Summer Camp Begins

A few more shots here will round out our time with CC & Poppy. Another day at the beach under some relatively cloudy skies, but as you can see they didn't dampen our spirits!

Joss was trying to get his new little kite to work with Daddy. 

Tiniest kite EVER!

Joss is pouting here because the kite didn't get going well. We finally got it going well enough when we were going in the boat, but I didn't snap any pictures then. 

All of my photos here are taken from the boat. I was sitting up there reading a book while my folks had fun with the boys. It's so hard for me to get a 'break' from the boys and enjoy some downtime for me. I want to be hanging out with my folks too and enjoying their company, but I also need a little break to get revived for the next round. They are so much help when they come and the boys have round the clock entertainment. 

That is by far the hardest thing about living where we do. We all knew it would be when we moved down here. We talked about it and prepared for it to be hard, but that doesn't make it easier because it is really hard. I'm not a trusting person in general, as I've mentioned on here before, but if I find it hard to trust people with my car, boat, house, pet, etc, you better believe I am very critical in choosing the people I trust my kids to. And the people I trust with my kids I often have trouble with asking for the help or the baby sitting because I don't want to miss my time with them (my folks) or I don't want to put more on their plate (our friends and neighbors that have kids themselves).  But when my folks aren't around we don't get a break. 

I'm so excited about homeschooling, and I really want to do a great job with that, but there is a tiny part of me that thinks "just think of what all you could do during that time the boys are at school". Considering that that is the only reason I would want to send them to school right now, I don't think it is justified. I just need to pray about it more right now because I am selfishly wanting 'summer time' to get my projects and work caught up before our next season kicks off and I feel like time is just ticking away and nothing is getting crossed off my list, as per usual.  {pity party over}

Speaking of summer time... once again, our homeschooling has been put on hold for something we thought would help us survive the summer, financially. We had this 'great' idea to offer a Summer Camp/Daycare for kids around here. We thought it would be a great way to show local kids some of the fun stuff our little island has to offer, give the families an option for something their kids can do, and help us earn a little more money in the summer while playing with our own kids too. 

 AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

First Annual Summer Camp begins....

Of course we'd have ALL BOYS the first few days of camp. Originally we said we'd go Mon-Fri 8:30-3:30...boy were we ambitious, or stupid. I'll let you decide. This first day of camp was actually one of the best. The kids were all still 'new' to us and us to them so they were pretty well behaved. It seemed to get worse and worse with the behavior as it went on. 

They all had fun searching for crabs and doing a little hermit crab race. Joss and Emit were ecstatic to be surrounded by some many other boys that were running around and playing with them. 

One day during camp the kids were all out playing in our driveway and we were waiting to go to the boat and Joss came strolling over really sad looking. I knelt down to him and asked him why he was sad and he told me, "no one wants to play with me and do what I want to do". Oh, it was so sad and I felt so badly for him. I tried to explain to him that all the stuff that he is so used to doing like swinging on the swing set and climbing in the trees and playing with the cars and trucks and stuff was all new to them and they were really excited to do some of that stuff. I asked him if he thought he could go play with them and he seemed to cheer up a bit, but it broke my heart. 

I have been soooooooo proud of how Joss and Emit both have been with all the kids coming in their house, playing with their toys, playing on their beach and so on. They have acted like such big boys and been so good to share and understand what was going on. And I definitely looked forward to 3:30pm everyday so we could get just our two all to ourselves :) 

For the most part the kids had fun, at least I like to think they did, but it just wasn't the ideal "all of the kids listen to everything we tell them and we have non stop laughter, game and fun" that we were hoping for and had unrealistically told ourselves it was going to be. 

It has definitely helped our summer finances though. 

Ha ha, this picture above makes me smile. We taught all the kids the thumbs up=faster, thumbs down=slower and the hand gesture for stop. Joss really wanted to slow down :) I got a few photos with one kid thumbs up and the other thumbs down. Just for the record, we barely went above idol speed anyway. 

Emit sneaking in a power-nap. Camp days were really tricky for naps with this little guy, but he handled it like a champ. And they both ready for bed each night after a day of camp, that's for sure! 

I love all the exploration and speculation going on in the expressions above. It was quite entertaining to hear all the theories on anything and everything. And it was even better when it came from 6 kids or more at one time (heavy on the sarcasm here). 

The tube was a big hit with all the boys. The oldest two boys got flipped out one time and I actually caught it on video. When we got back to our place that afternoon we had to watch it on repeat for about 5 minutes straight, the kids loved it and were so thrilled that they popped out of the tube and wiped out. 

The mail boat was heading out of the harbor just passed us. We tried to get some of the wake as it passed by, but we couldn't get too close for safety obviously. I was hoping if they saw a boat full of little boys gawking at the big Mighty Machine passing by that they might honk the horn for them, but they didn't :(

More summer camp chaos and tales from Exuma to come :)