Jake Returns From Camp

Well, Jake returned from camp on Saturday morning and it sounds like he had a great time. If how dirty you get is any indicator of how much fun you have I would have to say I am sure he had a good time. Let's just say there were a lot of muddy items of clothing and a brand new pair of shoes that had to be put in the washer.

On Friday night we drove to the rural London Mills for Parent Night. Jadon was very happy to see his brother. I was not able to get any video, but I did get some pictures of Jadon cuddling on his big brother's lap. We had dinner with Jacob and his troop and the other parents who had made the drive for the evening. Then we watched the members of the Order of the Arrow do some Native American dancing for us. After that awards were given for various things that had taken place throughout the week. Jake's troop received a Baden-Powell Award for a clean camp all week. I believe they may also done a service project during their stay also. After each set of awards different troops performed skits. The troops were chosen by ridge. Each ridge had chosen the troop with the best skit to perform at parent night. There were four ridges. Jake's troop was camped on the north ridge and their troop won for best skit so they got to perform it at Parent Night. I could not get very close with the camera but I got good audio which was the important part. We left camp around 9:30 with Jake's dirty clothes and did not get home until 11:00. Long night but a fun night.

It sounds like Jake kept busy all week with all sorts of stuff boys love. He told us about a giant slip n' slide that went into the river and on the other side of the river was a mud slide that went into the river. He spent a lot of time at the rifle and archery ranges and swimming in the pool. He also climbed to the top of the 60 ft. climbing tower. There were so many things he did that I can not think of them all right now. His troop leader said that he marked many of the things on his list off that he needed to earn his first badge. It really sounds like he had fun and I think he would have stayed if he could. We missed him but I am not sure he missed us much at all!!

Where's My Brother?

Jacob has been gone to camp since Sunday. We are all missing him. Tuesday I changed my desktop background on the computer to a picture I took of Jacob the day he left for camp. Wednesday night I was rocking Jadon and I noticed that he had his head up and was looking at something and smiling and talking. I looked to my left towards the computer and looked back at Jadon and realized that he was smiling at his brother's picture. It was sooo cute. He would smile, then get very serious, then smile again, then talk and wait. See Jadon and the kids have a communication pattern going. Jadon stares at them to get their attention. When they notice him looking he smiles, then they smile, he smiles back, then there is usually some talking involved. So I realized that Jadon was doing his part and trying to figure out why his brother was not responding. After awhile he just laid his head on my shoulder and looked over at the picture. Now everytime he sees the picture he get excited and smiles and talks away. I can't wait to see what he does when we go over to the camp tonight for Parent Night. I plan to have the camera set on video. I have been trying to video him talking and smiling at the pictures so I can show Jake, but everytime I get the camera out he stop looking at Jacob's picture and stares at the camera. I will keep trying. It is really so cute! He misses his big brother!

Jake Goes to Camp

Jake left for Boys Scout camp this morning. He will return home next Saturday. He is really excited. He kept telling Shelby that he was going to swim, fish, shoot bows and rifles, and kayak and boat all day long for six days!! Of course I can't help but worry about him while he is gone, that is just the mom in me. We will be going to Ingersoll Camp outside of London Mills for parent night on Friday night. I am really looking forward to that. I took some pictures of the crew before they left.

Mack-A-Fest Parade

This weekend is Mackinaw's town celebration called the Mack-A-Fest. Two weeks ago Shelby received a letter in the mail with sheet music she had to learn on her own in two weeks to be ready to march with the high school band in the parade. She was really excited about the choice of music. It was "Holiday" by Green Day. She practiced on her own for the last two weeks and then the band practiced together for four hours yesterday before the parade. We were excited because this is Shelby's first high school band performance.

It was also Jadon's first parade. We got there a little early so we could find a spot to sit in the shade and Jadon was watching the normal traffic come through and that was entertaining him. We had no doubt he would enjoy the parade once it began. Jadon did enjoy watching all the fire trucks, the ambulance he rode in last week, and all the people go by.

I took video of Shelby's performance. She is in the middle of the front row.


Smiley Boy waiting for the parade to start!


What are they looking at??


Mom why are you always looking at me through that thing?


Daddy and Jadon at his first parade.