Our family is heading out of town this weekend for our annual Camp K trip. I would have placed an exclamation point after that last sentence but I haven't had my full cup of coffee yet and my enthusiasm level isnt where it should be yet.
Camp Kaleidoscope is a camp for families who have adopted. We're all going except Sophia - the age requirement is 5 years old, so she's too little. She'll be staying at our house with my parents.
Normally when we take a family trip, I start packing early and this week is no exception. I usually pack one child per day and then put their suitcase in the van so they can't take anything out. We've had a few trips where I thought everything Taylor needed was in her suitcase only to discover that she had removed something. Now I pack her last. Anyway, on Monday Brittney decided she wanted to earn money becase she needed a new leo for gymnastics on Tuesday. She asked me if there was anything she could do around the house to earn money. I didn't really have anything for her because I already have most of the kid-friendly chores divided up between the kids and there is no payment involved. She kept bugging me so I looked at my list. I decided there was no reason she couldn't pack the younger kids so I gave her a list of things that needed to be in each suitcase and she washed clothes, folded and put away and packed for Anthony & Zeke. I gave her $5 per kid and it was the best ten dollars I spent all week. It's Thursday morning and we now have suitcases ready for Anthony, Zeke and Taylor. Today Riley will work on his and I'll pack myself. Steve's on his own but I might be nice and throw his laundry in the washing machine for him.
The camp begins Friday afternoon and runs through Sunday early afternoon. Brittney has some kind of cheer choreography camp tomorrow morning in Sioux Falls and I need to return the wheelchair accessible van for Camp Adventure so I'll go to Sioux Falls early with Brittney and then come back home. Steve is working until noon tomorrow and Zeke has Camp Adventure so I'll have everything ready to go so that we can pull out of town around noon. We'll pick up Brittney on the way and then be on our way to camp.
It's only a couple of hours away but the kids like to get there early enough to swim in the pool before the camp activities actually begin. It works out well because I like to organize everything in the cabin and it's much easier to do when the kids are busy. Once camp starts, they have organized family activities, group sessions and free family time. They break up the the kids' sessions by age groups. I really enjoy the parent sessions at camp. It's usually informative and then the discussion with other adoptive parents is priceless. I've made some great connections over the past 4 years.
I can't wait to post some pictures of Camp K.
It's almost 7am and I don't have ANY kids awake yet! See, I've had more coffee so I'm bringing out the exclamation point :)
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If Brittney is still looking for leos, let me know. I may have a few yet. They'd be used and she might have some growing room, but I bought three about a month before the end of the season my last season so they weren't worn often. I'll look and see if I can find them.
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