We definitely crammed a lot into the month of July. I am going to make this post about the girls’ week at camp while Travis and I were in Oregon. I will write separate posts about our beach trip and the rest of our July happenings. Whew! Here’s the recap:
Paw and Rae Rae were very generous to offer for Savannah and Abigail to stay with them for “Paw and Rae Rae Camp” while Travis and I were in Oregon. That week also coincided with Brooklyn going to F.C. Camp for the first time, so we worked it out where Rae Rae would pick her up at the end of camp, and Brooklyn would spend the rest of the day and the next morning with them before we picked all the girls up. It was a lot to coordinate, but it all worked out!
We dropped Brooklyn off at F.C. Camp on Sunday, July 2nd. She had been getting more and more nervous over the last few days, saying her stomach hurt and she wasn’t sure she wanted to go anymore. She had met Della at VBS a couple of weeks before, so it helped that she would at least have one friend already when she got there.
On the day of drop off, the girls and I headed straight from church down to camp. We ate sandwiches in the car and picked up Rae Rae in Addison on the way. (Travis stayed home so he could drop off Gabby at boarding between 4-5 pm, the only hours that our vet is open on the weekend). It rained on us a little on the drive down. When we got there, we had to wait in a long line of cars to drop off. There are over 400 kids that attend this camp, so dropping off is a big process. It started to monsoon in the middle of drop off, so it took a little longer to get her stuff inside her cabin. The whole time we were waiting in the car line, she was saying she didn’t want to leave me for that long, and she didn’t think she could do it. But then we got inside her cabin, got her bed made, and when Della showed up, they almost immediately made plans to go get a popsicle. She was ready to rush out the door, and barely had time to give us hugs or let me get a picture ;)
F.C. Camp rents out the campground at Camp McDowell for the week, and we were excited to find Brooklyn’s cabin all decorated in a strawberry theme for the week. I thought that was so cute! I attended this same camp when I was a kid, although it’s in a different location and seems to have gotten “bigger” in every sense. We definitely didn’t have our cabin decorated with strawberries! ;)
On the way back after dropping Brooklyn off, we stopped back in Addison, and Rae Rae drove Abigail and Savannah to the lake for their week of “camp”, and I took her car home. Savannah told me she wanted to go to camp next year after seeing Brooklyn’s cabin and what camp looked like! Brooklyn’s counselor, Rondi, created a group text with all the moms of the girls in Cabin 2 and sent us a few pictures throughout the week. We got our first update only a few hours after we dropped Brooklyn off: All the girls were doing great! Her cabin was all girls who had just finished 3rd or 4th grade, and we were excited for her to make new friends.
All the campers gathered in the “Doug” that evening for worship and a big pep rally :)
It was a rainy week in general, but they were still able to get outside and play in between the storms. Each camper was sorted into a society for games and competitions, and Brooklyn was in Psi Beta. Their colors were orange and blue, so she was happy about that ;) Here are some pictures from Monday of camp week!
We got another picture from Brooklyn’s counselor on Monday night…apparently, it’s a tradition for the girls from the youngest cabin (3rd/4th grade) to go to the senior girls’ cabin one night to eat cookies together. So fun!
Tuesday was July 4th, so the dress up theme was patriotic :) One of Brooklyn’s workshops that day was volleyball, and she also played some pickup soccer with a bunch of kids just for fun. Her cabin also did their tie-dye t-shirts that day. We could tell she was staying busy and having lots of fun already!
I think this may have been the only picture from Wednesday that I saw with Brooklyn in it :)
Thursday was “Shine A Light” Day, and we thought Brooklyn’s shirt would be perfect for that. I’m sure she was happy about the ice cream sundaes too!
Friday was Tie Dye Day, and everyone wore the shirts they made earlier in the week. They also had a themed dinner that night (“A Night at the Movies”). The kids were invited to dress up as their favorite movie character or something movie-related. Brooklyn didn’t want to dress up, but she did wear a Rey t-shirt (Star Wars). I didn’t see any pictures of her at the dinner, but she said she had fun :)
Rae Rae picked Brooklyn up bright and early on Saturday morning, and she snapped a few pictures of Brooklyn with some of the friends she’d made. We were so glad that she had such a fantastic time – she says she definitely wants to go back next summer!
Savannah and Abigail also had a rainy week with Paw and Rae Rae, but they still managed to get some swimming in at the lake and the pool in Trussville. They also went to see the fireworks at the Trussville 4th of July celebration. I was amazed to hear about Abigail going down the slide at the lake so many times!
You can see it on Brooklyn’s face that she was pretty tired on Saturday after she and Rae Rae got back to the lake, but that didn’t stop her from swimming and playing in the lake with her sisters.
They also waited for Brooklyn before they made the traditional 4th of July flag pie :) The girls always enjoy putting on the berries.
The next day, we met Paw and Rae Rae and the girls for lunch at Moe’s BBQ in Priceville after church, and they were really excited to see us. We were excited to see them too and hear more about their week. We brought home some souvenirs (glass bottles with shells and some coloring sheets from the Yaquina Head lighthouse), and they were excited. We all had a great time, but we were happy to be reunited at the end of the week too!
