Joys of Camp July ’24 (1st batch🍋)

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 of Snap 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🤗

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.

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🫣

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!

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 now🙄even 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!

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 oversized throw 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 different😀You 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! 🍋🍋

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!☺️

Hugs,

Y☀️