Church camp happened to fall on Ben's birthday this year, so he got to celebrate his 11th year up in the mountains. Him and Mila actually went up a day earlier than the rest of us with their grandparents. I was a bit apprehensive about not seeing Ben until later in the day on his big day, but it actually worked out really well and I'm glad he went early. We took way too long getting ready and getting out of the house, and if he had stayed his birthday would have been spent sitting around at home waiting on us--not fun. This way he got to fish and camp and see his friends until we arrived with his birthday gifts and his bike to make his camping trip complete (our kids love bringing their bikes camping, so it was a must).
He got a good group of kids watching him open his gifts! Who gets presents at camp?! Ben does! He got a smart robot, a knife, a spirograph set, a drone that he got a week early, and shoes that he didn't like and I had to take back. That was probably the first gift ever that one of my kids didn't like.
On our first morning there, we took a walk to the docks and hung out on the windy lake with the kids. Naomi loved playing with another little girl's fishing pole, and I was nervous the whole time, hoping she wouldn't drop it in the water before I could catch it. Cause of course all she wanted to do was put it in the water. Just being on the dock with Naomi made me nervous. She literally had to be within inches of my hands at all times so she wouldn't bolt for the water.
The kids got to try out the paddle boats, and I meant to take one out with Bogdan later on and never got to. Next year it will be top priority!
Blocking her off from one side.
Ben taking his turn on the paddle boat.
She hated the water at first, then started splashing her pudgy little legs around in it once she got used to it.
The games the kids play at camp are always so imaginative and pure and childlike. They love to decorate a little pine tree with "Christmas ornaments," aka pinecones, or load this large rock up with smaller rocks. At one point they had a long line of kids all standing with a rock in their hands, waiting for their turn to add their rock to the pile.
Ben loved to go fishing with whoever was up for taking him, and Naomi was obsessed with taking away everybody's scooter. We came home and I bought her a scooter and I soon realized it wasn't about the scooter. It was just about taking something away from someone.
We organized some fun games for the kids to play, including a relay race, a watermelon eating contest, a gummy bear building contest, and this Alka-Seltzer and Ziploc baggie water fight. Good times.
Ben was Abraham in a skit the kids performed, so he got creative with some brown, hairy fibers he found in the woods. and some duct tape. He walked around like that for a good part of the evening.
Naomi wasn't a fan of the sand, and definitely not of the water, so when we plopped her down she tolerated the sand enough to sit in one spot and play. She didn't budge the whole time we were there one day. I think she was afraid if she moved, we'd force her in the water. Hey, it made it super easy to keep an eye on her--I'll take it! All of us got to jet ski and tube thanks to some generous friends, which was pretty much the highlight of my lake time. I love water sports so much. I honestly feel so free in the water, and doing something active and challenging just feels so good. I forget how good it feels to laugh my head off while being zipped around on the tube, holding on for dear life until you can't do it anymore and get flung into the water, but now I remember!
We ended our trip with a visit to the nearby hot springs. I hadn't been last year because I wasn't about to climb down steep embankments with a two-month-old, but this year we were brave enough to do it with our feisty one-year-old.
After four days of camping (five for Ben and Mila), it was nice to get home, take a long, hot shower, and crawl into our own beds at night. The best.
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