The Summer is Winding Down

I haven't been blogging much lately because, well, I guess I haven't had that much to say. I'd love to tell you that we've been having long lazy days at the pool this summer and walks around the neighborhood in the twilight or chasing fireflies on the lawn. For some reason, there's been precious little of that this year. For one thing, both Darren and I have had a heavy workload this summer, especially Darren. For the past couple of weeks, he has worked between 15-18 hours a day. Fall is actually looking restful (possibly) for us.

My mind was occupied by my mom's party for the last month as well. However, for months I've known that the beginning of August held our church's family camp. Anyone who knows me knows I have a number of rules to live by (no, this list is not where "Mark Harmon should be on TV at all times" appears. Though actually, that could just be a universal rule.) Here are some of the rules that do appear: 1) A bathroom should not be in a separate building from a bedroom. 2) Before going to sleep at night, I should not have to scan the room (or worse yet, the bed) for bugs. 3) I should not have to wear shoes while taking a shower. Those are just a few. As well, being a private person, I'm not really crazy about sharing living space with anyone other than my family either.

But....ahoy, family camp. (When I was sick previously and lying in bed, I prayed repeatedly, "please let family camp be cancelled please let family camp be cancelled." Apparently, God had other plans--possibly my continuing sanctification.) We packed up and left on Thursday afternoon, arriving in Amish country close to 7 in the evening.

The girls were somewhat charmed with the novelty of driving from our cabin to a separate bathroom to shower--though I squelched a scream when the lights went on, and some roaches went scurrying under the garbage can. After they were all clean, we tucked them in their beds and went across the hall to play card games with our friends.

I was awakened in the early morning by Elaine climbing in my sleeping bag and singing me one of her medleys. "Dis is my Fodder's world and to my listening ears, all nature rings and round me sings da music in my ears. Dis is my Mama's woooorrrrrldddd...Walk, walk, in the the Word dis is da waaayyy!"

After breakfast and chapel, we all headed down an incredibly steep, winding road to the lake. Someone I will not name told me it was pretty and that there were places to sit. Maybe I misheard and this person actually said "It is muddy, and you will get bit." Here are a few pictures of the lake--the only pictures I managed to take at camp:

Darren and Lucy on a precarious looking dock, helping some friends into a canoe...



A group of people in a paddle boat. This is right after all of us on land told them they were sinking. I'm not sure if it has sunk in yet....



Lucy's one wish for camp was to ride in a boat with Daddy. Here are two dads, paddling...



...and two friends riding....



In the afternoon, I took the girls swimming (in a pool, of course, I've not completely taken leave of my senses), and that was Elaine's favorite thing. There was also a softball game and game time on top of the hill in the evening. My friend Sarah and I were tailgating during this portion, while the dads played some form of soccer with a gigantic ball with the kids. Eventually Sarah's Isabella (little girl in the boat next to Lucy) came over. "They keep hitting me, " she said. "Who is hitting you?" we asked, outraged. "The adults," she reported. I guess Darren and Lucho (Isabella's dad) got a little intense. Darren came back with tales of uber-competitive moves from Lucho, and Lucho said that Darren elbowed some 4-year-old girl.

By that night, both girls were crying on the way to the shower. "This is disgusting, Mom!" sobbed Lucy. "I wanna go hooooooommmmmmeeee!" wailed Elaine. Good thing we were leaving in the morning. We rolled out of camp around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday and got home around 2:30. Reports that I kissed the top step of my home are patently untrue. Or at least there is no photo evidence to prove it.

As soon as we got in, Darren and I each crashed on a couch and fell asleep while the girls inexplicably found a box of Saltines and crumbled them all around the downstairs. After Darren got them bathed and in bed, he picked us up a pizza, which we ate while watching the final installment of Foyle's War. Ahhh, civilization.

Later on when I checked my email, I found one from my friend Jennie. She was writing from the airport where she was flying out on her way to Paris for the week. Somehow the directions for my life went missing because spending one of the final weeks of August in France should have been on my agenda for sure.

I have to say though while being at a camp is not my idea of a good time, it was a lot of fun just being with friends, eating, talking, playing games, as well as hearing a great speaker during chapel time. When we got home, Darren asked "Wasn't it worth being at camp just to hear that guy?" I said, "Maybe we could just invite him to do a seminar or something, and then we could all stay in the comfort of our own homes where we belong."

This week is really our final week of summer without much of anything on our schedule. Next week is filled with....gasp....open houses for Lucy's kindergarten. I'm sure I'll have plenty of material once the dog days of August have passed and school begins again.

If nothing else, family camp provided blog material, right? Right?!?