Summer Camp: The good, the dirty, the tangled.

This is Clare~

Isn't she pretty? She is 8 years old, has finished the second grade, and last week she went away to camp with our church. For FIVE days!!!

Now, I have never been one to encourage my children to hold on to my skirt tails, but because she is the oldest every experience is a new one and we learn from it. Just like when she started kindergarten, all of a sudden it became apparent to me it was time to get her out of a five point harness car seat. The thought never crossed my mind to put her in a booster seat!! (Big E has been in a booster since the age of 3. See, I learned from it.)

 Well this time it became apparent to me that she was going to have to wash and brush her hair all by herself. She does most of it already but I always go back over it. I was not to worried about the whole bathing and brushing teeth part. She is very good on that end, but really, it is summer camp. What child stays that clean at summer camp.

Also, did I mention she is supper tender headed? Do you see those curls? It's a recipe for disaster.

So I made her PROMISE me that she would not come home at the end of the week with one big giant dread lock. She promised, and we got her packed and on the bus headed to Alabama with 100 of her friends.

While she was gone Big E and I had some good quality time.

We went to a movie, played Just Dance late into the night and sent lots of letters to Clare at camp.

Five days later we headed over to our church to pick up my first time camper. This is what I got. ~

I kept seeing pictures of this in my head ~

Cast Away much? :)
2 things~ 1.See that skirt she is wearing? It's not a skirt, it's a halter top (she was gone for five days, I packed her clothes for eight days). 2.She hardly brushed her hair. She thought if she just washed and used conditioner it would be alright. AND, I have still yet to figure out what that stain is on her tank top. All I know is it is sticky, and smells like a combo of syrup and milk.

As we were leaving I asked her if there was anything she might have forgotten or if she remembered anything she had a hard time finding in case we needed to look in the lost and found.
"Yes." she said "My toothbrush and toothpaste."
Me: "Seriously?"
This is what the lost and found looked like ~

Even if I did go and look for the toothbrush in there and did find it, I really don't think I could boil water long enough to get it clean.
We stopped at CVS on the way home.

So after I hugged her and kissed her and told her how much I missed her (and made her tell me how much she missed me) I sent her off to the shower while I started her laundry. Three days later I am still spot treating.

All and all ,she had a BLAST and I love hearing all her little stories about the adventures she had. Did I learn anything from this experience with summer camp? Absolutely. I learned that she tasted a small amount of freedom with some independence and acted like any other 8 year-old. Even if she did look like Tom Hanks from Cast Away, we will do it all again next year!

Meg 

P.S.~ It took 2 shampoos, 1 huge amount of conditioner and 15 minutes to get all the tangles out.