Side-by-side Monday

For the next four days, our schedule was as follows:

We would meet in the dining hall at 9:00am for breakfast, which is the moment our Buddies came on-duty.  Around 9:30am, we'd hear the music signifying the beginning of our continuing show, featuring Queen Beatrice, Sir Tinley A. Goodnight, and Wes.  We'd be left with a cliffhanger at 9:45am as we all headed out for a group activity.  As soon as I saw the first of all activities they'd put together, I knew our week was going to be sensational.

 A massive slip and slide, complete with baby shampoo to "grease" the slide, and a runner on each side to pull them down fast.  Bath time {CHECK}

 Christine and Shelby

 Matt and Ty

 Brennon and Pedro

 Look at my teenagers waiting their turn at the top.  {All the heart eyes!}

 Tatum and Keilie

Caden and Nick.  If you can blow this picture up, do; Nick's face is priceless!

Each kid could go as many times as they want.  Scratch that, each person present could go!  I didn't see it, but it was told to me that even Sue went down.  I saw her as a runner a few times, though.  She many not be very tall, and my goodness she has no meat on her bones, but that woman can book it when she's running kids down that hill!

Once my kids had taken as many turns as they wished, we all went down to the lake for some canoeing.  I'm not sure who was more excited: Brennon or Randy.

 I barely got one of Brennon and Pedro at all.  They got in that canoe and they were off.  They were basically done by the time the rest of us got out there.  I didn't get a good picture of them at all.  Oh well, we all know Brennon loves canoeing-- we can imagine his smiling face.

 Nick and Caden

 Tyson and Matt

 Tatum and Keilie.  

Keilie thought it would be fun to paddle to us and splash Randy.  He warned her that if she started it, he'd end it.  He gave her three tries, barely getting even a single splash, before he effectively soaked her to the bone.  In fact, she was so wet that she went back to the cabin to change.  She was warned.

 Me with my Master Rower.  

I seriously suck at paddling.  I have no idea what the heck I am doing.  I feel bad that he got stuck with me, actually.  But when each of your kids have Buddies to go with, you kind of have to go with your spouse, or not at all.  I think he'll choose "not at all" forever more.

Christine and Shelby.

We all came together for lunch and then separated for an hour for the Buddies to take a break.  Matt always read, Christine always napped, and I'm not quite sure about the others.  In that hour, we'd mostly just walk around to things that were open and hang out.  The kids would count down till they could be with their Buddies again.  We always met at the Coffee Cart at 2:00pm.  At this time, the kids had many activities that they could choose from.  Keilie once asked me, "Mom, what do you do all day?"  "I mostly just walk around, looking for my kids, taking pictures of their fun."  I was in my element.

Monday and Tuesday had Women's Spa from 2:00-4:45pm.  I was the first one there both days!  I got my hair trimmed, soaked my toes and had them scrubbed with sugar scrub, then painted them from like 50 different colors choices.  The woman in charge of doing the Spa transforms the room into the most beautiful space.  You would never know you were at a camp; you walk in and instantly forget, it's that beautiful.  There are volunteers that walk around, offering to help in any way they can.  It was nice to sit around, talking with other mom's, saying fewer words than usually spoken about so many things because the other mothers know what you're talking about.  We may not be in the same spot on our journey, our children may not be the same gender, age, or same cancer type, but we understand so much of what the other has been through or experienced.  I stayed until 4:30pm, when I went in search of my lovelies.  Turns out, they were on their way to me-- Randy wanted to show me the funnest game that I just had to try (and that we just need to buy): Archery Tag.

I did not get a picture of myself (obviously) or Brennon, but we both played.  Brennon didn't ever want to shoot, so he just helped Pedro get arrows.  It was a cross between dodge ball, paintball, and archery target practice.  SUPER FUN!!!  But, oh my gosh, as if it wasn't hot enough at camp, put us in a stuffy gym and place a helmet over our face, and you have fun suffocating to death while being shot at.  And, no, the cooling moisture you feel as you place the helmet to your face is not a sanitizing spray between games... awesome!

After dinner, we gathered for Club, where we all sang songs about Dragons-- including one made up specifically for camp.  It was a song where one of the duo was a Knight, the other was a dragon.  I captured a special moment where Matt was the Dragon to Ty's Knight.

There was also time throughout the day to work on our armor some more.

After Club, we all met together for a Jest Fest Talent Show.  Caden, Keilie, and Tyson refused to participate-- LAME.  Shelby and Brennon decided to show off their talents, though.

 The thing is, this was not your typical Talent Show where you have to be a professional to even participate.  Oh no, my friends, this is more genuine and fantastic.  Every single person that got up there was made to feel like a celebrity.  The screams and cheers and whistles that could be heard whether they danced, skipped, sang, or even recited their A,B,C's was deafening.  If they got up on that stage, they were cheered on like we were at a teen sensation concert. 

 Brennon did his "duck" sound.  It was actually the best ones he's ever done.

 Shelby did her Purple Belt Form.  SO MANY people came up to me, telling me how awesome it was to see her up their doing taekwondo after all of the girls did dance routines or sang.  She is a fierce little cutie.

Also, look at the above two pictures to see a small glimpse of the decorations done to make that stage so amazing.  Each of those red rhombuses were hand cut and individually taped on the entire back wall.  Each of those triangles for those LONG bunting banners were hand cut.  The time they took to plan, execute, and decorate that amphitheater was astounding.

 We always ended everything with dancing.  And, just this once, Keilie let loose and danced. 

Whether it is a child that flaunts their feeding tube, or Caden swimming without a surf shirt despite being embarrassed by his massive and many scars (and radiation tattoos and burns now), or the 14 year old boy that lost his leg less than a year ago dancing with the group (above, in green shorts), I can't help but feel that these kids are the most amazing warriors I have ever known in my whole life.

At 9:00pm sharp, we said goodnight to our Buddies.  Caden needed many, many naps and breaks throughout the day.  Sue even gave us a schedule to alternate Tylenol and Ibuprofen throughout the day-- he just wasn't feeling well at all.  So TIRED!  And sore from boating on Saturday.  But he was able to have a good day, regardless.  I mean, come on, who needs a nap when there is Archery Tag to play?  He was too tired to attend the Jest Fest, so he went to sleep at 8:00pm.  We made sure the kids were super quiet as they came in, but it wasn't long before their soft, even breaths of sleep joined Caden's that night-- they were all exhausted.  It was a while before I fell asleep, but when I did, it was after my mind went over everything we'd done that day.  Like Sunday night, I went to bed with a heart that burned with deep gratitude for these amazing people that give so much so that we can hopefully forget the cruel truth of our reality.  We played today.  And we played hard!