Meet Khaki

Week 2 at camp was pretty awesome. It was fantasy week, and though I opted not to wear a costume again on Friday, Miss Shayla totally rocked her fairy costume! Sadly, her pictures didn't make the slideshow :-(

Luke, Becky, and Nissa

Marcus and Madeline

Scoping out the scene

Swimming is being affected by those pesky afternoon deluges, but so it goes living in the Armpit of Hades. But we still have the sprinklers! Here we are enjoying a nice dip in the baby pool:

Me and Ada, who is getting a little sister in August

Hot tubbing!

 Mom said that I'm getting lots of compliments from the lifeguards and counselors about what a strong swimmer I am. Yay me. I've advanced to level 3 in my swimming, which means I get to work on rotary breathing, among other skills. I'm stoked to swim laps with Mom.
This week we also got to bring home some new friends -- complete with birth certificates! Meet Khaki. We think he's a rottweiler.

There were 2 options: here's some of my lady friends with their choices:

Adi, Sophia, and Madeline

Adi, Sophia, and Madeline

Good times! Mom's favorite part of the Shabbat service, which includes skits, singing, and a slideshow of the week, was the older kids doing a riff on Icona Pop's I Love It that included lines like "I put sunscreen on my skin. Because I don't want to burn. I got into my car and drove to the J-C-C..." complete with some awesome YMCA-esque arm movements. Mom and I had a great time boogying to it in our seat!
Here it is:

Here's the actual song:

Happy Dad's Day

To all the Dad's in my life: Here's to you! And all the grey hairs I've given you...

Our nugget: Aliza Hailey Rose

As you probably all know by now, I'm going to to be taking on the new roll of big brother very soon. I'm stoked.
We decided that she probably needs an official non-Nugget name. So here's what we came up with:

Aliza

for Oma/Liza, Hebrew name meaning joyful

Hailey

for Nana's mom

Rose

for Dad's Grandma and Leslie's favorite flower

I think Mom and Dad realize that Aliza will probably still be called Nugget, even though we have 3 names to choose from. I'm kind of partial to Rosie, like Caillou's little sister.

And at least Mom and Dad didn't go all Uma Thurman with her name (Uma Thurman’s Daughter Has Seven Names)...
In the mean time, I'm busy helping Mom prepare for my new sister's arrival!

Me, not napping, in Nugget pose

Me, not napping again, in Nugget pose

Me, not napping for real, in Nugget pose again -- with ZZ

Hello mudda, hello fadda

I started camp at the JCC this week. It's awesome! I am having so much fun: we go swimming twice a day, play, do art projects, exercise, singing, dancing, and drama. (And naptime!)

testing out my new dinosaur nap mat

The counselors are all very kind, sweet, and funny. My favorite is Miss Shayla, who is actually the assistant director -- she likes me a lot and does a great Thing 2 impersonation. This week was Dr. Suess week, which ended with the counselors doing a funny skit based on Oh, The Places You Will Go. Amazing what substituting in the name Mordechai can do to a story...

I'm in the Chaverim 1 class with a lot of kids from school, but there are a lot of new kids in other classes that I get to make friends with, too. Our counselors are Miss Brooke, Mr. Preston, Miss Daniela, and Miss Heather.
Here's some pictures from the first week!

Water slide day!

weeeeeeeee!

Marcus and Becky enjoying a cool treat

Handprint project

Here's a look at the handprint project everyone helped us create. We are so happy with the way it looks! 

We need a few prints still (Nugget is really giving Mom a hard time about getting hand printed at this stage), and we're going to get prints from a few other folks for Phase 2.
Thanks, everybody - my big boy room is looking pretty awesome!
xoxo.

Happy Mom's Day

Dear Mom,
I wanted to wish you a happy mama's day. You gave me life. And I gave you chronic sleep deprivation. You gave me awesome cars from CVS. And I gave you a lifelong aversion to crawfish. You gave me red hair. And I gave you grey ones.
I could go on, but you get the idea... It all balances out, right?
We had fun making cards to send to everyone -- I'm glad your card came on time. Nugget says she enjoyed her photo shoot, too. And that she enjoyed signing her real name for everyone.
love.
Marcus (and Aliza)

Pop Pop's visit

Pop Pop stayed with us for 2 weeks! And then he was having so much fun that he stayed an extra week!
Here's a run down of how it went:
week 1: Mom dragged Pop Pop to school every day so he could help with the school fundraiser. He loved it. Who knew that those surgical skills would come in so handy for preparing sliced strawberries for 500? Pop Pop showed off his mad grilling skills and taught Dad about actually cleaning the grill.

Me and Mom checking out Pop Pop's handiwork

Libby's mom, Debbie, with her friends and me with Dad and Pop Pop

Ada's mom, Ellen, the volunteer coordinator, with Pop Pop and Dad

Callie's Dad, Brent, with me and Mom

 week 2: I let Pop Pop relax a little more and sleep until at least 6.30. Just kidding. More like 6.45. That doesn't mean I slept that late... We went for some long walks around the neighborhood, we went to gymnastics and the Children's Museum, did some backyard swimming, painted my awesome castle, and assembled Ikea bookcases so that I could move into my awesome-cool-new room. I introduced Pop Pop to the joys of the Pelican Point car wash.

Cheers!

week 3: I let Pop Pop sleep until like 7 am. He reminded me how delicious bagels with cream cheese are. We spent a day downtown: haircuts for Dad and me, then the aquarium, then Pinkberry. I reintroduced Pop Pop to Pelican Point and showed him where the cool cars are at CVS. Dad and Pop Pop had a date night while me and Mom had a date night. We all went for sushi. And more Pinkberry!

 

I was pretty sad to see Pop Pop go, but I was also pretty excited to move into my awesome-cool-new room. And I know he'll be back to visit soon! And to go to Pelican Point! And Pinkberry!