Even after 8 years of parenting, we are still learning what it means to have kids. I guess we would have learned this sooner if we were sending the kids to regular schools and I were working and having to find something for them to do during summer vacation. As that is not our situation, my research brought up a startling surprise. It is so expensive to send kids to summer camp! Just for one week, you can spends hundreds of dollars having an organization teach / babysit each child for 7 hours. If you plan ahead, you can enroll your kids in the more affordable military base-sponsored camps. If we had thought of this back in Colombia, we might have gotten Simone and Max into some swimming camps, but we were only 1 month away from when we would send them.
Michael and I had envisioned sending them for a couple of weeks, but that had to be quickly reassessed. For the same amount of money, we could have bought them airfare to their grandparents! Since our goal was to get them to socialize, we pared down our expectations to one week and went to the YMCA 45 minutes away from where we lived.
Simone chose Beads, Baubles and Jewelry for her camp's focus. Max chose soccer, but I had to enroll him in a camp that did more than just soccer. I told him that "Pee Wee Sports" was going to teach him football, too, and thought he would have been excited to hear that. See ... Michael had been throwing the ole pigskin around and Max had been catching and launching some excellent sprials for a kid his age. But Max was not pleased that his camp was not going to be 7 hours of soccer. I signed him up anyway. The hope of time to myself burned too brightly to be dampered by his possible tantrum.
The first day of camp was so stressful. Since I had not ventured farther away than a 20-mile radius since we arrived in D.C., I was imagining a horrendous traffic-filled morning. My fears came true, but I had luckily alotted one hour to get to the Y. After dropping them off, I enjoyed myself at Starbucks with a venti soy latte and free wi-fi internet! I texted my mom and sister, "Freeeeedom!"
When I picked up the kids, they could not stop talking about how fun their day was. At one point they paused to think more about their day. We were still in the car so I decided to turn on the radio again. Simone asked if I could turn it off so we could all talk about camp again!
One morning, it was so hard to wake them up
The next couple of days tired them out and more stories came up. Simone talked about seeing the dance camp next to hers and how she and her camp mates tried to follow the routine. Max learned how to play "Capture the Flag" and field hockey. Each day they were exhausted. In addition to the their regular camp, the kids got to visit the Y's swimming pool every other day. They were getting their daily sun exposure for sure!
Midway through the week, however, they did not want to go to camp anymore. They claimed it was boring. Whaaaaa? How could that be, I thought. I asked if they were getting along with their fellow campers and nothing seemed awry. They were just b - o - r - e - d. Well I told them to stick it out and they did.
On the final day, they "showcased" what they did.
Jewelry for You!
Shy Max still joined in the fun.
I had a sushi camp of sorts that week because I had sushi for lunch everyday. I'm the only one in the family that really likes raw fish and since Michael was gone almost the entire month of July, I took the opportunity to have my favorite food every meal I could. One day I couldn't have it for lunch, but I did take the kids to a Japanese restaurant for dinner and still kept my streak.
The kids are still shy and camp did not change their bashfulness, but I think they had fun. I think we'll do it again next year, but I will be better prepared. I will have my list of camps on an Excel spreadsheet by February 1 and will be ready to enroll them the first day possible! I don't know what will interest them next year, but I have a feeling Simone will not want to do anything jewelry related. Based on what Max does at the goal while waiting for the soccer ball to come, he might want to get into martial arts. I wonder if I will go on another sushi binge. Either way, it'll be fun.
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