Camp Kostopulos

I’ve committed to do something and now I’m wondering if I made the right decision.  I signed Morgan up for a week of summer camp at Camp K.  I’ve never let any of my kids go to camp this young, 8 years old, and am having an even harder time thinking about sending Morgan, the one who I tend to overprotect, to camp.  Her friend is going to be there too and I know it will be a good experience but I’m still struggling with the decision.  I called up the camp director and he reassured me that I could have as much contact with her as I wanted.  I could call or visit everyday, pick her up at night and bring her back in the mornings, etc.  And then reminded me that the kids have a blast while it’s the parents who have a hard time with the adjustment.  I know this is true but I just envision Morgan at night, waking up, climbing out of bed, waking up all of her fellow campers.  And good luck to the person who’s in charge of brushing her hair every morning.  Hopefully they’ll get a good laugh when she fights them and calls them “Jafar” (the meanest villain she knows).

We visited Camp K a few weeks ago on their family open house day.  Thought it was a good idea to get Morgan familiar with the camp before sending her up there for the week.  Hadley had a dance performance at the same time and had a major meltdown (major as in . . . laying on the floor, screaming, kicking her legs and rolling around all over the house and ruining her dance costume and then getting mad because I couldn’t do her makeup on her wet, tear stained eyes.  That kind of meltdown) about not being able to go with us.  Hopefully it will work out that she can go with us next year.

We had lunch and then hit their huge yard sale.  Everything is donated from different stores and nothing has a price on it.  They just ask that you make a fair donation to the Camp.  It was hard to tell what was the yard sale piles and what were the “claimed” piles.  Crazy how much stuff people were grabbing for just one family.  Griffin got bored with the yard sale stuff and decided to get his “Spiderman” on.

We hiked all over the hills.  Looking for the horse coral and rock climbing wall area.

The horses were a big hit.  This was one of the main reasons I wanted to take Morgan up . . . to get her used to riding horses.  She did her best to resist getting on the horse.  We finally had to just pick her up and put her on.  Honestly the second she was sitting on it, she started doing her usual, “Wahoo!  This is fun!”  She got off the horse and asked if she could go again.  By the time it was her turn she had forgotten all about how fun it was and fought getting on the horse again.  But, once again,  loved it once she was riding.  Hope they make her get on it while she’s at camp!

Morgan waving to spectators.  She’s ready for the parade!

Mia shows off her new butterfly ink to Morgan

We ended the day with a little fishing.  No one caught anything.  I was just trying to make sure none of us were caught.  Morgan was swinging the fishing line all over the place.  I think I’d be fine with Morgan skipping this activity at camp!

Hopefully camp will be just as much fun for Morgan!  They just need to let her swim everyday and she’ll have the time of her life!