Another Camp Page

I don't think Camp was easy for Isobel. She likes her time alone. She likes her sleep. She's particular about her food and she likes her 'comforts' (eg. a soft bed).

The hardest part about the trip for her was the out trip. Her cabin canoed 18km. I'm sure it was exhausting. The 'Trippers' did the portaging for them and that impressed me. I have so much respect for these young women who head out in the wilderness with a group of tweens and help them navigate from campsite to campsite lugging canoes and food and setting up and taking down camp each night. Wow. I'm sure they had to deal with their fair share of tween drama too!!

One thing I wanted to stress for Isobel was for her to focus on the positive aspects of her out trip. Not the fact that it was hard. Not the fact that she had to use the wilderness as her bathroom. Not the fact that she had to navigate her canoe through some difficult rapids. And certainly not the fact that her canoe tipped and her gear floated away. But that she did something that was difficult and survived - more than survived - she experienced things not everyone gets to experience.

Camp

When Isobel was younger (9?), she and Meredith went away to Camp for a week. Meredith loved it but Isobel really struggled. She didn't connect with the girls in her cabin and she really missed being home and she didn't go back. Meredith loved it and went until the time came that she was required to do a one week out trip and stay for a month.

In the summer of 2013 Isobel reconnected with a friend from preschool who had moved to the US. This friend had gone to a Camp in Ontario for years and loved it. She ended up moving back (yay!) and convinced Isobel to try Camp with her. It was a 2 week Camp and involved a 4 day out trip. Isobel thought it might be better to go with a friend and she really wanted to have the positive experience Meredith had.

She came home tired and hungry but found it to be a better experience than before. She is our homebody though and really missed her bed!!

She took so many photos I didn't know what to do with them, so I chose the one of her leaving for camp and pulled many (but not all!) of the others into Picasa and made a collage. Picasa is great for collages.

A Page From Hawaii

During my 'blogging hiatus' we took the most fantastic trip to Hawaii. We were able to meet friends who live in Australia for 2 weeks on the Island of Hawaii and it was amazing.

One thing that struck me when we were there was how early the sun set. Here in Canada the sun was setting around 9:30pm but in Hawaii, it was setting around 7pm. I actually quite liked it. First because it was very easy to be out and about while the sun was setting and enjoy the beautiful light that comes at sunset but it also provided a nice break from the heat. The nights were not hot at all and I'm sure it was partly because of how early dark arrived.

Meredith And Her Flute

Meredith is very serious about her music. Her intention is to go to University to study Music and hopefully, get into Music Therapy. She has it all figured out. She could teach, she could perform, she could practice Therapy. But most of all she gets to do what she loves the most - play.

She likes to practice every day. We were invited to a friends' cottage in August and I was sure she would look forward to the break from practicing, but no, she brought her flute with her and practiced with her music tacked to a tree.

I'm so impressed that she has such a good idea of where she wants to go at such a young age. I certainly didn't.