LBBC 2012!

This summer Viggo went to camp for the second year of his young life.

He was over-the-top-ecstatic.  And excited to get this year over with, because next summer, he'll get to stay twice as long.  

 Going to camp means putting up with a few embarrassing rituals.  When we pulled in the drive to get him registered, he was escorted out of our van by the summer staff welcome wagon and was required to participate in a game.  Last year he had to sing a song; this year he was forced to play duck/duck/gray duck with kids he didn't know (also known as duck/duck/goose to anyone who lives outside of Minnesota, with the possible exception of northern Iowa).

Nate and I find these traditions necessary and highly enriching.

 Thankfully one of Viggo's buddies was in a car behind us, and was also pulled to play the game.  At least he got to be with a friend so they could groan about it together.

 After standing in a couple of lines to register that he was present and healthy, we all trudged up the hill to the most remote cabin, helped him find a bunk, and got him settled.

I refrained from taking pictures of him in his cabin because I didn't want to mortify him in front of his totally cool counselor, but I think next year I'll reconsider.

 After we dropped Viggo off and were officially no longer responsible for him (!!!), Nate and the girls and I walked around a bit, and Svea made herself at home on the stage in the chapel.

I was determined to get a photo of camp life when we came back a couple of days later, so I corralled his counselor (on the left) and staff buddy (on the right) and the remaining campers into a group pic. 

To be able to comfortably fit everyone in the photo, I had to step back a bit from the porch into the woods.

Bad idea.

I stepped one foot back into some brush and immediately smelled . . . something really yucky.  Pee.  Lots and lots of pee.  Apparently the most remote cabins also carry the perk of having the most remote restrooms provided by nature.

I took the picture and moved away quickly.  Several other parents did the same.



I was talking to the parents of two of these boys, who are twins, and we discovered that they and Viggo share the same birthday, although the twins were born early in the morning, and Viggo was born at nearly midnight.  We reminisced how there were so many babies born that day, eight days after Christmas, that there was literally no room at the inn.  (I wasn't even roomed in the maternity ward; honestly, I have no idea where they put me - the hospital was bursting at the seams with all those moms and new babies.)  This is at least the fourth time I have bumped into someone who gave birth exactly when I did and can remember the chaos, but the first time I've ran into one with multiples - I remember hearing from a nurse that there were several sets of twins and even triplets.

And now all those babies are big enough to go to camp.  To stay somewhere overnight without their parents or any other family members.  Time has moved by much too swiftly.

We are so glad Viggo loves to go to camp and are thankful for the opportunity he has to go there.  We love LBBC!