Category Archives: Uncategorized

Today was nonstop fun. It was a little chilly, but sunny and clear and we were busy! We started the day picking raspberries with Meghan. The entire camp is covered in berry bushes and they are ripe. 

Then we went to the warped wall. That turned in to him ninja-kicking the sign next to it. After doing that for a few minutes, he needed to go change into an all black outfit and find a ninja headband. After the wardrobe adjustment, we went back for more ninja kicking. I’ve read a million articles about the value of free play. My instinct is to plan things for the boys, so I have to remind myself that allowing him to guide us and use his imagination is so important. He said, “watch this” approximately 100 times and it was really fun. 

After ninja kicking, we ran through a puddle. Then we went to the sky chairs.

There was lots of singing and dancing at dinner tonight.

After dinner, Xander worked in the camp store and I hung out with Augustus. Often during the day, while Augustus naps, I get to spend big chunks of time doing fun things with Xander. So it’s nice to get one on one time with Augustus too.

We finished the day with Xander playing all camp game while Augustus took a bath and relaxed. Xander came home and took a bath. Both boys had a snack and then snuggled into bed. It’s still chilly and both were wrapped in blankets and warm and snug. A wonderful day!

This morning, we slept late, relaxed, did a few chores and then Nate left around 11 (that’s our typical routine for Sundays- it’s wonderful). The boys both have colds, so after lunch, they had quiet time until Katie came and then it was more quiet time for the whole afternoon. And then the rain came!

I HATE rain on check in day! The parents can’t take a camp tour. The whole routine is a mess. We had to move check in and luggage to the dining hall. Ugh. I had to hide my crabby attitude all day! I smiled and greeted parents, but I wasn’t happy!

But we survived and everyone was smiling (maybe they were all faking it too) and both campers and parents were pretty flexible. It was a perfectly fine day, despite the rain.

We had dinner and then the boys and I headed back for baths. They were both asleep by 7!

The rain stopped right around camper bedtime, but it’s supposed to be nice the rest of the week. I’m hopeful that both boys wake up feeling better and that my body continues to fight off the sneezes directly into my mouth.

Here’s to week #5!!

Our second annual St. Paul friends at CYC weekend was a huge success. So much good food, lots of drinks, perfect weather, nonstop activity, kids running everywhere. Jake, Anna, Paul and Jo slept in a tent! Grayson, Sarah and Oliver brought 7 week old Elliot! Jamie and Ryan were unfazed as always by the madness of 5 toddlers. And the King-Whiteds- we were excited to have friends join us in the woods!

Everyone arrived on Friday and immediately started running around (literally- running up the warped wall), all the kids took turns in the jeep, I got to hold baby Elliot (Xander was also very interested in him!), Jake and Anna put up a tent that all of the kids were excited to check out, and then we had dinner, put the kiddos to bed and stayed up way too late having drinks by the fire.

Today has been nonstop from the moment we woke up and enjoyed breakfast pizza and donuts. We headed right to the beach for a boat ride. After that, we swam until lunch.

After lunch, we had a dance party, that turned into a talent show with karaoke and then some 3 year old stand up comedians.

After that, Xander opened the camp store for his friends, and then we swam again. We had snacks, played on Sunset beach and then had dinner.

It was a whirlwind day of fun and I think all toddlers AND adults are going to sleep VERY well tonight! Until next year…

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.

  

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 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!

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!

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. 

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

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!