Ridiculously Cute Camp

Remember these two adorable little men? The ones whose brothers left them behind to do a super-fun summer camp while they are left at home to entertain their grown-ups for a week? The ones who really would have rather have been camping in the woods for the past 5 days. Well, buckle up for another post replete with even more liberal use of the word "camp".

The long promised tent/sleepover "finally" (as Romney would say) happened tonight. And not only does this post feature liberal "camp-y ness" it also features liberal "cuteness". Bill dug up our old tent-one that somehow fit all four of us for many a camping trip before we realized how much more fun camping would be without having to sleep on top of one another-set it up in Romney's room and that was all it took. Add stuffed animals, an air mattress, two sleeping bags, a portable DVD player and the perfect boy movie and you have indoor camping magic.

Indoor camping means indoor camp food. Pizza for dinner and microwave s'mores for dessert. Romney and Quinn built those s'mores from the ground up. Romney would not have just normal Hersey's chocolate for his guest, and had picked out special german chocolate for the festivities.





The family joke: "Isn't there anything faster than a micro-
wave?" Twenty seconds can seem like an eternity when there is sugar on the line.



But, the wait is so worth it. I think they are excited for this . . .








Microwave s'mores eaten in an indoor tent while watching a movie on a DVD player plugged into a wall. The boys might not be getting the same rugged experience as their older brothers, but I don't think they are minding that at this particular moment. I can hear the giggles through their closed door as they work on some funny madlibs to wind up their evening. An enjoyable way to enjoy a summer camping experience with a good friend.

Roger That (a.k.a. It's Fun to Stay at the YMCA)

Warning: This post and the two before it feature liberal usage of the word "camp". Camp is used to describe anything from a 4 hour rock climbing day camp to a 7 hour University of Utah day camp, to an overnight family excursion into the high desert, to the mother of all camps-- a week long parental abandonment of a 12 year old with 2 of his best friends in the Uintah mountains.
Camp seems to be the theme of our June. After a few weeks of checking in with William about his interest in partici-
pating in a week long camp with his two friends and being assured he was not, I got a phone call from William while he was away at a play date. The conversation went something like this "Um, Mom ("ummom" is the phone name given to me by William) I think I would like to go to Camp Roger after all." And with that started a 2 day frenzy of finagling him into the camp that had closed enrollment a week earlier.

I printed out 12 pages worth of forms and 12 pages worth of parent information and started the trek into paperwork, only to emerge victorious an hour later. After that I copied and printed insurance cards, made a bee-line to the pediatrician to beg them to waive their normal 24 hour policy of handing me a copy of his medical history and immunizations, drove to the YMCA office on the other side of town to beg them to allow him to attend this session and then waited 24 hours for the final answer from the camp director who was at a staff retreat the day I showed up (of course, right?)
William's happiness at being able to go to camp was contrasted by Romney's anguish at being left behind. Who will he play with and talk video games with and wrestle with and generally annoy and be annoyed by? Plus, it must be disappointing to be the younger brother sometimes, times when your older brother is allowed to do something you think sounds really fun, but your boring ol' parents don't think you are quite old enough for. Having been the oldest of 6, I can tell you it is equally frustrating to be the older person who blazed a trail the younger ones could follow years ahead age wise than the older one was allowed. But what little brother wants to hear that when they are leaving the bigger one at a super-fun camp in the mountains?
Not these two. Romney's adorable buddy is in the same boat, so we are planning a super-fun tent up in the room, microwave s'mores sleep over to heal some of their got-left-behind-blues. (I realize it isn't even close to the same thing, but it's all I got.) Maybe next year you two, until your parents remember that the cost doubles when two children attend and it is the same as one ticket to Europe. (Perhaps, the parents will realize how much they are saving by sending you to camp while they hop a plane to Europe. Things that make you go, hmm...)
Dropping off William was easier than I had anticipated. I thought I would feel much more emotional at leaving him in the care of strangers for a week. Seeing him choose his bunk next to his two great friends, unpack, and wear his Camp Roger t-shirt and name tag with such pride, eased the emotion on my end. Just knowing that these 3 boys are about to make lifelong memories together, cementing their friendship even further, and having more good, clean, fun than they might have in a year, packed into one wonderful week in the mountains made it bearable. Romney, however, put it all in perspective for me. I asked him if we should let William go to this camp or just keep him home because we would miss him too much he replied, "We should let him go, Mom. We need to let him grow up." Just not too quickly, please, William and Romney. Just not too quickly!

Addendum: We received this short, sweet and mildly hilarious (great oxymoron: "mildly hilarious") letter from camp today. 24 hours from his being released back into our care. Points of interest: He addressed the envelope himself and I am impressed he knew his zip-code. He called his bunk mate "Dude". Most importantly he is having fun!


Post Addendum Addendum: William LOVED camped. We picked up the happiest child on the planet, one who sings silly songs and does silly actions to go with them. One who writes the punch line for the cabin skit they put on for the entire camp. Highlights of the camp from William's perspective: Getting the "Respect" dog-tag award. Shooting the only bulls-eye from any camper in archery and winning points for his cabin. Learning how to patch a flat tire on a bike and mt. biking. Performing a skit and eating were also on the highlights list. Dodgeball and rainy day RISK playing round out his most favorite moments.

"I Hate Rabbits!"

The great outdoors and Father's Day weekend. I am a good wife with the most amazing husband who is also an unmatched-in-his-greatness-father. He earns this once a year celebration every day. Challenge for the good wife: How to do it in a style befitting this wonderful man? An overnight camping trip (with wife included) at Fremont Indian State Park and Campground. (I should mention that this tepee shot was taken in front of the Fremont Indian State Park Museum. Fremont people famously lived in pit-houses. Makes complete sense, non?)

Starting at the beginning- Yummy vegan pancakes at Blue Plate Diner on the way out of town. Because nothing is closer to the I-15 heading to South-Eastern Utah than the East bench of Salt Lake City, right? Love a big breakfast that I don't have to cook or clean up after. So does, Bill. That leaves us in the conundrum of who will cook, especially after working hard packing up for a camping trip. A great way to start a trip-- good food, no work!

3 hours of driving deposited us solidly in the desert, which felt like a million miles away from home. That is the best part of Utah. A few hours and you may as well be on a different planet. We toured the museum. Watched Romney test all the energy in the rocks for sale at the gift-shop. And hiked over as many of the trails as we could get to. There were 14 trails. We made it on 7. This is more impressive when I leave out the distance of each of the hikes. I will, however, disclose that we hiked for 3 hours. Two of the trails were washed out due to the impressive winter-run off filling the river to raging over it's banks. We did see hundreds of petroglyphs, dozens of lizards, beautiful wildflowers, pioneer cabins and pit-houses.

I still may not totally understand the allure of a campout, but I do understand the over-
whelming beauty and serenity of waking up to this view, even if it is viewable only from a tent.




There was a path leading into the beautiful castle rock enclaves right from our tent, and we took advantage of them. Watching children exploring is one of the greatest joys of life. The sheer bliss of giggles upon finding lizards climbing on walls and trying half-heartedly to catch them (knowing full well that they wouldn't have the least idea of what to do with one if they succeeded) really is life-affirming in a "I am truly a old lady and a mama through-and-through" kind of a way. Watching them on the verge of tears as a very-ill, soon to die little rodent made it's way to our campsite, trying to climb under our tent tarp, begging us to try and help him (for all critters are "him" to our little men) is life-affirming in an "I am an old lady and a mama who must have done at least one thing right to have such compassion show up in her children" kind of a way.

My good parenting moment lasted exactly 1.2 nano-seconds as I then watched my boys building a fire like this. Sure it looks like it all starts off safe and good, with the worst possible danger being a errant splinter landing in a finger.



But that quickly morphed into this. . . William attacking their tepee (I sense a theme for the weekend-"tepee") with the Barber family style of lighting a fire-- lighter fluid, of course. I have never seen this method before I met Bill, and thereby have always assumed it was a "weird Barber thing". (Did I mention, I now am also one of those weird Barbers?) This didn't make me as nervous as this next step did. . .


Romney is the one who had the honor of lighting the lighter fluid tower of death on fire. This is the same child who has a propensity to break things and injure himself (see years of blog posts on the matter for reference.) and yet somehow, someone has allowed him to hold an entire box of matches in front of a super-flamable edifice. He survived, so did my heart. There are reasons it isn't natural for me to join them on a camping trip.

The result was, as expected, a wonderful marvel of 8 and 12 year old engineering of a towering inferno. Just perfect for s'more cooking and mama heating. Romney taught me a trick he learned at his class campout. Whenever the smoke from the fire starts blowing your way, scream at the top of your lungs "I HATE RABBITS!", the smoke magically hears you, and changes direction immediately. Interesting, I think as I listen to him practicing what he preached. That turned to marvel when I noticed something, it was working. By the end of the night, all 4 of us tried Romney's magic phrase (the only one that worked, by the way. We tried loving bunnies and asking the smoke to go away to no avail) The phrase worked every stinking time. (You are welcome camp-site neighbors!)

Results: Smiles, chocolate-
marsh-
mallow covered cheeks, more smiles and about and hour of manic giggling and a true physical need to burn off the sugar rush.


William always more subdued does not giggle as much, however he is the cause of the fits of giggles, until Romney has to beg him to stop making him laugh so hard it hurts. Romney may very well be the only person who laughs so hard it hurts at the jokes William tells.


Back to the reason for the trip- the man and his boys. Worth every piece of dirt, every bug bite, every breath of camp-fire smoke inhaled and even worth having to break down camp in the rain. Happy Father's Day 2011, Bill. We love you.

Sun and Fun. . . So Far

Summer! One word, so many meanings. Kids, freedom, kids, trying to entertain, being entertained, kids, sun, did I mention kids. Romney has only been out of school for 9 days, and it already seems like they have been out forever (in both a good way and a bad way). Here is a photo journal of some of our activities so far.



We bought Hollywood connection summer passes. I bought them for the roller-skating, but the boys are loving the free tokens and the bumper cars best of all. We have taken friends and gone alone.




Highlight of Romney's summer so far... winning the jackpot on a video game and coming away with a giant stack of 350 tickets from one token.






I deserve parent of the year for going every day the first week school was out.













Red Butte with friends. Chasing butterflies, climbing on lizards and moose. Feeding the ducks and playing tag on the grassy areas, and having a picnic to finish the morning.





Both boys had fun building a mini-golf hole early in the morning at the home impro-
vement store. My favorite part, taking goofy photos of them in their aprons and goggles.




Walking every day- all over this city. Our biggest walks have been to the new Whole Foods on 700 East and home. It is about 8 miles (give or take) round trip and both boys have accomplished it. William and I took our lunch from Whole Foods over to Gilgal Gardens for a lovely picnic while Romney was still in school.


We have walked to the Gateway numerous times. Sometimes with friends, sometimes just us. The fountain is lovely as long as it is warm enough. The kids think the bread sticks we buy for a treat are perfect.




Activities that have no photo-
graphic proof: A wonderful week long rock climbing camp. Did I mention we have done all these things early in the day to be done by 1:30 for the camp? The boys have loved, loved, loved this camp and can't wait to go every day. We have had play dates and park days and William even organized an adorable pick-up basketball game with a bunch of older teens.(video to follow) Another highlight: Saving the planet from any and all evil doers-- one bad guy at a time.

Schools Out for Summer

No more pencils, no more books,. . . no more co-oping, no more carpool. William finished 3 days before Romney, and immediately asked "What are we doing for fun today." He is our not-so-happy-just-sitting-around-the-house son. We have had nice walks together and a stack of play-dates set up already. Not to mention liberal use of our Hollywood Connection season passes. Next week is climbing camp, then a University of Utah full day camp (yippee!), and then a week before our month long sojourn to the great Pacific Northwest.


Both kiddos had great years, but this has really been a growth year for Romney. He went from not wanting to make any friends after feeling let down by the ones from last year, to being excited to see his buddies at school. Romney made a wonderful little buddy who is sweet and happy-go-lucky and it has made all the difference socially at school for our little man. He went from not wanting to go outside at recess, to it being his favorite time of day. He went from unwilling to share at circle talk to a chatterbox who happily explained what he had for breakfast, what his plans were that day, or what he did last night.


Still, even though the year was wonderful and he grew to be happy at school (a first, EVER!) he woke up early this morning ready to go so he could come home and be done. See, Romney is our OH-so-happy-just-sitting-around-the-house son. He came into our bedroom fully dressed when he heard our alarm this morning to give us a wake-up hug. I told him we needed a couple of extra minutes. By the time I had rolled myself out of bed at 7:30, Romney had made breakfast for himself and William, was fully dressed, hair combed, and jobs done. I think the photo is a good pictorial of the mood he was in.