Food for Breakfast

When Ilea went to camp, she got to bring a box of cereal. I let her pick out a sweet one for this special occasion, and she chose Cocoa Crisps. A few days after she got back from camp we had this coversation:

Kyler: Ilea, you don't seem to like waffles anymore.
Mom: She can like waffles and still have other things too.
Ilea: It's just these cocoa crisps! They've got me going crazy!

Are we having fun yet?

Ok, so here is our third time camping in as many summers (not including the Clam Bake!). Here is the van, for a 2-night trip! No, we didn't bring the kitchen sink... but we did borrow an air mattress and a few kitchen items. This trip was a learning experience. Over all the kids gave it about a 9, and we gave it about a 7. We went to Millersylvania Park, which is just south of Olympia. We got there Fri afternoon, and set up. Our site is VERY close to our neighbor. It was a little awkward. We said hi, but they didn't seem the friendly chatty type ( a couple without kids). The kids wanted to go swimming so we went over late afternoon. It was a really nice day, and the park is very pretty. On the way back to camp Kyler found a caterpillar, and named it Tickles. He decided it liked him petting it because it raised it's head up.

The first thing we learned was that you need to bring cooking utensils. We borrowed a camp stove and some pans, but forgot about the cooking things. It took 4 campsites to find a corkscrew. For dinner we made do with a plastic fork and had some great chicken quesadillas. We walked around the camp, played Uno, and enjoyed the evening. When it got dusk, Kipp made a great fire, and we had Smores, of course. We stayed up until about 10, then got ready for bed. The funny thing is, while we were eating our dinner (about 7pm), our neighbors disappeared into their tent and didn't come out again. We could see a light on in there, but they didn't make a fire or do anything.

The second thing we learned is that we need a better air mattress. It was new last summer and worked fine, but at the clam bake we discovered it had a hole. The one we borrowed was a little too small, so we tried to battle it out during the night. This means pumping it up again at 2am, and about 5:30am. But no rain! And we were warm! All plusses. Also there was a bathroom just up the way, with a sink and flushing toilets and everything! Wahoo! This time we actually brushed our teeth.

The morning was cooler, in fact, rain was predicted for the evening, but it was overcast all day. We started another fire, and ran into the lack of utensil thing again. Scrambled eggs were going to be harder, so I went across the way and asked to borrow something (they had a spatula). Much better! We cooked bacon and made some great eggs. Didn't see our neighbors until about 9am, and then just for a few minutes. We ran to get some more ice to put in our cooler, and packed everything up for the day since it might rain while we were out. Since we had borrowed the camp stove, we had put it in our car the night before, and decided to put it in the tent for the day, along with our chairs and stuff like that. Our neighbor asked hopefully, "Are you leaving?" Just for the day, we told her, WE'D BE BACK.

When we got in the car, it smelled funny, but we didn't know why. We went letterboxing in the area, and brought a picnic lunch. The next thing we learned was that we needed a better first aid kit in the car, and that Kyler is a baby (but we knew that)! He got a large splinter in his hand. I do admit it was pretty big, about 1/2 inch, and on his palm. But we're out in the middle of nowhere. So we called the nurseline (great benefit), and she really recommended getting it out, don't get it wet (wood will swell), and try not to get an infection. So we headed back to town to find a drug store or something we could use to get it out. The very kind pharmacist gave us a syringe to use as a needle (very small, sharp, and sterile), and we ended up buying some tweezers also. Kyler freaked when he saw the syringe, although we tried to keep him from looking at it. He was screaming his head off before Kipp even touched him! I had him in my lap, and Ilea was trying to read him a story to distract him. Kipp started working and I was afraid someone would call CPS. Kipp was able to loosen the skin, and in 2 tries had the whole thing out! It was pretty big! So glad it all came out. We had to go to Starbucks after that to get him a chocolate donut, and we needed a little reinforcement for our own strength by then. So off to more letterboxing. This time, it started raining while we're out. Over the next 3 hours it rained maybe 4 or 5 times, usually only about 5 - 10 min, sometimes pretty heavy though. We took shelter where we could, and decided maybe it would be more fun to eat dinner out.... We looked in the entertainment book for Tumwater, and lo and behold! there is a good sounding restaurant, and it's in the very parking lot we are sitting in! But, no, all the lights are off because it's closed Sat and Sun! A pasta restaurant, called the Mason Jar. Oh well. We ended up somewhere else, watched the sky, and enjoyed a great dinner.

Back to the camp about 6:30, and it's not raining. We bought some more wood, and walked around the camp more. When we went to get the chairs out of our tent, we learned the next thing. Camp stoves leak gas! Our tent was strong enough to knock you over! We opened everything up. THAT'S what that funny smell in the car was....Played Uno, and wondered where our neighbors were (both cars were there, but no people). Had another great fire, and the gentleman neighbor came out of the tent about 9:30pm. He decided to have a fire (they had 4 or 5 bundles of wood), and built it in the dark. He played the guitar quietly, and it was very nice. We got the kids in bed around 10 again, and tried to battle the air mattress. I had a genius idea of putting the smaller, but able-to-hold-air mattress on the bottom, sideways, so that when our mattress gave our, our torsos would still be on the other mattress. The extra air in ours would go to the bottom, and fill it up and it should even out OK. So we learned that night that air mattresses have a life of thier own! Needless to say, it didn't work out that way. By 2am, it was like laying on a recliner, with our pillows sticking up in the air, and our bodies slipping down to the bottom, and nothing comfortable at all. We let the air out of the bottom mattress, and filled up the top one, knowing we would need to do it again by about 6am. But no rain that was promised, and we were warm.

Sun morning got a great fire going, and saw blue sky. We had sausage, bagels, and cereal. We walked around and found the best sites to stay at next time. We finally packed up about 11:30 or so and left for home. We were tired, but everyone had a pretty good time. The kids thought it was great (of course, a folded blanket on the ground is fine for them). Our neighbors were weird, and very close, but it didn't stop us. The kids did great, and it was a beautiful place. Back to real life now...and a soft bed....

Ice Cream Slumber Party

Ilea had an Ice Cream Slumber party just for fun! She invited a few friends (Nori was on vacation), and they had a great time! Katie, Payton, and Victoria came over after dinner. There were word games, like word search and a few mazes, and a quiz on Real vs Fake Ice cream names. They also made a beautiful Serving plate for their sundaes, and made a bag of real ice cream from milk, cream and vanilla. They got to take that home the next day. They had sundaes, of course, and watched a movie before bed. In the morning they had pancakes. It was a lot of fun, and everyone enjoyed it.

Kylerisms

Kyler is so funny. He has a great grasp of language, and is not afraid to use it the way he sees best! One thing he often says is "tippy edge", or "tippy bottom" or any other direction that he wants to emphasize. I've tried to tell him the phrase is "tippy top", but he thinks it should apply to anything.

He also says, "That was a bite of cake!" When I told him the expression was "a piece of cake", he said, "No, a piece would take about 24 bites, and that was so easy it was just a bite!"

Ilea went to Junior Camp this year for the first time. It was just
Wed - Sat, and it was in Fed Way, so the parents dropped off and
picked up the kids. We talked a lot about what might happen, good and
bad, and how she might handle it. We tried to focus on making new
friends, but settled for at least learning a few new names. Turns out she didn't
cry at all during camp. This first picture is her two counselors for
her room. They were the pink room, and Ilea loved that. They had the
room decorated with balloons, streamers, and posters. The theme was
pirates/shipwrecked.

This was her bunk. She loved sleeping on the top. There were about 8
girls plus the 2 counselors in her room.
This is Brittney Schroeder, who lives in our neighborhood, and we've known for years. They
started going to our church in spring (changed from another church). Brittney
is one grade ahead of Ilea, but they were in the same room. They've
played together before, and both had a great time at camp. There were crafts,
bible study, the food was mostly good, great desserts, and lots of
games and skits. They watched the counselors do silly things. They
went to bed around 10pm each night, and had to get up at 7:30. Ilea
thought that was the only bad thing about camp, getting up so early.
She loved all the rest of it, and can't wait to go again next year.

Ilea's affirmations

Before Ilea went to camp for the first time, we talked to her about some things that might happen, and how she might handle them. We talked about not liking the food, or meeting new counselors, and possible losing team games (at which she said, "Well, I'd just have to cry!"). We also really encouraged her to make 2 new friends at camp. We talked about ways to do that, good times to talk to people, and ideas for helping her not be so shy. She wanted to settle for just learning 2 new names, but not having to become friends. Kipp told her about positive affirmations, and how she should tell herself that she Makes Friends Easily, or It's Easy to Say Hi To People.

The next morning when Ilea was getting ready for camp, I asked her how she was feeling. She said a little nervous, and some excited. Then she told me she had been telling herself positive sayings all night, and she even dreamed about it! She would say, "You Can Do It!" Or "You Go, Self!", and "I make Friends Easily". I laughed at You Go, Self, and told her that was great. She had a lot of fun at camp, and said she got to know all the girls in her cabin!

Math Genius

A few weeks ago Kyler came to me and said, 'Mom! I know what 299 plus 14 is!' and he went on to tell me the correct answer. So I asked him how he knew that. He told me he already knew that 300 plus 14 would be 314, and that 299 was one less than 300, so the answer would be one less than 314! He figured this out all by himself. I was so proud of him!

An Interesting Adventure

Kipp got an invitation from a co-worker to join him at his house on Case Inlet (down on Key Peninsula, south of Gig Harbor) for a clam-bake and a night on the beach. We haven't been big campers, and a lot of that is due to freezing. We've never had good sleeping bags, for us or the kids. But this sounded like fun, and the kids really want to go camping this summer. So we went to the store and bought 4 new, on-sale, warm sleeping bags. The kids have mummy-style bags, and Kipp and I got zip-together, rated to 0 deg F bags. Looking good. At least we won't be cold! So we headed out, with our 2 tents, 4 sleeping bags, cookies for the potluck, 2 suitcases with warm clothes for the night and the next day, 4 pillows, 1 air mattress, and a few flashlights & towels. We got there about 4 o'clock. In the parking area we saw a friend of Kipp's, whom he had told me about. He has kids a little younger than ours, but lives nearby. Great! Unfortunately, they were just leaving as the younger one was sick. OK. So we went to see what was what.

Well, it turns out, that you go down a bunch of steps, which puts you on a kind of platform, maybe 6 ft deep, and about 30 feet long, made of some kind of material over what seemed to be tires. The water was a few feet out from the platform, but coming in quickly. The sleeping beach was on the other side of a stream formed by the incoming water. The stream was only about 10-15 feet wide, but over waist deep on an adult, and flowing quite strong. No problem. There was a small row boat. So we loaded what we could, plus the kids, and Kipp rowed them across. Then he came back for me. OK. Not too bad. We looked around for the best spot to set up the tents. But there was no sand, only small rocks, and some weeds, which if you brushed against them got hard spiky burrs in you. The wind was picking up and someone else's large, overhead shelter started blowing down the beach. Kipp threw our pillows down in burrs and ran after the shelter. It took maybe 10 minutes to get the kids to help us to take the top off the shelter so it would stop blowing, and put it back where it was, with only 1 pole coming apart.
Back to our own stuff, and we finally picked a spot that seemed like it would stay dry. We got both tents set up, staked down, and our stuff inside. The rowboat almost got away, but Kipp was able to pull it up higher until we were ready. It was about 6:30 now, and the food wasn't supposed to start until 7. We got into the rowboat, but as Ilea sat down, a big wave splashed over the boat and got her soaked with COLD water! Back to the tents to change into her other set of clothes and underwear. Kipp had moved the boat and we tried again. Back across, but where to land now? The water is all the way up to the platform, and where we had taken the boat from was underwater, with strong waves. We picked a spot, tied it off, and went to investigate the dinner, which was in full swing.

Turns out that steamed clams seemed to be most of the dinner. Some cold bread, a little salad, and maybe some chips was all there was. The kids didn't like ANYTHING. Kipp tried a few clams, but they are not his favorite. I had some clams, which I loved, but that was about all there was to eat. So we tried to sneak away and leave to find some real food. Kyler shares with everyone we pass that there is no good food there, and nothing we want to eat! Embarrased, we drive away to look for food. We were a good 20 minutes from the nearest big town. We ended up getting a delicious pizza at a roadside place, and headed back. It was almost
dark, and the food was mostly done. The water was now slowly heading out. We sat around (Ilea tried to read until it got too dark). We had our coats now, but everything else was in the tents, which was on the other side of the water. There was an outhouse on the food side only. We were promised a bonfire, but it was really a shallow copper fire pit, which wasn't good for very many people around it. We got out our marshmallows and had s'mores. Finally, the water seemed shallow enough to cross without the boat. We took food stuff back to the car, made a last potty stop, and then went to the water. It was knee deep on adults, and still flowing pretty swiftly. Kipp carried both kids across and I came with the light. We made our way toward our tents, stopping for a while at another fire on our side. This one was more like a bonfire, with only 2 people at it. They were friendly, and we talked and enjoyed the fire for a little bit. We were about to head out to the tent when the music people came over. A man with a drum, a guitar, and a violin. Boy, a drum really carries at night over water! Until about midnight, I think.

By 10pm we were able to get the kids changed and settled in thier tents. We set Ilea's wet clothes out on a log to dry. Kipp and I got into our tent, pumped up the mattress a little more, and got settled in. The drum kept up it's beat. We were cozy though, which was great. By 2am, after dozing for maybe 2 or 3 hours, the mattress had lost enough air for us to be on the ground. We got out and pumped it up, and lay there listening to the pouring rain for the next hour. The wind blew. But we were warm!

Finally morning came. We were on the ground again. It had stopped raining. And we were warm and cozy. The kids woke up around 8am. So we started getting dressed and breaking down the tents. It all made quite a little pile. Kyler had left his jacket out on a log by Ilea's clothes. I couldn't figure it out, because his jacket was dry, but her clothes were soaking wet. I still don't get it. The ground was damp, and the tents were wet. It was weird. Luckily the tide was WAY out, and we could easily (well, all of us quite loaded down) walk back across to the platform side. The water was only about ankle deep. Kipp had to carry Kyler who had long pants on. By 8:50am we were in our car, with no one in sight. A number of tents had cropped up on the sleeping side of the water, but no one was out yet. There was supposed to be breakfast in the morning, but we weren't sticking around. We headed out, and about half an hour later pulled into a McDonalds. What great food! We headed home, instead of pursuing the letterboxes I was excited about. We had packed toiletries, but hadn't even opened the bags.

I can't say enough about a nice hot shower. It can literally make you feel fresh and new, ready for anything. Everyone cleaned up, brushed teeth, and became civilized again.

The kids really enjoyed the music and fires, and I must say we were warm during the night. It was an interesting adventure, but we may not join them next year....

How they See Me

I was talking with the kids yesterday and I asked them if they had to describe me to someone else, how would they do it? Kyler immediately said, "You're Beautiful!". Ilea said, "Well, you're not really fat, and you're kinda tall. You have curly hair when you don't chose to pull it back, and it's kind of long. And you have beautiful skin!"