John's Camp BBQ

John had his annual camp barbecue tonight. His group got to stay after camp ended for the day. They had an extra swim and did some other activities. Then they ate dinner. We got to join John after dinner. Gillian was so excited to go to John's BBQ. She was jealous that he got an extra swim but still excited to see him. We arrived and couldn't find John right away. But Gillian found her counselor. She ran over to him and said "Hi Anthony!" She is definitely fitting in at camp. 

We found John and explored the camp. The kids showed us all their favorite places to play. We made sand art and John got to go on the big zip line!

Gillian showed off her climbing skills. 

We had dessert and headed home. Another awesome camp barbecue!

Embarrassing

Tonight at dinner, we had the kids tell us about their day.  Gillian told me how she sailed her little sailboat in the regatta and ate mac and cheese for lunch.   She also said "I saw Johnny when he was shooting his rocket!"  John said "Yeah.  I know that already."  I asked "Does she scream your name?"  He just smiled.  I said "I bet it's something like this 'JOHNNY!  HI JOHNNY!'"  I also waved at him.  And he said "Yea.  Kinda." 

Sorry Johnny, Gillian is just excited to see you.  They haven't been in the same school or camp over two years.  Seeing John during the day is really cool for Gillian and I know she won't get tired of it soon.    

Camp BBQ

This year Gillian is going to Camp Briar Hill with John this summer.  She is super excited.  For the younger grades, they do pre-camp barbecue.  It gives the kids a chance to meet the other kids in their group and check out the camp.  Gillian was very excited.  And John was too.  He couldn't wait to show her around. 

We arrived, met Gillian's group counselors, heard the camp owner talk, and then we were allowed to explore. Gillian wanted to go to the arts and crafts barn, but it was packed with people. We headed to the pirate ship jungle gym. The kids played and then Gillian wanted to try the zip line. She didn't hesitate. She jumped right on.

The kids also checked out a bouncy house and a train (they were brought in just for the BBQ). Next we went to the art barn and the kids made sand art. We had some Rita's water ice. Gillian couldn't leave until she rode the zip line a second time. 

She is super excited for camp tomorrow!

John's camp 2015

John has spent the past two summers at Briar Hill Camp in Freehold.  I'm so glad that I found this place.  This camp has all activities on the property, so I don't have to worry about traveling for trips.  They have instructional swim in the morning and free swim in the afternoon, plus they get to use the spray ground during the day too.  They bring in inflatables, rides, special shows and events all summer long.  Plus the big kids get to choose a weekly elective  Briar Hill also has a photographer on staff, so the parents get to see some of the fun things they do all week long.  Here are some of the photos of John from this summer.

Camp Show 2015

The last week of John's camp they have a camp show.  They had their show on Wednesday and Thursday this week.  This year's camp theme was Candy Land. John's group, the Kit-Kat's, performed "Sweet Caroline."  The boys did an awesome job!

Here is their Wednesday performance.

On Thursday, they did their first performance.

Then the emcee then asked the audience if we wanted to see it again.  Of course we wanted to see it again, but the boys rioted.  They asked the counselors to come down and perform with them.  The counselors wouldn't budge, so the boys ended up running into the auditorium and performed behind the counselors.  It doesn't pay to mess with a group of 8 year old boys.  

Lucky

I picked John up from camp today and he proudly said "Hey Mom, look what I found on a table today!" He held up a little toy telescope. I said "Wow! Aren't you lucky!" He said "Not really. I'm not wearing any underwear!" Ok. Let me just pause for a second, everyday John goes to camp wearing a bathing suit and a t-shirt. I pack him an extra bathing suit, underwear, a pair of shorts and two towels. I distinctly remember packing underwear this morning. So I said "Where's your underwear?" He said "I couldn't find it!" So either I didn't pack it or there's a pair of boys underwear in the middle of the bunny barn. 

Pinnies

In the car tonight, John told me about this week's elective, Capture the Flag. He said "Well, we don't have flags. We use frisbees." I laughed and said "So it's really capture the frisbee?" He said "Yea. We play pinnies and no pinnies. I like no pinnies. Cause when you play pinnies you gotta wear a pinnie. And I got really hot. So I had to take a break." 

The Catapult

What do you do when you build a catapult at camp during your woodworking elective?  Well, in our house, you plan a sneak attack on Daddy with marshmallows. 

We even had Gillian help with the attack!

Houston, we have a problem...

Every week at John's camp he has an elective. It is a special class only offered for a week and they spend about 45 minutes a day in the elective. John's elective this week is rocketry. 

He came home on Monday telling us, "I got rocketry!" Daddy asked "Did you go to the moon?" John said "No. We were just working on building our rocket." The rest of the week, we had similar conversations. But they spent most of the week building their rockets (no trips to outer space).

Today, I picked up John and when we got in the car he says "I'm really sad." That's never something a mom wants to hear. I automatically think the other boys are bullying him. So I say "Why? What happened." He tells me "Well we launched our rockets today. And I lost mine." My poor boy. I asked "How did you lose your rocket?" He explained "Well I shot the rocket in the air and it flew towards the pirate ship and then I lost it. It might be in a tree. But I don't know." 

At dinner, he explained what happened to Daddy. "We took our rockets to the field. Some rockets didn't launch right away. And the we would say 'Houston, we have a problem.'" Daddy asked "Why did you say that?" John said "You know! Cause when you are in the rocket and you have a problem you say 'Houston, we have a problem.'" Daddy asked "Did you have any failures?" "Just losing my rocket." He explained that he launched his rocket and then ran to get it after it landed, but couldn't find it. He said "It could be in a tree or gone forever." How frustrating for John. He worked so hard on his rocket to lose it. I hope they find it before the rain comes tonight. 

Ponies

Today at John's camp they had pony rides. On our way home tonight, I asked him about the pony rides. He said "We didn't get to ride them. We are too big. So we got to walk them." That stinks that they didn't get to ride the ponies. John's age group isn't the oldest at this camp, so we were a little surprised to hear that they weren't able to ride them. John told Daddy about it later. "We didn't get to ride the ponies. But we did get to walk them around. And you know what my pony's name was JD!" Daddy asked him "Tell me more about JD." John said "Well, he had a red hat and it said 'JD' on it. And he was brown. That's all I remember." Daddy pushed it a little further "What else can you tell me about him? Like what was his cutie mark? A turtle?" John laughed (for those who don't know cutie marks are the little designs My Little Ponies). John then said "If we did get to ride them, then I would tell them that I don't need help. You know I rode a horse in Myrtle Beach!" 

It stinks that he wasn't able to ride the pony today, but he was able to brush him and walk him around the camp. For a boy who loves nature, he won't complain. 

Last day

Today was John's last day of camp. He was not happy that the end was here. This morning he said "I just wish summer would last forever." I can't blame him. This summer has been really great. We found a great camp for him and he has had a lot of fun. He has gotten more confident swimming. He has made new friends. Gone zip lining. Enjoyed electives like archery, pottery, lanyard making, and cartooning. It's been an awesome summer. Until next year Camp Briar Hill!

Camp Show - take two

Today was the second day of camp shows at Briar Hill.  Since I am so close to camp, I had decided to go to go both days.  Today I asked Grandma and Grandpa to join me.  Aunt Betty also came, because we didn't actually get to see John perform yesterday.  We arrived at camp today and saw the end of the previous show.  Betty and I both said to Grandma and Grandpa, "When those parents move, we need to move to the front and get the first row."  Grandma looked at us like we were crazy.  But it didn't stop Betty and I.  We practically ran to the front.  We ended up getting seats right in front.  And the perfect view of my boy and the rest of the Hortons. 

When they were done, the announcer asked them "Do you want to do it again?" The kids all yelled a mixture of NO and YES!  We laughed.  Then the announcer asked the parents "Do you want to see it again?"  The parents of course said yes.  And the kids had to dance again for us.  They did a great job.  Afterward, we got a few pictures of the Hortons.  

The bee sting

Today was John's camp show. Aunt Betty met me at work and we drove over together. We arrived at camp just as the group before John's was finishing. We found a seat up front. They called the Hortons to the stage and we didn't see John. We looked everywhere and no John. Finally Tom, John's counselor, came over and said "Sorry, but right as we were lining up John got stung by a bee. He's in the nurse's office. Do you want to check on him?" I said of course and practically ran to the office. There he was, clutching his ear. He had tears in his eyes. The other counselor with John said "He got stung on his ear." Poor boy. So we got back to the amphitheater just as the Hortons were starting the show. I asked John "Do you think you want to join your friends?" He said "No. It just hurts so bad." He sat in between Aunt Betty and I and watched his friends dance and sing. I have to say that he was really brave and handled his first bee sting really well. He stayed at camp and he and Tom called me later in the day to let me know that he was feeling much better. 

Serious-er

This morning on our way to camp, the chicken dance came on the radio. I danced along with the song. From the backseat I could feel John's disappointment. He said "You know that car is really far ahead of us." I said "John you have to have some fun." He shook his head and said "Mom, that car." I reassured him and said "John it's okay, I'm going the speed limit and the car is ahead of us. You don't need to be so serious." He said "Well Mom, I'm 7 now. I need to be serious-er."

Underwater

John's camp is not far from my office and I get the pleasure of dropping and picking him up everyday. Most days when I pick up he gives me the run down of what happened at camp. Today, I asked "How was camp today?" He said "I don't want to talk now. I'll tell you at dinner." I said "Okay. Just tell me, was it a good day or a bad day?" He said "Good." He was really quiet for about half the car ride. I couldn't take it. So I asked him about a blow up dome that they had a camp today. He said "It was for color wars. We had to get all the balls on the other side of the dome. And you had to throw them. You couldn't cross a line." And that's all it took. So he started to tell me about his day. He said "Mom. You know what? I can spin underwater!" Let me sidetrack for a moment, swimming lessons are included in John's camp. At the beginning of the summer he was afraid to put his face underwater. When we met his swim instructor at the camp barbecue, he said the same thing. John has been getting more and more comfortable putting his head underwater over the past few weeks. So when he says he can spin underwater, I was very impressed. He then followed it up with, "I opened my eyes underwater today! I couldn't see good." I am so proud. Not only is he getting over his fear of putting his face in the water, but he opened his eyes too!

Cartooning

John's camp elective last week was cartooning. I have to say that I am really impressed with his drawings. The picture below is my favorite. 

 

He also made a whole series about a pig and a cow. He says "The cow is the good guy. And the pig is bad. The pig is driving a tractor. He is going to rob a bank. You know why?" "No John. Why is the pig going to rob a bank?" He giggled and said "Becaue he wants to make a piggy bank!" Check out the pictures below.

Sailboat races

Today at John's camp they had sailboat races. On Tuesday they painted their boats and worked on the sails, but today was race day. John's camp posts pictures every couple of days and today they posted pictures of the race. I was so excited to see John doing his race. 

I picked him up from camp and asked him about his race. He said "I didn't win." I said "That's ok. Did you have fun?" He said "Yes, but can I tell you something?" I said "Of course." He said "I didn't win because the sail went the wrong way!" Poor kid. His sail started out facing the right way and then spun around. 

Camp BBQ

Tonight was John's camp barbecue.  Basically, John and his fellow campers get to stay late at camp.  They get in an extra swim and some extra activities.  Then they get to eat dinner and their families can join them for dessert.  We got to camp and were given name tags, two tickets for crafts and one ticket for zip lining. 

We found John playing with one of his friends.  He was so excited to see us!  He picked up Gillian and then started talking super fast.  We had him give us a little tour.  He showed us the splash park and the bunny barn.  Then kids played on a playground that looks like a pirate ship. 

Next we went to the arts and crafts place and John and Gillian were able to make their own sand art.  John picked a big zig zag bottle and Gillian picked a little sun.  Gillian had a counselor help her, while John and Daddy worked on his bottle.  

We decided to take a break and get some Ritas.  Gillian was shy and didn't want any, but John and I enjoyed our treat.  While we ate, we got to talk to one of John's swim instructors.  He said that John is doing really well with swimming.  That made Daddy and I very happy. 

After dessert, we went to check out the zip line.  There was a long line, so we went down to the lower playground and tried out a few balance ropes.  And the kids went down a really big slide.

Then John and Daddy waited in line for the zip line.  

I stayed down and got a great video of him.

 
We had a great time visiting John's camp!