The most highly-anticipated weekend of the summer has arrived and we dropped all three kids off at Sky Ranch on Sunday. Last week was full of excitement and prep and all the camp chatter which is my favorite.
The kids said they didn't want to paint the car windows and then at the last minute changed their minds so we did some quick paint...
... and hit the road to Van.
We broke up the two hour drive with a quick stop for peace teas and chocolate pudding (Mason's favorite - hahaha) and after driving through a TON of rain were so excited that the sun was kind of peeking out when we arrived. Griffin was SO EXCITED to be in one of the "big cabins" this year and I still can't believe that both her and Mason are "up the hill" now.
We keep our goodbyes super short and sweet - I've done 23 camp drop-offs (8, 7 and 6 years and Mason and G went twice last summer!) and my one piece of advice is have your heartfelt moment at home. Say what you want to say then and then when you get to camp it's a quick hug, an excited "see you on Saturday" and GO. If you need to get a bit emo do it in the car on the way home ;)
We thought Luke was going in for a hug, turns out he was actually going in for a swig of peach peace tea. hahaha
Mason was next up and it was a little bittersweet because this will be his last summer at Van. Next year he'll move up to their Quest CO program and will spend some time in Van before heading to the mountains but this is his last full week in Texas and he was definitely a bit in his feels about it.
Next up we dropped Luke off for Sigma Junior - they hung out in Van for dinner and a bit after and then loaded up in a charter bus headed for the mountains. He'll be in CO for two weeks at camp, then camping and then spending time in Denver volunteering before heading back.
After camp drop off we came home to a VERY quiet house and I was a bit in my feels coming off of an emotional week of prepping my kids for camp amidst the daily increasingly-devastating updates coming out of the hill country. I got myself together and settled in with Dave to kick off a week of "cooking for NO ONE" with some Netflix and pizza. Amen.
In years past my kids have gone to camp a few weeks later and it coincided with me going back to work and we bumped it up a couple of weeks last year for various reasons and now I get a whole week of NOTHING and it's kind of the best thing ever. I have a very loose to-do-list for the week so we'll see how that goes, but really my plan is just to enjoy myself at home - which is one of my favorite things to do.
I'll spare you an eighth-annual packing for camp blog post (although I do get asked about it every year) and instead will link you back to THIS POST I wrote last year.
I feel like I'm a pretty seasoned camp-prepper at this point and have it down to a system that works really well for my kids. I will say - the trunks are pretty much the norm here in Texas... I totally get that it's not the norm other places but, honestly, if you want your kid to take a trunk and the camp has bunks that they can fit under get them a trunk! Make it a thing ;)
And yes... Luke packed for two weeks (including family sized cheez-its and 20+ chomps sticks) in this bag.
Happy Tuesday, friends!!!
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