Pictures From Last Week

Looking back I can't believe how much the kids and I did in the 10 days we were in the Seattle area and now that I have the photos uploaded onto my computer, I can share some of it with you. :)

The Friday that we arrived we met up with a childhood friend, Jodi. We hadn't seen each other since...well...we aren't sure but we do know it was before we had our drivers licenses. :) Her grandparents lived next door to us and as the natural progression of growing up took place, she spent less and less time at her grandparent's house. We fell out of touch.



From Friday to Sunday we stayed with my brother and the kids had a great time playing with their uncle, jumping on the trampoline and "swimming" in the hot tub. :) And at Kaylen's urging, Cara even attempted to give Kaylen some piano lessons. She can almost knock out Mary Had a Little Lamb. :)






On Sunday, we moved down to my sister's house and fun was had there for the rest of the week. On Monday Kaylen and I took Kelton to the camp bus where he and his cousin, Mikayla, met up to begin their week long day camp adventure at Camp Killoqua.

After the bus pulled away, Kaylen and I drove over to visit a long-time friend of Dakota's and mine, Brenda. I hadn't seen her in, what we figured was more than 10 years. We tried to remember why we lost touch (except for Christmas cards in recent years) but we couldn't pinpoint it. We decided that life must have just gotten in the way. I was sad to realize that, after spending a few hours together, I had forgotten to have Kaylen snap a photo of us together. :( I'll be sure to get one next time because there WILL be a next time....and not 10 years down the road, either. :)

After our visit with Brenda, Kaylen and I drove to a store to pick up a few needed items and, since it was already quite hot, I picked up a splash pad. Yeah yeah - it's aimed at the 18 months+ group but it was perfect for helping to keep her cooled off while not spending a fortune. She had a blast with it!




The rest of the afternoon we alternated between playing Barbies, farm, playing on the splash pad and, of course, visiting with my brother-in-law.



At 4pm, Kaylen and I left to pick up Kelton. We were so excited to see him and anxious to hear about his day but after one look at him I knew something was not right. He didn't want to talk about anything and he had huge tears threatening to run down his face. I managed to get bits and pieces out of him and then asked if he and Mikayla had done the art project together. The flood gates opened and between the sobs I figured out that even though we had registered the kids to be in the same group, they had been placed in different ones. Not only did he "hate" camp but he wasn't going back either.

Oy.

I tried to work the situation so that he could see that he did actually have fun - I talked up everything he had told me and before we made it back to my sisters he had to agree that he actually did have fun and he might go back but he really wanted to be with Mikayla. I told him I would see what I could do but I couldn't promise because there are lots of things that go into creating a camp group. In this case, the groups where divided into 1st and 2nd grade and then 3rd and 4th grade. Mikayla is going into 3rd grade and Kelton into 2nd.

I called Rachel, Mikayla's mom, and learned that Mikayla was just as upset by the placement and that if I could get them put together then she was totally ok with moving Mikayla to the younger group. I called my brother (who used to be camp director at Camp Killoqua) to get his take. He gave me the number to call so I could talk with the camp director (who ummm...just happens to be my ex-sister in law). I had already seen my ex-SIL that day as she drove the camp bus to and from so I had no issues calling her (before this, I hadn't seen or talked with her since Kelton was 2 years old). I knew she probably wasn't back at camp yet but I went ahead and left a message explaining the situation.

By the time Joanna called back we had talked up camp enough that Kelton was ok no matter what the outcome of my request but fortunately I was assured it had been an oversight on their end and that the kids would be in the same group Tuesday morning. Oh the joy from both of them!!!! Kelton went to bed a "happy camper" and mommy breathed a sigh of relief.

Stay tuned for Wednesday's adventure. :)