Another summer of camp! Joel and I have been having so much fun (eating apple pie) and we’ve been so busy (baking apple pie) that we haven’t even had a chance to write our first journal entry until now.
We also decided that, seeing as we’re old pros at doing camp, we’d take a more casual approach this summer and not feel like we have to document everything. We’re into relaxing and having fun! That’s what summer’s all about.
This year, we’re holding camp in Windenburg. We can’t believe how amazing the campus is. We’re calling it the Meadow for the Lost and Found, for we feel like we’ve stepped into some kind of magical place where we can lose ourselves and find ourselves, both.
The counselors’ building sits off in the northeast corner, closest to the lane. We’ve got an orangerie, a music room, a library, and the bunk room.
The kids love playing on the back porch of the counselors’ building, for some reason. Joel says it’s because it’s one of the few grown-up places here, so it feels like it’s “off-limits” (even though it’s not).
My favorite place is the pavilion. It’s an outside room, that feels cozy and protected while still letting in the sunlight and breezes.
Joel’s favorite place is the pirate tree house! The kids like it, too.
Behind the main building, we’ve got a few ponds that we can actually swim in–as long as we don’t mind the goldfish nibbling our toes!
Even though the whole place is one riot of color, I still feel really peaceful here. Maybe it’s because it’s magic color, like you’d find in a fairy land…
We’ve got toys and kids’ stuff everywhere! It makes it fun–we don’t need to worry about picking up toys, because the whole place is like the inside of a giant toy box!
It also has a huge and awesome kitchen.
We’ve got a great group of kids this year–and another counselor! The counselor is Tre Rivera, Ike and Leonora‘s grandson. He’s been super at helping the kids feel at home.
We’re expecting five kids total this summer. The first three to arrive were Cadence, Waikiki, and Hahon Knight.
We had a special surprise for them on their first night there–a birthday party for their fairy godmother, Madison!
Madison and I decided we wouldn’t really go into the whole fairy godmother thing with them right away, so instead we just focused on the birthday party.
Cadence and Waikiki helped me bake a cake, while Madison kept us company in the kitchen.
Then we all headed to the playroom for a massive dance party.
Hahon dared us that we couldn’t outdo his moves on the dance floor.
But Madison showed that she had some really grooving moves.
Joel wasn’t about to be outdone!
Waikiki was pretty sure that kids dance better.
“I mean, we’ve got spaghetti arms!” she said.
“Nobody, and I mean No Body, out-dances the Rivera Dance Machine!” said Tre.
He was right. Even when Waikiki matched him move for move, nobody could come close to Tre’s style.
But it was Waikiki who ruled the joke floor.
“Why didn’t the skeleton dance at the disco?” she asked. “He had no body to dance with!”
All that dancing made us so hungry that we couldn’t resist seconds.
“This was the funnest party ever,” said Waikiki. “Thanks for having a birthday, Aunt Madison.”
So camp got off to a great start! I’m sure we’ll have a ton of adventures and meet a lot of people. But I always believe that how something begins sets the tone for how it continues on, and with good friends, crazy dancing, corny jokes, and delicious food, we’re pretty sure we’re going to have an amazing camp this year. Hope you’ll follow along!
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