The King-Whited Family Blog

Another great day at Grandview Lodge. This photo doesn’t do the breakfast buffet justice- it’s fabulous and has everything you could ever want. Both boys started with donuts, because it was an easy way to keep them sitting while I loaded up plates for all of us. When I got back to the table, Xander had ordered himself a drink, which I was quite impressed by- I definitely couldn’t have done that when I was 3! This kid appreciates the finer things in life!

We had a full day- playground, swimming, running around outside. There were water balloons and a slingshot launcher that we tried out before lunch. I missed some photo opportunities, but it was a gorgeous, sunny, fantastic day.

Everything at Grandview is so pretty, I wanted to take pictures all day!

 We spent time jumping off this stump for quite a while.

There was also some time for resting.

This afternoon, while Augustus and Nate napped, Xander and I went and got ice cream and popcorn.

Tonight was the dinner and awards banquet. I really wanted to go to this with Nate but I have been in full panic mode about the kids. The dinner was 6-10pm. Childcare was provided, including dinner, but I couldn’t imagine dropping off my babies with strangers and also expecting them to feed them dinner, while also letting them stay up so late. But childcare on Friday went well and Nate and I decided to feed them dinner before dropping them off and see how it would go. I was prepared to drop everything and run to them (they were literally down the hall) if necessary. I think the lesson this weekend is that I sometimes underestimate my children. They were fine! They ate dinner, made a craft project and were all smiles when I picked them up at 9. I think they could have stayed longer if I had been later. I shouldn’t have worried. I had a nice dinner, some cocktails and got to learn a bit more about Nate’s new company. It was a great evening and next year I will let them stay in childcare the whole time. The night was a success!

This morning was a meeting for Edward Jone’s spouses. I was very nervous about leaving them in the provided childcare- they love daycare, but we know daycare well. They adore Katie and Grandma, but they know both well. Those are the only people who have ever taken care of them. But the meeting was only an hour and a half and they were just down the hall. I hyped it this week and we got there early to check it out. They were both fine when I dropped them off and happy when I picked them up. Success.

After the meeting, and what Xander referred to all day as his “class” we went to lunch and then headed to the pool. My boys love a hot tub and were very excited that there were 2! We spent more time in the hot tubs than the actual pool.

After dinner, the boys took a bath in our GIANT bathtub. This bathtub is about half the size of our entire trailer at camp, so it was pretty great. They accidentally turned on the jets and that was terrifying and also the end of the bath, but up to that point, it was all good.

When we arrived back to the cabin after dinner, we were greeted with a surprise gift from EJ. I love a surprise gift bag and so do my boys. Included was a bluetooth speaker, which Xander promptly claimed as his own. We had a mini dance party and he’s pretty excited to have his own speaker.

It was a full day of fun and we’ve got a full day ahead of us tomorrow.

    

It was the last full day of staff training today. I was busy finishing up cabin assignments, health forms and all of the paperwork for the first week. Staff were in the last few sessions of training, practicing songs and games, and busy completing projects around camp. The buildings and grounds look organized, neat and ready for kids!

Xander and Augustus (and Katie!) joined the staff on the field for games and songs.

At lunchtime, Mary told Xander the entire plot to one of the Star Wars movies. He was transfixed. He listened intently, while munching away on his lunch, every now and then asking, “and then what happened?” Mary might never get to eat lunch again if they keep sitting next to each other!

Before lunch, we had an impromptu dance party. 

And then it was rest time.

I was with the staff going through emergency drills in the water. And then it was time for canoe tipping, which is one of my favorite staff training activities. We all go out in canoes and one by one, we tip, and the practice rescues. I will have some ugly bruises from hoisting myself back into the canoe, but overall it was a success. Katie, Liberty, Sienna and the boys watched all of us tip from the safety of a paddleboat. I don’t have any photos, but the boys were super cute and enjoyed being part of all the action on the water.

After dinner, we finally checked the mail and X&A had care packages from Grandma Debbie! They were VERY excited.

Tomorrow is the last full day of training and I have SO MANY THINGS to do! I need to finish all cabin assignments, health paperwork, etc. But instead of jumping into all of that as soon as the boys went to sleep, I hand painted a pair of shoes for Xander.

For Christmas, Xander got Captain America shoes, which he LOVES. I made them by ironing patches onto plain slip on shoes. But he has outgrown them and there are holes in them. He hates all of his other shoes (he has several pairs). So the other day, we called Santa (shout out to my brother for his willingness to ad lib without any preparation).
This time, Xander really wanted Green Lantern shoes. Except that the patches I bought were WAY too big. I happen to have a screen printing kit, with fabric paint, so I decided to just paint them. They aren’t perfect, but hopefully they’ll be acceptable to a 3 year old who will probably destroy them by the end of the summer. We’ll see how he reacts tomorrow.

We put him to work hauling camp store goods.

Tired baby who refuses to nap

At the counselor show, Augustus climbed right on stage like always, but tonight, he improved through the entire skit, sitting down when the counselors sat down, responding to what they were saying, even holding up his hands at one point. He was hilarious. Xander wanted to be on stage, but every time he went up there, he got nervous and ran back to me. He’s going through a little stage-fright phase right now.

The boys also assisted with canoe training. Today the counselors learned how to teach canoeing (tomorrow we will go canoeing and tip/rescue in the lake). Augustus demonstrated what a lifejacket looks like if it doesn’t fit. And then both boys helped with the teaching.

Nate was here Friday-Sunday. He drove up late on Friday straight from the airport. He flew in after spending last week in St. Louis for his final part of Edward Jones training. He has been studying, testing, training and preparing for 6 MONTHS and finally, he’s official! We are very proud of him and we were very happy to have him at camp! The boys were eager to spend time with him and I was very busy with training, so it was a boys’ weekend! They went fishing, played all over camp, ate treats, watched camp staff in training, and hung out.

Nate left late last night.

Katie is doing a duel role as nanny/lead staff this summer. She is confident, a strong leader, and rocking it as a lead staff (and she’s amazing with X&A), so I think it’s a great fit. The majority of the day was super hands on training and I wanted her to be able to lead and contribute to those sessions, so the boys and I spent most of the day together. I got a little bit of actual work done (probably not as much as I should have), but it was nice to just have a day to snuggle, play, dance, dig holes, ride around on the golf cart, climb in the lockers, swing in the sky chairs- a lazy summer day outside, exploring, getting dirty and rarely ever looking at the clock. Days like that are rare and I enjoyed it.

Xander has also become quite the performer! He loves the microphone. He loves the stage. He gets more and more confident every day.

Both boys have ZERO hesitation to go onstage while staff are performing or speaking. I’m not sure how they will react when there are 100 kids sitting there too, but for now, they are quite comfortable on stage.

I was surprised today though- Xander and Augustus were with the staff singing songs and I was finishing something somewhere else. When I got down to the stage, they didn’t see me and I watched Xander on stage, singing and doing the actions to the songs. He was very cute. But as soon as he saw me, he ran off stage and was all of a sudden very shy. I was surprised to see him get embarrassed.

Staff training day 3 and it has been busy! I have pictures and updates, but they will have to wait. But in the meantime, we took our staff pictures today and they are so cute. Both boys were extremely cooperative, even without bribes. They even stood in line to get their individual photo taken and said “cheese” very nicely.

The boys got to spend the whole day with Grandma Debbie since it was the first day of staff training and Katie was part of the day. Today and tomorrow are almost entirely led by me, and so they are my 2 busiest days of the summer. After that, Meghan and the lead staff take over, so it’s not too bad. I missed my boys today though!

We had beautiful cupcakes after dinner and then we had an ice cream social to kick of the training week. So many treats!

Mary put it best when she said, “Xander looks like he has had a full day!” He was covered in dirt, mouth covered in chocolate, face painted and looking happy. I couldn’t ask for more!

 

It’s the last day of pre-camp prep. I spent the day with the rest of the staff (who didn’t go through lifeguard certification), training them in CPR/First Aid.

The lead staff and lifeguard crew worked on projects around camp (camp is looking fabulous and clean and organized and nearly ready for kids!). After CPR, the rest of the staff joined in. Meghan and I met to touch base about staff training and then I was going to work on a few last minute things for training. Except that Grandma Debbie arrived and I decided spending time with her and the boys would be way better (it was!) and so we hung out until dinner. After dinner, Meghan and I met with the staff and then it was bath/bed time for the boys. I have a little more work before I fall into bed. I am super excited for staff training to start tomorrow.

We will spend 8am-9pm, Friday-Friday preparing the staff for everything they need to know- policies, procedures, how to teach activities, how to work with different behaviors, and about a million other things. It is intense and fun and exciting and exhausting. Here we go!

Adorable photos from today of my children growing up in community. There are so many people to help them, and hold their hands and be so kind and wonderful to them, even when the 3 year old spends a large amount of his day whistling at you while you work. We are very lucky to be surrounded by wonderful people!

Today was the last day of lifeguard training. Xander and Augustus have been helping the lead staff with projects around camp while the lifeguards have been busy in training. Xander can be quite bossy and is quick to jump in and offer directions or suggestions. He is a great supervisor already.

3 year old with a whistle.

The staff completed lifeguard training this afternoon! We have 8 new lifeguards (12 total at camp this summer). Xander was very excited to hand out tee shirts and whistles to all of the new lifeguards.