Blue Lakes…what can I say? I can say it was an experience – both positive and educational. For those who don’t know, Blue Lake is a Methodist church camp, and our church had their annual retreat there this past weekend. I’ll admit I had a lot skepticism going into the weekend. The dorm room set up (our family was in a room with 3 twin beds) and the community bathrooms (girls at one end of the hall and boy at the other) was worrisome for me. I’m also not a big “summer camp” type person. I know we weren’t really camping, but the community bathrooms and the the packing list I got form the church - bug spray, sunscreen, flashlights and extra blankets - made me think of opening scenes from the movie Parent Trap.
There were definitely times during the course of the weekend when I really wanted the comforts of home like when I was trying to bathe Coe in a shower the size of a port-a-potty. But there were also times of pure joy like watching Coe dance during the praise and worship time and pretty much every time I saw Mac. He was on a nonstop high the whole weekend!
Instead of boring everyone with a summary of the whole weekend I will just list the positives and the not so positives of the weekend.
Positives
- Coe praised and worshipped all weekend (see lows)
- Beautiful weather
- Ton of friends for Mac to play with
- Lots of quality time with the kids
- Lots of quality time with adult friends
- Good spiritual lessons
- Cable dish and extra large tv present so all football games were showing
- Phillips family brought Benadryl with them*
- Hayrides, pumpkin carving, water balloon toss
- Long hallways for playing chase
- Pajama parade
- Splitting an extra room with the Phillips so Mac and Jack P could have their own room.
Not so Positives
- Coe praised and worshipped (aka cried out to the Lord) from 12p-5a while clinging only to his mommy
- Beds – my twin bed had a broken foot board so every time I rolled over the bottom half of the mattress crashed to the floor
- Long noisy hallways that just begged kids to run and play chase (which leads to the next low)
- Coe did not believe in/could not sleep at Blue Lake
- Communal bathrooms – at least they were clean!
*I don’t believe in drugging children to get them to sleep but Copeland was beyond exhausted by Saturday night but couldn’t relax and go to sleep. He was miserable, I was miserable, and he desperately needed to sleep. I gave him a very small dose of Benadryl on Sat night and he finally slept which made everyone much happier on Sunday morning!
Coe took off his hat and had to get a drink after all his running around. You wouldn’t have known at this point he had only had 2 two hour sleep stints the night before!
The picture of me with the boys is not good but its the only pic of me from the whole weekend so I wanted to prove I was there! This was the first of about 5 hayrides that Copeland went on. He wouldn’t get off and rode with any adult (whether he knew them or not) that would ride with him.
Hallway running!
I guess I am in one other picture! Time for the pajama parade.
The highs definitely outweighed the lows for the weekend, and the whole family had a great time. Even with Coe’s lack of sleep, he managed to rally on Saturday and keep up with all the other kids in between rests in mommy’s arms. I know that next year will be even better. Surely a 2.5 yr old will be easier to take to Blue Lake than an 18mo old, right?!?!
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