Summer Camp!

This is the time of year that the boys probably love the most. It's the time when they get to ditch their brothers and parents, to hang out with friends for a whole week at church camp! Since I have a high-schooler, a middle-schooler, and a pre-teen.....there are three different camps. That means that, for three weeks in a row, I only have 5 boys. Sigh. I'm finally starting to get....sort of, kind of, a little bit....used to my older kids going off in different directions, and not worry so much. That doesn't mean I like it, of course, but I do know that they are having a blast with all their friends, that they are in excellent hands, and that they are spiritually benefiting from their camp experiences, so that makes me happy for them.

Over the weekend, Seth came home from high school camp. He had such a blast, as usual. He got to play bass in the worship band all week long. My son is so cool. I was never that cool in high school. I just love when he comes home and talks my head off about how awesome camp was.

Then, this morning, I dropped Jarod off at church, so he could hop on the bus for his week of middle school camp.

Jarod was so happy his buddy was going. He's not quite the social butterfly that Seth is, and still isn't quite comfortable in his own skin yet. He was not about to hug his friend for a picture! Nor did his little friend want to hug Jarod for a picture. Nor did Jarod want to hug his mama in front of his friends. They were both way too cool for such things. So, naturally, I planted a big ole smooch on his cheek, in front of his friends, when I said good bye. Don't worry. It's character building for him to be embarrassed by his mama. Eventually he will succumb to the reality that I'm never not going to be embarrassing, and he'll just learn to my accept public displays of affection as a part of life, like Seth has. Because mamas are just embarrassing, but ya gotta love um anyway. Life lesson right there.

This is the massive group of middle schoolers (!!!holy moly and bless the youth leaders' brave souls!!!) heading off to camp today.

Got a picture of Jarod just about to step onto the bus. His little brothers were yelling very important reminders out to him, like, "Don't forget your sunscreen!" and, "Don't forget to eat!" and, "Don't forget to pray at night!"......

......which, of course, degenerated into, "Don't forget to go pee!", and "Don't forget to poop!", and "Don't forget to wipe!" Because everything comes down to those three things in the end, don't they? Especially if we're needing a topic for conversation at the dinner table. I assume that this embarrassed Jarod (ironic, considering they learned much of their humour from him), but I'm not sure because he disappeared under the window, way down in his seat, for some reason. Maybe he dropped something on the floor.

The bus didn't take off for a few minutes, and I had put an unfortunate end to the helpful camping hints, so the little boys entertained themselves another way, in the mean time. A friend pointed out how helpful my kids would be on a tropical island. They could pick coconuts and bananas for me.

I also left Seth at the church all day, today, to hang out with his friend and then to go to youth group later. I only have four boys today. It's so strange. I don't quite know what to do. Next week, I lose Micah to pre-teen camp. Boo-hoo. But, after he comes home, we'll be a whole family again. Soon after that, our refugee reading program will end, and school will start. Summer is flying by!