A Week Away

So... here's the thing, maybe you didn't know this about me, but I love summer camp! I do. I love to watch The Parent Trap and can quote the Hayley Mills and Lindsay Lohan version to the point where no one wants to watch those with me. Meatballs, CAMP, Camp Nowhere, Heavyweights... I love all those movies about camp. 

I love TV shows about camp too. Salute Your Shorts and Bug Juice were top favorites of my childhood. And pretty much any book about summer camp too. Starting with the American Girl doll book about Molly going to summer camp and pretty much any time anyone went to camp in any series. I love camp. I was a kid who went to summer camp and I loved every single second. 

*Ahem* summer camp. With cabins, provided toilet paper, counselors, and those who prepare your food. Camping camping... is not in my wheelhouse. Because I pay a mortgage so I have no need to pretend to be homeless thank you very much. 

ANYWAY, the kids just got back from a week away at camp. This year we spread our wings and tried a new to us camp. A Catholic camp three hours away. And it was phenomenal! We took them up last Sunday. 

This camp did a phenomenal job of posting pictures every day. At least one picture of each kid daily, which I so appreciated. There is also an optional email service when you could email your camper every day and they could hand write a note to you and camp would scan it in to send you every afternoon. SO WORTH IT. 

My favorite letter was M's on Monday. 

Two sentences. Straight to the point. So funny. 

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the week. 

We picked them up Friday afternoon and I was happy because I missed them! 

But I know they had such a good time and I am so thankful for a safe, friendly, beautiful place to send them. We always said that their previous camp wasn't ever going to be our forever camp... but this... this felt like home to me. 

So in case you were wondering where the kids were again... it was camp. July was our kid free month as it happens! They were gone for 16 days in there between my parent's and camp! But now they're home where they belong and we have a few more weeks of summer fun before school gets rolling. 

Memories

After the kids came home we had scheduled creek stomping pictures. I don't know why I thought that was a good idea, but when it was offered I decided they'd look cute doing it. 

I am so glad I went with my gut instinct. Here are some of the sneak peeks! 

M got SO wet and she LOVED the whole experience. C also enjoyed it but was looking for minnows and turtles too. But we still got some good pictures with genuinely delighted looks!

I don't know if these will be Christmas card pictures or what, but I do so love getting pictures of my kids. 

The kids are back in town!

Maybe you noticed or maybe you didn't that I hadn't posted much about what my kids have been up to. Well, that's because on Saturday, July 8th we met my parents about halfway to their house and the kids went to Camp Grandpa and Grandma for 10 days. 

While they were gone they did so many things. Parks. Fishing. Shopping. Hanging out. Just generally all the good stuff grands do with their grandparents. 

The Jolly Green Giant

Minnesota's Largest Candy Store

A Trip to Macy's 

And Chick-Fil-A. (Ours is actually under construction and closed in April until like October so this was genuinely a treat!)

Visited small towns. 

Made friends with the cat. 

Did a science experiment led by M. (It was a VBS experiment.) 

Went to the library for some books to read with a snack. 

Shopping at 5 Below and Bath and Body Works. (So, pretty much an 8-year-old girl's dream shopping spree.) 

Some latch hook action. 

A trip to Outback. (Again, ours closed and this guy loves this bread so much!) 

Running through the sprinkler.

A boy's fishing trip! 

C caught 14 fish! 

Anyway, I picked them up on Tuesday and we've been settling back into routine and fun. So that's what the kids have been up to! 

Do Less, God Bless!

 Last night Husband and I went to see Trey Kennedy! 

I love it when he says Do Less, God Bless. I had to get a Koozie! 

I promise this place was packed when the show started. We are just get there early people. 

We were tickled by the fact the ushers were doing the same thing on both sides of the stage. 

Trey and his opener Jake Triplett didn't allow any photography during their sets. Which I totally get. They did have an opener DJ. Who I really enjoyed. I wish there had been room to really dance! 

These were the people that sat behind us and then talked for the ENTIRE thing. They had a side comment about everything. 

I am honestly not sure they knew how comedy works. Black skirt frilly top kept saying "That's SO true!" or "You do that!" Yep. That's why it's funny lady. 

At this bar we went to after the show they complained loudly that "everyone is ignoring us!" The bartender came over and said, "I was helping someone." They ordered and giggled and then went outside. And the bartender and some of the other patrons talked about them for a while. 

I think they're just really unaware and super self-centered people. Which is too bad. 

Luckily they didn't ruin Trey for me! It was a fun night!

This is Trey. And that is the shirt he wore for his set. 

Other Stuff We've Been Up To

So what other stuff have we been up to? Otherwise titled even though the blog had no updates we still did stuff that wasn't VBS related. 

We went strawberry picking! 

And it was SO much fun. I am so happy we were able to go this year after last year's hiatus. 

We did actually decide that we weren't going to make jam this year so we picked less that typical and actually that was really great.

We went to the Farm and Fleet store and my Goose wanted to take home some geese. We said no.

I got some work done while eating Circus Peanuts. A very divisive candy. But I love them. 

We also did a science experiment to see how long it would take a circus peanut to dissolve and it took almost a whole week!! So that was shocking to me, to be honest. Yay for science. 

We got the special Disney 100 Spot It. And we've played it a lot. 

I mean. Spot It is already a favorite. And add in Disney characters and it's a hit! 

M got her haircut! Very dramatically!! Her shampoo, which is the best part!

Look at all that?!

And even after you'd still say her hair was pretty long! Lol. But a more manageable long. Which was the main goal. 

She got a new dress. Stay tuned for why!! 

My friend hosted some of us for a girl's night in her dreamy backyard. And you can't really tell but there were two doe deer who joined us and we thought that was hilarious... it really was a girl's night. 

M and I went to see Footloose the Musical. 

We went to the Beyond Van Gough experience. And it was so dreamy. 

I am a total sucker for blue. So to have blue swirling around me was the best. 

But seriously. We stayed for 2.5 of the 37-minute loops and I think 3/4 of us would have stayed longer. M had completely reached her threshold however so we had to take off. It was 100% worth it though and I am so glad we didn't miss it. 

We went to the museum with M's friend G. 

How absolutely sweet is this picture? I melt. 

And that pretty much sums up the fun things we've done in the past few weeks. In there has also been plenty of cleaning, tidying, loads of laundry, complaining, mosquito bites, and playing outside. But that's not as photo-worthy however real it is. 

And that's what we've been doing!