Natalie King, Author at The King-Whited Family Blog

Friday

Typical Friday at camp! Late breakfast meant that I got to start the day slow, drinking coffee and checking my email while the boys played.

After breakfast was closing chapel which Xander enjoys and Augustus usually leaves early to climb around Sunset Beach.

After chapel, the campers have small group reflection time, followed by Capture the Flag. My boys play with Katie while I meet with the lead staff. And then it’s lunch time, followed by parents arriving and our closing program. It’s a whirlwind day every week.

After the closing program (where I debuted my new white shorts), and the staff meeting, we had a quick swim at the beach and then rested for a while because our friends are arriving on Friday evening.

One of those days

The day started out great! Right after breakfast, we went to the archery range to shoot. Xander had asked to do it yesterday and we ran out of time. But he shot about 15 arrows and hit the target most of the time and it was really fun. He did so well!

We went to the art hall to decorate a letter for Xander’s pen pal.

We hung out together all morning. It was super wonderful.

The talent show was extra long today, so Katie took Augustus to play because he was having a hard time sitting still. Xander hung in for the entire hour of performances.

There were some dining hall challenges at lunch, so after we ate, Katie took the boys back for quiet time so Meghan and I could meet with the kitchen staff. Augustus woke up this morning with a cold and was pretty miserable, but despite that, he didn’t nap today. He relaxed in bed for a while (I thought we would fall asleep) and Xander and I went into town to go to the grocery store. We stopped by Dairy Queen for a quick treat, loaded up on some necessities and headed back to camp. We were 1 mile away when Xander’s new(ish) motion sickness kicked in and he projectile vomited all over himself and the van (fun mom fail!). Katie and I got him cleaned up, the van cleaned up and I left both boys with her to have some quiet time while I worked.

checking out the bird enclosure at the DQ

The walkie talkie call was, “um, anyone who can hear this, can you come to the hill and help, we have a golf cart situation”. The golf cart had rolled backwards from it’s parking spot off the edge of the Sweeney hill. The good news is that it hit some trees and didn’t go over the edge of the cliff. The bad news is that Meghan and I got man-splained to by 3/5 of the men at camp, even though we pretty much had it figured out. But we all worked together and pulled it out and all was well.

Dinner was followed by 1.5 hours of mid summer staff reviews. It was poor planning on my part to leave the majority of them for Thursday night, but such a great chance to talk with staff. But it made for a LONG night away from my boys and by the time we got home for bathtime, I felt like I hadn’t seen them at all today (even though we started off with so much fun stuff this morning). I got a very sick, very tired baby bathed and in bed, followed by a very tired 3 year old. Katie returned and I went to supervise camper shower time.

Now it’s time for laundry, running bus/check out lists for tomorrow, dishes, shower and bed… eventually. Luckily the weather today has been breezy and warm, but so nice!

Fun Day

Another gorgeous day in the woods. These 2 goofballs started the day with big smiles. We were at the dining hall by 8am and had time to ride bikes before anyone was even there yet!

Xander and Augustus and Katie played all morning and I was very productive in the office. I have spent a lot of time this summer outside, playing, enjoying camp. But every now and then I have to tell my boys (and myself) that I am here for my job and I need to do some paperwork!

After lunch, Augustus took another good nap (I think this is 3 days in a row!) and Xander and I went swimming, followed by paddle boating with Meghan. Xander and Meghan jumped out of the paddle boat and swam around in the lake with the other big kids who were paddling. When Christine and her family were here, Xander didn’t jump off the paddle boat, even though I knew he wanted to. So I was happy he was brave today. He had a great time. If I could make a list (including paperwork) of everything at camp, paddleboating would be the LAST thing I would choose to do- it looks fun, but it’s just a TON of work for little actual fun. Xander kept encouraging us to go faster, but it was pretty windy and we were peddling as hard as we could! He had fun though, so that’s all that mattered.

At dinner, campers got to frost their own cookies! That was hit with my boys as well!

After dinner, Xander worked in the camp store, Augustus got covered head to toe in dirt, followed by bath time and bedtime. Xander skipped the dance party (he said he “felt a little shy”) and so he took a bath and then we played. We played with PJ Masks until he said, “ok, I’m going to play by myself now” and dismissed me. But after that we played ninja and wrestled for about 10 minutes until it was time to calm down and go to sleep.

Ben and Patricia are good friends of camp (and me) and they are here visiting. So after the camper shower time, Meghan and I joined them at the beach for night time swimming. A great way to end a hot day. It’s been a long time since I got to do that, so it was really awesome!

A BUSY Day!

What a full day! We had a slow start to the day- we skipped the dining hall and had a quiet breakfast at home. Then Xander, Augustus and Katie played for a while.

Tuesday means beach party, so we all headed to the lake for some swimming before lunch! After lunch we rested for a while and Augustus fell asleep.

Xander and I went kayaking and then I dropped him off with still sleeping Augustus and Katie. The goal was for Katie to wake Augustus up and to play until dinner, but instead, Xander fell asleep too!

I tried waking them up and they were OUT. I wasn’t sure what to do, but I decided that I could just roll with it- I like to stick to our schedule, but we don’t HAVE to. So I let them sleep. We missed dinner and they woke up at 6pm. Xander was very crabby that we missed dinner in the dining hall, but we ate at home- first at the table, and then, when we realized Jacob and Ben were moving heavy things, the boys decided to bring their plates outside and watch them while eating.

eating dinner, watching Ben and Jacob

After our jeep dinner, we went to the camp store for ice cream sandwiches.

And then we headed to the campfire. Augustus never gets to go to because he is usually in bed, so it turns out his 4 hour nap had a good outcome. Xander usually only goes to the beginning of the campfire, but this time, we got to watch the cheers, make s’mores, and watch the counselor skits. Xander helped hand out s’more sticks and Augustus was onstage while the counselors performed.

watching the camper cheers

Giving fire safety directions before s’mores

handing out s’more sticks

a VERY dirty camp kid

watching the skits

After the campfire, we went home to take baths and get ready for a very late bedtime. After bath, Xander looked outside and said, “the sun is setting!” which is not something they usually see. So we went to Sunset Beach to watch the sun set.

Both boys were asleep by 9pm, so, while it was a bit off our schedule, it ended up to be a great night!

A Great Monday

It’s possible that by the end of the summer, 50% of the photos will be of Xander and Mary hanging out. When Xander is not with Mary, he will ask, over and over, “where is my favorite Mary?” (we also have a counselor Mary, who is wonderful, but not Xander’s Mary). One of his new favorite things is Star Wars. He hasn’t seen it, but Mary has told him the story over and over and they talk about it nonstop. I found a Star Wars ABC book and he was VERY eager to show Mary at breakfast this morning. I wasn’t actually sure we were going to go to breakfast because we woke up late and when that happens, I don’t like to rush the boys. But Xander said, “I need to show Mary this book!” and was out of bed, shoes on, hat on, saying, “come on” to us as I got Augustus dressed.

Today was GORGEOUS. The heat wave broke and it was perfect breezy weather. I went to the doctor this morning for more steroids (we’re going on a month of poison ivy and I’m going to have a nervous breakdown soon). Katie, Xander and Augustus were busy all morning. I was back in time for lunch and then we had some rest time. Today was a rare and beautiful Augustus nap day, so Katie hung out with him while Xander and I went to the art hall to make a necklace and then went swimming and paddle boarding (neither of which I got any pictures!)

Tonight was all camp game (Angels and Demons). Kids have to run through the forest, get a piece of paper signed 3 times (by the angels) and then run it back to their bucket. Whichever team has the most papers at the end wins. If you get tagged (by a demon), you have to give up your paper and start over. It is BY FAR, the activity that campers LOVE THE MOST. I don’t really get it. It sounds like running laps to me. But, like all campers, my child LOVES it.

Augustus hung out a little later than usual tonight. He was still full of energy and playing with cars, throwing handfuls of dirt and kicking a ball. He was dirty head to toe by the time we headed home for bath time. He was dirty enough that I showered him off before I put him in the tub!

It was a fantastic Monday at camp. More fun to come tomorrow.

Sunday

It’s Sunday! Campers check in from 3-4. Xander helped in the camp store today and the camper parents were very impressed!

Once everyone checked in, we danced our way in to the opening pepfest.

Then it was time for dinner, more play time, bath, and bedtime. This week is off to a great start!

Day of Rest

This is the only weekend that we don’t have any plans for the whole weekend. On Saturday morning, we all woke up and Nate took the boys into town to go to the bakery. I crawled back into bed and went back to sleep for the first time in MONTHS! It was glorious. We didn’t do much of anything all day and it was WONDERFUL! After lunch, Nate took the boys back to town to the playground and I sat around doing NOTHING, and then some of the counselors brought me a cupcake that I ate sitting on the couch with my feet up!

We played around the trailer the whole day and it was very relaxed and so nice. I got a bunch of little things done like vacuuming, scrubbing the bathroom, laundry, and organizing toys. It was productive and restful and wonderful! Nate took good care of me and it was really nice to have a chance to relax after a very long and hard week.

Today is Sunday and we’re back to normal. Campers arrive in a few hours- let the fun begin!

4 Down, 4 to Go!

It’s Friday and, oh my, it’s been a long week! Some weeks fly by, some drag, and this one was approximately one month long. The kids were actually really fantastic and I love teen week because they are such a great age, but between the weather, me not feeling well, and just the overall feeling, this week was a long one.

The campers were in closing chapel while Augustus took a joy ride on the jeep and then got all wet throwing rocks. We bought the jeep for Xander when he was exactly Augustus’s age, and every time I think about that now, I shake my head and laugh. Augustus is getting the hang of it, but he’s still at least 6 months away from being able to drive and steer.

At lunch today, we received a VERY fun care package from Christine and her kiddos. It included Toy Story walkie talkies, which was a VERY exciting surprise. I’m not sure how I got so lucky to have people come visit and then send me gifts, but that was a highlight!

walkie talkie- he’s just like a lead staff

As soon as campers left and the staff meeting was over, the boys and I headed to town for some groceries. The weather was looking scary, but it rained for about 10 minutes (the whole time we were in the store) and was done by the time we walked back out to the car. And everything had cleared by the time we were back to camp.

Yesterday, I made water beads and we ran out of time in the day, so today was the day! We filled the water table. Soon after they started playing, Xander said, “I want to go tell the staff!” and so he ran next door to alert them of what we were doing. If water beads were fun, having an entire audience to humor them was an absolute HIGHLIGHT. We are so lucky to be surrounded by people who are always willing to give the boys attention.

Nate arrived shortly before dinner and so we played with the water beads a while longer (eventually dumping them into the kiddie pool and the boys rolling around in them), ate dinner, took a quick joy ride on the golf cart and then headed back for bath, snacks and bedtime. We’ve completed 4 sessions of camp and we have 4 more to go!

Fancy Dinner Night

Today was fancy dinner night, and Xander had a new shirt to wear. He was very excited and wanted to put it on FIRST thing this morning. It took some negotiating to convince him to wait until dinner time to wear it. Katie and the boys played, we swam, it was a good day.

After swimming, we got dressed and headed to the dining hall for happy half hour, complete with apps and drinks. Full disclosure, my children double dipped with veggies several times before everyone arrived.
The campers arrived and everyone mingled and Xander did some spins. Everyone was very impressed with his new shirt and his combed hair. We had a lovely dinner and cupcakes for dessert.

More of the Same

There was a quick all staff meeting at breakfast to discuss a programming change. All of the counselors headed outside with Mary to talk about the schedule.

After breakfast, it was a little rainy, but Xander and Augustus just got new playdough, so they were busy inside until the rain stopped.

This week has been kind of dragging for me (and I think everyone else too). At rest time, we all got in bed together to watch a movie. Augustus fell asleep. Then I fell asleep. Xander rested. This week is all teens, so overall, the vibe is pretty low key, which is good, because we’ve spent a lot of time resting, which has been needed!