Fourth of July

Photo: Heather

We went to the Nickells' house to celebrate the fourth of July; as usual, it was quite the party. Isaac smoked ribs for dinner, and after dinner we went in the pool. David pretended to be a T-rex chomping off people's legs.

Mom helped me make a festive tart.

David and Mary got to try sparklers for the first time. They were hesitant at first, but with a little help they quickly got the hang of it.

Micah was excited about the enormous firework he bought. It was a good one.

Once David and Mary got going with the sparklers, they just kept doing more and more.

 

We were excited to get to see fireworks and celebrate.

Family Camp 2

Photo: Heather

Heather was the nurse for our second week of family camp, and Dad and Mom brought her up and stayed most of the week to volunteer around camp. It was fun to have all of them here.

Mary and David got to go to kids' club in the mornings, and loved being in Paul and Olivia's group. They had a ton of fun. Mom and I spent time altering, hanging, cutting, and sewing curtains. I was glad to have Mom's help as we finished up that project.

The theme Monday evening was "have a ball," and we dressed up and went down to the green after dinner for ball games and a ball.

Making art with marbles.

Dancing at the ball.

Tuesday was the Sherwood Faire, which the kids always enjoy.

Photo: Heather

 Wednesday we walked up to Eastview to see the projects Dad was working on up there. He spent most of his time working on a privacy fence by the bathroom.

Photo: Christina

A number of the family campers during the second week were people that Joshua and I were on staff with, including our good friends, Tyler and Christina. It's always nice to see them and their girls.

Outside Fun

 We've been having nice weather, and the kids are taking advantage of it by spending lots of time outside. Today they were making coffee and cupcakes.

The Climbing Wall

David is finally tall enough for the climbing wall and was excited to try it. He and Mary got to climb next to each other, which they thought was pretty fun.

He was a little nervous at first, but got the hang of it quickly. It turns out that he's just as good at climbing that as he is at climbing everything else.

He made it about halfway up his first attempt.

The second time up, they switched routes and both did well again.

On Mary's fourth and final attempt of the day, she made it higher than she has before and did a great job.

David did well his fourth time too. One of his buddies on staff, Sam, was speed climbing route one and stayed up there to help David out with tips and encouragement.

David made it all the way to the top and rang the bell.

The End of School

We finished up the school year and officially started summer break. Mary did a great job completing first grade.

David and Hannah are in preschool and also learning a lot.

The Great Curtain Project

We've been needing new curtains around camp for a number of years. Tiffany decided that we should get it done this year and sew them during the Memorial day work weekend. The project started with Mountain View, but quickly included Westview and the Ranch House. Then we added Eastview because they were working on opening that area up for the summer after a number of years. Finally we threw in the health center too. She asked if I could estimate how much fabric we would need if she got me the window dimensions, and I said I would give it my best shot. It was a lot of numbers and a huge fabric order, so we were excited to get it on sale. A few days later, six boxes of fabric arrived, and I started cutting curtains at the beginning of April.

It was rather satisfying to cut whole bolts of fabric in a sitting, but with a 123 windows it was a big project and I was glad I was able to complete it in time for the work weekend.

I tried to keep everything well organized and led the sewing group during the weekend.

The kids and I split our time the first day between the sewing group and raking in Sherwood.

 By that afternoon, it was clear that sewing was going to take much longer than raking, so on Sunday I took my sewing machine down and joined in. We got a lot sewn, but there were still a number of curtains left. Thankfully, a few of our volunteers took curtains home with them and finished sewing them there. 

As the finished curtains returned to camp, the kids and I kept track of everything and started hanging them in the cabins. In spite of the curtain rods getting delayed multiple times, a few incorrectly sewn curtains, a couple incorrect measurements, and a few forgotten windows, we were mostly able to stay ahead of arriving campers.

Dad's Birthday

 Halfway through O-week, the kids and I went down to visit the family. We had an appointment in Fresno on Wednesday and then another one in Visalia Friday, so it was a busy trip, but we had a good time. We had a birthday dinner for Dad on Thursday.

While we were there, the kids spent time out in the shop with Dad creating this toy they made up for Hannah out of some interesting pieces they found.

Kitchen Helpers

 The summer season is here! We kicked things off Friday with a community dinner, then Saturday Joshua did training with the coordinators. The kids and I helped provide meals. Breakfast was at our house, but lunch and dinner were at the dining hall. They were excited to glove up and help Liz and Makaylee make food for everyone. The rest of the summer staff arrived Sunday and orientation week began.

Camping in Sherwood Forest

Monday morning we pulled the trailer down to Sherwood and set up camp in Towne Square. The kids were a little skeptical about camping in Sherwood since it's part of Calvin Crest and somewhere they go often; they wanted to go somewhere new. They quickly warmed up to the idea though when they saw how fun it was. In the afternoon, we went over to the ropes course.

There was also time to hang out in the trailer.

The mosquitoes came out after dinner, so we retreated to the trailer to play a game.

Tuesday morning we hiked out to George's Falls.

After a picnic lunch, the kids had lots of fun wading in the river.

The dogwood trees are blooming.

That evening, Christina came down to join us and cooked dinner over the fire. It was, of course, so good.

Then we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.

We enjoyed a leisurely morning at our campsite Wednesday. The kids sang If You're Happy and You Know It, a favorite song right now. 

They also got to play King Domino again with Joshua.

 Hannah helped drive the truck and trailer home.

Our Anniversary

 Joshua and I started celebrating 13 years a day early with a picnic lunch in the woods. Then we had blintzes for breakfast with the kids on June 2. It was a lovely celebration.