Summertime & The Livin’s Easy

I know that I have tried and tried again to pick up my blog where I left off and it never did just work out the way that I wanted. But I feel like I need to make a better effort and so here I am! Ready to share a little more because I sure have missed blogging and I have missed all my blogging friends! If you’re still out there reading, you’re awesome! Hello again! And, if you’re new to the blog {which I have had since August 2008}, welcome!
Did you know that today is the first official day of Summer? It has felt like Summer since … April! And it’s certainly been busy like summer the past month as well. We’ve done a lot already. We’ve been to summer camp…


I pretty much grew up every summer going to Bible camp, so it was super fun to bring Benjamin to his first year! Of course, I hadn’t been to camp since I was fifteen, so I was pretty nervous about going, especially it being my first year as counselor!

Benjamin stayed in the cabin with me {although Carl was also at the camp – he was a counselor for the boys}, and for most of the week, we shared a top bunk together. It was rough settling down the first night but we were so tired the rest of the week that it worked out pretty well for us. I’m sure, however, that you’re wondering how a three-year-old did on a top bunk… we only had one incident and that was him goofing off and he fell … and caught himself with his forehead. So Benjamin had two pretty nice-sized goose-eggs on his head the rest of the week. {My child!}

Probably one of my favorite parts about Camp was the fact that we were all there – all three of us. It was a family thing. Benjamin got to spend more time with his Daddy than he is used to as Carl goes to the office during the day, and he also got to do a lot of things that he normally didn’t get to do – i.e. spend time with a bunch of other kids {albeit, most of them at least three or four years older}, go swimming, etc. I just love the picture above because it was just a sweet little moment during all the chaos of the activities.

Of course, Benjamin also got to spend a lot of time outside during camp… I would say about 75% of his day. We go outside and play at home, but certainly not as much and certainly not for as long because it’s just so hot and we’re a little spoiled with our A/C! But Benjamin had a lot of fun playing baseball and digging around in the sand. Actually, at the camp they had the option of going down to the creek on Tuesday and Thursday to go canoeing and Benjamin preferred to stay up at the ballfield and dig around in the sand instead.

One of our favorite parts of the day happened to be canteen where we would get a drink and a snack. Of course, Benjamin doesn’t like sodas, so he would get a cup of ice water and whatever snack he wanted that day. Here, obviously he is eating some oreos, and in the second picture you can see one of the crafts we made – the ‘hair feather’.

I wish I had gotten a good picture of the Slip-N-Die – YES! DIE! – because it is the grandfather of Slip-N-Slides… it is super intimidatingly huge and goes down a steep hill… and then you hit the splash pool at the bottom… if you’re lucky enough, you won’t fly off somewhere into the mud (or if you like that sort of epicness, you will!). I didn’t plan on going down but decided I would, so I went down twice – once by myself and the second time with Benjamin… well with Benjamin I almost lost him as he flew out of my arms but I grabbed him just in time. He ended up going down the slide four times total. It was really a lot of fun! Next year, I’m totally going again!

On the last night, we had awards for our cabin. It was a lot of fun making up awards for each of the girls and then presenting them. We had awards like “Best Butter Fingers” for the girl who dropped nearly every drink she had, or “Biggest Personality” for the one who was super crazy and fun, or the award for “Having The Most Patience With Being Asked What Her Name Is 1,000 Times” for the girl who… well you get the point. Benjamin was one of two “babies” in the cabin, the other being another staff kid who was four. The other one was dubbed “Ladies’ Man” by the girls in our cabin and Benjamin was awarded “Cutest Camper” because, I mean come on… he pretty much is.

Of course, my very favorite part about the week is the fact that it was Christ-centered. We learned about Faith and talked about Faith daily. I enjoyed doing the few Devos I did with the girls in the cabin, and singing with everyone in the mess hall, and round-up, and chapel. It was a very uplifting week and I had missed having something like that in my life... I used to look forward to camp every year and now I can again - it's exciting! Refreshing! I love it and I can't wait for next year! 

Anyway! That was one big week out of our summer! I have a lot more to share {I know, more?! – ha! like I said, this summer has only begun!}, and hopefully will make the time later to do so! Until then… I hope you all have enjoyed your first day of summer!