We took Xander to the 3/4 Nursery on the first day so that he would get used to the idea of school at Camp. He didn't even hesitate. In the afternoon, we didn't take him to Nursery (we wanted him to nap - ha), but we did meet up with them for Cookie Man. Xander loves the Cookie Man.

My dad and Travis earned their Admirals so they could take us all sailing on an Ensign later in the week. We took Xander to leadline, where he rode Fudge. He enjoyed it, but didn't want to try to get in line again. He was pretty excited about going to the beach with Grandma.

Skits were Sunday night, of course, and they were... well... just as bad as always. And longer, it seemed. The highlight was the Field Sports dancing skit, in my opinion.

Xander spent some time on the beach with my mom, of course. He loves sand.

Sunday evening, Travis and I went out to Hunan. My Cleopatra chicken was still very good, and they have the best Egg Drop Soup. We were pretty rushed, though, because we wanted to make it back in time for skits. We had tried to go to Mitchell Street, but it was closed because it was Sunday. Argh.

I did CPR training during the morning hours. It was excellent! The Red Cross has changed a bunch of things to make it simpler so that more people will be confident using it. Great idea! The nurse was a great instructor, so I really learned everything, I think. The people in the class were nice, too. Very chatty and friendly, of course. This is Camp, after all.

The other 3-year olds in our cabin had a lot of fun at North Beach on Sunday, so we took Xander there, accepting that napping was unlikely with all the excitement of Camp. He had fun splashing around with his lifejacket on. There was contention over shovels because there was only one for entire beach (and all 30 kids). My mom was upset about that. She wanted to bring some over from the 0/2 Nursery, which she did by the end of the week.

In the afternoon, the kids played T-Ball in front of our cabin. They loved that! They all had fun and Xander loved having kids to play with. He later said that T-Ball was his favorite part of Camp. My dad climbed all the way into the Ffarfenophel tree... you can just see him up at the top.

That night was the Sing-a-long at the beach. Xander was VERY tired and could barely lift his arms to make baby sharks. He managed to eat his marshmallow just fine, though. Kayli enjoyed snuggling with Dad, and laughed when he bounced around to the music.

I went to see the Nurse again to earn my Infant/Child CPR certification. Kayli came, too. She had heard that it was a class for Infant CPR and misunderstood. She was not very good during the class, but I still got 100% on the very very easy test.

Somehow, they fit 30 3/4 year olds on one Ensign. I don't have pictures of that, but I have pictures of them lining up in their little lifejackets and being ferried out there.

After I saw them off (with plenty of pictures and video), I met my mom for the Tree hike at Nature. I lost interest pretty quickly, having led that hike 13 times during the summer of 2000 and forgotten everything anyway because it just wasn't interesting to me, so Kayli and I just sat in the forest for a while. It was a perfect day to be in the woods.

We made it back in time to meet Xander at Cookie Man, then we went on ANOTHER Ensign ride with our cabinmates, Karen, BJ, Aden, and Jonah. The kids were tired. Xander fell asleep nearly instantly on Grandma, and Kayli fell asleep on me due to heat and irritation that she had to wear a life-jacket. Sailing with infants is really not ideal.

After the Ensign ride, Travis and I got cleaned up and headed out to Mitchell Street Pub! Slightly disappointing, honestly. I swear that they changed the bread. The soup wasn't as good, either. I think TGIFridays makes better soup, now. That's good, because we have one right down the street. Perhaps that's not good. It is expensive and fatty. Eh.

We rushed back from dinner (yes, again) for FAMILY OLYMPICS! My dad and I got to do the Three-Legged Race, which was always OUR event. We would practice all week. We were surprised so we didn't get to practice, but we still did well. We also did the water balloon toss and I got soaked. We did pretty well until then, though!

The sun was beautiful over the lake as I walked to breakfast in the early morning. It was pretty cool and crisp out. It was a perfect Camp morning. Kayli was very good at sitting in her high chair during meals all week. I'm so glad that we trained her to do that. We never did with Xander, so we just had to hold him all the time.

I stopped by Riding to go on the Adult Trail. That was great! I loved seeing the trails. What a gorgeous job that was, leading all those trails. Dull, yes, but lovely. The 3/4's were there when I was there, so I got some pictures of Xander and his class. I'm was so proud of him. I saw him a few times during his class, and he was never upset when I left him. He's growing up. My dad and Travis played some tennis and I happened to be riding by the South Upper Courts (where we got engaged!), so I got a shot of them playing as we rode by.

The afternoon was spent lazing around outside the cabin. Kayli discovered my dad's grape sucker, which was hilarious. She would open her mouth first, then dive for the sucker. She loved it.

Leadline again, later in the afternoon. Xander rode Lancelot. Xander was disappointed that he didn't get to ride more, but he accepted it. On our way back from Leadline, we stopped to watch my dad shoot some arrows. Xander helped him retrieve them, and he was very good at it! Xander loves to help. He's looking forward to being 5 so he can try Archery.

That night, Kayli, Xander, and I went on the Hayride. It was short because they had to do two due to the thousands of young children, but that was perfect for us. Afterwards, we played at the 0/2 Nursery for a while. Xander LOVED the sand area there and all of the trucks. One of the trucks wasn't very nice, so none of the other trucks wanted to play with him. See? We're teaching manners all the time! Kayli learned that she can climb stairs and go down a slide, all by herself!

On my way home, I took a couple of pictures of the old phone booth in which I spent so much time during my first summer there. The phone is gone but the memories unfortunately remain.

It was camper vs staff volleyball night, so I caught a few shots of my dad playing volleyball, his favorite activity in the world. He rocks! He was nice enough to let the staff win on their last match of the summer. Those sensitive staffer boys needed the self-esteem boost.

My mom and I wanted to do low ropes together, so Xander went to school and Travis watched Kayli. We had a pretty good time, though I was not impressed with the Ropes staff, which spoiled it a bit for me. As when I worked there, they seem to be there mostly to hang out, not as much to work. Eh.

After Low Ropes, we headed back to the cabin, quite late, but Travis and Kayli were fine. Lunch was spent playing T-ball and relaxing around the cabin, as usual. Wow, do those boys like T-ball! Xander got better and better all week. When all of the boys were there, they actually played the field and everything. Very cute.

After lunch was the regatta. My dad and Travis competed in Miss Sheila, an Ensign. We watched from North Beach where the 3/4s were playing. My mom elected to take care of Kayli for a while, so I took my chance to polish a rock to give to Holly. Hopefully I'll give it to her before she reads this. Hee!

After the regatta, we went to a puppet show at Nature. I was impressed! It was very good! Xander was pretty entranced, too. After the actual puppet show, the kids stormed behind the couch and took over the puppets, which was pretty funny though disorganized.

Travis and I took our chance to go out to dinner at Mitchell Street again, to see if it would live up to my memories. Despite sub-standard seating (not a nice booth!), the experience was better. The popcorn was appropriately salty, and the French Dip I ordered was very good. The soup was still not as good as I remembered. We had a lot of time, for a change, so after eating my french dip, I ordered a grilled cheese, too, which was better than Monday night. Phew. Memories redeemed!

Thursday night, lots and lots of bridge!