Arriving at Camp

At the beginning of August we had an opportunity to go visit the boys at their six week long summer camp. Their camp is 3 1/2 hours away from where we live, so we got up early and headed out. We arrived in time for lunch and our plan was to stay til about 8:00 pm and then head home.

When we arrived to pick up the boys Dane was ready to go. They have to wear their uniform if they are leaving the camp to go to town, so he was all dressed up on a hot day. We did have some plans, though, to cool them down later.

Going to Find Colt.

Lining Up For Sports Day

Clown Around Austin and His Brothers

This is where the boys call me from when they call home. This is the boys all in 'gumbees'.

Dane's Barracks

Austin, as you will notice up above and in every photo, is always our humourous one!! About 18 months ago, Dane would get so frustrated with his little brother's antics. Then one day I told Dane that Austin was the *spitting image* behaviour wise (in the silly department) as Dane had been when he was small. I said, "He is your twin!" It was so funny. Cause at first I just bugged Dane and he would look at Austin and think, "Are you for real?" Of course, Dane being the funny, easy going guy that he is, it wasn't a hurtful or bad joke. He started looking at Austin with new eyes. And then one day he said to me, "I've always wanted a twin. I had to wait 13 years to get one and I finally have a twin!" *laugh* And they have been best pals ever since and Dane now gets a real kick out of Austin, rather than getting frustrated.

Dane's Room Mates

Dane was lucky because his good friend, Ian, turned out to be in the same barracks as him and they got to share a bunk. With over 1000 cadets in camp, he could have ended up elsewhere.

Seeing Colt

After waiting for nearly an hour, Colt showed up. He had had to do some cadet business. Here he is marching right up to me, pretending to be serious. When he got to me he said, Give me a hug! And proceeded to give me a great big one. It was wonderful to see him!

Hey Big Brother!!! I missed you!

My Brother!

Colt's Bunk Room With 120 Other Cadets!

It was quite cute. When we picked up the boys we offered to take them out for lunch. They told us that lunch wasn't done in the mess hall, if we would like to eat there! Uh? No thanks. How about some takeout? I was sure they would love to eat *off* campus for the first time in three weeks!! I was right. They, being the conciderate kids that they are, were trying to save us money by offering the mess hall! *smile*

Lunch Time Away From Mess Hall Food!

Swimming Fun

The first thing we did after getting lunch was take the boys swimming. They had a blast! The pool had all kinds of kiddie pools as well as a waterslide. I couldn't get good pictures as it was dark, but suffice it to say it was cool! Ray and the big boys were using the diving board and the big boys also used the tarzan rope. Lots of fun!

Bowling Boys!

After we had gone swimming, we were not ready to take the boys back to camp yet. So we drove around looking for one more thing to do. We found a bowling alley and decided to go there. It was great fun! Colt doesn't think he is a good bowler, so he wouldn't put much effort into his shots. He would basically walk up and throw it without looking. Finally, near the end, I told him if he just made an *effort* he had more potential than he realized! We were then rushing to see if we could all get 'just one more turn' before the time ran out. He gained his interest and on *his* final throw, after a bunch of wasted throws for the last hour, he took his time, made an effort, and scored a STRIKE! It was a great moment. Maybe he will have more confidence next time!

After bowling, we all went to dinner and then drove the boys back to the camp. It was a wonderful, fun filled day!!! We missed them. They had been gone for 2 weeks to Bible camp previous to this and then they were half way through their 6 week cadet camp.