Camp Report: Week 2 Wrap Up

The monkeys gave All Sports Camp and enthusiastic thumbs up. They made friends, they learned new games, and they went on some super fun field trips to Putt Putt, the bowling alley, and the skating rink.

Satchel never did agree to swim, but he had a friend who didn't swim either, so they kept each other company all week.



I went with Warren to drop them off on Friday, hoping to snap a few pictures, but this is all that I got. As you can see, the monkeys preferred to be among the faction of boys who used the "free time" in the mornings and at lunch to play games. We had a bit of an issue mid-week when I realized that Jiro was opting to help his friends beat their games rather than actually eating during his lunch break, but we quickly worked that out.

What we weren't able to work out though was Satchel "losing" his iPod on Friday. By his report he put it in his locker before they left to go skating and it was gone when he got back. By the time he told Warren at pick up, most of the kids had already left, and it was pretty much too late to do anything about it.

I was in New York over the weekend and didn't get to talk to the camp director until Tuesday (my emails went unanswered over the weekend). She was sweet about trying to track it down, but since an entire weekend had passed since the incident I had little hope of it actually turning up.

I'm really upset about the whole situation. I'd like to go back in time and just not let the monkeys take their iPods and/or DSes to camp in the first place. When I signed them up for sports camp, it was to get them away from their electronics after all! But, being a softie, I wanted them to do what they wanted to do. They have an easy time relating to other kids through games, and I told myself it would help them adjust to their new environment.

What's most frustrating is that Warren actually gave Satchel a lock for his locker, which wasn't required. I argued on the side of, "If they let the kids bring the stuff to camp then they should provide a safe storage space," while Warren erred on the side of "You can never be too careful." Now as to why Satchel chose not to use the lock, well, he said it was hard to unlock. (He also said, "Mommy said I didn't need it.")

I'm also mystified as to why he would just put his iPod in his locker rather than in his bag in his locker. Or in his bag in his basket in his locker. I can only assume that being at Evergreen for all of these years where everyone knows everyone has made him unaware of the dangers of leaving expensive items in plain sight.

Sadly, we're having to chalk this up to learning a lesson the hard way.

And since week 3 of camp is also at Grace-St. Luke's, the monkeys are now among the kids who (wisely) do not bring electronics to camp.