Random....
I want to give credit where credit is due and forgot on my last 2 posts....

All the pictures from Benjamin's camp were taken off the camp's Facebook page!  otherwise I would not have had all the pictures......

The week is getting away from me!  Yikes.

On Saturday I took the boys to the county fair.  It has been probably 6 years since we have been.  I asked the younger two (Benjamin was at camp) early last week if they would like to do some jobs around the house to earn some money for our anticipated fair visit.  I think one of them did a $2 chore.  Since the fair was 'my idea' I decided to spring for admission.  The boys enjoyed looking at the displays.  There was a kid's tractor pull that I signed all three of them up for.  They mounted a smaller John Deere kid tractor that had some type of wagon/cart behind it (forgot the name).  Weights were added to the wagon based on their age. With every pedal of the tractor the weight moved up the inclined wagon.  So when they first started pedaling it was pretty easy but by the time they reached 10-15 feet, it became harder and harder.  25 feet was the starting line.  All the kids went 2 at a time and if you made 25 feet, you advanced to the next round.  Jacob was one of about 8 to advance.  He pulled 75 pounds the first time and then had to pull 150 the second time.  He made about 10 feet the second time.  It was a lot of fun and everyone cheered them on.

After the novelty of walking around the fair wore off, they started asking to ride rides.  I asked if they had money and the obvious reply was no.  They figured out most of the rides were 4 or 5 tickets and tickets were $1 a piece.  At one point, in frustration, Jacob said, 'why is everything so expensive'.  Yes, they are starting to get it!!!   How easy it is for them to say 'can we do such and such' but the cost of it has never really meant anything to them.  Now, if they would just get motivated to do some jobs consistently and earn some money.

I am not sure if the fair had any impact on little Joseph or not, but he came home and found his temporary tattoos and proceeded to put on 19 of them, mostly on his arms but one on his forehead, back and stomach.

Just some pictures we recently took at the pond.  Jose was able to join us after work and they gave him a workout - asking to be thrown.  He did a better job of throwing them than I would have.

I drove over today and picked up Benjamin and his friend from camp. I was glad to see him run over and give me a big hug! They had a blast. I laughed when the counselors told me that he had been wearing those clothes for a few days. I told them I expected him to be in the same clothes. 5 days without a shower and I was told he lost his toothbrush early on in the week (only to be found under the bed as they were packing things up).

Lots of pictures......
This was a few boys in Benjamin's cabin...B said he shot the bear in the neck.

More boys in his cabin.

One night they had a caveman dinner.  They had to eat on the ground, with no utensils.

This was his cabin on caveman night.  His three counselors...Scott is a Pastor on the back row.  Back left was John and he was probably 18.  Then Hayden back right was Junior Counselor.

Here are all the counselors.  I love the ratio.  They had 39 kids and put them in 7 cabins!

Caveman menu

Cooking cowboy breakfast...french toast and sausage over a can.

Campfire every night.....

Trying to make a fire (Benjamin is next to counselor John, who is on the ground)

The floating dock.....one of the things Benjamin really enjoyed.

Human foosball (Benjamin is in middle with grey shirt)

Human spiderweb...you had to pass your cabin through it without touching it.

Making fires and cooking....

I love this photo they took of the staff praying in morning before campers wake up.

Rafting

Water slide

They had teaching time and worship every day.

Save the best for the last.....
My favorite picture!!!!

Took B to camp today!!!!! Was quite impressed. It was very unpretentious and not a lot of 'things' but wide open spaces. Just what boys need. We walked into the camp 'store' and I think the ladies thought we were weird. The other mom and I were looking for something for the younger kids. The store consisted of t-shirts, water bottles, candy and soda. I am so use to camps with stores and lots of camp gear to buy.

The boys unloaded their stuff and were off.

Wall to wall bunks.  Probably 12 bunk beds.  I think there were going to be close to 12 campers in the cabin and 3 adults.  It cracked me up, because there are some kids that show up without registering - that is how laid back things are.  They assign cabins once the boys get there.  Two of his counselors...Jonathan (who was probably 17 or 18) and Scott (who was probably early to mid 30s)

Here was today's schedule...B and his friend Kyle are in Cabin 3, so they spent the afternoon rafting.

Here is Tues-Thurs schedule.  I love how they have daily staff devotions in the morning.

Here is their cabin.  The tarp rolls up to let in the fresh air.

Here is the lodge, from their cabin.

One of the things I appreciated about the camp is that all of the staff are volunteers.  People (of all ages) commit to spending a week here with the kids.  This is where they come and set up camp.

Inside lodge

Lots of the wide open spaces.

This is a huge swing.  In theory, you climb up and it is easiest if you put your foot in the loop at the end of the rope...then swing out.  B is in the red, checking it all out.

B obviously does not have the hang of climbing up higher on the rope.  I expect that to change by week's end.  Behind the swing, is a human foosball game inside the white circle.

Here is the inside of the foosball game.

See the bear peeking out from behind the tree.  This was close to their cabin.  But not to worry, it is not real - just part of the shooting range.  They had various critters up for them to shoot....

Another critter.....

They have a facebook page, so gonna watch it for pictures this week. Will try to post on the blog.

It is over a week late, but finally getting around to July 4th!

There is a local church every year that puts together a huge celebration, with hot dogs, music, carnival type games, bounce houses, etc for the community (it is all free). The boys, Gaby and I headed out to it. It was a beautiful afternoon. They were also serving popcorn, snow cones and cotton candy. I think each of my boys had about 4 helpings of each. Gaby got such a kick out of them. Every time she turned around, one of them had something else in their hands.

Here are some pictures of them on the climbing wall.

B chose the 'spider man route'.  It is called that because there are so few holds to grab.  He did not get much further than this section, but he gave it his best.

Go Gaby Go (she did make it all the way up)

Here is B on another route, which he easily completed.

This guy gave it a whirl. He had a lot of fun and was not quite able to get all the way to the top.

Lastly, spider man himself...I mean Jbird!  He blew up the wall.

Here is a full picture of the wall.

The ride back down.

They had a 500 foot banana split set up, so everyone grabbed their place and a spoon. (My boys would not participate because of the bananas....silly boys, you can eat around the bananas!

Then for the fireworks, we tried something different. We swung by the house and grabbed JR and sweatshirts. Then we headed up to the local 'M' hiking trail. I was not sure how well we would be able to see the fireworks, but based on the cars lining the road, I figured it was a great idea. Because we were short on time, we climbed straight up the face of the mountain. The boys did pretty well. We got about 3/4 of the way up and found some rocks to sit on. It was a beautiful evening. We could see over the entire valley. It was really pretty but I did not anticipate losing some of the fireworks in the city lights. It sounded like a 45 minutes thunderstorm though - really awesome. The boys were getting cold and bored, so we headed down just about the time the city fireworks started. As we got lower on the trail it was awesome. By the time the finale hit, we were in the car and the fireworks were directly in front of us. I did not really plan properly for the hike down in the dark. We had 2 very small flashlights and Gaby's phone. It was adequate and slow going, but next time I will have bigger light sources.

Managed to get a few pics, before fireworks....

B heads to camp on Monday. Gotta remember the camera to get lots of pictures. We have been getting his stuff together. I think he is getting really excited. I heard him telling his brothers that maybe he will bring them something back from camp!

Pretty quiet weekend in store. I have recently gotten another job. Actually it found me. There is a park and store 'car lot' close to the house. Seems the owners need help shuttling cars to the airport when clients arrive or depart. So, I am the go to girl. Does not seem too difficult, but the times vary from day to day, but usually about 45 minutes a day. Just started, so we are giving it a couple of weeks to make sure it is a good fit for me.