McCartney Family: August 2017

While Suzanne and the kids were staying here I got a message from Jonathan telling me he would be in town for business and asking if it would be okay for him to stay with us. It was funny being with one sibling, when another sibling announced plans of visiting. This has been the summer of family. I love it!

Jon came into town on Wednesday, came to see us briefly on Thursday, came to stay on Friday and then popped in and out until he left Monday. He had lots of fun catching up with old friends that he hadn't seen in a long while. The girls had fun visiting with their uncle, and I enjoyed visiting with my brother. The girls love their family. They love their uncles and their cousins. I love watching my girls interact with our extended family. It makes me so happy.

On Saturday Jon went through his stuff in our basement, the girls had fun playing with his trophies.We went out for lunch with Andrew before he had to take off for work, then we went down to the water and met up with Mom and Dad.

Thanks for coming to visit us Uncle Jon, we're glad that your business brought you to us! See you next time.

Mom and Me Camp started in 2011 with eight moms and forty kids, at Thomas S Monson camp, three days, two nights. Fast forward to 2017, Lori, the person who started the camp thought, let's go big. She invited 25 Moms and 103 kids to Thomas S Monson camp for three days and two nights.

I can't remember exactly when I got "the invite" but I thought, I don't know?! I don't really want to do this, but the girls would love it. I don't really want to do this, but a bunch of friends from Orangeville are going. I don't really want to do this, but Ruth and Emily are going. So I signed up to go. Then I made it real by paying the money.

Originally we thought we'd go camping as a family over night one night to practice. Ken and I haven't camped since 2007. He set up the tent in the backyard a couple of years ago for the girls to play in, but there just wasn't time this summer to "rehearse".

The more the summer progressed, the more I didn't want to go. Thinking back on it now, I think it was mostly because of dirt and just doing it by myself. I like Ken being around. I didn't really relish the thought of doing this without Ken.

You know how you make a big thing out of a small(ish) thing and then it becomes this ridiculously large thing that keeps getting bigger and bigger. By Monday night I was a bit undone. Why did I do this to myself? I didn't know. I didn't mean to get to this dark awful place, but I engaged in a lot of negative talk about the camp and I let it fester. I was not reasonable at all.

The week leading up to the camp I had a number of back and forth conversations with Ruth. She's gone to the camp every year but the first. Her kids have loved it, she has loved it. She was so excited for me to come. Emily has camped with her kids lots, she loves camping. She was talking it up too.

Monday was shopping day - getting the rest of the odds and ends. We'd previously gotten camping pads, and dishes and cutlery. I bought another swim suit for myself, swim shirts for the girls, life jackets, swim shoes, sleeping bags, stuff. We got the stuff. Lots of stuff. I felt stuff ready!

Tuesday morning Emily came to my house and we drove up together - both in our own vans, but together. I felt sick but ready? Sort of? We got half way to camp and it started raining. I had been praying that it wouldn't rain. I felt like it couldn't rain because I couldn't deal with it. But it rained.

We got to camp and it was raining, and then it sort of stopped. We got the tents set up. A bunch of kids and Lori descended on us and Ruth, Emily and I got our tents up. Then we moved to the pavilion for lunch preparations.

The Moms were organized into teams of three and we were each in charge of a meal. We picked lunch on Tuesday - get it over and done with. My lunch team was Kayley Lynch, Jennifer Stewart and myself. We served hot dogs, carrots, oranges and chips. Just before lunch was officially served we went through the welcomes, the rules and introductions. During the introductions we were introduced as first time campers which drew loud cheers. The Moms asked me how I was doing. I said "ask me Thursday".

During/after lunch the heavens really opened and the rain came pouring down. I felt on edge. Kate was concerned, slightly tearful. Fiona was fine. Alice found Claire and the two of them were very happy!

When the rain finally cleared it was very wet. The beach was wet. Everything was wet. Thankfully the inside of our tent was just a tiny bit wet - a few drops, but mostly dry. We went down to the beach - Alice and Fiona, and they sat in the sand and played. When they were done I took them to the showers. I rinsed their clothes and rinsed them. Then I dressed them in their only warm clothes. I felt really stressed. There was a washer and dryer at the camp but I didn't want to wash their clothes. I wanted it to be warm and not wet!

They played, I chatted with some Moms. Fiona fell down and bloodied her knee and her pants. We put a bandaid on. I think we had dinner next. Then more play time and this time Fiona fell on her face and muddied her pants. Fiona was cleaned up - her nose was scratched up, and changed into her jammies. I felt more stress. Now Fiona was down to this and only this to keep her warm.

Tuesday night they had s'mores. The older kids were running around playing tag - so much noise, so much shrieking. There were campfires of people chatting and laughing. The tents were all quite close together. There was lots of noise. Kate was almost in tears because she was tired and couldn't sleep. Alice and Kate finally dropped off around 10. And then there's Fiona. She had to pee five times. FIVE TIMES. Five times we got up out of the tent to go pee. Between trip four and five she said "I'm going to barf!" I didn't really believe her, but what if she was telling the truth? How would I do camping with a barf-o tent?! Fiona finally went to sleep around 11 and then I think it took me another hour to get to sleep.

Kate woke up around 2 am to scratch mosquito bites. That woke me up so I had to go to the bathroom. Alice woke up the first time at 5:50 am. She went back to sleep but then was up for good at 6:24 - I looked at my phone. And of course once Alice is awake, everyone is awake. I couldn't shake the grump. I had wanted to go to sleep early so I wouldn't be grumpy. Now I felt worse. I felt angry and I couldn't shake it.

Wednesday morning Lori led the kids (that wanted to go) on a hike. My three girls went. I didn't go. Kate came back in tears. She had fallen and she was so upset. Fiona and Alice were fine. It rained at some point, I don't remember when. I continued to feel angry and grumpy and like I wanted to go home but I couldn't.

At some point after lunch the sun came out and it started turning into a nice day and I figured out how to smile again. I couldn't remember why I needed to be upset. I couldn't remember why I needed to be angry. I finally let myself be happy and it felt great.

Dinner on Wednesday was spaghetti and all the girls were so happy and ate a great dinner. They had treats, they played with friends. When it was bedtime they were all so tired they went to sleep quite quickly, and Fiona was the first one gone. Emily and I even got to walk down to the beach and enjoy the stars and a conversation.

Thursday was packing up camp, a wagon ride and more hanging out. My moment of happy was brought to me by getting the tent and all the poles in the bag with Kate's help! YAY! I don't love camping, but I don't hate it. There are parts of it I even enjoy. I got and was given many hugs by my girls while at camp. I had lots of fun conversations. We were very well fed! The weather could have been better - but there's a good lesson too - bring LOTS of warm clothes, not just one outfit. One outfit is not a back up plan.

I'm grateful our first camping experience is behind us. I'm grateful for so many good women in my life. I'm grateful to have spent time with good friends. I'm grateful to have spent time with my girls. Mom and Me Camp was great, and I was blessed to be part of it.

Tuesday