Cousin Camp 2010: Under the Big Top

I know I am supposed to be blogging about my trip to Hawaii, but I just got back from cousin camp and I want to get it all out. Cousin camp was surprisingly smooth and calm this year. I really worked myself up into a frenzy about it before going, so maybe just the reality of the situation being less stressful than my fears was enough. But I think there was more to it than that.

First of all, the children are getting older, more helpful and independent, easier to work with and just more mature. That alone makes everything easier! Another factor was that Kala no longer lives in Camas, so it’s not her home being invaded. I think that takes a lot of pressure off of her. Also with her not living here, she has delegated the load to the rest of us, which really needed to happen years ago. But she has such a hard time letting go…. Now she is finally able to do so.

Lawan was in charge of the crafts this year and it went great. Kala is still in charge of the food and she has it down to a science. We had more gluten free options for Sarah this year, as Kala’s daughter is also gluten free. We did miss the GF pancakes, though… A mistake we will not be making again next year! I did the shirts again—I LOVE that job! The older kids were a great help this year, too. The teenagers can help run craft groups and Mikyla was a huge help to grandma in the kitchen. And the bigger boys are great at leading games and fun activities with all the younger kids.

The weather was awesome this year, so the kids got to take full advantage of the pool. And everything stayed dry because it wasn’t raining on us! This year’s theme was circus—under the big top, and it was fine. I think the kids are really growing up and away from the themes… We’ve batted around the idea of “robots” for next year… The kids can build robots out of boxes and stuff like that. Maybe we can even skip the whole Oriental Trading thing!?