Summer camp
Jul. 23rd, 2011 10:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanSo this year both kids are going to summer camp, as Ruthie has "graduated" from preschool and finally is old enough for basically all of the camps in the area. There are a billion choices, but I tried to stick with what we knew.
Last year Isaac went to the same camp for the whole summer, and although it's a great camp, it involves an hourlong bus ride each morning and afternoon. The actual camp is in a fabulous location in the woods by a lake, which is great, but not particularly close. So by the end of the summer it did seem like that was getting tiresome, and then there was a long discussion on one of the parenting lists about what a good idea it is to have your kid do a bunch of different things over the summer. So this year I decided to mix it up and send them to three different camps.
They've just finished three weeks at the camp with the long drive, which is run by the same nonprofit program that runs Isaac's afterschool and Ruthie's (now former) preschool. So it was a great choice for Ruthie, a really easy transition from preschool to camp because it's dropoff at the same location and she knows a lot of the kids (including her cousin Baz). She has been having a great time. As this past week wound to a close, I started to think that maybe I had made the wrong choice scheduling it this way, because it seems like the three weeks went so fast and now they're settled in and I'm moving them? But what's done is done.
Next week they'll be going to gymnastics camp, where I don't think they'll know any of the kids, but hopefully some of the teachers will be familiar from the past two semesters of gymnastics class. I only signed up for one week of this camp because it's so freaking expensive. Also it's an inconvenient location and they don't provide snacks, so in addition to lunch I also have to pack two snacks per day per kid. So all of that is going to be a serious pain in the ass and I'm already hating it ;) but hopefully the actual camp will be fun for them.
After that, they do three weeks at the camp housed in their school and run by the school department. Isaac did that camp the year before last and it was pretty good. They do a lot of stuff in the school building, but they also take field trips to beaches and pools twice a week. I know of a few kids we know who will probably be there, so hopefully that will work out. And that camp provides breakfast, lunch, and two snacks per day, so thank goodness for that. ;)
Then they'll do one more week of the camp with the long bus ride, and then for the last week of summer I'm taking the week off work and we'll do who-knows-what. I have some things in mind. Hopefully we'll have fun and not want to kill each other by the end of the week. ;)
One downside of the camp in the woods has been the continuous accrual of mosquito bites. I started spraying the kids with bug spray in the morning, but I don't want to send that stuff with them because I don't trust them to spray themselves safely, so they still get some bites in the afternoon when the bug spray has been washed off by repeated swimming. But they're getting fewer bites than before I started spraying, so oh well.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sandykidd found a tick on Baz one of the first few days of camp, so I've been checking, but haven't found any on my kids, knock wood.
The other downside of camp generally has been that Ruthie is very tired. In preschool, even though she didn't nap most days, she still was required to lie quietly for at least 45 minutes each afternoon, and of course in camp it's go-go-go all day. She tells me that she has been falling asleep on the bus in the afternoons. And I have not been good about getting her to bed in timely fashion (see previous post about swimming and pools). I need to recalibrate my expectations and start insisting on earlier bedtimes and some quiet downtime on weekends. Today she was kind of a basket case from late afternoon onward. Of course, the 100-degree weather contributed to that (as well as to my cranky response thereto) but still. She needs more rest.
Anyway, it's nice that both kids are enjoying camp so far. I always hated camp, especially the parts that involved woods and bugs and dirt ;) but so far my kids have not picked up that attitude... ;)
Last year Isaac went to the same camp for the whole summer, and although it's a great camp, it involves an hourlong bus ride each morning and afternoon. The actual camp is in a fabulous location in the woods by a lake, which is great, but not particularly close. So by the end of the summer it did seem like that was getting tiresome, and then there was a long discussion on one of the parenting lists about what a good idea it is to have your kid do a bunch of different things over the summer. So this year I decided to mix it up and send them to three different camps.
They've just finished three weeks at the camp with the long drive, which is run by the same nonprofit program that runs Isaac's afterschool and Ruthie's (now former) preschool. So it was a great choice for Ruthie, a really easy transition from preschool to camp because it's dropoff at the same location and she knows a lot of the kids (including her cousin Baz). She has been having a great time. As this past week wound to a close, I started to think that maybe I had made the wrong choice scheduling it this way, because it seems like the three weeks went so fast and now they're settled in and I'm moving them? But what's done is done.
Next week they'll be going to gymnastics camp, where I don't think they'll know any of the kids, but hopefully some of the teachers will be familiar from the past two semesters of gymnastics class. I only signed up for one week of this camp because it's so freaking expensive. Also it's an inconvenient location and they don't provide snacks, so in addition to lunch I also have to pack two snacks per day per kid. So all of that is going to be a serious pain in the ass and I'm already hating it ;) but hopefully the actual camp will be fun for them.
After that, they do three weeks at the camp housed in their school and run by the school department. Isaac did that camp the year before last and it was pretty good. They do a lot of stuff in the school building, but they also take field trips to beaches and pools twice a week. I know of a few kids we know who will probably be there, so hopefully that will work out. And that camp provides breakfast, lunch, and two snacks per day, so thank goodness for that. ;)
Then they'll do one more week of the camp with the long bus ride, and then for the last week of summer I'm taking the week off work and we'll do who-knows-what. I have some things in mind. Hopefully we'll have fun and not want to kill each other by the end of the week. ;)
One downside of the camp in the woods has been the continuous accrual of mosquito bites. I started spraying the kids with bug spray in the morning, but I don't want to send that stuff with them because I don't trust them to spray themselves safely, so they still get some bites in the afternoon when the bug spray has been washed off by repeated swimming. But they're getting fewer bites than before I started spraying, so oh well.
sandykidd found a tick on Baz one of the first few days of camp, so I've been checking, but haven't found any on my kids, knock wood.The other downside of camp generally has been that Ruthie is very tired. In preschool, even though she didn't nap most days, she still was required to lie quietly for at least 45 minutes each afternoon, and of course in camp it's go-go-go all day. She tells me that she has been falling asleep on the bus in the afternoons. And I have not been good about getting her to bed in timely fashion (see previous post about swimming and pools). I need to recalibrate my expectations and start insisting on earlier bedtimes and some quiet downtime on weekends. Today she was kind of a basket case from late afternoon onward. Of course, the 100-degree weather contributed to that (as well as to my cranky response thereto) but still. She needs more rest.
Anyway, it's nice that both kids are enjoying camp so far. I always hated camp, especially the parts that involved woods and bugs and dirt ;) but so far my kids have not picked up that attitude... ;)
