Cooking in summer is pretty bad. I find that I'm so grumpy because of the heat, and that I don't want to be opening a hot oven or cooking over a hot stove. Plus, I'm the working mom during summer. Feeding the family should be Chuck's job, but...that doesn't always happen. It's just all really stressful. Plus, there's the whole my-kids-don't-eat-anything anyway that just makes it all worse.
Last summer we had the boys pick out seven meals that they'd eat, and we just did those every single week on repeat. ("If it's spaghetti, it must be Thursday" kind of thing.) But by the end of summer, they were complaining still. ("Tacos, again?" even though they love tacos.) This summer I was almost to the point of CEREAL EVERY NIGHT (it's fortified, right?) when I saw this. It was a seven-week meal plan. I love this blog. I love almost everything I've tried from this blog, so what the heck. I'm doing it.
It was pretty amazing. I think the biggest downside to it was the cost of the meals. I definitely spent more money on groceries to carry out the meals. I think that was mainly because if it said steak tacos, I made steak tacos, even if the steak wasn't on sale. Something I'd never do otherwise. But the upsides were that I didn't have to think about what I was going to serve the family, AND it got us to eat some things that we wouldn't have otherwise. The biggest win was that we made and ATE two salads for dinner. These were not side salads. They were real salads with real vegetables and real protein. It seriously was a miracle.
What else did we eat? A few "bowls" (a breakfast one and a burrito one), lots of sandwiches (but not pb&j), a couple of wraps, steak tacos, a delicious pesto/asparagus pasta salad, and other stuff (obviously). The salads were a chef salad and a mango cobb. Me eating a salad for dinner has me questioning my entire identity. I mean, who am I!??!?
So we'll definitely pick a couple of those that were our favorites to put them in our regular rotation. I'm super happy we did it and would definitely do it again.
Oh man. How can you describe something that taxed you so much mentally? This program really did a number to my mental health. How was it different from last year? Well, obviously, this year I was in charge. I found out there's a BIG difference between being the assistant camp director and the camp director. I was just so emotionally and mentally drained each evening from making decision after decision. Last year, I went running three mornings. This year? I ended up driving between camp and the pavilions WAY more than I want to admit and I didn't even get to go on the hikes.
The Good:
The women. I had a committee of 12 women who, except for the cooks, were doing this on a strictly volunteer basis. It was not their calling. They simply love YW and want to be involved with camp. In addition to them, working with the Stake YW Presidency is amazing. I like all of them so much.
The girls. They're able to remain happy and upbeat in the face of a lot of crappy things.
The service project. This year we worked with the state park to carry out an invasive species pull. It turned out really great and we learned a lot from doing it.
The boating. Last year it was more random, but this year, we dedicated an entire day and were able to rent the boats for a great price.
Going up early with YCLs. We took them up Monday and were able to do some training and have fun with them without the younger girls around. It worked out really well, and it's something we'll do next year.
The guns. Holy crap. We took the girls shooting on a gun range. For reals. I was terrified of it, but it turned out great and we only had one girl ask to go back to main camp. I still hate guns SO VERY MUCH, but it was something we could do to give the girls a bit more "high adventure."
The food. Our camp cooks are amazing. Food tastes delicious and watching them work is so fun. Such a machine!
The Bad:
The rain. Omygosh the rain. It rained so much. The one day we needed it to not rained, however, it didn't! But the first night my tent got soaked and was out of commission for the rest of the week. I stayed in the cabin with the camp nurse and her baby, which wasn't ideal (did you read the part about the baby? although, to be honest, I barely heard her), but it was a million times better than a wet tent where all of my possessions were getting wet. But it also meant the wards didn't get great campfire time. We also had a ruined breakfast that was supposed to be cooked over the fire.
My sleeping quarters. As mentioned, my tent got drenched the first night (I'm talking puddles inside). It was terrible. Next year, I'm considering bringing the Scamp. I just couldn't handle the anxiety of watching the rain, wondering how wet my tent was going to be. It really didn't help my mental ability to make camp decisions. However, if I had the Scamp, I could rest easy and not have that additional stress. We'll see.
It's a long week. We started with YCLs on Monday, and everyone came up Tuesday. But we didn't get to go home until Saturday. It just seemed long.
Issues with the girls. We had two major issues come up. One week, in the woods, with 75 girls...it shouldn't be a surprise. But it's hard. Yes, I was thrilled to have other smart women around to help me figure out what we should do, but you're always wondering if you did the right thing.
I got back Saturday afternoon. Twenty four hours later, Chuck left for six days of scout camp. Awesome. They did a 50-mile high adventure one this year. At mile 48, his shoes failed him and he got some blisters. But otherwise, he enjoyed the boys and was happy to have his hammock. I was super happy for the bishop's wife who offered to watch my boys for free (well, the cost of enrolling them in Vacation Bible School) so I wouldn't have to miss another week of work for a church camp. How grateful we are to this good woman!
And now, next year's camp is less than ten months away. Oy.
After an additional three days (thanks snow--and no, that's not sarcastic), the boys finally got their last day. Well, technically Rhett had only an additional two days. His school is being redone and so they give teachers an additional day to pack up because they'll be moving into the new building this fall.
They both had fun days but were happy to have it all over with. And of course: candygrams! I put Chuck in charge this year and he did a way better job than I did. Looks like someone got himself a new job.
Overall, it was a good year. Ollie did SO GREAT with his teacher. Oh how I wish she was doing second grade this fall. Rhett, well, he did okay. Academically he was fine. The program was just enough of a push for him, but not too much so that it pushed him over the edge. His behavior, however, could have seen some improvement. But here's to summer!
The boys have been having too much fun with making movies. Although, I think they're really only fun for them because ain't nobody want to watch this 12-minute video. But try it if you dare!
