Summer Camps

I'm always trying to find things to keep the boys busy during the summer - - we've done several fun camps over the years. This year is the first time we've had Noah in the NISRA (Northern Illinois Special Recreation Association) 6-week camp, although we've done several week-long camps in the past. The counselors are awesome, and many of them remember Noah from last year. Several of Noah's friends are in the camp as well, so it makes it so much fun for him. It's held at a middle school, which is within walking distance of a community pool, a library, and McDonald's. So twice a week the kids go swimming, and one day they go to the library and one day they go to McDonald's. Noah loves going. It's 4 days a week, from 9:15 to 3:15. Anything to keep him active and socializing.

Ethan had scout camp a couple of weeks ago. It was from Saturday to Saturday, so a long camp-out. It was the longest he'd ever been away from home (other than visits with family). He had a great time. The camp was in Wisconsin, about 5 hours away. Scott drove him down, spent the night, and then drove down again to pick him up and spent the night again. Kudos to Scott, because he really does not like camping. Ethan did the wilderness survival merit badge, and the conservation one. He started working on the swimming badge - - it's a pretty tough one. He had a lot of fun with his buddies and came home sunburned, filthy, and covered with mosquito bites. Oh the laundry I had to do! I had to take some of the clothes outside and shake them off before I could even put them in the washer. I ended up just throwing most of his socks away - - much too nasty.

This week Ethan has camp with the McHenry County Conservation Society. He did it last year and it was a great experience, as well as costing very little. The theme this year is "time travelers" and each day they learn about a different time period in the area. Monday was the ice age, and they did an archaeological dig. Yesterday the followed the French fur traders by spending the whole day boating on the river. The mosquitoes were so bad, but otherwise he had a lot of fun. The only problem with the camp is that it's in Ringwood, which is a good 45 minutes away. Add to that Noah's camp, which is 15 minutes in the opposite direction, and I'm spending about 4 hours in the car every day this week.

I'm also keeping Ethan busy doing a math review (we do a workbook every summer, and it really keeps him sharp for the coming year) and reading. He recently started Les Miserables, the unabridged version, which is about 1200 pages. That boy just loves a challenge. He also has guitar lessons, so we're keeping him active. He'd like to spend every day just playing his Wii, but I'm not going to let that happen.

Our little girl will be coming in less than 3 weeks. We got a call today saying that she's back in the breech position, which stinks. The poor birth mom really doesn't want to go through a c-section, and I don't blame her one bit. She is very anxious to get this over with, and of course we are anxious to bring our baby home! We've had a pile of last minute paperwork to do, and we have a final home visit coming up on Saturday (I should be cleaning house right now!) I also have to recertify for CPR, but thankfully Scott and I got permission to skip the baby care class. We also had to get fingerprinted again. So much stuff! But we're coming down to the wire now, and it will all be worth it. I've had a lot of fun decorating the nursery, and it's almost ready now. It's very cute and pink :)