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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!

 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.

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!

Eventually we got up and Xander and I went swimming (Augustus took a 2.5 hour nap).

At dinner, Augustus supervised as the kids picked up chairs (everything gets torn down on Wednesday night because of the dance party).

sitting on a tree root, reading a book

Then it was camp store break time and another early night for bath and bedtime. Tomorrow we begin again!

A gorgeous, sunny, lovely day at camp. Tuesday is beach party day- a favorite for everyone (including me and the boys). As always, they spent over an hour leaping from the dock (seriously, why aren’t my arms completely rock hard yet?!).

After dinner, Meghan and I ran the camp store, which is B team at best (neither of us knows what anything costs and we were SLOW!). Luckily the employee of the month, Xander was there to help. He was eager to get rid of me though, he kept saying, “you can go”, so eventually I took Augustus for a bath and left him and Meghan to run the show.

Augustus went to bed shortly after bath time, but Xander went to the campfire. I am so thankful every day for the wonderful staff who all take amazing care of my children, which allows them to be part of everything. Xander always comes back looking so triumphant and proud of himself. It is so cute and wonderful to watch him be independent and confident.

Today was a low key day. The boys slept from 6:45am-7:30am and still seemed kind of tired when they got up. Those 3 late nights and several busy days have really caught up with them. This week is teen week, and so we have late breakfast, so it was nice to relax and not have to be to the dining hall until 9:15. 

After breakfast, Katie took the boys to play and I got some work done. But by 11, it was SO hot and I was NOT feeling great (the steroids for poison ivy are making my stomach kind of delicate), so I was back to the air conditioned trailer and when Katie brought 2 fussy kids back, I told her to leave them with me for a while so everyone could chill for a bit. We ended up skipping dining hall lunch and eating in the trailer instead. It was cool, they ate lunch on the couch and it was much needed. 

After rest time (no naps, despite being tired), we went swimming, which was FANTASTIC. I felt like a new person once I’d cooled down.

Afterwards, we had freezie pops, and the boys played with Katie for about 45 minutes before dinner. After dinner, Xander went to work at the camp store, Augustus hung out with some counselors while I used a wire cutter from the art barn to remove the wire of a kid’s braces (with parent permission and oddly enough, not the first time I’ve done it, so I did feel qualified to do amateur orthodontic work).

Monday night is the all camp game, which Xander really wanted to play, but he was SO tired and it was still so hot out. He was very unhappy when I said he couldn’t play, but he needed to take a bath and go to bed early, which he did without much resistance.

It is supposed to be another HOT day tomorrow, but hopefully with some catch up on rest, the boys will be able to be a little more active with camp like usual.

On Sunday, campers check in from 3-4pm, go to an opening pepfest where we all dance around, move into their cabins, get their group photos taken, have dinner and settle into camp. Yesterday was 90 degrees and ZERO breeze. But look at all the cute pictures of these boys!

helping at the check in table

at dinner

dancing at the pepfest

checking the lighting for the group photo board

What a SUPER fun weekend! I seem to say that every weekend, but every weekend has been so fun and this weekend was a blast! My best friend and her 3 kids came for the weekend. Char and Evie are 6 and Lucas is 4.5. Big kids! I spent a lot of time with the girls when they were babies, but it was really special to be able to spend time with them now that they are older. And seriously, is there anything better than a BFF who I’ve known for 20 years?!?! It just couldn’t have been a better weekend- perfect weather, SO much god food, and NONSTOP activity.

Nate had a mishap with his phone (it ended up sailing, from his car roof onto the highway), so he didn’t make it to camp until late on Friday. Christine and kiddos were there before lunch, so we had a whole day of camp fun- 2 moms and 5 kids six and under!

The Nelson family joined us for all camp lunch and the closing Friday program. And as soon as the end of the week staff meeting was over at 3, we all headed down to the beach for swimming.

After dinner, we put all 5 kids in a canoe for a quick paddle around the lake. Neither of us is a huge fan of canoeing, but we ROCKED!

We made a campfire and had some s’mores.

We needed to go on one more quick golf cart ride at the end of the day, which led us to the mudpit and ended in 5 muddy children and 2 muddy moms at 9pm! And a minor disaster when Augustus (who was naked as usual) got stung by a bee. Christine hosed all of us off, scrubbing my legs while I held a screaming baby. We got back to the trailer where I could baking soda paste and ice the sting, give him some benedryl and stress out. But he was brave and by the next day, the swelling was gone and he was back to normal.

Saturday was a FULL day of EVERY camp activity. We played gaga ball, did an art project, rode the golf cart everywhere, paddle boarded, paddle boated, swam, visited the camp store (Xander was able to run it on his own!), tried out the ninja warrior wall, drove the jeep, shot archery, took a pontoon boat ride, and ended the day with a campfire where we made super s’mores (which included chocolate sauce and caramel sauce on top of regular s’mores). I am tired just typing all of that. It was SO much fun and also, a few times, Christine and I looked at each other, like, “holy cow” and then camp counselor-ed on with our crew.

After we did all of that (including feeding 5 children breakfast, lunch and dinner (which is no joke), and gave them bath/showers, and put them to bed once they were all INCREDIBLY over-tired, we ended the day with mojitos and adult conversation. What a FULL day! It was SOOOO fun!

Today we woke up and Xander looked so tired (I felt a little guilty)! We had a nice breakfast, visited a camper cabin (which they really wanted to see), picked one fun thing to do (archery) and had one last golf cart ride. The Nelson kiddos did attempt to convince their mom to let them stay and did threaten that they weren’t going to leave, but we managed to get them in the van (not happy though). Nate hung out for a little while longer, but then he left too. It was hard to say goodbye after so much fun, but it was good to get back to regular camp life. Katie came to hang out with the boys and campers arrived. It was SWELTERING today and SO miserably hot. After dinner it started to rain and so the boys and I went back to the trailer, took baths and both were asleep by 6:45pm!

Perfect weekend! I took over 100 pictures and so did Christine and I wish we could do it again! Next year for sure!

One of my staff needed to fly home for a day to take care of some personal things and so it ended up making the most sense for me to drive him. I don’t leave camp mid-week very often, but it was a nice treat to be able to see Nate and my mom. We left after breakfast on Wednesday. Xander has some carsickness, so we had to stop for vomit explosions and clothes changes twice. But we made it home and had lunch and then my mom came over. She and the boys played, we went to visit Nate at his office and then when he got home, he and I went out to a wonderful sushi dinner.

Thursday morning, we started the day with a quick visit to the doctor. I’ve had poison ivy for about a week and it’s been steadily spreading, so I knew I needed a steroid so I could avoid the head to toe, eyes swollen shut emergency room trip of 2015. Been there, no need to do it ever again. After the doctor, we went to the bakery for donuts.

My mom came over again and we all headed to the park for swimming, playground and picnic.

Augustus napped all afternoon, Xander and Grandma played until they were both going to drop, I went grocery shopping, and then Nate got home and we had dinner.

After bathtime, we loaded up the car and headed to the airport at 8:15pm.

Fernando is the staff member we picked up and he hadn’t eaten yet, so we stopped at McDonald’s. From the backseat, Xander said, “um, maybe we should get something?” and I said, “what do you want? It’s 9pm!”

“French fries and a cheeseburger.”

Augustus grunted in agreement.

I looked at Fernando and said, “This is a mistake! This is going to end badly” and ordered my babies 9pm happy meals!

I watched them in the rearview mirror, munching on fries while watching a movie, remembering what a perfect parent I was BEFORE I had children. My children were NEVER going to so much as taste McDonalds. We would have strict bedtimes. And ZERO screentime.

The good news is that 9pm happy meals did not end in disaster. They were both content, did a great job and were asleep by 10pm. We got back to camp at 11:30, I carried in 2 sleeping babies, and today is a gorgeous sunny day!

Success!

It’s ninja warrior week at camp! The course was set up for the big kids, but my kids were the first ones to test out some of the pieces. I think Katie might have gotten the best workout, because she was amazing at lifting and carrying little boys through the parts they couldn’t do!

After ninja warrior time, we headed to the beach party (I don’t have any photos!) and then it was lunch and playtime all afternoon.

Tuesday night is the campfire and counselor show. We didn’t stay for long because I had some tired boys, but it was good to eat a s’more!

During the ninja warrior course, I was filming for facebook live. Below is the link to maybe the best video ever. It’s long- 7.5 minutes. But do not miss out on the 20 seconds starting at 4minutes 40 seconds in. I have watched it at least 6 times and I laugh out loud every time.

https://www.facebook.com/CYCMN/videos/2286597728325348/

Xander dumping his tray at the end of dinner

Ready for Angels and Demons

tired after a full day of fun.