Russian Heritage Camp

We ended up at a heritage camp for children adopted from former Soviet Union countries. My friend, the FRUA camp director, needed help with storytelling because her storyteller wasn't able to go to camp. She asked me to come to camp and tell stories. I love storytelling and I was very happy to learn folktales from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Russia and Roma and tell these stories to the children at camp. My girls were happy to go to camp had a great time with all the camp activities. Rachel was one of the first winners of the "animal walk" (cake walk with stuffed animals for prizes). Her poor sister spent most of the evening trying to win a stuffed animal...

Erin Joy walked in the "animal walk" for almost an hour. She was the last child left when finally her number was drawn. The look of determination mixed with frustration and hope tugged at my mommy-heart-strings. It was a nice relief when she was all alone because the other children had already won their stuffed animal. She was so excited when her number was finally drawn and didn't seem to realize that her number HAD to be the winning number because she was the only one left!! Silly girl:) She happily posed with her stuffed rabbit.

Bedtime looked like this...I don't think anybody got much sleep....there was too much fun to be had:)
Rachel and Erin Joy with their new friends in the "purple" group.
The camp had a nice little playground.
The girls made Russian boxes in a craft class. Rachel made a box with an orca and just a few decorations. Erin Joy chose a Seattle Mariner's symbol because she knows I love the Mariners. She had a lot of fun covering her box with decorations and glue. She used so much glue that her box is now permanently glued shut. She is very disappointed that her box won't open. She is also disappointed that the decorations keep falling off.


The children wore costumes from their birth countries. Erin Joy accessorized her Chinese qipao with a crown and an apron. Rachel accessorized her qipao with green hair.



Making S'Mores at the campfire was fun...

We were busy vacationing at Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore during Chinese Heritage Camp so it was really fun to go to another heritage camp this summer.