Dispatch from Family Camp

I wrote this Tuesday morning, but as you might imagine, Internet access is spotty and slow here in the North Woods. I’m hoping it posts tonight -- if I can stay awake that long -- and then I’m going to reserve the rest of my stories for when we get back home. Sharing a few stories will be a good distraction from the piles of laundry.

Wow.

Family camp with a baby is an entirely different beast than family camp with a toddler.

I am so tired today, y’all, I can barely motivate myself to life my coffee cup to my lips. (And we’re only 1.5 days into the week!)

I spent the better part of the day yesterday following Teyla around camp, steering her away from the dock’s edge and toward the playground, accompanying her through game after game of “let’s climb the stairs and now climb back down” and in general, being on guard. And guard duty is exhausting.

But it’s good. It’s still really good. The weather is cool – low 70s -- which is a bit of a shock after last week’s heat index warnings. But it makes it pleasant to sit on a porch and listen to the birds.

(For all of five seconds before – oops! – your toddler is already headed toward the dock again.)

Connor and Natalie are having “the funnest fun” reuniting with friends. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen Natalie at all today. She’s raced from breakfast to the playground to kids camp to the craft shack and now to the beach without even stopping to catch her breath. Connor is keeping Corey company; I left them warring it out at the carpet-ball table. (Our family was runner-up in the camp carpet-ball tournament last year. Corey is itching for a rematch.)

And I’m stealing this small break while Teyla is napping to do some … well, some sitting. I’m also breathing. And I’m allowing my mind to drift at will. It’s really, really nice to have a break from High Alert Level Red.

And that’s what vacation is all about, right?