2011 Summer Camp!

Funny to realize that before I went to work at Camp Glenkirk I had zero experience at summer camp. I had been camping with my family, and had one awful scout camping experience, but I have never been to summer camp. In 1997 that all changed, of course, and changed my life forever. I met Anny there. I married Anny there. I did not have a history before Glenkirk, but I now would not imagine a history without it.

This summer we began Abby's summer-camp journey by going to Mound Ridge, the local Presbyterian Camp and Conference center, for Family Camp. We were really close to signing up last summer (it was about three weeks after we moved last year) but opted out of that for some getting-to-know Saint Louis stuff. I am glad that we waited.

There were a bunch of families of all varieties at the camp for the weekend - some families of several generations, some families with just one kid or other with a few. One church brought a handful of adults and a bunch of teenage campers, which was cool. There were families that have been coming to Mound Ridge for decades and others like us that had not been there for camp. There was one child younger than Abby, but for the most part the children were on the school-aged side.

When we asked Abby what her favorite part of summer camp was it proved hard for her to answer. She really liked canoeing, but loved playing in the river even more than the canoeing! She liked the food at meals, but loved the dessert even more! Abby's attention span was not long enough for the vesper-type worship, but she liked running around a bit during energizers.

I mentioned last week on my blog that I might not take my camera, but I ended up taking my most-recently-retired camera, since we I had no clue what to expect and was a bit concerned about breakage. Big mistake on my part. I got some okay pictures, but the m-r-r camera is now going to be the thrown-away camera as the Macro setting is shot and it killed a few pics that I had lined up perfectly.

Doing our best Mowgli and Baloo:

Classic Grumman canoes in the morning. Nothing beats the sounds of these on the water!

I have a feeling that these nametags are something that we will keep for a long time.

We checked off some Parenting (our style) Boxes this weekend in Abby's first canoe trip and first summer camp experience. I was really proud of how outgoing Abby was, as well as her openness to trying new things like bug-hunting with the older kids. Abby had a blast, and Anny and I had an absolutely wonderful experience, too. We will definitely be going back next year, and hopefully for many years to come!