Camp Fun Memories

Growing up, some of my favorite Summer memories were of church camp. If memory serves me correctly, I went every Summer from the time I was in 2nd or 3rd grade through high school. So when we cancelled our trip to Cali this Summer due to dumb Rona, I asked P if he wanted to go to camp. Being in quarantine messed with him for awhile and he had become pretty anti-social until mid June. Needless to say, it didn't surprise me when he first said no. Then he asked if I would go as a counselor. I knew if I went he'd go and that's exactly what happened.
At my childhood church camp, I remember small group Bible studies. I remember outdoor chapel in the evenings with powerful worship songs and a dynamic speaker. I remember only having volleyball, an open field and a limited amount of pool time. I remember a snack shack that you would have to wait in line for what seemed like forever to get your sugar high. I remember a pay phone where homesick kids would anxiously wait for their turn to have a few minutes of talking to their parents before their change ran out. I remember racing to the bathroom to take a shower so you could be one to get hot water. I remember keeping the cabin doors closed during the day to keep the hot weather out and opening them at night to let a breeze through. I remember late night chat sessions with new friends. I remember camp crushes. I remember hot weather!
The hot weather hasn't changed a bit but everything has. Well, maybe the late night chats and camp crushes haven't changed from what I'm told but my sweet cabin girls were in bed early each night and didn't talk about cute boys. The cabin situation at P's camp was high class compared to mine.....air conditioning, showers IN the cabins and porches with rocking chairs so you could enjoy the view of the lake. Chapel was very different than what I experienced at church camp when I was growing up. There were silly songs, games and no guest speaker. The kids enjoyed it, though. What really got me was all the activities the kids got to choose from- canoeing, GaGa Ball, hiking, a Ninja Warrior course, a Survivor course, swimming, tetherball, basketball.... There was an endless amount of stuff to do. And the snack shack line was non-existent after the first night so P didn't have to waste his whole free time waiting for candy and soda instead of playing games. (His favorite, hands-down, was GaGa Ball!)
I am glad I was able to join him for his first camp experience. I am glad I got to meet new people from church. I am glad I got to see P form new friendships. I am glad I got to see him come out of his shell again. What a blessing the long weekend was at camp!
(I am going to be lazy and not take the time to proofread this so it is what it is. Sorry.)

Rowdy Rebel

So, Rebel. The one that I described as chill and a non-chewer in the last blog? Yep, not the way I'd describe him anymore. In the past few days he has taken a chunk out of our bed frame....our brand new bed frame. He has eaten a strip of E's swim trunks. And he LOVES chewing on empty plastic water bottles. He has an adversity to chewing dog bones unless they're small and can be eaten within a few bites. And chill? Ha! He is only if he can see one of his people. If he can hear us but can't see us queue the howling and whining. After 9 days with us he still whines and howls when we put him in the laundry room at night. Last night we put him in one of the boys' rooms to see how that'd work. It worked great for me because I never heard him. But he kept our son up because he couldn't decide where he wanted to sleep.
This morning I wanted to "sleep in" (ie wake up at 6:15 but lay in bed and read until I had to get up). But, Rebel was up so I fed him and put him in the dog run. We've had a lot of rain this week and the dog run is grassy *insert muddy*. Rebel decided that he wanted to come back inside once he had eaten so he started digging under the fence. He was whining and howling so loud that I finally gave up on staying in bed. When I went to bring him in he was COVERED in mud. He's not supposed to take a bath for another week so I wiped him down the best I could.....and mopped again for the 5th time in 3 days.
One thing about Rebel is that he is SUPER smart! Like, probably the smartest dog I've ever had who hasn't had formal training. I have been working with him on walking on and off a leash. He has quickly learned that he needs to be on my right side and does this a lot without me reminding him. He had me laughing (and frustrated) yesterday because I forgot to bring the dog treats with us on our walk. Somehow he knew I didn't have them and he acted like he couldn't hear his commands. Little stinker! He did come back eventually after he got tired of sniffing the neighbor's yard.
Since we were told he had been thrown out of a car as a puppy, I am working on building his trust in vehicles. It's been super hot here the past couple days. But, if I am not leaving my car (dropping P off at a friends'. going through a drive-thru, etc) I put him in the back. The first time I put him back there, he jumped right back out 3 times. The second time I put him in there, he sat there with his tail between his legs, shaking. But by the third time he knew he was safe. He let me put him in there and sat obediently as I closed the back hatch.
Another big change is he's lost his cone of shame. It came off yesterday and what a difference that made! He isn't scraping up our legs with it and even Fetcha decided she likes Rebel now. They've played a bit and, knock on wood, she hasn't attacked him like she did Charlie when he was a puppy. Eventually I think they'll get along great.
I'm still nervous about him with other people because of how fast Charlie changed on us but so far he has yet to meet a stranger. He likes watching the boys play in the pool but is not high strung like Charlie was. We taught him how to "hug" by putting his front paws up on us. But we decided that probably wasn't a good trick right now because he could easily knock people off balance if they weren't ready for his hug. He has pretty much mastered the "sit" command and does well on walks. Other than yesterday, he comes when called. So, if he continues to be friendly with people and other dogs he'll be the perfect addition to our family. Fingers crossed that's the case....

Life Update

The past 10 days or so have been exciting, fun filled and memorable! About 10 days ago we went to the coast for our only "big" vacation this year (to date). We stayed at a beautiful condo and enjoyed the beach. We even got to see dolphins! E loved that his best friend was staying at a condo a few miles down the road so we even spent an afternoon with him and his family. We didn't leave the condo area much but we did venture out to a famous milkshake shop for ginormous milkshakes and a dolphin tour. The boys loved doing both!
The day we got back from the beach we welcomed a new boy to our family- Rebel. He's a 7mos old Husky mix. For the first few months of his life, he roamed the woods. He was found, with his brothers and sisters, starving, before he was rescued. At times he's skittish as he learns to trust us, but he is beautiful and so mellow. It's nice not going through the usual puppy phase. Although he's 40lbs, he thinks he's a lap dog. He has to be by one of us or on our lap constantly. He whined the first couple nights at our house but now he's adjusted and does well throughout the night. To date, he has not had any accidents and only seems fascinated with bath mats. (Ha!)
Thursday night P had 2 school friends spend the night and Friday we celebrated his birthday. He and his friends swam, did fireworks and built Legos. We went to TopGolf and grabbed Mexican food for his birthday lunch. P kept thanking us for an amazing birthday and said it was one of his best ones yet. I felt bad that it wasn't a big party but he didn't mind. He was perfectly content with having a low-key birthday.
Although the 4th of July is my favorite holiday, we don't go out and do anything big for the 4th. Yesterday was no exception. We had some neighbors come over for a BBQ feast and then we let off some early fireworks. Rebel did pretty good all things considered. I can't say he liked the fireworks as much as the kids but he just went to our room until we were done. At bedtime, I turned a fan on for him and we only heard a few whimpers as he settled in.
As fun as the past several days have been, I am looking forward to the lazy, rainy days ahead. I have to start preparing for the new school year and teaching a new grade (5th grade ELA!!). So, I am using this week to do school stuff, clean the house and the usual weekly chores. So thankful for the mix- fun, exciting and mellow routine stuff. Like I've said many times before, we are blessed.