Samantha's first blog

Posted By pamelamyers on August 12, 2016

Sam  finished her second week of camp, this time at one of her favorite places, Busy Bees! When we enrolled her, it was still winter and we had no idea if she was even going to like the idea of camp, so we picked half-day. At Tyler, full day was the only option but since Busy Bees gave us a choice, we erred on the side of caution and picked half day. Luckily, she loved Tyler and didn’t mind the full day at all. It turned out she loved Busy Bees camp too and was so mad that she had to leave at lunchtime while some of the other kids got to stay! I kept hearing, “In the afternoon they were doing “x”. I missed that! The next day in the afternoon they did “y”. I missed that!” I tried to explain to her that I didn’t know if she’d even like camp when we signed her up so we only picked half day, but she wasn’t having it. On one of the last days she asked me why I didn’t try to ask them if she could stay longer and, honestly, I felt kind of bad. The classes were not packed and if I had even thought about it after the first day or so, I probably could have asked them if she could change to full day and they would have let her. Oh well.

I assured her that next year she can do full day at Busy Bees, full day at Tyler and even one other week somewhere if she wanted to. She would have gone for multiple weeks at Tyler if we had let her. There is also camp at the place where she is going to do gymnastics this fall, so that is an option too. Anyway, that’s for next year.

At Busy Bees, just like at Tyler, each week has a theme. The week I picked was a Hawaiian theme. Since she is obsessed with Hawaii, I knew she would love it. She came home every day telling me all about the things she made, the movies they watched while they were crafting (Zootopia. If I hear one more word about Zootopia, I am going to scream! She is now obsessed with my watching it.) She also made a friend her first day, which is always nice. I am so glad she always seems to make an instant friend.

We didn’t get to bring home any of her crafts until the last day, and even then, the clay pieces she made the first day were not painted. They just didn’t have time. (According to Sam, if she had stayed all day they would have been painted….bad Mommy!) They told us we could come in any time and paint and they would be fired for free. We made sure to do that right away so she got to enjoy them while she was still in the spirit of the thing.

In the course of the week, she made things out of clay and painted them, painted a canvas, painted bisque, made a mosaic and did some glass fusing. I am so proud of her! Here is all her beautiful art!

Here is her clay. They all made a tiki mask and a pineapple. I am not clear on whether or not the swimming pool was Sam’s own idea, but I am pretty sure it was. Sam told me that everyone else made different noses and teeth than she did. She didn’t follow the instructions but did her own thing. I think it looks great! The little tiny face on the cheek is supposed to be another tiki, according to Sam. I think the pineapple is her favorite.

The bisque mermaid was some sort of tracing that was put onto the surfboard and then they painted. According to the instructor, all the girls painted their mermaid with their own color hair.

I love the fused glass! I have been wanting to do that myself. I love Sam’s hula girl’s coconut bra!

The kids made their own mosaic. Sam told me she was the only one who made a flower. She was very upset with me when I was holding it upside down. This is the way it goes though. I thought the green was the stem, but alas, no, it is the stamen and the yellow is the pollen. The flower is pink. Sorry, Sam!

On the last day, they painted a canvas. I think this is my favorite. She did an amazing job and added a lot of her own touches, from what she tells me. The white rays coming from behind the mountain, the white swells in the water. Great job, Samantha! Maybe one day you will be a famous artist.

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