Family Camp

We are home from a great week at Family Camp! This was a week designed for clergy families to get away and get to know each other. We had 8 families - 14 adults and 15 kids under 6. Needless to say it was rowdy, chaotic, exhausting and crazy. We had a fabulous time. Every morning, the clergy types had a meeting while the spouses got together for conversation and the kids went to child care. Then in the afternoon we had nap time, family time, beach time, whatever. After dinner we had activities like beach games or movie night, and then we had babysitters to hang with little ones (sleeping or otherwise) while the adults sat around the campfire. It was very well organized! Our boys did great - Sam was the youngest, but only by a few months.

Sam and fellow infant Lauren who is 2 months older than him (but weighs the same of course)

Casey was right in the middle of the kids with a few very close to his age. He had so much fun - he loved the beach, all week he talked about "beach ... swimmin'... rocks... fun". The water was shallow for quite a ways so he could walk all over and throw rocks and just enjoy splashing around.

At his age, you wonder after 5 days if he thinks we have moved there forever. He referred to our rustic camp cabin as our "little house". But then one morning he woke up and exclaimed - "Woo hoo - CAMP!"

Casey slept on a mattress on the floor - we brought him a sleeping bag but to say he slept in it would be a bit of an exaggeration. Nap time was tough without the confinement of his crib, meaning it would have been better if we could have put him down and left him alone to settle down to sleep like we do here. But given the mattress on the floor arrangement and the non-locking doors and the proximity of the lake, we did not leave him alone. So naps were not as long as usual and nights were later than usual and let's just say by last night he was completely wiped out, as were all the other kids - we were all headed for "meltdown town". He had so much fun though - it was worth it. We did a lot of chasing him and playing and chasing and a few time outs as well. He also cracked us up a lot - I cannot even think of an example but we enjoyed him very much.
Sam was a total trooper. He slept great there and I think we are on a better eating routine than ever before. He was passed around a lot and made a lot of people's days with his delightful smiles.

We are glad to be home - we are totally exhausted. It was a great week. We really enjoyed the time to get to know these friends and colleagues on this unique clergy family path. The intention is that no matter where we all get moved to, we will have each other (and most importantly, our kids will have each other) as a constant in our lives. It's a wonderful idea - I hope more families will come in the future. We got to be better friends with fantastic people, learned some good stuff, ate good food, and slept pretty poorly on the camp bunks. Can't wait until next year!! But first, I can't wait to sleep in my own bed tonight :)


Casey and Jeff participate in beach games - trying to build the tallest sand pile in 2 minutes or something. Of course this picture doesn't really show that Casey kept knocking it down - he didn't really get the game I guess.


The family shot on the outing to a park in Petosky. Of course the family is joined by Thomas the tank engine because we do not go anywhere without him. This Thomas actually belonged to Casey's pal Ben but Casey quickly commandeered it and by the end of the week even Ben thought it belonged to Casey. Luckily Ben is not too into Thomas and didn't miss it, and we made sure it got back into their car today.


Casey getting some sleep at last


Casey's Godfather Carl finds himself caught with ice cream between Luca and Casey


I am starting to wonder about memory and when it starts. It seems too early and it probably is, but this picture is from beach time on Monday - and tonight Casey spontaneously described this to me. "Mama - Casey in the boat - Daddy - Casey cryin' - no life jacket! - boat was fun - wanna get out - fun" And that is the long and the short of it - he didn't want to wear the life jacket so we told him he couldn't go but then he decided he would wear it. He stopped enjoying the ride long before it was over which was fun for Jeff. I was surprised he remembered all that because we didn't talk about it later and he didn't go on the boat again. Oh well, time will tell.