Where We Were and Nik Is

We were (and Nik still is) at Kids Camp this week!

I’m sure you are wondering why in the world Nik is at kids camp….Jaxen is not old enough and Nik is the Associate Pastor who works with teens.

It was a bit of a shocker to me too!

There are 5 weeks in a row that some big events in the life of the church are happening:
Week 1 - Junior High Camp (6 days)
Week 2 - Kids Camp (6 days)
Week 3 - Senior High Camp (6 days)
Week 4 - Kingdom Bound (like Rock the Dessert but at a Theme Park) (5 days)
Week 5 - VBS (5 days)

All in a row.

When we were scheduling our summer, Nik was going to be gone for Week 1, 3 and 4. And we both will be very active in in week 5 (VBS). Which does not leave a lot of "Family Time". It was looking to be a busy summer and Nik was going to be away for a good chunk of July. My original plan was to have friends come visit me those weeks! But that didn’t work out - Ha!

I can’t even tell you how many times our schedule changed, planning these 5 weeks and I’ll save you from a long backstory.

Basically, Nik was not needed as a counselor at the Senior High Camp (and only one of our teens was attending) and the district had NO male sponsors for Kids Camp. So Nik stepped up and offered to go. The lady in charge of Kids Camp (she attends our church) was sweet enough to ask me if Jaxen and I wanted to tag along! Of course we did! That would give us a chance to see Nik some throughout the week, and allow me to see the District Nazarene Campground. She made sure we had our own cabin and off we went Sunday afternoon.

Seriously...how much luggage is needed at camp?

3 people, 6 days, plus snacks, bedding and towels. So I guess, a lot!

Can I just say how adorable this 2 year old is?!?

Getting ready for church Sunday. 

We brush teeth, comb hair and put shoes on - all on top of the washer. 

He just learned that he can put his arm all the way through his overalls!

And a selfie before church. 

Once we arrived at camp, Nik gave us a tour!

We spent the rest of the afternoon / evening getting ready for campers!

Oh, and Jaxen gave us a concert :)

Monday morning we ran some errands, getting snacks for the counselors.

That evening Jaxen and I attended part of the service and he had the 

best time during the music, dancing with all the big kids!

Tuesday morning we hung out on the playground. 

And went to craft time!

The 3 boys on the pic are from our church and are a part of Niks group. 

They adore Jaxen!

He made a tie dye shirt. 

Some of the counselors were giving Jaxen a hard time about his hat. 

Not sure why?!?

And then that night, Jaxen and I packed up our stuff and headed home.

From the pics everything looks nice and fun. And in those pictures it was....but I did not take pictures of the ugly scenes from Tuesday....

Including Jaxen not sleeping well either night, not eating because he was too excited about being with the campers, throwing fits when I removed him from places for being disruptive, not listening when I told him something, crying every time Nik walked away from us to attend to his campers, screaming when he wanted to play a game the older kids were....and so on. 

It was really complete chaos. We could never find a balance from hanging out "at camp" and just being there, having fun on our own. I thought it would work, but it just didn't. The kids loved having Jaxen around and I let him hang around some (when it was an appropriate time) but Jaxen could not understand that he could not be with them, or his daddy, the entire time. 

I pretty much decided we needed to come home when I realized I was going to have to keep Jaxen locked in our cabin most of the day to avoid major tantrums and chaos when he saw the kids doing something he couldn't. And with him not sleeping at night...I decided the little bit of time with Nik was not worth it. I was sad. I was enjoying "camp life" again. And this view from my cabin:

Decisions are hard. Especially when you have to try and make the right ones for you and your family...and especially when it is not the decision you want! I'm sure everyone understands that. 

So we are home and I spent Wednesday recovering from the past 24 hours which were completely exhausting! 

I miss Nik but I will see him Saturday when I go back to pick up campers!