogue cover-worthy photos♀️
We seized and soaked up every bit of the day as much as we could.
(Around here, the sun just hits differentYou don’t mind if it roasts you alive.. you don’t even feel the burn because you’re too busy trying to pick your jaw off the floor marvelling at nature’s majestic beauty. It’s all fun and games though, until you wake up the next morning to find you’ve been burnt to a crisp!)
Alja, little dare-devil that she is, dove, dunked, swam and splashed her way around,
even convincing Zala who’s mother had admonished me only the day before, not to even let her daughter venture near the lake, to dip in!
And then she even got Gašper in too! We all swore we’d never step foot in that grimy green cesspit marinating in fish poo
But she was quick to remind us that fish did their business in the seas and oceans too, and humans, even worse- a point which was duly noted and well taken but totally unfazed me and Maja.
Next up, fishing in the smaller lake because the fishing is best were the fewest go
Long after the rest of us had given up, convinced luck just wasn’t on our side that day, who else but Alja chose to remain in the game until by jove, a fish was indeed caught!
If I ever failed to mention it, now is as good a time as any to note that Alja at 8 years old, is currently a Slovenian National Chess champion in her category and taking adult souls while at it, and she’ll be competing in the European Youth Chess Championship in Prague this August. So if anything, explains her obstinate streak.
Sometimes, she’ll come in with her many medals and trophies to show me and a few times, she’s even tried to school me on the game itself, with a chessboard she bought for the classroom SOLELY for that purpose (sweet little thing) but I always give up because I’ve always found chess so intimidating and hell will freeze over first before I lose to an 8 year old I’d rather take her on in throw throw avocado
Maja and I missed the whole thing, because we were too busy Vogueing and working on our tans
Next on the agenda was the water balloon fight which I knew would be a better trade off than those humungous burritos we’d have to waste precious time pumping
Back for round two with me only butting in to point out that the balloons and bucket matched my top
While Gaši and Majči got started on making their own pizzas
A quick dip in the tub for me, and our bellies bursting with pizza, it was time to call it a day!
The kids were absolutely bummed and close to throwing tantrums when I announced it was time to head back to civilization and were only placated by thoughts of the litres of lemonade we would sell the next day and of course, a yummy ice cream treat
Downcast, we popped our stuff back in the trunk, said our goodbyes and even went home with oodles of goodies from my lakeside friends.. the best treat yet!
The next morning, Gaši turned up with yellow lollipops to add to our display Another round of too many monkeys as requested by the kids, breakfast and a quick run-through of last minute prep work for our stand, and D-day was in full swing!
We worked all morning like Shoemakers’ Elves to make sure everything was tippy toppy for our grand day!
Everyone, particularly Gaši was in super zesty spirits! Happy Kid!
The poles gave us a right headache, so we decided to lose it all together and fasten the banner to either sides of the crates
Then lunch, and a quick dash to Mercator to stock up on some more lemons just for good measure
Then it was a race against the clock to get the lemons juiced and chilled before our customers started trooping in.
It was all hands on deck and division of labour was a logistical success!
And nothing was left to waste!
A few more zesty additions
A couple of taste tests,
And we were open for business!
Customers trickled in and Maja did a happy dance when she saw her mom
Parents and grandparents trooped in to support their loved ones and the kids were very eager to show off their hard work.
And their Mamis and Babis did not disappoint. They bought and drank lemonade until their tummies hurt.
We made a whooping 82Euros!
At some point, Alja abandoned her post and was more interested in counting and recounting the loot.
As a summer camp memento, my parting gift to them were Zesty notebooks designed by Suzy and myself for the coming school year For English lesson only♀️
Suzy and I had spent an afternoon coming up with these prototype versions as there’s still plenty more ideas in the works for execution, so Maja’s happy face was all the seal of approval we needed!
🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋
Annnnnnd that’s all folks!
Thus ended the first batch of Summer Camp 2024, zestier and bubblier than ever.
If I haven’t bored you to death yet, stay tuned for the next post on the second batch which commenced 2 days later, and which yours truly is still recovering from
As always, thank you for reading and remember to seize the day!☺️
If you recall from the last video on our socials, we forgot to add lemonade to our dramatic play restaurant corner – an outright travesty! 🙀How this went completely over my head beats me. (Which also reminds me to do something about those aprons ASAP! Am I slacking in the zesty department😩or what?)
Backstory: Sometime back in January, a group of my girls from Šentjur pointed out we were missing menus for our dramatic play sessions. They nagged and bugged until I gave in. While it was group effort on their part with menu offerings, at their insistence my only job was to pencil the calligraphy framework for poshness and presentation, while the colouring in and decorating was entirely their doing.
And we got good mileage out of those menus, we did!
But with each play, it never occurred to any of us to order a glass of lemonade, what with being surrounded by lemons and what-nots, right up until the end of our last play date in June!
Perhaps it was summer’s heat that brought it to memory, because what’s summer without a cool glass of lemonade, right?
Right! So after racking my brains as to what to do with the 1st batch of campers next week, I figured we’d just go all out and build the entire lemonade stand, goddamit! Why not go for the whole damned building🤷🏽♀️Time to play for real, no more drama!
I had thoughts of even Nara Smithing it and heading out to the woods armed with chainsaws and axes to chop down the tree which we would’ve planted only 5-7 business days prior of course, for wood to construct the wooden crates, but HA! jokes on us, as we already did that last year…💁🏽♀️*yawn*
After having grouped kids according to age for this year’s camp, best getting the younger ones out of the way for starters, it brings with it a whole new challenge as to keeping them engaged, because the thought of dragging 3rd & 4th graders tu pa tam doesn’t necessarily make me want to do cartwheels. It makes all the sense to keep them busy with hands-on projects, and this one in particular, being a fun way to help them practice social and entrepreneurial skills , only this time for real. From set-up all the way to execution, they can learn teamwork, decision-making on how to design the stand, not to mention entrepreneurship and hard work making and selling the lemonade, and responsibility in cleaning up afterwards.
Plus, it’ll be a perfect addition to our classroom dramatic play corner🤗
Bringing this creative vision to life has been no mean feat. Had me running from one home depot to the other all week, searching for the right -sized crates, poles and fastening tools that will enable us put away and reuse with ease. Then bits and bobs to make it all come together.
It didn’t help that my yellow OCD got activated and went into overdrive at the sight of a pack of ridiculously expensive yellow brushes. Even the store assistants advised me to go to Tedi to find cheaper ones, but that’s exactly the kind of negativity I don’t need in my life!
💛💛💛💛💛
Today, I discovered it’d be easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle’s eye than to find a packet of yellow balloons. I mean, every other colour under the sun exists, yes, in Tedi, Kik and Mueller except for a pack of plain yellows balloons. Is there even a God?
Hence, settled for multicoloured ones that’ll have us fishing out the yellows and banishing the rest into some unknown clear plastic container for future use. Win-win, I guess.
Yesterday had me working out the right triangle sizes for banners to cut down on prep time when the kids get into it, after which I punched in holes and strung them up to see how they’d hold up against the wind. 3 holes did the trick.
I know I could probably find and print out some pre-made ones on Pinterest, but why make it so easy for them when we could Nara Smith it from scratch.
It even afforded me the opportunity to practice my free hand lemons, which I might add is not looking too bad. Tisa would be so proud🤗
As I was checking out of Impus with my crates the other day, out of the corner of my wandering eye, these babies stopped me DEAD in my tracks 🫢🍋🍋🍋
HELLO LOVER 😍🍋🍋🍋🍋
Bear in mind that, my 6th graders gifted me with a gorgeous one just 2 weeks ago ( the umpteenth one because I swear at this point, I’ve lost count of how many dispensers I own. ) BUT none of them are plastered in lemons like these, come on!!!! I wish you’d stop judging me. The universe clearly placed them right in my path and meant for them to sit perfectly pretty on our lemony lemon lemonade stand! Can you see it all coming together? Oh, can you?
I have a lot-hate relationship with spigot drink dispensers. It’s a clear cut case of you get what you pay for. Of all the ones I own, the most expensive one is the only one that has stood the test of time, but the plastic ones will drip, drip, drip into oblivion … every. single.time. But I believe the camp gods are with me on these ones
Finished the day strong putting together a box to store our earnings.
The plan being to have parents, wards, passers-by, anyone really, come to our stand on the last day to purchase and make us a killing- half the proceeds of which we will donate to an animal shelter or charity of sorts. The other half, the kids and I will split equally amongst ourselves💁🏽♀️ easy peasy, lemon squeezy😎
So, if you’ll be in our neck of the woods next Friday the 12th, do stop by between 12 noon to 4 pm and be a sport! It’d be an absolute refreshing delight!
Looking forward to our fresh start on Monday morning🤗
Alas! The season we’ve all been waiting for is finally upon us! School’s out, the sun- along with the occasional torrential downpour continues to blaze brighter and hotter than ever. The heady intoxicating scent and sizzle of neighbourhood barbecues permeates the senses, and the mosquitoes which belong in hell continue to live freely amongst us and assault our persons. And as such, life goes on. Whether it’s life’s great big bovver boot doing you dirty, or you’re perched on an exotic beach downing dirty martinis, it’s still charging ahead full gung ho!
No better timing than the present to wax philosophical by musing that regardless of life’s curveballs like the weather, ill health, the moon, dire straits, or your idiot ex, everyday the sun is shinning on your face and not on your grave is by far, the most wonderful day that ever was.
For this, gratitude is an absolute must, and libation must be poured (though I prefer to drink every last drop of mine) to whatever deity one subscribes to: Jesus, Allah, Mother Nature, Tito, Mary mother of God, one must always be thankful. *inhales deeply* AMEN🙏🏽*sips* CHEERS 🥂
And now, *proceeds to rant*…
OMFG! The past few days have just been absolute meh! And no matter what I tried to get out of the slump, nothing seemed to be working up until sitting down to pen this post.
It finally reached a climax yesterday after staying up way past my bedtime (This old birdie likes to turn in by no later than 9) to watch the Slovenia-Portugal football match. Never in my life, had I been so emotionally invested in a football game like I was with this one. It had my heart racing, had me cursing like a truck driver, in tears even, and the next morning, cranky as one of those bitches that work in the tujici section of uprava enota.
I then spent the next day- today, as useless as the leader of the free world: A straight up two and a half hours of my life watching TikTok videos 😢(I feel like I’ll need to see the Holy Father and do penance for that one. I’m disgusted at myself🙇🏽♀️) then fell asleep on one of the bean bags in the classroom after 2 cups of strong, black coffee. The second cup took me right TF out. It was brutal. Then I woke up feeling like I’d been run over by a truck, and tried to do some spadework in preparation for summer camp but realised I was fooling no-one , so went home to cook and wolf down an entire small pot of jollof rice and pen this post.
I miss the kids😩our spontaneous mini-dance sessions, most of all were just what the doctor ordered for whatever woe-is-me emotions that tried would try seep through the cracks, rendering me indefatigable for hours on end, and now I have to chase that high by dancing alone in the kitchen🙄and I can’t believe I’m writing this myself either, but the hustle and bustle of running around like a headless chicken, constantly worrying about lesson preps, the sound of printing paper, the daily soul-snatching plight of what to have for dinner, and coming home exhausted to my eyeballs and passing out on the weekends, I miss it all!😭I guess I’ve reached that sweet spot in middle life of just not knowing how to switch off and be present. It’s an old-time classic story: During the school year, bitch, complain and yearn for idle days like these, then when they finally arrive, I want to blow my brains out.
But then, I’ll be reminded of an esoteric teaching or two from some long dead ascended master of spirituality from the far flung east about one’s TRUE SELF and inner peace and lotus flowers and shit like that (mostly Bruce Lee quotes, really) and then all will be well again and sanity restored.
Other times, I’ll take a hot shower, don my silkiest, fanciest robe, a tiara (no, seriously a tiara, yes👑), sit on my terrace and very slowly and intently have a cigarette. Just the one. Try it. (No, not you kids, please!) Works a treat, but not lately.
Flowers always win. If the kids aren’t bringing me some, then I’m buying myself a bunch and it’s an instant pick-me-up!
I visited my friend yesterday, and she cut me these from her garden😍
Božansko or what?! 😍
Going through my phone and looking back on pictures from the last week before school let out for the summer, and all the stuff we got up to, warmed my heart immensely.
Summer plans and buckets lists were the order of the entire month!
Not to mention the tests. Remember the overly dramatic reversed teacher role-playing l mentioned in this post, which I let them indulge in come June? Well, they had a field day shoving test papers in my face, breathing down my neck and happily flunking me at it- the highlight of their entire school year.
Somehow, I couldn’t spell a simple 4-letter word ‘Vlak ‘(Slovenian word for train)😩I will never live that down.
But it was all tempered by the utterly zesty end of year gifts they bestowed me with🥰
Ajla, bless her heart, went and raided her closet and absolutely insisted to her mom that I must have this blouse🫢🥰🍋
My heart, exploding into a tiny million pieces💥💛
Another darling addition to my lemon totes collection.. with a a key holder pouch to match🤗🍋🍋 had me in a zesty spell!
Ulalaaaa came through with pancakes and they were warm, and finger-licking good, and hit the spot , just like they do every.single.time.
Bless this child!🫶🏽
And just this Friday gone, she invited me over to hers for even more pancakes! After which she and her sister presented me these lovely lemon plates with lemon body care to boot. I was over the moon to say the least!
This here teacher is eternally grateful, and I miss my space but most of all, the kids, sorely.
Prep work for summer camp is well under way and it’ll be all systems GO the next 3 weeks during which I’ll be pinning for my bed and idle days again, so ramping up on the summer self care, and soaking up the sun as much as I can.
Haven’t registered your child yet? You can still do so here, as there’s still a handful of slots still available! Summer camps are the best way to embark on adventurous activities- the tried and true tested form of self-care available for kids before September rears it’s big head and they go on to become adults and realise adulthood is a scam😅
For unforgettable memories this summer, I await your young ones with eager anticipation🤗
Do the damned thing and have yourself a wonderful summer!
Fresh off the heels of July camp, tucking right into August camp was a breeze… sort of.
In between, there was an ample 2 weeks to recharge and refocus:
Morning runs chasing that elusive sun like what I’ve come to accept is my spirit animal- the lizard.. (I’ve normally up until this point claimed the leopard but… look I concede defeat. OK? 🙌🏽☀️It’s definitely the lizard🙄😅)
Mnnnnnn.. paše…..👌🏽☀️
Quality time with friends spent relishing 3 of my favourite pastimes: Food, wine, and even more breath-taking views🫶🏽
punishing up-hill hikes and the like…
and before one knew it, it was time to do it all over again.
Somewhere in-between, I’d received sudden heart-wrenching news I had to evacuate the classroom by month’s end before the pre-agreed time of December, so that put a damper on things, which left me sour and agitated with worry, but which honestly, looking back in retrospect, came as a blessing in disguise as I can’t possibly have fathomed moving classrooms in the frigid winter, mid-school year.
So, back in the swing of things we went, and being a firm believer of “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” decided to stick with what worked with camp July.
Eye patches at the ready, the campers started off day 1 taking their best shots with the cannon balls
It was a rare honour and privilege to host returnees which gave me the needed confidence boost that I was doing something right. So I tried my best to give the kids the best possible experience even if it meant going out of pocket.
Routining it with breakfast, tidy-up and heading out came easy.. and I’d even broken the news to them that it was our last time together in that space, so we tried coming up with names for whatever new space lay in the horizon, speculating it was time to go big, complete with proper branding, as going back home just wasn’t an option.
Dragi starší, you know your kids don’t look this amused doing dishes at home! You know this! 😅 Send them to me!
Off to the playground we sauntered, with a neighbourhood or two kids tagging along on the way
Hey flier photo, 👋🏽heeey😃
The floor is lava for the win,
hot! hot! hot!
so back round the corner to Gostilna Špulcer for Dobble on steroids on soft cool grass in the shade… a relief!
Picikato, because what was I supposed to do? Cook for them?😳
After which, Špulcer let us earn some cool-down drinks by feeding their cows
Ice-cream finishers,
And next thing you know, it was time to head home
Day 2 brought back Alja, (another returnee from July camp) from the sea-side with a game she showed everyone how to play but no mercy in winning. (The kid is a gifted Slovenian National Chess prodigy at only 7 years old, so… naturally to be expected🙄)
Breakfast, clean-up, and you know how the rest of this story goes….
After which, the kids went absolutely nutters for donuts and a game of…
Off to the woods where we caught up with Nik to prep for the next day’s activity- making bows and arrows..
I don’t know what that tree did to Naj, but it sure got the death it deserved
and if you’re sitting there, judging me, wondering why I’m letting kids run rampant with machetes unsupervised, let me just assure you by letting you know that Nik is the last surviving breed of country boys born with said machete in hand, cruising around in a tractor and/ or performing death-defying helmetless bicycle stunts straight out of the womb. I trust Nik with my life more than with any able-bodied adult and proud to have him as one of my students.
PLUS, he always brings me flowers… so your arguments are falling on deaf ears my friend 🤫
Quick goofy game of fill your pants that wore them right out with giggles
And right back to Špulcer’s to wolf down Picikato because, surely… you didn’t think I was going to cook for them🤨did you?
Half- way through lunch, horses were spotted, so of course the kids had to go A- petting🤗
Scouts honour, I made them wash their hands before heading back to lunch!
And then on the way back to the classroom, a pony was spotted! And whaddya know? We had to go pet some more 🙄
Back in the classroom, Naj and Rok were feeling confident they could take on Alja again, but she destroyed them …every.single.time…and so they conceded to playing each other- under her tutelage of course!
and then finished the day strong with a game of giant Sequence on the parking lot
Kicked off day 3 with a fast and furious memory work game, Grabolo to jump-start their brains for the long day ahead.
A fantastic multi-whammy game that hits colour and shape recognition, not to mention observational and dexterity skills.
Meanwhile, Rok and Naj preferred to get a head-start on inflating the giant burritos for throwing.
A feat we couldn’t even accomplish at July camp with Alex’s even more sophisticated pump
But Rok was unfazed
He huffed
and puffed
and blew that burrito right up😭with Naj tinkering away at the other burrito
in the end, success my friends👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAMWORK💪🏽
I was so moved by their relentlessness and determination, I told them they could have whatever they wanted for breakfast, and in perfect unison, they cried out for pancakes!
Well, pancakes they had!
Thankfully, I lived just next door , so tinkering and puttering up and down the stairs I went,
and in less than half an hour, the kids were showing off their flipping skills
and then some…
I too, toss and turn at night at the mere fact that our aprons are not lemon-printed 🙀😿An outright abomination!
and then we tucked right in!
and then off we went, to burrito battle!
But first, a breather….A.K.A any opportunity for the kids to play in my hair😝
That, and there were still those pesky bows and arrows to complete, so the battle had to wait.
More weapons of mass destruction later, and we managed to fell the tree we’d been working on the day before. Not taking all the credit, as nature had assisted us days before with a violent storm that uprooted it half-way. We just came along and finished the job .
then we got down to the business of clipping and sawing and shaving and stringing and what-nots
You betcha’ the girls wanted colourful arrows with glitter and studs and all that jazz🥰 and they had quite literally a field day at it!
Meanwhile, it was all systems go on the other side!
Naj on quality control check,
and Rok was just about ready to steal from the rich and give to the poor
but before you could say Robin Hood, the clock struck noon and we were famished, so off to Špulcer we trotted.
On the way back, the never-ending itch to burrito-battle overcame these two, and they went at it all the way uphill😳
Upon arrival, Špulcer was so gracious to let the girls feed their fish
While the boys absolutely insisted it was battle or nothing.
By the time things had gotten ridiculously out of hands, with the boys realising it was way more fun to kick the burritos around like footballs instead of using as intended, lunch showed up in the nick of time and I could heave a sigh of relief.
Ice cream finishers, and we called it a day- a well spent one🤗
The next day took us out on an early morning hike while the weather was still cool and bearable.
Sometimes, Iva will just about have it with my shenanigans, and she’ll never fail to let me know😅 Alja’s always a trooper!
Don’t we just look like poster kids for the cult classic: Children of the corn ? 😅
En route, the kids spotted an immobile bird and their poor, concerned selves absolutely refused to budge until they were sure it could fly again.
Quick-thinkingDr. Rok insisted it came with us on the hike, lest some predatory animal finished it off
A few minutes later, it took flight, and we were back on our merry way.
We soaked up some more of the gorgeous scenery atop hill, cutting through the woods,
and right back out, by which time, we were parched, exhausted and ravenous.
Absolutely determined not to give Picikato any more of my hard earned money, I marched them right to my home and made them club sandwiches.
May the camp gods be praised🙏🏽nobody died, or ended up in the E.R. or got the shits😳
Seeing that nobody died, or ended up in urgenca or got the shits, I decided to celebrate this fine occasion by letting the kids take a plunger to cool down.
Relax germaphobes and theorists of conspiratorial nature 👋🏽 I had my son re-fill and chlorinate the water hours before we trooped in 😙nobody got bacterial meningitis and had to have a limb amputated
A quick soak in the sun, and then the real water fun began
…and even more water fun💦
Next thing you know, they were hungry again! Jebela cesta, eh!🤯
So, I had to fork out… 😤
I’m starting to think, maybe I should cook this year🤔Ker mislim da to je purely unsustainable, wtf 😳
and then we finished strong with ice cream😋
Come day 5, we were absolutely knackered! We all struggled. Iva came in really late.. so late, she missed out on breakfast. Her mom said she struggled to get out of bed. Rok didn’t even make it out and skipped the last day altogether😅
Plans were to go back to the playground to finish up our archery but the kids just wanted to go back to my place and chill.
So we did just that- grabbed a few games and went off to bake cupcakes and donate some more money to Picikato.
And thus, ended August camp on the sweetest of notes 🥰
And I can’t wait to do it allll over again this year! 🤗
Every time I’m about to start a post, skost študiram…če bomo v slovenščina ali v angleščina as I worry about alienating both readers. Angleščina always wins out because
It’s my mother tongue and the only way I know to fully express those rabid thoughts.
I’m an English teacher 🙄 this is a blog about what I do, how I do it, and even worse,
I’m a writing teacher and brevity is not necessary the soul of wit. So this, along with future posts will be long-winded. (Brace yourselves)
Not that I couldn’t make the attempt in Slovene, but that’s a whole other kettle of fish.
While my landing page brims with shiny, protracted (often verbose🧐😅) text that would give chat GPT and Google translate a run for their money, if you think I actually sat down to translate and proof-read the Slovenian page to utmost perfection, then I’ve got a bridge in Nigeria I’d looooove to sell you!
That, along with the building of this site, took an entire army (including grammar and spelling Nazis) of amazing people and a good several months- a price I couldn’t possibly fork out just to churn out a mere blogpost every now and then. So I will do this the best way I know how, and let pictures do the rest of the talking.
Down to the nitty-gritty‼️
As mentioned previously, 4 years in the thick of it, trying to make something of The Lemon Tree , I took the plunge last year and attempted my very first summer camp. This was against all outside voices filling me with fear about whether it would work, if I had enough kids, I’d burn out, and my personal fave, “won’t you go to the seaside? “ ( In Slovenia, something is seriously wrong with you if you’re at a party and not drinking, and if you don’t visit the seaside in the summer)
So Against these odds, and being a trier, (I swear, I will try anything at least once! Except skydiving, backpacking across any continent whatsoever and Kravavica🤢🤮) I rolled the dice, put together a flier with 4 dates, and left the rest to the camp gods.
4 registrations for July, 5 in August, and I was good to go, doing away with 2 other dates.
The first day of July camp (7:30 STAT!) started out on a sweet ,sweet note, with these 2 dollies gifting me an ice-cream machine I’m hoping will get some action this summer.
Next, we jumped right into a pre-set routine to keep things on track.
Circle time and warm-up Yoga stretches with a different kid taking the lead each day that elicited a ton of giggles. None of them could keep a straight face for longer than 2 seconds.
Monkey see, Monkey do 🙈🙊
Then to the order of the day, GAMES! Shooting pom pom cannon balls off a pre-assembled pop-up pirate ship, with eye-patches for even more authenticity- Aye!😉
Ahoy there captains! 🏴☠️
Only thing missing was a wooden peg leg and captain Jack Sparrow walking the plank.
Next, we headed out for a game of dobble on steroids- always a fave with the kids.
In the heat of the excitement, completely forgetting I’d advertised malica in the program, ( I too struggle with UK & US spellings of program and programme so use it interchangeably as the spirit leads🧐😅I’m unstable like that😎 ) by which time the kids were famished, so an early call to Picikato, the nearest and only open restaurant within a 3km radius was placed.
“eeewww, she’s feeding them junk food!”
Well, what was I supposed to do? Cook for them? Sadly, my super powers do not extend that far, and why would I risk poisoning them and catching a potential lawsuit?
“omg isn’t that expensive?”
Well, what was I supposed to do? Cook for them? Ain’t nobody got time for that🫤
To allay your fears, this year I’ve got that covered with another nearby restaurant that will be open for the summer and we’ve prepped a menu with somewhat healthier alternatives, but French fries will remain a constant✌🏽
Nevertheless, it was a great way for them to learn responsibility, taking initiative and live-action role playing.
Dessert, coffee to replenish my batteries, some more games, and before we could say Jack Robinson, it was 3:30 pm and time to call it a day!
The next day, after Iva’s mom had seen the tomfoolery I’d gotten up to on the parents’ Viber group where I’d been keeping them up to date with all our goings-on, she had mercy on my soul and packed a whole breakfast for us the following morning😍🥰
Flabbergasted and overwhelmed with gratitude doesn’t even begin to cut it.. I cried…🥲can you tell?But first, giggly Yoga
Next, we feasted like royalty.
Yuuuuuuuummm!😋😋
We had eggs cooked in ocvirki mast ,(if you haven’t tried that, be sure to put it on your bucket list) jam, butter, cheese bread, spreads.. we could barely move by the time we were done.
Quick game of drop-it to reinforce shapes and colours before heading out to the great outdoors…
for even more games!
👑👸🏻🐝💁🏽♀️
Where the time went, I have absolutely no clue because they were hungry AGAIN!
Picikato to the rescue!
…mislim, what was I supposed to do? Cook for them?🤷🏽♀️
Clean up was a breeze!
Next, we got artsy with camp diary posters
The next morning had us feasting on left-overs from the day before
Easy-breezy lemon squeezy clean-up
and off to the great outdoors we went…
The entire time , they were running about , I kept thinking “what if one of them falls and cracks open something? LAWSUIT LAWSUIT! LAWSUIT! I quickly bundled them right back indoors and made a mental note to play future running games in the fields on soft grass. But then, what if something bites them… oh God!😬 I swear, the what-ifs keep me up at night😩
Indoors had us putting finishing touches to our Summer Camp posters
and then… you guessed it… lunch!!
Gold cups for golden kids!🤩✨
and a sweet treat to cool down…
Thursday morning, Alex came bearing muffins!!😍
They were warm, smelt amazing, and I couldn’t resist gobbling down one with my morning Go juice☕️’
By this time, on day 4, morning Yoga had completely taken on a life of its own😅
For the life of me, I too cannot explain what is going on here🤷🏽♀️but, yeah…
Settling into our routine just fine with another quick game of Fire in the hole before heading out to do a bit of exploring
Ahoy there Captains!🏴☠️
And off we went!
More sights than sounds….
Back indoors for a quick nibble, by which time we’d nailed our routine down to a T…
Another game, because it is after all a board game summer camp…🙄
Thursday entries into our journal posters😃 as Friday was the grand finale at a secret location where we wouldn’t have been able to complete them…
and a photo-shoot to boot 📸
All together now:::
More games, lunch, and you know how the rest of the story goes😃
Grand finale Friday morning Yoga for the win,
Absolutely, utterly nuts for donuts.. WITH donuts😍
🍩🍩🍩😍
And a happy robot dance by Majči because we’re off to a secret location,
Campers at the ready! And off we went, to take in some more of Slovenia’s gorgeous natural beauty.
Iva questioning her life’s choices
At some completely off the grid-no-signal-middle-of-nowhere-tresspassers will be shot on sight – private property.
As you can probably tell by now, Alex was the only boy enrolled at July camp, and none of the girls were particularly interested in playing football with him (a bummer I’ve managed to sort out with this year’s camp) so we had to trade-off with other activities everyone could participate in, as our secret location had lots of outdoor fun on tap!
A bit of exploring in the woods,
and back in time for a make-your-own- pizza party!
A real treat!
And a chance to finally put my feet up and get pampered a tad!
Some more games,
Ice cream😋
and a quick photo shoot📸😉
Thus, ended my first July camp on a sleep-deprived but super-exciting high note!
If I haven’t bored you to death with this lengthy post, then keep your eyes peeled for part two of the August 2023 camp.
