Whoa buddy, this is going to be a long post. We just got back from family camp and I have so much to share!
The YMCA family camp Du Nord has been so popular that in 2018, the Y bought and opened a second family camp- Camp Northern Lights, which is where we spent the last week. I had high hopes and high expectations and it exceeded every one of my greatest hopes! Camp NL is also one of the camps I fundraise for, so it was fun to see it in action, spend some time with the Executive Director and gain some personal experiences to use in my future calls.
We checked in last Sunday night. Our cabin was very centrally located right on the edge of the beach- a prime spot! The first thing we saw when we pulled up was the giant water trampoline and the boys (especially Augustus) were VERY excited to get onto the lake and try it out. There were 2 bedrooms in the cabin, a bathroom, kitchen and living room. We unpacked, explored camp a bit, ate dinner and then went to the opening ceremony where we met the staff, sang some songs, got an overview of the week and signed up for activities.
Some activities were at your leisure- you could just grab a paddle board or kayak any time you wanted. There was open art time at the art barn every afternoon. There were 2 playgrounds and the beach. But some activities (certain art projects, etc) had to be reserved, so we did that on Sunday night.
One of the activities Xander was VERY excited about was Big and Little Dippers. This activity happened at 7:45am and involved jumping into the ice cold lake first thing. In 13 years of running camp, I managed to avoid Polar Plunge (same thing, different name) every single year, but if you dipped every day at family camp, kids got a free tee shirt and Xander was ALL IN. And I decided if I was going to walk down there every day, I might as well also jump in (grown ups could earn the right to purchase a shirt).
Monday morning, Xander and I were up bright and early. Gussie and Nate were snuggled in their warm beds and didn’t flutter an eyelid as we left. It was chilly and Nate said he and Gussie woke up when they heard everyone screaming. Xander and I made it to Big and Little Dippers every morning and at the closing ceremony, were awarded our shirts! We are both very proud of those shirts!! Gussie made it down on Tuesday and was NOT a fan. It was chilly and he is not a morning person.
After our morning dips, we ate breakfast and then from 9:30-12 each day was age group time. Xander and Augustus were in the 5/6 group (there were groups 0-4, up to 15-18). Counselors took the kids and did a variety of activities. There were adult activities during that time as well, or you could just relax. I spent some time working on my shutterfly books and Nate and I played a lot of Scrabble. We both wished age group time could be about 8 hours a day! The boys loved it and both of them made friends that we played with all week outside of age group time.
Augustus typically makes friends within 5 minutes of being anywhere we go and camp was no different. Xander tends to hang back and it takes him a while to connect, but this week he made a good buddy named Shiloh and outside of age group time, we would walk to Shiloh’s cabin and the boys would coordinate schedules. I was SO happy to see Xander make a friend and Shiloh’s mom was equally happy to have kids to entertain each other.
After age groups, there were afternoon announcements and then the adults would pick up their kids. We returned to our cabin each day for lunch and then most days, we headed right for the beach! We spent hours and hours swimming, playing in the sand, reading my book on the beach, and mixed in, taking out paddle boards and kayaks every now and then. It was a glorious week of weather and we all loved soaking in the sun!
Xander and Nate went fishing one afternoon and one of the afternoons, Xander and I painted ceramic gnomes. There was so much to do every day that we could have been busy every second from morning until night. But you could also go at your own pace and skip everything to just relax if that was what you wanted to do. It was a really nice balance.
Shyanna did a super wonderful job taking care of the puppies and sending me regular updates. We are so lucky to have her!
On Wednesday, Augustus celebrated his 5th birthday at camp! I made a cake and he was sung to at both the morning and afternoon all camp gatherings. During age group time, they made campfire brownies. After a full day of fun, we headed into Ely to a special candy store and out to birthday dinner. We weren’t away from camp for that long though as the boys didn’t want to miss anything!
It was a nearly perfect week at camp, but there was one incident… On Thursday evening, we were scheduled for a sunset cruise on the pontoon. Gussie and I ran ahead to the dock (we were racing). We were waiting for a few minutes, when Xander and 2 counselors ran up. Xander said, “something bad happened to Daddy!” and the same time the counselor said “Isaac (program director) is with him now.” Ultra calm, super focused, camp director emergency mode kicked in. Xander told me Nate was on the ground and his head was shaking, which made me think he was having a seizure (even though there is no history) and started running towards our cabin. But that wasn’t it (thank goodness!). I saw the program director and executive director on the beach and Nate was in the water! It turns out, that as they were walking, Nate stepped on a nest of ground bees and when the first sting hit the back of his head, he dropped to his knees and Xander ran screaming, not knowing what was wrong. As this happened, the director walked up and saw that Nate was covered in bees and told him to go jump in the lake.
Nate ended up with about 8 bee stings. After we first aided him and he changed into dry clothes, we were off on our cruise.
Shortly after embarking, the counselor who was leading us hit a rock and when we after inspecting the motor (it was fine), it wouldn’t turn back on. The counselor called another staff member for advice while I told the boys all of my pontoon horror stories (turns out, I have a lot). The counselor was apologetic, but I don’t think it’s a complete camp experience without a sketchy pontoon. He got the motor going again and we drank root beers and ate snacks and it was a lovely cruise (not doomed as I was starting to think).
The boys loved visiting the snack bar (conveniently located near the beach) to get ice cream cones every day (sometimes twice a day). We ate so many s’mores and so much ice cream and so many snacks. We swam nonstop. Xander and I earned our dipper tee shirts. We sang camp songs and played camp games and stayed up too late every night. Nate and I played endless games of Scrabble and Yahzee. We relaxed. We laughed a lot. We had the best week! I loved every second of it (except the bees). I can’t wait until next year!
We got home on Saturday afternoon and spent some time snuggling the bulldogs. I loved camp, but it’s always good to be home too.
Sunday is here and today we will welcome our foreign exchange student! The boys have been hanging with Grandma Debbie today and Nate and I have been doing some last minute projects around the house. Stay tuned for more details on his arrival (we are expecting him around 5pm tonight!).