Shipped Her Out

Aaron, Hannah and I dropped Rachel off for a week of church camp this afternoon. She and I did some last minute shopping last night and got her all packed up.

She has been to camp before, but this will be the longest amount of time she has been gone. The camp runs from Sunday through Friday.

We arrived about twenty minutes before the gates opened and there was already a line of cars waiting to get in.

There were signs along the road into the camp announcing the camp radio station. It was really helpful. They broadcast exactly how check in would work. This camp was organized! Check in was so easy and the counselors were all very cheery. It kind of made me want to stay.

At one point the radio announcer said, "We like to get an idea of how many of you in line are listening so when we count to three, honk your horn." They counted to three and I honked my horn. In my defense, I was NOT the only one. Rachel fell in the floor because she was so embarrassed. She has got to learn to have a little fun!



Once we got through the gate, we had to go through three stations. We stayed in our car and drove to a line of counselors. The first stop was to check Rachel's name off, make sure we had paid up and that I didn't want to deposit any more money in her camp store account. Her friend, Montana, has attended this camp before so I talked to her mom about how much money she thought Rachel would need.

The second stop was to take Rachel's temperature. Every camper is checked and anyone with a fever can't stay. Whew! We passed that one.

The third and final check point is to get her cabin assignment. The counselor gave us a car tag and color coded it for the girls' cabins. There were then counselors along the road to direct us to the proper parking lot. Once we parked there were counselors to greet us, carry the bag and walk us to her cabin. We met her counselor, Mariah. She seemed very nice. As Rachel was the first girl to arrive, she got her pick of bunks. She chose a bunk bed and took the bottom bunk, saving the top bunk for Montana.

I had to sign her in with the counselor and then leave. Rachel is so independent and self confident, she didn't care at all that I was leaving. I asked her several times if she was o.k. Finally she asked, "Are you?" Uh, maybe! I left, but ran right back in to take a picture of her for the blog.



The cabins seem really nice. Seriously, that floor looks cleaner than the hardwoods in my house. Notice the pillow and sleeping bag hanging on the front of the suitcase. I got the brilliant (so humble) idea to bungee cord them on to the suitcase. It worked really well because the suitcase is a rolly one.

On Friday, there is an end of camp celebration and families are invited. I can hardly wait to hear all about her week. Hopefully, she will do a guest post!