Summer Camp

These last two weeks have seen us doing all sorts of summer camp activities. Here's a quick rundown, but before I get started with that...

RIP 36. Our beloved goldfish, 36, has passed on. He died sometime during the wee hours of yesterday morning. I was the one who fed 36 the most and he would always come to the front of the tank and wiggle excitedly whenever he saw me come into the kitchen. We sent 36 to his watery grave after Ben got home from camp.

We got 36 almost three years ago when Ben won him at the county fair. He was so named because he became ours when Ben tossed the 36th and final ping pong ball we had purchased and it landed smack dab in his little fishbowl. He grew to be almost six inches long in his time with us.

We are actually without any pets now. We have not seen our cat, Tagalong, since we got home from Georgia earlier this month.

CENTRIKID. Vicki and the boys returned with 21 others from church to CentriKid camp at Campbellsville University last week. They left on Monday, June 17, and got home that Friday. Vicki said everything from the team leading the camp to the curriculum and worship experience was great. I know the boys enjoyed it. Nate, our more vocal son, told us all about it, but when Ben, who is quieter, said that he was sad to be aging out after this year and would not be able to return you know they had a great time.

Not to shortchange the purpose of CentriKid, the details we hear the most about are the track times, those special interest classes the kids have in the afternoons. This year they offered three track times in the schedule (up from two last year). Ben and Nate both had Outdoor Games (though not together) and said that was a lot of fun. Ben was also scheduled for Wet & Wild and Basketball. Nate took Kitchen Chaos and Archery.

The kids gave a report on their trip in church today and it looked like everyone not only had a great time but grew spiritually as well.

WHERE DID THE WEEK GO? Jenna and I were left at home while Vicki and the boys were away and that's the question we were asking ourselves when they got back.

I had to work so it was a normal routine for me. Jenna has begun volunteering with Cindy Owen's ministry for Exceptional Adults and that kept her occupied Monday and Wednesday of that week. I know they went to the YMCA for swimming both days and that there was a cooking class Monday evening because Jenna had eaten supper when I picked her up. She also spent part of Tuesday with Mom and worked in her garden another day. We went out to Cracker Barrel for supper with Mom on one of those evenings.

I'll say one thing about Jenna's garden. She keeps it clean. One tool we haven't convinced her to use is the hoe. She pulls all the weeds by hand. We ate some squash from her garden at supper yesterday.

WEEKEND TURNAROUND. Last weekend was all about getting the laundry done and getting people back out the door. By Sunday after lunch the boys and I were on our way to Boxwell Reservation and Jenna was packing to leave for Mission Fuge with the youth group. That left Vicki home alone for the first time since we have been married. When we got back she, too, was wondering where the time went.

SUMMER CAMP. This is Ben's second year at Boy Scout Summer Camp. This year he took classes for the Basketry, Sculpture, and Soil & Water Conservation merit badges in the mornings. His afternoons are filled with a Green Bar class to put him on his way to earning his Second Class Scout rank.

Nate and I tagged along with the troop through Thursday so he could attend Webelos Resident Camp. Nate tok a Scout Skills course which had sessions in basic first aid, fire safety, map & compass, and knots & lashings. All the Webelos taking this course were divided into three patrols and they had a Scout Skills competition that last day. Nate’s patrol finished first. It was really neat to see Nate jump in and do things with his new found skills.

Nate’s experience at camp was different from what the vast majority of Webelos have because we camped out with Ben’s troop. He did just about everything the Boy Scouts did, even going to a few merit badge classes when we weren’t over at Cub World for the Scout Skills classes. This was something of a tradeoff as he missed the evening activities at Cub World. The nice thing is that the boys in the troop really accepted him and treated him well so he has already made friends for when he crosses over to Boy Scouts.

Vicki came to Boxwell for supper Thursday evening which really pleased Ben, though he didn’t show it when she first walked up. By the time we got to the dining hall he had found his way to the seat next to her and began share his week with her. He was angling to go home with us but we told him he needed to stay the other two days and finish what he started. As he parted with his mom he told her he missed her. Big stuff from such a quiet and reserved boy.

MISSION FUGE. While the boys and I were at camp Jenna went to Charleston, South Carolina, for Mission Fuge with 96 others from our church and three other churches. Jenna said she enjoyed the worship services the most and also liked the track time because she got to play with young kids every day. The only bad parts of the trip were the mechanical problems their bus had. Their bus had a flat tire one the way to Charleston and they had to wait 90 minutes for a new bus to pick them up and their air conditioning played out shortly after leaving Charleston to come home. She said the temperature inside the bus reached 95° in the hottest part of the day.

TRASH & TREASURES. Cross Plains held its annual community-wide yard sale this weekend. The weather was very pleasant being some 20° cooler than the record breaking temperatures we experienced last year. Ben and Nate actually came out ahead of the game having sold a couple of their old video game systems and games to a man who had set up a booth there.

Sadly this wraps up the first half of the kids’ summer break. Vacation Bible School starts in two weeks and school is right around the corner after that.

Joe