Camp week was memorable as always! This year held some new adventures. I drove a van full of teenagers to camp for the first time. I may have had ulterior motives in driving--I got to give Aliza a hug. I also got to see the sweet moment when Aliza and Anna saw each other.
Our youth group was on the Orange Team and wore their orange Crush shirts to arrive. I drove home and then Isaiah and I drove to WV and spent a couple days with Grandma and Grandpa. Isaiah is holding it, but I was pretty excited about a fresh fruit salad. Anna texted this picture and was so excited to tell me that she had gone on the giant swing in the high ropes course. That was the only time I heard from Anna!Isaiah and I got to be part of Joel's birthday celebration.
Ronan kept Isaiah busy. When it was time to leave, Ronan tried very very hard to kiss Isaiah--on the mouth. Isaiah was having no parts of that.Josiah talked a solid 20 minutes on the drive home with me when they got back from camp! He had a great time and only had great stories to tell. I asked him if he had a favorite memory and his response was that it took all of the activities together to be his favorite--without any one thing it wouldn't be the same.
The heat index was over 100 degrees every day of camp. After color wars every afternoon, the boys jumped in the pool to try to give their sweaty shirts a quick clean.
Isaiah and I spent an afternoon with friends. He didn't think he was going to enjoy the afternoon, but ended up having a great time playing Mario Kart and Minecraft with Liam. We had some time to kill and found. a sale on outdoor summer toys at Target. We bought a slip n slide which Isaiah enjoyed.
Rain was a welcome reprieve from the heat!
And then on the last morning of camp, Jeremy, Isaiah and I got to sit in on the last large group celebration. It's fun to just get to sit back and watch. The music started and Josiah was up and headed to the front with everyone else. Isaiah now CANNOT wait until he is old enough to go!
It was special to get a tiny glimpse into the energy Aliza gives to the campers from breakfast to midnight every day. She also got to give her Daddy a BIG hug.
A bunch of our group were sick during the week. Anna was pretty miserable on Friday. Josiah was just getting it on Friday. The worst for Aliza was Wednesday/Thursday.
One more group picture and then I drove a van of teenagers home again. Traffic was terrible again. But we made it. I'll even drive again next year if I'm needed.I'm so grateful that this is such a positive life-impacting experience for our kids. So life-impacting that Aliza wants to create the experience for all the campers. She is right where she is supposed to be. In spite of the physical and mental exhaustion, she absolutely loves talking to the campers, interacting with the youth group she is assigned to and tells me in almost every polo that she knows that she is living in her purpose.