Last camping weekend

We are back from our last campout of the year. This one in a different part of Maine with members and friends of our UU church. The conference center is amazing and fun and technically, we could have had rooms instead of used our camper. But that would jack the price significantly for 5 of us to attend and also, I think there is a quiet that settles upon the little grove where the few hardy souls camp. It was cold, just barely above freezing both mornings when we got up. But we were all snug while we were under our layers of polar fleece. The camper has a heater but I have never used it. I have always had this fear of fire with it and with the fatal fire just behind us last week, there was no way this campout was going to be the time I would try it out. Technically the camper is more like a "tin tent" for us as the fridge doesn't work so we use the fridge as a literal ice box/cooler, we don't use the heater, and I never use the sink. I am a tent camper at heart still I guess!

The kids all had a really wonderful time and it was amazing to watch them. Lissa at 2 is just beginning to understand what this gathering is about. She could see that it was different from family camping and was eager to find her place in the mix. She did so well too, hanging in both days sans naps. When she or KC would get a bit overwhelmed I would plop them in our wagon and tote them around for a 20 minute wagon ride and that was usually enough to let them passively recharge.

KC is a veteren of these gatherings now and he plays well with kids of all ages. So he had a marvelous time. He was part of a big group making a giant sandcastle on the beach and I managed to get one of the very few pictures I took be of him with a coronet of dried seaweed on his head as the "prince of the sea." Cracked me up. I wish I had taken more pictures but managing the camera as well as the 4 kiddos was a tad more than I could readily do.

Rob had fun hanging out with his teen group. They are at the age when sitting on swings talking and not swinging is fun one minute, and doing something very typically little kid is the next minutes enjoyment. Also fun to watch. AND in the huge emotional growth category, Rob had a nosebleed and didn't freak. You have to understand that for us this is a gigantic leap. He has always freaked out over his nosebleeds, which can be strong but are not anything to medically worry about. (that part has been checked) But Saturday when he got accidently hit in the face and he got a nosebleed he took care of it correctly before I even had noticed that it happened. Huge, folks, huge!

And Chet, Chet was my shining star. He had some issues but so many fewer than in years past. He was helpful to me during meals. I had to figure out how to get the 2 little kids and I through the food line and hold 3 plates. For anyone wondering it is not possible to hold a tired 2 year old, the hand of a 5 year old and 3 plates! LOL He agreed to get his food first and come back and hold his siblings plates while I directed what would go on them. This was amazingly helpful. He found a group of young teens a year or so older than Robbie who were playing the game Magic. They taught it to him and he spent most of Saturday quietly playing it with them. I had someone come up and talk about how he had shared some information with them and how it was helpful and appropriate. They said he was still a bit spacially out of touch but they are used to that and they were so impressed that his info made sense and truly was germane to the general topic being discussed when he had arrived.

I think initially people thought i was brain dead for going with 4 kids alone, but it worked and we have some wonderful memories to bring forward into the months ahead.