It was absolutely one of the best weekends of my life.
As a kid: I grew up at camp, really found my faith and myself at camp, I realized that heaven is for real at camp, I met my best friends, I met Mark, Mark's family and my sister-in-law Cassidy and her family at camp, I fell in love with Mark at camp, I got engaged at camp, the list could go on forever...
I have been waiting since the day that we learned we were expecting to take my Kindergarten graduate to Tiny Tykes or Mother Daughter Weekend. As a staff member, I loved working these weekends and always thought they were so cute and fun. It was SO much better as a parent.
Annabeth and I were given Miami as a cabin (no accident - thanks Tim!) which was my cabin as a camper and for my three summers on staff - only for those years I renamed it MyAmy. Annabeth picked the top bunk which was fine by me because I have always been too afraid to have a top bunk. It was the first, of so many, times that Annabeth surprised me this weekend.
Checking into our cabin!
I had Mark take this picture when he dropped us off - I couldn't stand not having any pictures!
We started out the event with singing which she refused to do. She did not sing one song or do one motion all weekend. I got worried. Annabeth isn't necessarily shy but she is often very quiet and timid. She was a nervous mess the whole morning and for the drive down. But as soon as the first part was over we got to go to the lake. She was over-the-moon! We don't swim very often but she was swimming out to where it was over her mouth and was loving it! I was shocked! She has always been so careful in the water.
Our first afternoon activity was zip-lining. She said it was what she wanted to do most. And she did it! She looked so tiny up there but she just marched up there, shaking like a leaf, and went as soon as the staffer said "1-2-3!" For the official record, I was also shaking like a leaf at the top and couldn't get myself to even sit on the platform much less go. My girl is braver than me!
Annabeth on the zip line!
She looks terrified but she said she loved it and asked to go again!
Photo Credit: My mama's coworker Laura was also there this
weekend and took this for us.
She spent the rest of the afternoon out in the deep part of the lake and taking fun challenging ways down the slip-and-slide. She ran her little heart out in TBA and scored her first pig in Steal-the-Bacon. Sunday morning she made fuse beads for the first time and swam some more.
Because I stay-at-home full time and we homeschool, I did kind of wonder if a weekend like this would be special. We are always together. But being away, without distractions, made such a huge difference in how we communicated and how I parented. My phone is only voice and text so I told Mark if he needed me to call the camp office and I left my phone in the cabin all weekend. I also gave in to Annabeth's request to not bring my camera, which broke my heart because I love pictures of everything, but I did it for her. As a result, I was fully engaged, ready to be part of everything and to hear every word. It was a huge blessing to not have any chores or cooking to do and to just be together.
I am so thankful for the Spring Consignment Sale where I made enough money to pay for this weekend, that our doctor okayed the trip to camp even with the health issues that Annabeth has had the past few weeks, and that the Lord provided this safe wonderful getaway! To God be ALL the glory!
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