Big girl goes to camp

Ever since our fabulous neighbors invited us to Little People’s Retreat last year, Carys has asked me about camping.
Not tent camping, because, quite simply, I don’t do that type of camping unless utterly necessary. Although I have promised the girls we’ll camp in a tent. In our backyard. Soonish.

We headed to camp Friday evening, and the girls (Carys & Faith) were ecstatic. Cailyn is not quite old enough to attend LPR, so she had a special Nana-Papa-CaiCai weekend planned.

Literally, the girls let out ear-piercing screams of  joy when we drove through the camp gate. They took a breath because their faces were turning blue, and then resumed screaming. It was awesome to see them that excited!

I remember being a bit disappointed last year, as I thought Little People’s Retreat was a Mommy&Me type of weekend.
But, no.
It’s designed to prepare younger kiddos for the momentous milestone of CAMP. Like staying-overnight-for-a-whole-week-without-mama camp. So they run around and do activities, and parents are encouraged to do their own thing – or hang with their kiddos. Carla and I opted to hang with the girls, even if it was in the background.

Friday night was a bit of a bust; the weather was stormy and not very camp-worthy. We got to Camp Dixie, unpacked and headed down to the lakefront — just in time. It really started raining shortly after that. We even lost water for a brief period, but all was well when it was time to wash up and head for bed.

Carys decided she was too scared to sleep on the top bunk, so she slept with me on the bottom. Oh my, that was not very comfy. At all. But once she fell asleep, complete with an orange kool-aid mustache, she slept soundly.

We didn’t sleep well at all Friday night awoke way too early Saturday morning and prepared for the day’s activities:

Breakfast.

Chapel.

Crafts by the lake.

Lake time.
Cary’s first canoe ride – thanks to Ms. Carla!

Lunch.

Pool.
Their favorite part, by far.

Pack up & go home.
Sit in traffic on I-95 for way too long!

There was a wreck on 95 that kept us a standstill for quite a while. There’s nothing like pulling into your own driveway, safe & sound, and thoroughly exhausted.
Carys is already talking about next year, and entertaining the idea of Cailyn attending, too.
We’ll see.

It was a fun weekend. A little too short, but fun nonetheless.
I took a brief hiatus from all things tech-related (minus my camera & cell phone), and I have to say it felt quite nice not to be tethered to the laptop. I didn’t really like sifting through my inbox after two whole days incommunicado, but it was worth it to hear; “Mommy, you are the best Mommy in the world. We had such a fun big girl weekend!”