Weekend Fun

Joshua and I got to go up to Jones Store for lunch yesterday while the kids hung out with a couple of their favorite staffers. I hadn't ever been to Jones Store in spite of hearing a lot about it, so that was fun. It was a beautiful drive and a beautiful spot to eat lunch.

It started sprinkling just before dinner today. As we were walking to the dining hall, I thought I'd try to get a picture of the drops landing in the pool, so Hannah decided she should be in the picture.

 David loves climbing the poles at the dining hall. He said to me earlier this summer that he'd rather eat at home because I make better food, but he'd rather go to the dining hall so he can climb the poles. He's started doing more than just climbing up and down now, he also likes to hold himself up with one hand or just his legs.

Sherwood

Although we like seeing our friends, participating in kids club and free time, and joining theme nights and activities during family camp, if we had to pick our favorite week of the summer, it would be the week of Sherwood Forest. I have always thought Sherwood was the greatest part of camp, no doubt in part because Joshua was on the Sherwood team the two summers I was on summer staff, and that has only increased now that I get to go there with my children. There's something magical about spending time amongst the giant trees, wearing green tunics and hats, calling each other by Sherwood names, watching the amazing and energetic staff, pretending Robin Hood lives in the forest, and letting kids just be kids.

We went down to Sherwood at least once, often two or three times, each day to see towne meetings, watch the Robin Hood skit, go on the squire hunt, and participate in free time. The kids had fun blending in with the forest in their green on the walks down, pretending I couldn't see them.

StrawMary Shortcake tried lots of the free time activities, incuding archery.

She also spent a lot of time working on the scavenger hunt that Catalyst, our Sherwood activities director, put together. It took her multiple days to finish looking for clues and solving puzzles, but she finally did it at the end of the final free time.

We also spent time each day at the candle shack dipping wicks in the wax to slowly make candles.

A few of our friends were campers, and it was always fun to spend some time with them.

 

We watched the boat race across the loch on Wednesday, as the boats slowly floated from one side to the other. It was a tiring week, especially with all the walking up and down, but we were sad when it ended and the campers went home Friday.

Happy Fourth of July

Mary and I got excited looking at seeds this spring and decided to try growing corn. I have no idea if it will do well in this area, but it sounded fun and seems to be happy so far.

The kids helped me make a blueberry pie for Fourth of July. Since it fell on a Saturday this year, we didn't have any campers and went to a potluck barbecue with the staff before we enjoyed our pie.

Family Camp 2

We had a number of friends at our second week of family camp, and the kids got to go to kids club in the morning with some of their friends. Hannah was in the three year old group with Payton as her leader. I went along for part of each day.

Mary and David were part of a large group of 6-7 years old plus two 8 year olds. They had lots of fun; Paul and Grace were their leaders. We didn't do free time activities since we were busy in the mornings, but we did check out more of the evening activities.

 The last night was Space Disco themed. The kids were looking forward to it after going the first week and had fun again. The windows in Lakeview were all covered to make it dark and there was a big dance party inside. This time, we brought glow sticks.