Dear Sons #1, #2, & #3,
Well, last week was officially the first time you have all been to summer camp. Second year for Pieter and first time for William and Alexander and judging by the big smiles on your faces along with the instant competition of who got to share the stories after each day—loudest voice always wins by the way—you loved it. This particular camp was a good starter camp as it was three days with a total of three hours a day. Most definitely not long enough for myself and Daddy but, like a said, a good start for you all. After all, beggars can’t be choosers, we take what we can get. We will take nine hours.
Along with the many stories you boys told us about camp there were also few stories from the camp counsellors themselves which seemed to somehow slip your boys minds in the truck each day. General silliness and listening problems I can handle but running around during game time with your spare underwear on your heads? Lord have mercy boys, I want you to go back next year! And just a quick tip: when the head counsellor describes you as “So fun and energetic!”, she’s just being nice as I personally have a whole repertoire of other words instead.
I was impressed with such little time (nine hours) at how many best friends you were able to procure. I now have quite a few extra contacts on my phone labelled such names like: “so-and-so William’s BFF’s Mom”. Now, as enthusiastic as you were in the moment and while I do have the phone numbers of the mamas of said best friends in my possession; whether we will actually make a legit play date happen or not is to be determined. So be prepared to be disappointed by this.
After these nine hours of child-less bliss, I’ve come up with some pros and cons of summer camp for you to reflect upon and maybe add to if you can spare the time whilst being so bored this summer.
PROS
- The opportunity to cultivate friendships with other kids from other towns/backgrounds, therefore increasing Mommy’s contact list and apparently her to-do list.
- So much learning. Such as what’s appropriate and not appropriate to do in front of other people (see above for underwear-on-head decision).
- Three-hour breaks from fighting with each other (at least I think/hope/wonder).
- Trying out new things such as pickleball, new crafts that involve free-range glueing, games such as Lego Bingo, and most importantly trying the patience of new-to-you adults/teenagers!
- ICE CREAM ON THE LAST DAY!! (I feel like that deserved capitals).
- The sweet, wonderfulness of tired little boys after camp. Bedtime was a beautiful thing for everyone for those three days.
- I didn’t have to hear “I’m booooooored” (yes there are always multiple ‘o’s in that sentence) a million times in a 15-minute span.
- For this specific camp I only had to pack snacks – not a full-blown lunch – Hallelujah, it’s the small things.
- The lack of mom-guilt for letting you watch TV after was very real and very awesome.
- Less laundry! That’s right your camp shirts couldn’t get washed that whole time which meant that you had to be more careful when it came to feeding time at the zoo.
- A total of nine hours of freedom for us. On vacation. Without kids. We went for drives, walks, toured a Farmer’s market, ate at cute little restaurants and drank coffee in utter silence.
- Nine. Whole. Hours.
CONS
- None.
Boys, I’m really, really happy that you enjoyed your first camp (of the year/ever). Because there’s one coming up in August which gives us a total of…
Drumroll please…
35 hours!!!
Yay for summer camps!!
Love Mommy,
XOX
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