Family camp

We got back last night from our annual week at family camp up in the San Juan islands.  We always have fun, but this year was even more magical than most.  Here are some of the things we did:

We ate delicious vegetarian food, helped with chores, and did arts and crafts.  We played on the camp's rocky beaches.  We danced to loud music in our socks and painted our nails.  I escaped a couple of times to run with a friend.

We spent time with the group of friends that we went with, with Sacha's parents, and with new and old camp friends.  Sacha has been going to this camp since she was a baby, so she goes way back with some people.

I re-learned to knit and got about halfway through a kid scarf.

All of our kids spent time in groups with other kids their own ages, with Sacha leading Mateo and Natalia's group and me going with Rosie to the baby group, which was just about as adorable as it sounds.

We went into town a couple of times to get ice cream with various combinations of kids.  We swapped kids with our friends, allowing everyone to have some flexibility and even a little time off!  Sacha's mom very nicely came to our cabin every morning to let Natalia sleep in while the rest of us went to breakfast.  All the kids got some nice time with their grandparents, and Mateo had a great time reading with Papa and going to the beach with him for some boy time.

We threw bedtime to the winds and went to campfire every night, which we haven't done before.  Mateo ran and ran and ran: around the meadow, on the beach, and, particularly, after the big boys.  Natalia stuck closer to home, but opened enough to spend time with a few people without us.  Both older kids did lots of art:  painting, clay, building fairy houses, and painting some more.

Rosie, in her typical way, sought out as many new experiences as she could, eating everything she could get her hands on, playing naked in the baby pool, stuffing rocks into her mouth at the beach, napping in the Ergo, and holding court with the many bigger kids who wanted to play with her and cart her around.

Rosie and Natalia went nuts at the sock hop, staying to dance for quite awhile after Mateo fell asleep in Sacha's arms.  The kids went to bed after 10 just about every night, which was huge for all of us.  We didn't need to do a bedtime routine or anything.  They just laid down and fell right asleep.  They slept in in the mornings, which was even huger.

And, for the high point of the week, Mateo, Natalia and I got to watch the 4th of July fireworks together.  I had been grumbling a bit about all of us staying up until it got dark, which is late that far north!  However, all my issues fell away when the show started.  It was simply magical to watch fireworks for the first time with a four- and five-year-old.  It was all brand new to them, and SO exciting.  In an extra bonus coincidence, the moon was rising at the same time as the fireworks were going off, and it was one of those huge yellow moons that you normally see in the fall.  The whole experience was really amazing and I hope I remember it forever.

Speaking of remembering, I consciously didn't take photos while we were there.  I could have brought my phone around with us and photographed things, but I wanted to just be in the moment and enjoy things as they unfolded.  Of course, now I wish I had photos of our great week, but there's always next year!

On our way home, we stopped in Seattle to see my brother and his fiancee, which added more lovely moments to the trip.  We got to see their apartment for the first time, and their refrigerator magnets, which were a big hit with the younger crowd. We were craving burgers after our weeklong foray into vegetarianism, so they took us to a fun burger place near their apartment, and then to a nearby park.  Mateo and Tali played themselves silly while Rosie impressed/terrified us all with her fearlessness!

Then, we piled back into the swagger wagon and made the long, long, long, loooong drive home.  It wasn't really that far, but those last three hours in the car seemed like an eternity.  We had gotten up at 5 am to catch the ferry off the island and we got home right about 5 pm, so it was a long day.

Now, we have the rest of this week to do laundry, take care of last-minute things and pack again and then we are going to hit the road...well, the airport...for Europe on Saturday!  I just looked at our tickets and realized that we are going to have a bassinet for Rosie to sleep in on the way over, so that should be a very good thing.  It's going to be a big adventure.  Let's hope we're ready!