Pool Parties 1, 2, & 3

Caroline spent the first half of the week at Camp 345.  At drop-off on Sunday, she got quite upset after checking in.  For months, she and her friend Savannah had been planning on doing everything together at camp.  However, when they found each other, they discovered they were put in different groups and on different buses.  Tears were shed, but I tried to encourage her to make the most of it and still have a good time.  Camp 345 is smaller than the boys' KSM Kamp, but they go to the same Pineywoods Camp.  The church had a drop box of pictures, so we got to see Caroline as the days passed.  Each picture of her had her standing next to Savannah.  It ended up that the leaders let them be partners.  They are not allowed to go anywhere at camp without a partner, so that was why Caroline was so upset they were not in the same group.  I was glad the leaders let them stay together.  They did the zipline many times and rock climbing.  They really wanted to do the giant swing, but didn't have a third person.  Caroline was not a fan of the water games.  She protested by wearing as many clothes as possible.  Overall she had a very good time. 

 

This was the week of pool parties.  Early in the week, Josiah had one at a church friend's house.  They were smart and had everyone bring food to share.  He had a good time.  I receive no photos from 9th grade pool parties...

Henry went with friends to a KSM water party at our church's other campus.  There he tried a slip-n-slide for the first time.  Poor deprived child.  They had a lot of fun and went out to Whataburger afterwards.  

The following day, Henry had another pool party with all of his MARCH friends.  

But the biggest pool party of the week was the one for CC.  We went to the End of the Year Pool Party, walked into the backyard, and were greeted with, "Surprise!"  All our CC friends threw us a going away party.  The kids had a lot of fun swimming with their friends.  Our friend made Caroline's favorite hot dogs.  There were cards and gifts.  There was cake and ice cream.  Then they prayed over us and it was a wonderful, humbling experience.  We have loved our CC community.  We have loved their friendships and they have been our Texas family for ten years now.  

Josiah's friends made videos of themselves in the pool.  One of his friend's did a number of belly flops.  No doubt his stomach hurt the next day.

I spent the beginning of the week on the phone with moving companies.  As someone who hates talking on the phone, this was an exhausting process.  However, the silver lining is that we now have a move-out date sometime between July 19-21.  We'll know the exact date as the time gets closer.  This coming week we have a POD coming, so we can get all these boxes out of the house.  We had a big packing party (amongst ourselves) this weekend.  The boys have been concerned about their Lego creations, so we got giant bags of packing peanuts and have packed them very gently.  Josiah is packing his room up with such care.  Each box contains just a few items that are wrapped in tissues and packing paper and then taped together.  He uses such extreme care and precision that I have to walk away because of the sheer amount of 'cushioning' being used per item.  Nothing of his should break.  Ever.  

I myself keep finding stuff to throw away.  One such item actually made it all the way from Virginia.  It was a jar of baby food that we bought for Josiah.  When we got it home, we discovered that everything was written in Russian.  So, what better to do than keep it on our kitchen shelf for 15 years.  That will not be traveling to South Carolina.  The junk drawers got tossed as well.   

The kids each have a sleepover to close out the weekend.  Caroline is currently at a friend's house for the night.  Henry has a few friends over at our house, and Josiah's turn is tomorrow.  We're eking out every bit of time.  Henry's friends have VR, so he's been enjoying that.  

Benson has been finding different spots to sleep now that the summer heat is peaking.  He hangs out on the tile and cool wooden areas.