The Week the Girls Were at Camp

 

Beowulf is the perfect picture of how we all feel after last week . . .  even though this picture of him is from last Sunday night.

What a week!

Monday was busy from morning to night as we got ready to send Ladybug, Little Princess, and Nature Angel off to Girls' Camp--along with Sir Walter Scott.

First, we found out that our day off was not really a day off because Li'l K and Stretch needed to be cared for, and their grandma was out of town.  So they came over and went with us to our church Memorial Day celebration and pancake breakfast.

They ate a ton of pancakes and fruit, and then they made friends with as many teenage girls as they could . . . all of whom were delighted to make their acquaintance.

We stayed longer than we should have because the kids were so happy playing outside.  But eventually, we returned to our responsibilities.  Mine were doing the shopping, prepping meals, helping Ladybug pack, and refreshing Ladybug's hairstyle.

The next morning all of our babies arrived, and we had a kind-of-sort-of normal morning together.

Then we sent Mister Man and Brother off to their gardening apprenticeship, and the rest of us piled into the van to deliver the campers and the trailer (borrowed from a friend) to the camp drop-off location.

This left me with 9 kids 10-and-under.

We stopped at a park for 20 or so minutes just to stretch and play after the hectic morning.

I didn't dare stay longer because it was an impromptu stop, which means I had no drinks, snacks, or diapers with me.

We came home and made "Dirt and Worms" for snack.  (We're going to start a construction unit study now that we're done with botany, and this was a suggested activity.)

Little Mister Frog was far more interested in eating the "ingredients" than in putting them together.

Baymax was a patient helper to Stretch.

"I finished mine!"

Nugget was happiest when he was dismantling his snack.

Clearly, there was lots of eating along the way.

I was so happy to find dairy-free chocolate pudding cups for my dairy-allergic kids!

It was so late by the time we finished, that I passed out the prepared lunches while the kids were finishing up their snacks.  

After naps, we set up some water play for the afternoon.

I took a gajillion pictures, but here are only a few.

Blowing water through a pool noodle

Beowulf spent a lot of time experimenting with how water poured (or didn't pour) from one container to another.

This little dude scooped and poured in complete contentment for over an hour!

Playing store with the various pretend products

I love how Sugar Bear is watching Beowulf so intently.

The Munchkin is in a silly phase.  He cracked himself up spitting water.

"Hey, Mom!  Do you want a strawberry lemonade drink?"

Mister Man put on goggles and tried to watch the water pour over his face.  However, he reported that his reflexes were too strong, and even though he knew the water wouldn't get in his eyes, he flinched and blinked.

Once the babies were all picked up, the boys went over to a neighbor's house to collect eggs and check on their chickens while the neighbors are out of town.

It didn't go as planned.

Over the course of the next 3 hours, all of us ended up at the neighbor's house trying to retrieve the chickens who got out of the coop on accident.

It was a labor of blood, sweat, tears, and prayers.

In the long run, we went home with 2 chickens still missing (roosting in the thicket around the yard) and a storm coming in.  

The storm was a doozy!

After 16 hours of alternating heavy and light rain, it was clear enough to go back over and see if the missing chickens were looking for their sisters.

To shorten even further a story that I've already summarized, it took several more searches before one of the chickens came back and walked quietly into the coop.

The last one never came home.

It was so hard to tell our neighbor what had happened, but she first told us not to worry then said, "We let them wander freely quite often.  They all go right back in the coop on their own at night."

If only we had known!

The rest of the week was less eventful than Tuesday, but we sure stayed busy!

I made playdough, and the kids made all kinds of fun stuff.

"Sick guy" by Mister Man

He asked me to take his picture!

I love the attention to detail these two gave their projects.

When little people got too wired, my people helped settle them with stories.

We did another "construction" snack with pretzel sticks and marshmallows.

"Take a picture my bobot!"

"Compass" by Baymax

"This is my fishing pole!"

"I had to give up my first plan, and not even this plan is working well.  You better take this picture quick!"

I was going to skip the library, but the kids were completely focused on going, so we went. 11 kids 11-and-under and me.  It ended up being fine.

I froze several bowls of water (figuring I could get fancier with it in the future) and handed them to the kids to smash as they saw fit.

Of course, while Sir Walter Scott was gone, the boys' activity at church on Thursday night was bike riding, so we had to figure out how to get bikes to the church on our own!!

We did it!

I just wanted to record how our street looks in early June as compared to the fall, winter, and early spring pictures I've taken.

These two were singing songs together as they finished up our walk.

We got out the playdough one afternoon because none of us had the energy to get water play stuff out again.

And the beans, too.

I love how the babies are studying what Beowulf is doing here.  It took only a few minutes for them to join him in deep imaginative play.

And these two!  💗💗💗💗💗

Baymax is reading an entire volume of Wings of Fire to Lola.  It's been going on for a few weeks now. 

And it cracks me up that she looks at other books while he's reading to her.

While we held down the fort at home, the "campers" had a grand time.  There are hundreds and hundreds of pictures, but here are about half a dozen in no particular order.

They were all blindfolded and had to follow their camp leader by the sound of the drum she was beating.

The girls and leaders 

Singing

Where they stayed!!!

This is Nature Angel sacrificing her personal study time to help Ladybug with hers.

They came home sunburned, exhausted, and happy . . . mostly.  

The mild infection in Nature Angel's toe--which I was worried enough about to send her with triple antibiotic ointment and instructions to show her toe to her dad every day so that an adult was keeping track of it--grew terrible while she was at camp. 

We took her to urgent care immediately, and now she's on oral and topical antibiotics.  She's improving slowly.

I thought we handled the week beautifully.

I got up and made all of the lunches first thing in the morning.

I didn't do any school, so I had time to do dishes and laundry every day.

We did lots of good activities.

I even rested a little bit when I cuddled babies at nap time.

But, whoa!

I've been exhausted this weekend!!