PMBC take two

 

Previously our kids had always gone to Camp Susque for overnight camp. We had planned to have the boys try Camp Good News last summer, but both Camp Susque and Camp Good News weren't offered last summer due to COVID. Camp Susque offers three weeks of boys camp (grades 3-11) and three weeks of girls camp. Nadia is going to Camp Susque the first week of August. All three kids went to PMBC for a six night overnight camp last year. PMBC is twice as far from our home, but they charge half as much. I let the kids choose which camp they wanted to attend this year, and the boys picked PMBC. PMBC offers a co-ed camp but in narrower age ranges. Last week the camp was supposed to be for kids ages 8-10. I wanted the boys to attend camp the same week, and the director was fine with Ian attending last week even though he's eleven years old. Camp Susque's camp lasts one night more than PMBC. Ian and Oliver were in different cabins. He wasn't the only eleven  year old in his cabin. The friend he spent the most time with was Johann (pictured in the middle). Ian serenaded me with many silly camp songs on the way home on Saturday morning. The electives he chose were swimming and target practice. Target practice included archery, riflery, and hatchet throwing. His favorite was the hatchet throwing. Ian didn't spend all of the money we had put in his snack shack account. Unfortunately he came back with an unwanted souvenir. When I picked him up his voice sounded hoarse, but I thought that was from straining his voice from singing all those silly songs. Then he started coughing later on Saturday. We let him go to church but had him wear a mask. Paul took Nadia and Oliver swimming yesterday afternoon, but he stayed home with me. Until his cough and fever go away, he'll be staying at home as we don't want to spread his germs to anyone else. We're praying that he'll feel better soon and that none of the rest of us will catch whatever he has. 

Oliver also had a great week at camp. He went swimming and also did target practice, but he spent more time kayaking. His favorite part of target practice was using the BB guns. He didn't sing me any songs, but he told me about some of the Voice of the Martyr's videos they watched during Bible class. He also told me he wanted to watch Pilgrim's Progress again so he watched part of it on Sunday morning before we went to church. Oliver's cabin won first place in the competition between all of the cabins. They would earn or lose points based on their behavior, how clean their cabin was, etc. Oliver didn't have any money left from his snack shack account. He said he used some of his money to buy snacks for some of his friends. He said he usually bought cotton candy, Skittles, or sweet tea. I'm guessing they probably won't go to PMBC next summer because of the age groupings. In 2023 they would both be able to attend the week for ages 11-13. I'm guessing that next year they'll either attend a week of boys camp at Camp Susque or a week at Camp Good News. We have several months to figure that out! Although they had fun last year, they definitely preferred the way things are normally done at PMBC compared to how things were done in light of COVID last summer. We were very thankful though that this camp DID offer overnight camp last summer as most camps were closed last summer. The boys experienced REALLY hot dry days the first few days of camp and then experienced cooler than normal and very wet weather the last few days. I am glad the boys both had a great week at camp, and I'm also very glad to have them back at home.