On to Camp

What the Suburban looked like

After spending a week with my parents, the girls and I, along with my Mom, loaded back up in the Suburban and headed towards a week long church camp.  We stayed one night with my brother and his family at "the farm".  My sister-in-law, Aunt A, decided that she and their daughter, K-bug, wanted to come to camp also.  Which I was excited about--the more the merrier!  So we crammed 8 people in our 8 passenger vehicle and crammed all of our luggage, which not only included close to three outfits a day but also towels, bedding, swim stuff, pillows, and 4 cases of water.  For 8 people.  And maybe a couple of sodas--don't judge!  Camp can get rough without caffeine.  But we did it!  Couldn't see a thing out the back window and it took me a while to get used to braking with about a thousand pounds of luggage in the back, but we worked it out.  And I can't really complain about it being cramped.  I drove, so I was in the only spot that didn't have bags and miscellaneous stuff jammed around my legs. 

#4, Grammy and K-bug

We had a lot of help unpacking the Suburban, thank you Lord!  So now that we actually had everything inside it was time to make all the beds.  All five of them.  Did I mention they were bunk beds?  Luckily, the mattresses are thin and easily moved.  It's still exhausting.  And hot!  And this is the point of most camps that I find it most unfair that we have all girls.  If we had boys Hubby would be there and have to be making at least some of the beds in his own cabin, but instead, it's all on me.  Although, I did have help from Mom and Aunt A, so I can't complain.  Too much anyway!

Play time!

We start all the festivities bright and early Monday morning.  Each day goes something like this:  Flagpole, morning devo, breakfast, singing session, public speaking session, games, lunch, congregational singing, swim time, clean up, dinner, church service.  The girls made it to all the flagpoles on time.  I made it to most of them.  One of the things I love about this camp is that when the girls ask if they can go somewhere on their own I can actually say yes.  #1 and #2 have to look out for #3, but other than that they can go wherever they want.  I trust them to be where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there, and they know where they are allowed to go and not go.  So they spend most of their free time with other kids.  They are also away from me.  This becomes an increasingly positive thing as the week goes on. 

All the kids singing

So a couple of random things about the week.  I love going to camp as an adult.  I no longer have to sit in the front row and participate if I don't want to.  If I want to sit further back and talk during the sessions I can.  Not that I do it all the time, but because I know the possibility is there it makes sitting through the sessions a little easier.  I am also no longer scared of the camp director.  Turns out he's all bark, but I never knew it when I came as a camper!  He and that whistle were scary!

I mustache you a question...

Swim time.  Did I say that being responsible for all the girls in the cabin was when I thought about the unfairness of Hubby not having to be there and take care of some of our offspring?  Well, every day at swim time I thought it too.  EVERY day!  The three older can get themselves changed which is a plus, but I still have to get sunscreen on, not to mention actually going to the pool with them all.  And then trying to keep an eye on all four, including two who don't swim well.  Let's just say that the year we didn't get to swim at all because we didn't have a lifeguard hurt me much less than it did my children! 

Aunt A provided movies.  Yay!

I do need to insert here that my Mom and Aunt A helped with the girls a lot during camp.  This was definitely the easiest camp I've ever made it through, and it is specifically because I had them there helping as well.  I'm just trying to convey to everyone how much fun camp really is!

Also, #4 got really sick in the middle of the week.  Monday evening around dinner she started to get lethargic and looking like she wasn't feeling well.  Her eyes were watering a lot so I thought it was allergies.  I ended up putting her to bed right after the evening service was over.  She fell asleep right away, but was up most of the night crying for no reason and she started to get a pretty high fever.  I felt bad for everyone else in the cabin whose sleep was also interrupted that night.  Tuesday morning I just kept her in the cabin, but asked if we could be moved to a private room.  Mainly for everyone else's sanity, but also for mine a little bit.  They ended up putting us in the infirmary which was actually really nice.  It had a little sitting area with a chair and couch.  It made my life much easier!  She started feeling and acting like she felt better as the day progressed, but she still had a fever so we only came out of the room to eat.  Mom and Aunt A took care of the other three girls in the cabin while I stayed the night in the infirmary with #4.  I was especially grateful for them that night.  Her fever ended up breaking during the night Tuesday night and she was back to her normal self Wednesday morning so we were able to join back in the daily activities as well as move back in to the cabin. I never did really figure out what was wrong with her.  The only thing I can think of is that when any of my girls get overly tired they tend to do what #4 did, get a fever and need to sleep a lot.   I was sad to leave the infirmary though--it was nice.  I might "get sick" every year now! 

Poor sick baby girl!

We clean up well!

So as exhausting as camp is, and as much as I dread packing and unpacking everything for camp, and as much as I sometimes wish Hubby was the one that had to take care of all the children at camp, we all had a really good time.  I always enjoy seeing friends from churches from several different states, the girls got to see their uncle and cousins, they got to perform in the talent show, and as always, the girls loved every second of it.  They talk about it all year and start planning for next year's talent show as we're pulling out of camp.  I don't know if we're going to be able to go back again.  We've found a Church of Christ Homeschoolers camp that we're going to go to and I don't know if we'll be able to swing both.  Even if we don't, we'll always have the best memories of Ozark!