Camp Katie

One of my favorite treasures from the summer of 2012 is the 5 days that my sweet Emma got to spend with her Aunt Katie and Uncle Deedle.  I’m so grateful to have a sister that is so thoughtful who married a man that is just as thoughtful and generous.  Several weeks ago, Katie approached me about staying over at our house on the way to the beach to meet friends and on the way home.  I quickly said yes as we love to spend time with Katie.  Then, she went further to suggest that she could take Emma with her on her way home so that Clint and I could have a few days to ourselves before we met up with the rest of the family for Fourth of July week in Memphis.  We quickly agreed that “Camp Katie” sounded like a great idea and Clint and I made plans to head to Chicago for some fun.  Unfortunately, Katie’s beach trip didn’t work out, but she met us in Nashville and picked up Emma and we began a new tradition called “Camp Katie!”.  Clint and I had a great time in Chicago and Emma had a blast at “Camp Katie”.

Here is the post that Katie put together on her blog to chronicle their fun week together.  Thank you Aunt Katie and Uncle Deedle!

I convinced my sister and her husband to take a mini-vacation and leave their three-year old daughter, Emma, with her favorite aunt.  Megan dubbed it “Camp Katie,” and I know Miss Emma had a blast.

Day 1:  I met up with everyone in Nashville.  The girls spent the afternoon shopping while Clint finished up his work, and then Emma and I hopped in the car to head back to Memphis.  She convinced me that she needed an 8-pack of Oreos for the ride home, and then settled down for a long three hour nap.  We took a dip in the pool after dinner, and she slept all night.

Day 2: There’s a great splash park in Collierville that neither of us had been to – Emma spent an hour or so running around getting sprayed and screaming, “Aunt Katie, watch me!”

 

 

 

 

A little blurry, but does it not look like she is having a blast??

We headed over to Target afterwards to buy Dora dishes after she declared that she didn’t like my dishes.  She went down for her nap.  That evening, our friend Holly came over with her daughter Lila for dinner.  Lila and Emma hit it off right away and those little girls ran around the house with their purses and animal chairs pretending to run errands.

Emma is ready to meet her new friend, Lila:

Day 3: I had the stupendous idea to have a picnic in the park.  During a heat wave.  After packing the cooler, we arrived at the park to find all the slide and swings ON FIRE from the sun.  A quick assessment of the situation showed that Chuck E. Cheese’s was a MUCH better choice.  My mom joined us for a pizza lunch and games.  I made dinner, which Emma declared “gross,” then we swam in the pool before bed.

 

Riding in the princess carriage:
Going on a “roller coaster” with her Mimi:

 

Slide city, to be repeated a thousand times:

Day 4: Emma rode her bike on the Germantown Greenway with JD and I jogging behind her.  That quickly wore out because it was too hot for her to wear her helmet, so poor JD had to carry her bike while we walked back to the car.  Emma and JD headed to an afternoon matinee of Brave, which gave me a much-needed break.  We met up with our friends Mary and Randy for a hibachi dinner (Emma calls it the “fire place”), and Emma spent the night hamming it up with them, doing Mary’s hair and having Randy pull quarters out of her ears.

Proof that nutritious breakfasts are served at Camp Katie:

Day 5: Emma was so excited to wear her “Easter dress” to church and play in the nursery while we went to church and Sunday school.  Emma joined our gang for lunch at Chili’s where she charmed the whole table.  She screamed “Uncle Deeedle” so many times to get JD’s attention that the whole table started calling him Uncle Deedle.  Her parents drove in and woke her up from her nap, she was so shocked!  I don’t think she knew what to make of it all.  She was certainly my precious side kick, and we enjoyed our time together.  Hopefully we can do this again next summer!

Emma insisting on sitting in the middle of the table:
This was a few days later after her parents arrived – Emma thought she would drive the boat down to the dock for us:

 

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