The Saturday 7

1. Levi survived his first week of summer camp! He was not at all nervous beforehand. I do think I saw the nerves overtake him when we got to his cabin and he realized we were going to leave him with all these people he didn't know, but he shooed us out the door without ceremony. I made him take one quick picture with me first.

I left with a pit in my stomach wondering, "Will he make friends? Will the other kids tease him? Will he be scared at night when he's trying to sleep? Will he eat anything?" But I'm a pro at compartmentalizing my emotions, so I stuffed them down and tried not to think about it. That said, I was very relieved when the camp started posting pictures and I could see him smiling and having fun.

Second row, in the lions shirt. I didn't even know they were going to do the dune rides! Haha. But he's always wanted to, so I knew he was thrilled!

He loved camp. It checks almost all his boxes: constant entertainment? Check. Constantly surrounded by people? Check. Access to a candy store? Check. Outside of what he bought at the camp store, he didn't eat a ton. He ate cereal every morning, and said there was pizza once and hot dogs once. But mostly he ate dessert at meals. 🤦 He only showered because the counselor made him. And I sent him to camp with a brand new, unopened toothbrush. Guess what came home in his suitcase after 6 days? A brand new, unopened toothbrush. Boys.

He was definitely happy to see us at pickup, though. Watching his face light up when he caught sight of us was the best. He showed us all around the camp ("and this is the root that I scraped my knee on during the obstacle course . . .") and regaled us with stories the whole ride home.

It was a very quiet week at home without him. I was left constantly thinking, "where is Levi?" If you're a mom, you know what I mean. I have a subconscious understanding of where my family members are at all times. It was disconcerting to realize Levi wasn't somewhere in the house, or down the street playing with the neighbors. . . . Let's be real - the quiet wasn't all bad . . . but I did kind of feel like I was holding my breath until he was back home safe under our roof again.

2. Since we were so near Lake Michigan when we picked him up, we decided to make a day of it, and hit the lake. The weather has been hot, hot, hot for weeks, so the water is about as warm as it gets (70!). Lucy was actually at a different beach with her friends, but the rest of us had fun playing in the waves and working on our tans (burns).

Justin was there too, but apparently I never took his picture. Oops!

Levi threw a fit when it was time to leave. Everyone warned me that he would be exhausted after a week at camp, but his energy knows no bounds, and he wanted to play in the waves for hours on end. Unfortunately for him, the rest of us cannot boast such stamina.

3. As for the rest of the week . . . it's Soccer Camp Central around here. Lots of preparing for what's shaping up to be our hottest week of Soccer Camp ever. 😬

I actually outsourced a couple of my responsibilities this year, so I don't have quite as much to do. Thankfully, my work the week of camp will allow me to largely stay inside. I have delicate sensibilities and don't handle heat (or cold) well. Pray for our coaches - most of whom work full time, then come straight to camp to wrangle 15 kids in the blazing heat! So many crowns in heaven . . .

4. This week's Aunt Sadie's Summer Camp theme was . . .

Bees please!

We read Don't Eat Bees by Dev Petty, and Follow that Bee by Scot Ritchie. We learned that bees do a dance to tell their friends where the hive is. So our craft involved tracing hexagon tiles to make hives, then putting a marker inside an old CD and spinning it like a top to simulate the bees' dance. Then we glued on tiny bee erasers (from Temu), and had fun painting bee-themed stencils (also from Temu).

Snack was Honeycomb cereal, of course, along with a pathetic attempt at making a cheese stick look like a bee. 😂

5. Lena participated in our town's annual "Kids' Market" for the second time. She and her friend Harper have spent months crafting crocheted creations to sell, and between the adorable merchandise and the delightful merchants, they did very well for themselves at the three hour sale!

They both very-nearly sold out, and made big bucks to show for it. Thank you so much to all of my friends and family who came to support Lena!

6. Have you heard about the "explosive diarrhea parasite" that's plaguing the United States? Its true name is cyclosporiasis, but the news outlets just can't help but use more evocative imagery with their constant reminders that the main symptom is explosive diarrhea. Now listen. I do not usually consider myself a germophobe. In fact, I'm kind of disgusting most of the time. Germophobes shudder to see me coming. But explosive diarrhea? That's where I draw the line. I have spent the past few years trying to figure out what is triggering my sudden-onset-IBS (to no avail), so the thought of more cramping and diarrhea than I already deal with is enough to have me ordering my Wendy's bacon cheeseburger sans lettuce, thank you very much. As you may know (and as may contribute to aforementioned stomach distress), I do not have a very healthy diet. So I figured avoiding fresh produce wouldn't be that hard. Except that this is the only season when strawberries are both affordable and delicious! And I eat a surprising amount of lettuce . . . especially when we're smack dab in the middle of a relentless heatwave and I don't want to eat hot food. It is certainly a dilemma . . . especially once I started going down the conspiracy theory trails. Big pharma currently testing vaccines for parasites? How convenient. Trump's ally removed the FDA's obligatory testing for cyclospora? I can't imagine anyone would secretly introduce an especially virulent strain of said parasite to our nation's food supply in order to lay the blame at Trump's feet. All signs point to cyclosporiasis being the next Covid, and I might just agree to get vaccinated if it can prevent a lifetime of explosive diarrhea. That's how they get you.

7. Last week, I waxed poetic about the Emma M. Lion series. Today, I'm going to blow your mind by telling you that I have already re-read the first two in the series - within a week of reading it for the first time! That is unheard of! But I sped through my first reading so quickly that I didn't stop to review each book individually. I had to re-read to be certain I give the correct number of stars. Books 1 and 2 get four stars each. I'm pretty sure Book 3 was my favorite, but I'll have to re-read it before I can give it such an official designation. Regardless, the entire series is still delightful and should be read post haste. Also, side-note: those re-reads put my current books read total for the year at 50! That was actually my goal for the entire year, which I've achieved in just over half of the year. Go me.

8. Bonus point for pics and memes!