As I reflect on my summer I am filled with joy at the memories that I created with my two nieces and my daughters and the ones they stirred up in me as my daughters old toys and crafts came out to be played with. The doll house and the Playmobil, the stuffed animals, paint sets, the fashion design books and their favorite story books in English that I translated for them. IMy youngest daughter came home from abroad with my 8 and 10 year old nieces. I picked them up at the airport eager to see them and ready for some fun chaos. I was going to be in charge of them for five weeks and hope they would not get homesick after three weeks. I am happy to report that being together and having access to WhatsApp audio and video helped them stay connected with their parents. I am impressed with how well they handled their stay with us.
Kids are easy to entertain. We visited two different zoos where we fed birds and a rhinoceros, watched a lion roar, heard white wolves howl and watched red wolf puppies play. At the aquarium we were entertained by sea otters, seals and by the movements of the giant octopus that for once was awake. We fed bread to elks and bisons at the animal park from the safety of the car. We shopped until we dropped, walked along the waterfront, baked brownies and cookies, made ice cream with fresh strawberries, walked on the beach looking for baby crabs and treasure and played at a lake. We spent many days at home where we crafted, painted, made slime, watched fun cartoons and movies and read books together. One night my nieces asked me to tell them stories to help them relax and sleep. One of the stories I wove included a fairy. That story led to my rummaging into my youngest daughter’s boxes to find a fairy that a friend’s mom had made for her when they were in kindergarten. As I admired her red dress I wondered if I could recreate the fairy from my story. I found tutorial on YouTube, after watching it, it became clear that we were all capable of making our own special fairy. We spent a fun afternoon at the craft store choosing silk flowers for the dresses and embroidery floss for the body, top, socks/shoes and hair for 6 fairies and a mermaid. It was decided that I would make one for myself and they would make each an extra one as gifts.
As we sat around the round kitchen table, each wrapping the body of our fairy in embroidery floss, our heads bent in concentration I felt blessed and happy to be sharing this moment with them. We spent several hours working on our creations, once they were finished we each admired our handy work with great satisfaction. I of course took our little models outside to do a photo shoot, I could not let the fun end so quickly. My orange fairy makes me smile each time I look at her on my dresser.
My nieces left a couple of weeks ago, my daughter is getting ready to go back to school in Paris. Summer is almost over but the memories we created together will keep it alive in all of us. That is the magic of summer.
DouceLifeAt50.com 
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