Kamp

The boys were at Kamp all week.  It is called Kamp because our church is Kingsland and they do everything with a 'K'.  They divided the kids up into the 12 tribes of Israel.  Josiah was on Issachar, whose assigned color was grey.  Henry was on Reuben, which was red.  Both boys had a friend of their respective Rec Team, which made it nice.  When they reached camp that first day, the tribes got together to decorate their flags and come up with a slogan or chant to define their team.  I gave excellent suggestions before the boys left.  Reuben, better than the sandwich.  Henry nixed it.  The chant they came up with was more creative anyway.  Reuben, Reuben, Reuben...  They chose waves for their flag.  

Josiah's team enlisted him to draw the picture on the flag - a donkey driving a car.  There were no clear shots of it, but a few pictures captured it from different angles.  They came up with, Is it a plane? Is it a train? It's a car (Issachar).  Hence the donkey driving a car.  

The photographer for the week was Henry's friend's dad, so I knew we would get some good pictures of Henry.  It pays to know people.  Another friend's mom was there in the refreshment station, so she took a few pictures, too.  

Henry and his MARCH friends: Mason, Adam, Ryder, Cooper, Henry

Josiah (far right) and his friends

The tribes competed in games each day with points tallied over the course of the week.  They divided the teams up further - junior high and high school, girls and boys.  By week's end, Josiah's Issachar came in 3rd place.  Henry couldn't remember his team's ranking, but he said they did better than he thought.  

Each morning of camp, they had TAWG - Time Alone With God.  They have a camp booklet that gives them some guidance and it is just a quiet time praying and reading Scripture. 

They also had a neon dance party.  We found Josiah in the high school party.  

They had worship every evening.  Henry said they set the temperature in that room to 60° so it was quite cold.  He and his friends stayed in their seats in the back.  He was not the type to rush the stage and hang out there.   Plus he said he didn't want to get stuck standing the whole time.  Practical, that one.

The last day they always have a candlelight service for the graduating seniors.  The seniors' candles are lit and then they go grade by grade and light all the candles of the younger kids.  They captured a very cool picture of this.  Caroline said it looked fake with the stars, but no, we just have too much light pollution here to see that many.  

When we picked the boys up on Friday, they were tired, but still talkative.  They seemed to have had a good time overall.  They had good weather, too, and it didn't get too hot until the last day.  

Josiah at the blue arrow, Henry at the red.

While the boys were gone, the ladies did play.  We played Battleship, Outburst, Chinese Checkers, and many challenges on Caroline's whiteboard.  We drew a lot of collab pictures, chatted a lot, and chilled.  It felt like the calm before the storm because we have to ramp up the packing with time dwindling.  

We stopped at the store after we dropped off the boys on Monday, and got a big bag of broccoli.  Caroline loves broccoli, so when I asked her what she wanted for dinner each night, it always revolved around broccoli.  We ate out just once. We tried Freddy's.  Great fries.  The rest was a bit meh, which is nice because it was a one-and-done sort of place.  

Caroline also got sealants on her teeth.  The worst part for her was when they put those giant pieces of gauze in her mouth to keep it dry.  She later said her tongue got curious during the process, and reached out to taste the sealant.  It was a quickly regretted decision as the taste was horrible.  Plastic coating did not sound like a good flavor.  

I spent much of the week getting together the kids' transcripts and report cards, as well as samples of their school work to send to the school in SC.  I dusted off my own resume and discovered it hadn't been updated in 10+ years.  I also filled out a job application that asked for my GPAs.  I wanted to write my age in the blank and say I have no idea, but I did alright.  Instead, I ordered my transcripts, which were fun to see again.  I didn't remember taking badminton in college.  I passed.  

Todd had a busy week of his own and he closed on a new house on Friday.  The house came with some woodland creatures.  The previous owners told us they fed some ducks and that a deer would come and finish the duck food.  We saw the tray they left out when we visited the house last week.  After Todd closed, he saw they had dumped the rest of the food in the tray.  A little later, there was the deer in our driveway.  He's had goose and ducks in the yard as well as a turtle.  I don't know how it'll all go when Benson arrives, but they can enjoy the calm for now.  

Tomorrow Caroline has her first VBS at the church where she does Awana.  She is super excited to go.