camp chronicles - 2017 edition

Every year, our trip to my camp in Northern Ontario is our favourite family adventure. This summer, it was the only week where all four of us were on vacation at the same time, which made it even more special. 

On the August long weekend, with Cal scheduled to work ridiculously long days on the Friday and Saturday, I began to pack up the troops for the week. (Slow clap for me for doing my absolute best - and most efficient - packing that I have ever done. Very little went unused by the end of the week, and the truck wasn't overflowing in the same way it usually does! Win!) 

By Sunday morning, with a sleepy, hardworking husband in the truck, two excited children and the boat hooked up behind us, we were ready to go! 

So far, Lady M has only participated in dance camp up there, but this year she was determined to be a badminton camper. Last year she had planned to do the same, but pulled the chute at the last minute. But, I once again packed everything she would need for badminton (with some dance clothes, just in case) and packed Lady A for dance camp, as that's what she was planning to do. 

Our classroom is pretty awesome.

Upon arrival, camp was reeling from a tornado that had struck less than 48 hours before. Power had been out, weather had been iffy, and trees were down all over the place. But anyone who has worked at a camp before knows that almost nothing will stop counsellors and staff from bringing their A-game every day, complete with enthusiasm that cannot be rivalled. By later that afternoon when opening ceremonies rolled around, we were ready to rock! 

That evening, Lady M made her way to her first badminton session, and she LOVED it. I repeat L-O-V-E-D it. The coaching team for that particular sport are amazing, so I had no doubt, but seeing the joy in her face when she got back to the cabin made me beam. 

Lady A settled quickly into Dance Camp, where at 6 years old, she's already completing the program for the third (maybe fourth?) year, and jumped right back in happily with her amazing coach, and many friends. Watching her dance a lyrical routing to a gorgeous version of Wind Beneath My Wings in the end of week showcase brought this sappy mama to tears. So. Much. Sweetness. 

Despite the fact that the weather report was looking rather gloomy (rain. every. single. day.) we spent our week being active constantly. Cal and I played in the coaches' badminton tournament, the girls played in the coaches kids badminton tournament. We even tried our hand at a Pickleball tournament this year - quite fun if you've never tried it out (or heard of it for that matter)! We played tennis, badminton, swam, paddle-boarded - you name it, we did it in between rainshowers. 

Lady A rocking the ropes course

The girls developed even more courage this year with the high ropes activities. Lady M kicked off her week of heights with the "Giant Swing" - a very high (especially from a mother's perspective, even though I've done it myself) swing, that launches my less-than-50-pound-baby out over the lake at sunset. Lady A did it just a few minutes after - though she didn't start up quite as high, my littlest lady was launched out over the lake too, with a giant smile on her face the whole time. My stomach was in knots, and my fists were clenched, but I lived to tell the tale! 

The girls also tried the high ropes course, with Lady M flying up the telephone pole (again) and trying out a more challenging element this year. She ran through it easily and confidently. Lady A made it to the top of the telephone pole (further than last year!), but wasn't able to step out onto the platform to complete the element. At least not when I was watching! The very next day, she had an opportunity to try it again with the kids from her dance program, and I'm told she got up there and went all the way across!! So proud of her courage. 

Lady M ready for some pinata fun @ Coaches' Happy Hour

Both of the girls attempted the zip line as well, with Lady M rocking it, and Lady A climbing, but choosing not to actually zip. While the girls did that, I was out with my campers and co-coaches on our annual day-long canoe trip. 

Unfortunately we didn't even make it to the first portage this year - partly due to the impending weather, and partly due to (literally) the SLOWEST canoe campers we have EVER seen. Honestly, in 18 years of teaching this program, this one boat moved slower than a three-toed sloth. Thank goodness for great company in my own canoe (and for our ability to take naps in strangely comfortable canoe corners, right Trishy?). 

One of my fabulous teaching partners & friend!

By the end of the week, our kids were pooped. They did every single session (which is about 6 hours/day), and still managed to stay energetic for their free time, and for the campfires and manhunt games at night. When the week was over, neither of them wanted to leave...but I always think that's a good sign. 

And as a side note: I also knew there was a mouse in my cabin this year, and managed to keep myself very calm and collected. This is a HUGE accomplishment for me, as typically this sends me over the edge, and the thought of sleeping in the truck, or anywhere that might be mouse-free is more appealing...but I did it. 

Less than 10 months until we get to go back... 

get back on the horse

Lady M takes horseback riding lessons every Saturday morning. Riding since this past September, she has really taken a liking to it and is incredibly respectful of these large animals, taking great care of them as she tacks and grooms, and genuinely enjoying her lesson every time she rides. Each week, she rotates between about 3 different horses, and had a chance to ride the pony one day as well.

Lady M - riding the pony at the barn

She talks about horses all the time, reads about them every chance she gets, and is constantly learning as much as she can. She's excited to try out horseback riding camp for the first time this summer, and frequently talks about getting a horse of her own. (I've gently let her know that she's welcome to get one when she's an adult!)

I'm always been a little leery of horses, knowing they are much, much larger than my little 8 1/2 year old - well, bigger than everyone who rides them, of course. But my little girl looks so small when she's on them.

So, you can imagine how small she looked last weekend as her horse - on it's first lap around the arena - all of a sudden decided to lower down onto her belly while my daughter was riding - certainly not a common occurrence in her lessons.

Lady M had the good sense to quickly remove her feet from the stirrups, and jump off as the horse lowered itself to the ground and began to roll toward Lady M who was pushed up against the arena wall. Thankfully, before she rolled too far, the horse took off and began cantering around the arena, relishing in her riderless freedom. I stood there, frozen, unable to help, but was grateful to the one helper who was in the ring who swiftly helped Lady M up and brought her into the centre of the arena, while the other girl in her lesson was quickly taken off her horse, and they tried to catch the rogue horse. They caught her, and immediately led her out of the arena then walked my quivering little girl over to me. The whole thing probably took about 45 seconds to a minute, but I've never felt so helpless.

Lady M crawled gently into my lap and cried very softly, clearly shaken from what had transpired. I was trying to keep myself together, though was fighting back tears, of course.

Although given the option of riding another horse, she chose not to get back on that day. Instead, she just wanted to stay close to her mum. Truth is, I didn't want to let her go either. After a short time and opportunity to relax, she decided that she just wanted to get home and get cleaned up since she was covered in dirt from head to toe, and her boots were full of it too.

Upon chatting afterwards, I learned that she was most upset because she thought she had done something wrong to make the horse behave like that. I assured her that she had done everything perfectly - as her teacher had shared before we left - and she seemed a little more relaxed, the colour returning to her face.

Following a nice, warm shower, Cal and Lady A called on their way home from her gymnastics class. Lady M shared that "there was a little incident" in her riding class, but had turned it around at that point, telling her Dad what had happened and already discussing which horse she would ride next week.

She has recovered well from it, and wasn't hurt at all which is most important. Yesterday she went back to the barn for her lesson and did extremely well - her confidence unshaken, she had a great ride.

Way to get back on the horse, Lady M!

camp chronicles : mouse in the house

I'm terrified of mice. This is a relatively new fear that I have developed, and one that I wish I could go back and reverse, but unfortunately I don't think that's possible, unless I'm willing to fork out some cash for hypnotherapy or something.

This little story begins last week when we (Cal, the girls and I) headed up to one of my favourite places in the world, my summer camp. I started attending this camp in 1995 when I was 14 years old where I was a volleyball camper for four years. Following that, I spent four full summers on staff, but that just wasn't quite enough for me. I started teaching the one-week Leadership camp back in 2000 (with a couple other fabulous individuals) and really have never looked back. Now, just weeks from my 31st birthday, I'm happy that I still get to spend one week each year at my favourite summer spot. Even better? I get to take my husband and our two little ladies so they can experience how much this place means to me.

This was Lady M's second time to camp; she was last there in 2011 because we skipped last summer seeing as Lady A was only about 12 weeks old at the time. Lady M didn't remember much about camp, but she settled right into camp life within moments of stepping foot on the property and breathing in the beautifully clean northern Ontario air. Lady A was also in her element, happily toddling all over the place in her little pink crocs for the next six days.

I love absolutely everything about my camp, except the potential for having mice nearby. But as I mentioned, this is a new phobia that I developed a few short years ago. Let me explain:

In the summer of 2009 we headed to Florida to celebrate my Aunt's birthday; a big, fabulous family reunion. Cal, Lady M and I landed in Orlando and were met by my parents who had already arrived in town a day or two before. While Cal and my Pops waited for the luggage, my Mum entertained Lady M and I ran to the bathroom. I promptly RAN out of the bathroom when a giant sewer rat walked into my stall and brushed past my feet. Please note, I really hadn't had much issue with rodents to that point. In fact, I can recall having a mouse run across my stomach one night when I was sleeping at camp (back when I worked there full-time) and that barely phased me. The sewer rat at my bare toes, shielded only by a pair of flip flops? That creeped me out BIG TIME.

Fast forward to camp life now, and I'm terrified of having mice in my cabin. But, when we arrived last week I saw that our cabin had nice new flooring, improved windows and several other enhancements from the last time I was there. Relieved, I knew I would sleep well.

However, just one night later, I was dozing on the couch (I didn't say I was roughing it) when Cal woke me up to say "what's that sound?" After exploring a little, I suddenly saw a little rodent run from our bathroom toward the front door. As I cowered and trembled on the couch, I told Cal that it might be a chipmunk or a mouse. Either way, ick. I was shaking...Cal was mouse-hunting. He flung open the front door, and a few minutes later the mouse stopped making noise, so we went to bed assuming that our little visitor had taken leave.

An hour or so later, I jolted awake when the sound returned, and Cal jumped out of bed with one of our trusty flashlights. I decided to run to the coaches lounge (our evening hangout) and grab my friend and co-teacher Rene, who I had seen firsthand look after a cabin mouse in the past. I figured he would be a bigger help to Cal than I, who was shaking like a leaf, alternately wanting to cry and scream. I ran to the lounge, and bumped into another coach I know who told me Rene had gone back to his cabin for the night, but suggested that since she had a couple beers in her, she would be brave enough to come join the mousehunt. Awesome - I had reinforcements! She and Cal found the hole, patched it up, covered it with the fridge, and I semi-relaxed and fell back to sleep. I awoke in the morning feeling like I had just completed a killer ab workout, apparently having trembled and clenched my body all night long, but at least we were mouse-free.

The next night, I was playing in a badminton tournament with the other coaches, and returned later in the night when Cal immediately told me that the mouse had returned, but he had found another hole, patched it up and gotten the mouse out. He had discovered that mice don't like bounce sheets, so he devised a clever solution to stuff powder-scented dirty diaper bags into the mouse hole (in the absence of bounce sheets, of course!). I gently suggested that he probably should have just lied and told me that the mouse had never returned, then climbed into bed once again shaking, and somewhat wishing that Saturday would arrive quickly so I could return home to my own, mouse-free house.

Just to ease my rodent worries a little more, the next day we took a trip into town and stopped into the local Canadian Tire where Cal picked up spray insulation. He very kindly filled in absolutely every hole he could possibly find, inside and outside the cabin, to really keep our visitor out. Well, it must have worked because between Thursday and Saturday, the mouse never returned. Phewf.

So, I don't think that my fear of mice/rats has eased at all, but I do feel a little pride in the fact that I managed to make it through the week sleeping in the same cabin, and not going to my friend Trish's cabin and climbing into bed with she and her husband (though I let her know not to be alarmed if I did at some point!). Hopefully if we return to the same cabin again next year Cal's handyman skills will have all held up, but I guess we'll wait and see.

It's all worth it though to get to spend a week at camp with my family.