Saturday: stroller flowers

It is still (barely) too cool for some of our flowers in the evening, so we have often been bringing them in and out.  Joshua and I finally put them in the stroller for easier moving.  We could probably plant a few of them, but it would be easier to do them all at once.

Friday: breathing

Do you know what I'm supposed to like but don't?  Counted breathing.  Like "Breathe in -2-3-4.  Breathe out -2-3-4" and pretty much any similar thing.  I know it's supposed to calm me down, but then I feel like I haven't had a a good breath the whole time and I'm more stressed* because my breathing is all wrong.

*Honestly, the more stressed and the calming from the breathing probably cancel each other out.

Thursday: Craig's Cruisers

Craig's Cruisers invited the school over this evening.  Joshua and his friends went, while Isaac elected not to go.  They both chose correctly.

Lines were pretty long and we really don't have a large Craig's Cruisers.  Also, the number of times Joshua and company got in a line and then left the line was stressful to me.  They had a really hard time executing a plan - it was somewhat understandable, but it was driving me nuts.  I think Joshua still had a pretty good time because he was with friends and got to make decisions.  He also got some arcade tokens and enjoyed that quite a bit.

It was so loud.  I had to leave a bit early and after leaving the building I was amazed at the decibel change.

Wednesday: rock wrapping class

Isaac and I went to a rock wrapping class tonight (as a pendant for a necklace).  I enjoyed it, but I think Isaac enjoyed it a lot more and might make more at home.

The rock group is also really generous for their junior members (<=18).  There were four kids there, and they learned about copper, got a piece of raw copper, and Isaac won the junior door prize.

Tuesday: unpacking

Surprisingly, most of the camping stuff got unpacked by the end of the day!  I still need to roll up the sleeping bags and there's more laundry than normal, but everything else has been put away.  Usually it takes us several days to get everything unpacked.

I also got several things from my to-do list finished, but I will admit that many of them were pretty short.

Memorial Day Saturday: the fun day

Saturday tends to be the fun day of camping.  There are activities for the kids, the ice cream and candy store is open, and everything is still new.  

Julie put up two hammocks and they were a hit!  The kids didn't necessarily rest in them as much as play in them.

Ben and I took several walks to the beach, but never actually went down the stairs.  Saturday was rather cool and I had no desire to touch the water.  We did spy on Joshua and Jonathan one time though.

The kids did all the activities, even the ones that involved face paint.  They also seemed to interact more with the other kids at the campsite, so I expect that everyone is growing up a bit and it's becoming a bit easier.  (There were plenty of games and reading for Isaac too, and Joshua was doing his own thing with friends most of the time.)

We had a fire!  We did hobo pies both nights because it turns out that hobo pies are more delicious than hot dogs.  I will continue to bring hot dogs just in case, but had been expecting this outcome.

The sunset was hidden, but there was a nice flock of birds.

Memorial Day Friday: arrival

Once again, we went camping over Memorial Day weekend.  This was probably one of the least stressful preps I've had.  (Not that all the others were stressful, but this one was especially not.)  I did change a few things... 1) I split up the packing list and gave each boy a checklist of what they needed to find.  Usually they get their own clothes and then together, and on the fly, I try to figure out what else they need to find and they're always waiting on me and I'm always trying to do three things at once.  This was so much easier.

2) I pre-cut everything.  I've done this somewhat in the past, but this weekend I even precut the apples.  It makes meals so much easier.

We arrived Friday around 4:30, got set up, and the kids went to explore.  Ben showed up and we went to dinner.  The other people we were camping with slowly rolled in.  Unfortunately, we didn't have a fire.  I think it was too windy, but I'm not in charge of the fire so all I know is that there wasn't a fire.