O-Week

On Sunday, the rest of the summer staff arrived and we kicked off orientation week. It was pretty exciting.

The kids loved walking over to the dining hall for meals with Joshua and the staff. Hannah became quite the little hiker.

David held a little cricket at lunch one day. This was especially exciting since we've been enjoying listening to the crickets so much at bedtime.

The kids got to watch the wash cycle.

They also got to watch parts of the lifeguard training.

Wednesday evening we all headed down to Sherwood Forest to help the Sherwood team practice making Sherwood packs.

Joshua trained them how to build a good cooking fire and cook the packs. By the time the rest of us arrived, they had a nice fire with lots of coals going. It was a lot of packs for one fire, but things went smoothly and the Sherwood packs were tasty.

After dinner, we got to roast marshmallows for s'mores. The kids (as well as Joshua and I) are so excited that Evan is on staff this summer.

Thursday morning, the kids and I went to Visalia. We enjoyed lunch with Michelle and her kids, did some grocery shopping, then headed to Dad and Mom's house. It was Dad's birthday, so a particularly nice time to visit. The rest of the family who was around came out Friday for birthday dinner.

 Mom made waffles for breakfast Saturday morning, then we came home to catch up with Joshua and try to relax after a busy but great week.

The Build Up to Summer

We have been preparing for summer since we arrived at the end of November, but things kicked into high gear a couple months ago and are really moving now. I thought it was fun to get a welcome sign on our door like the rest of the summer staff. The staff started arriving this week with the events team coming Wednesday to start training and the coordinators arriving Friday.

We hosted a dinner for everyone on the hill Friday. I made a bunch of sourdough bread for the occasion, as well as some other sides.

 It was fun to have everyone here, and to get to start meeting the summer staff. There's so much energy going into summer. Joshua lead an all-day training for the coordinators today, the final day before O-week and the official start of the summer season.

Anniversary

 Joshua and I celebrated our twelfth anniversary right back where it all started. We had a delicious dinner at home on our anniversary followed by a lunch date the following day. We went to Danny's Pizza Factory for lunch, which is where we went on our first date when we sat outside with Ben and Rachel and listened to Swing Shift. 

Matching Pajamas

Hannah and David both have construction truck pajamas.

 And Mary and Hannah both have strawberry pajamas.